Polaroids

It's been a whirlwind of a month, what with finishing up some projects, the arrival of baby Theo, and adjusting to being a family of four :) Rather than try to cover all of the details, here are several snapshots of the past few days.

We went for a few (very slow) walks since it was about all of the activity I could handle at 37 and 38 weeks

pregnant. Levi loves his Tiny Car, borrowed from our neighbors.

For Tim's 29th birthday, we went bowling for the first time with Levi. They make tiny little bowling shoes for him! I won, even though I was carrying a bowling ball myself :) And of course, after about a half hour, the little slide for bowling balls ceased to be used for its original purpose and rather became a climbing challenge.

We also went for a picnic at the Conestoga House, a beautiful estate in Lancaster that has its grounds open to the public in the summer on Wednesday afternoons and evenings. Levi enjoyed the fountains and running around the grassy areas.

On Friday, Aug.2, I managed to wrap up everything at work because my midwife (who then immediately left for a three-day vacation) told me on Thursday afternoon that at three centimeters
I was on my way. I was hoping Theo would wait until Monday to appear so she would be able to make it, so I planned to sit around all weekend and boss my family around - certainly a stretch for my personality. We headed to a potluck picnic for some of the volunteers at church, and I stuffed my face with all the delicious things people bring to potlucks (which should be required at least biweekly at all churches, I think).

Around midnight, I woke up with what felt like a cramp in my lower back. I immediately started regretting eating all of that food :/ At 2 a.m. I'd had two more of those cramps, and was Googling Braxton Hicks to see if I could find more clues other than "longer, stronger, and closer together" - three contractions in two hours is hardly close together and they were only about 15 seconds long and hardly strong at all.

Well. Then. From 2 to 3 a.m. they were 20 minutes apart and 20 seconds long, and by 4 a.m. they were 10 minutes apart and getting, well, stronger and longer. Since the general rule of thumb is five minutes and nearly unbearable to head to the hospital, we waited until 5 a.m. to call our brother-in-law (who had conveniently arrived home from an extended stay with our in-laws hours before) to come and stay at our house with Levi while we headed to the hospital.

This is where things got dicey - My contractions started coming faster and faster without much breathing room in between. We left our house around 5:40 after we threw everything in the car and called the doctor on call and told them I was coming in whether they liked it or not. Theo was born at 6:35 a.m., less than an hour after we got to the hospital.
There wasn't time for an epidural, which was frankly one of my biggest fears, but with Tim's help on a pressure point on my back I made it through the contractions and was already at 10 centimeters when the doctor checked me shortly after we got to the hospital, and I could start pushing, which for me seemed easier than just counting and breathing through almost two-minute-long contractions. Focusing my efforts and hearing the nurses, doctor, and Tim telling me the progress with every breath was somehow less painful. Four contractions later, our 8 pound, 12 oz. bundle arrived - already rooting around for some food.

Recovery has been exponentially better this time around, even with Levi at home with ,me two days a week.

Theo is of course adorable, decently calm with the occasional bit of indigestion....and mostly sleeps :) Which is good - I can function on two-hour shifts of sleep pretty well if afternoon naps are in the cards! Theo has dark blue eyes and is a very grunty and noisy baby. Levi has been pretty casual about folding him into our routine so far, and likes to give Baby Theo kisses :)

Levi is just as entertaining as always - and somehow becoming even more of a boy. The other night at dinner, he picked up a piece of cilantro that was in his dinner and held it up, saying "a spider!" We assured him it was not a spider, but an herb in his dinner, and he just kept saying "a spider!" And then he ate it.

Levi also has started to sing songs at random while he's playing or eating. I don't know them all, but he'll suddenly break into a rather accurate rendition of twinkle twinkle little star, row your boat, or a song about a bumblebee.

We spent some time meeting the most adorable little kittens while we had newborn photos taken. And, true to form of Levi's fear of most pets, Levi was terrified by them. We worked on standing closer and closer to them, and eventually the kitties could walk right up to us and sniff our shoes without him losing it.

More and more every day we can see Levi's sense of...learning? curiosity? He not only wants to find out how things work, but how they can work. Case in point: Truck monster. Or multi-cup functionality.

And lastly, a dialogue from tonight:
Levi: (finding some sort of dirt on his person) "Ew. Yucky. Gross."
Tim: "Yeah, that"s nasty."
L: (biiiig smile) "Eat it!"
T: "No, I"m not going to eat it."
L: "You! Eat it!"
T: No, I'm not gonna eat it. I should pull something out of my armpit and make you eat it."