What a marvelous 5 days I have had! Our new daughter was born on Friday morning via scheduled C Section. My hubbie and I checked into the hospital early Friday morning and were lucky enough to be given one of the big corner oversized rooms. My C Section went very well and my little baby was born at 8:03am - 8lbs, 12 oz. She's a lovely little girl - looks just like her sister did at birth. Lots of dark hair, a sweet disposition combined with undeniable opinions! Check out the new pictures I've posted....
The weekend was wonderful - complete with complementary massage from the therapist today, and fresh baked cookies 3 out of the 4 days I've been here. Avista hospital is more like a spa than a hospital! The food is even darned good. :)
Tomorrow morning it's time to get discharged. I'm so excited to get home and to bring home my little wee one. But there is a bit of wistfulness too. For 5 days my husband and I have let go of our endless "to do" lists. We've checked out of work, turned off our cell phones, and done nothing but celebrate Katie's arrival and spend time with our family. It's not often that we have the chance to do that in our lives - and it makes the birth of a child that much more precious.

With my first daughter, I anxiously counted down the days until my due date. I planned my schedule ahead of time to coincide with the arrival of our brand new baby. I, like so many other naive moms, was convinced that the science of Obstetrics meant that they could accurately fortell the future and give me a firm appointment to meet my daughter.

Yeah. Not so much.

The due date came and went. I started walking (waddling) every night as far as I could around the block to get things moving. I drank special teas that were supposed to bring on labor. I did squats at night to encourage my body to get the idea. I tried to seduce (yeah right) my hubbie into sex because I read that could bring on labor. I even contemplated getting on a trampoline.

But my little gal was lovin her “Womb without a View” and wanted no part of the outside world. 10 days after my due date they finally induced me. And induced some more. Finally, labor started going and my body began to make way. Until we hit 6 cm. And stayed there for 12 hours. 17 total hours later, the baby was distressed and at 3:30 am they made the critical decision to deliver via a C Section.

Now I love my doc. He’s a good guy. Funny, wise, easy going. But let me tell you, when they woke him up from a deep sleep in the Maternity Ward, I had less than a warm fuzzy feeling about seeing this bleary eyed man come at me with a scalpel!

In the end, my daughter was born - healthy and happy.

This time around - they gave me the option of scheduling a C Section or trying to deliver again naturally. I, being a practical and let’s face it, Type A person, chose to go the scheduled route.

Tomorrow morning, my husband and I arrive at the hospital at 6am. By 7:30, they’ll be wheeling me into the OR. By 8:30, the baby will be born and they’ll be stitching me back together. I’ll be bright eyed, ready to receive visitors and show off my new baby by Noon! Oh yeah - and she’ll be cute this time - no alien cone head thing going on. And I won’t need to worry about them cutting “down there” to make room for a head…….or about my Hoo Ha getting so swollen that I have to keep an icepack on it for days.

Nope - I’m going the medical route for delivery tomorrow. And today? Well I’m off now to get a blow out on my hair, a manicure and a pedicure! Diva Mommy has arrived!

Our new baby girl is due in 10 days. For the past 19 weeks my hubbie and I have been trying to decide on her name. He made up a “Wanted” poster for the refrigerator and we encouraged anyone and everyone who entered our house to contribute names. We poured through the baby name books (I was so dismayed to see that “Omarosa” is now incorporated into the lists…)

We made up a short list of every name that we both thought was pretty good and have been trying to weed out the ones that we liked less over the past few weeks.

Last night, we decided! It wasn’t easy - we had to consider what we would call her as a baby - what derivation of her given name would be used when she was in school? What cruel playground name could other kids come up with? Was there any meaning that we were overlooking? What would her initials spell?

Referring to her by a proper name, rather than “TBD”, means so much. Starting to give her “pet names” or nicknames makes her into a person……. a little being that we are about to meet and love.

So that got me to thinking - of the hundreds of downright ridiculous names in those baby naming books. Of people that actually think giving a baby a name that is impossible to spell, or means “Oh Sweaty One” in Greek, or is a silly play on their last name (I did go to school with a girl named Chandra Leer) is a clever thing to do.

It’s funny that we almost always conjure up an image of the person we think we are about to meet based on nothing but a name. For instance, what if you were a single man and a friend wanted to set you up with her friend “Bertha”? Not likely. I know a guy named “Pendleton Wickersham III”. (The “third” just really makes it fabulous!) He’s a really cool guy, laid back and friendly - but boy does he sound pretentious from his name!

So in the end, we hope that our little girl’s new name is one that represents her and who she is to become. It is the first of many major decisions we will make for this little one as she comes into the world and becomes her own person.

Why is it that parents feel the need to decorate their babies like moving billboards? I mean, do we really need to plaster our children with Disney characters? Why is it that it is so hard to find kid’s clothes without company branding all over them? Dora the Explorer might be a cute cartoon - but I don’t need to buy a 3 piece outfit advertising the show to clothe my 19 month in.

The item that irritates me the most is Diapers. Why do we need Blues Clues and Winnie the Pooh all over our kids butts? I would actually pay more to use a plain old white diaper. Better yet - how about a cute pink polka dot diaper? Or blue check? Yellow argyle? Pampers / Huggies - listen up! Better yet - send me a years free diapers for my great idea.

Families everywhere struggle with the costs of finding quality childcare. Now there is solution that is growing in popularity......outsourcing Childcare to foreign countries! Check out this funny newstory from The Onion:

http://www.theonion.com/content/video/reportmanyusparents