lily reading.

Lily fell asleep at the tail end of my walk with her. I noticed her head drifting off to the left. I figured she was looking at a lizard. But when she swayed to the other side I said "Lily? Lily?" She was asleep. Just like that. I reclined the seat in the stroller and hustled home.

for future baby book reference:

Lily was born March 22, 2005. exciting happenings in the news at this time include: a pope was on his death bed. a prince was about to marry his long-time mistress. a young home-wrecking pop-star was pregnant. hollywood's 'golden couple' was getting divorced. america was in it's third year of a ridiculous war in iraq. an older eccentric pop-star was on trial for child molestation. again.

anyone else got any news or current events to add?

Lilypie's stump fell off today. i saved it, for the time being, just in case i needed to put it an envelope and save it for future mortifying incidents.
she didn't seem to mind, and now the fun tummy time and bathing adventures can begin!

exciting baby news from Dr. Sears' office:

-Lily has already gained back her birth weight, plus 4 ounces. this makes worrywart mom happy. she weighs in at 8 pounds 5 ounces now.
-Lily was the one of the calmest babies they had ever seen. she only fussed a little while she was naked, and mainly because Dr. Bob was shining a bright light in her eyes.
-Lily guzzles milk. she can eat and pull herself off the boob in about 5 minutes, although mom feels better when she goes to 10.
-Lily's poop is perfect. (i know, i'm excited about poop. but Dr. Bob saw it and proclaimed it perfect! so there)

all this exciting news has made the fact that i had a c-section a little easier. i managed to get her to the breast within an hour of the surgery, and i think it helped her latch. john stayed at the hospital with me so we could room-in and i put her to the boob as often as i could in those first few days, causing my milk to come in while we were still in the hospital. i kept saying no to the nurses who wanted me to supplement and give her pacifiers and they backed off (eventually).
she's a great baby. my birth story is still a big black hole i would rather forget, but she is doing really well so far. her favorite thing is snuggling on daddy's neck and falling asleep. she's a doll baby, and that makes me happy.

(Cross-posted in valency)

All,

Hilary gave birth today. All is well. Mother and baby are wonderful. She'll be there until Friday morning, so it may be a few days until the pictures, accounts and details are posted.

Thanks to all of you that have been so supportive...

Cheers!

John

P.S. I know I may just be proud papa-ing it here, but Lily is amazing. She is serene, peaceful, calm, collected, cuddly, and cuter than anything I could have ever imagined. Her little round face is framed with shocks of blonde, curly hair, her eyes are clear and alert, and she's just simply wonderful.

eeek! we are going to the hospital. my doctor said i should be on my way there. so. eeek!

(sorry, no webcast. next time, maybe.)

so my due date was thursday. i've been having irregular contractions off and on for about a week. this evening, they started around 6ish and are still going strong, 10 minutes apart, ranging from 30 seconds to a minute.
i'm probably jinxing myself but oh man, what if i don't and it is and oh my!
it's funny because we've done just about everything except: hook up carseat in john's car and pre-register at the hospital. i have no idea why we slacked on those things, but we did. so if this isn't the 'real deal', we'll make sure to do those things tomorrow.
the other plan for tomorrow (again, if this isn't the 'real deal') is el cholo! every preggo needs a last meal. mine is tomorrow night at el cholo. i just barely still fit in the booths.
so that's it. being a first-time mom, i'm thinking i 'may' be in labor. i'm trying to keep it going by bouncing and rolling around on my birth ball. the other stuff too (RRL tea and walking and pineapple {after a run to the store, thanks to someone ;] i got a major craving.} and etc.). please don't snark me if i'm not.

Dear Lily,

The first "contraction" action happened last Saturday, sometime around 4:30 p.m. Yes, we had our first "Sit up and take notice" contraction.  So Mom sat up and took notice.  Since then, she's gone through one 'H'-shaped sticky note after another, carefully logging all of her contractions.  Some six minutes apart, others more like sixteen.  But still, they are regular, they're consistent, and they're an omen.  Like a new star, or high pressure calm before our water-sign baby arrives.

We BOTH noticed you are not a big fan of the contractions.  You squirm and wiggle with just a bit more chutzpah than normal, and Mom swears she thinks you're trying to dig your way out of her belly feet first.  You don't know this (or perhaps your do), but the more you dig, the more you'll bump into Mom's ribs and a bunch of squished internal organs that have gladly given way during Mom's nine-month Lilysaurus Rex-a-thon.

You know, it'd be just perfect if you came tomorrow, on the fifteenth.  The first time you read Julius Caesar in, say, ninth or tenth grade, you'll already know what the ides of March are.  You could do a science fair project on why ides are ominous, and why fifteen is fifty times better than fourteen. 

Then again, you could come March 17, right on time, exactly eighteen months after your mom and I met and fell in love.  I can't believe it's passed so fast. 

And I can't believe you're knock knock knockin' on heaven's door...

Wow.

Love,
Dad

over the weekend i had some contractions.
then this morning, i had some more. i'm still having them, random contractions, some stronger then others, and there are other things too. i've lost some weight. not a lot, but a couple pounds. my back is tight. an increase in the amount of discharge (ladies you know what i mean) i have. all this + irregular contractions.
i know it could mean nothing, but it could mean something. i wonder if el cholo would jumpstart anything that might (or might not) be happening. maybe regularize things a little.
some more random factoids: my stomach wall aches from her stretching and pressing. i have 2 chins. there are still (still!) some last minutes items i want to get before she comes. at night when i can't fall asleep i try to figure out who she's going to look like. of course she always has his dimples. i haven't sterilized any of my bottles (or isis but i think i'm going to do that soon) yet because that is how bad i want to breastfeed.
back to timing contractions at non-regular intervals. i've been doing this since 10:06am. hooray!