Saturday was our 6th year anniversary. Renee helped us to celebrate it by soiling her diaper every 45 minutes and wanting to eat every hour.

Ahhh, bliss…..

Renee had her 2nd week Dr’s checkup today. She gained 11 ounces so far since we brought her home from the hospital! She’s been eating like a little piggy–literally, snorting and all.
She had her first “real” tub bath last night. We thought she would hate it, but she loved it! She was wiggling her feet in the water, making grunting noises. It must’ve reminded her of the womb.

So far things have been awesome with Renee, Chris and I are enjoying every moment, poopy diapers and all. I never thought I’d enjoy being a Mommy this much, or love a little tiny person this much!

In other news, we’re very concerned about a particular friend who called us the other night in a time of crisis. She has bipolar disorder and it was very obvious she had gone off her meds and was having a manic episode. She left her family to go get help. We’re hoping right how that she’s at the Brattleboro Retreat–unfortunately there is not much we can do for her because she can’t be contacted–we can only hope and pray she’ll be getting the help and medication she needs!

We are so happy Obama won!

Before we forget names, we want to thank the following staff from Bratt. Memorial Hospital:

Leah– for being by our side when contractions began and comforting us when we were scared about what was happening. Also, for hanging out at night with us in our room and joking with us after Renee was finally born.

Gloria–for working me through hypnobirthing when contractions got really strong, and for being sweet and reassuring.

Raine–the first midwife on call, for her calm and sweet and comforting nature, especially when things got frustratingly slow.

Kim–for holding my hand when contractions were so strong I couldn’t sit still, and for giving me back massages while Chris held on to me and I cried.

Amy–for rearranging our room to look nice and welcoming in the middle of the night, and keeping vigil by my side when things started to really progress and pushing began.

Lois–the most wonderful midwife! She is truly called to be in this profession. For being motherly, sweet and ever so comforting, guiding me through the extreme frustrations. When we finally broke down and did the epidural, I felt like a failure; Lois spoke up and said she was so proud of me and that the epidural had nothing to do with being a failure. At 5 in the morning, Lois had been on an almost 48 hour shift but you would not know it by her demeanor. She joked with us and encouraged us when we pushed, and she was the first to hold Renee and put her right up to my chest! She cried and said the baby was so beautiful. We are so happy that she was on call for Renee’s birth, she made it so special.

Caroline–the grandmotherly nurse who held screaming Renee to do her Apgar test, and who enjoyed every minute of it and was laughing and joking around.

Patricia and Dawn–both excellent lactation consultants who sat with me through the first frustrating hours of trying to get a hold of the breastfeeding thing. They popped in and out on a daily basis to see if I had questions or they could help. Both of them had an excellent sense of humor and undying patience. I’m not sure I could have done it without them!

Elizabeth–the pediatrician who first saw Renee and oohed and aahed over her. We now have her as Renee’s primary care provider and at her first checkup the day after we brought her home, Elizabeth helped us to see that a lot of the things we had worried about were normal and Renee was healthy and O.k.

There were many more people at the hospital who were great, but unfortunately we don’t remember names! I was so impressed with the hospital and that they allowed us to have as much time one on one with the baby as possible; even when they needed to do tests and checkups, they did it in the room with her right in my arms. It really helped us all to bond.

Where just about on the end of day two of renee being home. She is now about 4.5 days old and she already is looking bigger. It has been a very interesting time with renee being home and as one neighbor said when we where out on a walk today with renee “having a baby makes life different,  not good or bad just different from then on”

We are both wondering if renee will sleep as well as she did last night tonight. It was really nice, she slept for a couple hours at a time which was really nice. My bet is that she won’t sleep as well but maybe karma has something else in store. I always joke about sleep being not needed, seems that might come in handy now 🙂

We have put in a couple rules that we are making sure to do every day, take a shower, get out of the house, eat real food, etc. So far we have got out both days, gone shopping for food and yesterday actually went and got flu shots. It requires more effort, making sure you have extra outfits, burp clothes and such but is sooooo worth it.

She seems to enjoy getting out too, her eyes are looking all around but we are being careful not to have her exposed too much being so young.

Besides that life is good, we are both enjoying spending time with our new addition to our family. It has been very magical and my little boo is amazing and we all are very happy about her. Just trying to enjoy every moment we can.

Thanks to everyone for their well wishes! Little Renee came home from the hospital today. She’s been good, today was a very fussy day for her but my milk isn’t yet in and she’s just drinking up that colostrum. Hopefully tomorrow things will change. She is really precious though. The cats are a little freaked out but their kind of just in awe of her.

It was a very long labor–contractions started Sunday at 1: 30 a.m. and they were intense. They never were timed regularly apart. I went in to the hospital twice on Sunday and they said I was only 1 cm dilated, my water hadn’t broken yet. They tried to give me something for the pain but it didn’t work at all. I was basically on my knees in agony all Sun. night. Mon morning I went back and the ob-gyn broke my water, she thought I’d probably deliver the baby Mon. early evening at the latest. Well the labor went on forever and it was just terrible. Chris was a total trooper and an excellent coach. We managed pretty well the first few hours with hypnobirthing, but I was not progressing at all. I really wanted to do it without drugs, but at 11:30 that evening, I had been in over 40 hours of labor and I just could not go on. The midwife, who usually doesn’t suggest drugs, really thought in my case and epidural would help me rest a little and relax enough to let things progress. So I finally got one, and things progressed fairly well. Renee was FINALLY delivered at 5:13 the next morning (I had been in labor 53 hours)! They had to do an episiotomy but it’s healing pretty well.

The hospital staff and nurses were AWESOME. So supportive, so helpful, so family oriented! And the midwife who deilvered Renee was exactly the one we wanted. I wish my labor had been easier, but things all fell into place and this little girl is totally worth it.

Will try to update more later, gotta go cause she’s waking up!

Renee June Arnini was born, today October 28, at 513am, 7lbs 19in, after a marathon labor session

We are all doing very well

Kathy has been having contractions the last few hours, it looks like renee may be joining us soon!!!!

-Very exciting

We had another ultrasound this afternoon. This time she measured a little bigger, a bit over 6 lbs which is more average. They’re not really concerned that she’s unhealthy and there is always a margin of error on those things anyway, esp. the bigger the baby gets.
She was squirming around a lot so it was hard for the Ob-gyn to take measurements!
But overall things look good. Technically I could go any day now, although I’m hoping she at least waits until the weekend is over! But she’ll come when she’s meant to, whether we think we’re “ready” or not.

Most of the house projects have been completed, our house no longer looks like a construction zone which is great. The other few little things will just have to go on the back burner for now. I feel lucky that we’ll both have a good amount of time off to just enjoy her when she comes.

Hope everyone is doing well and staying warm!