Peace

The Hospital

So you want to know more about this guy?! Hee hee. Isn't he cute? Well, I'm FINALLY writing about our hospital experience. It's taken me so long because a) Blogger was being difficult about uploading pictures, b)I'm finding that everything takes five times longer in Mommy time, but mostly c) I don't quite know how to put it into words.

Because I'm still at a loss for words about how to describe the most intense, surreal, amazing, and wonderful four days of my life, I'm going to let the pictures do most of the talking. But first, a timeline of how the actual birth went down.

Tuesday, July 20
8:10 am: Call from counselor. Lexie (Isaac's birth mom) is in labor! They are going to break her water! Get to the hospital NOW!
8:12 am: Walk around house in a daze, talking to myself. "Okay. Okay. Don't forget the camera. Okay. Okay. Snacks. Okay."
9:30 am: Got to hospital. Visited with Lexie and her parents in the delivery room. Turns out they aren't going to break her water until the doctor's lunch break from his clinic work... 12:00.
12:45 pm: Still waiting for doctor... getting a bit impatient!
1:00 pm: Doctor breaks her water.
1:00-5:00 pm: We are waiting in the waiting room now with Lexie's dad and grandparents. Lexie is in the delivery room with her mom; dilating, contracting, and waiting to be told to push. Lexie calls us in to visit every now and then.
6:30 pm: Doctor decides to get the show on the road by administering pitocin.
6:45 pm: Lexie starts contracting but is not dilated enough. Baby's heart rate begins to concern doctors.
7:00 pm: Decision to do emergency c-section
7:40 pm: Operating team has gathered, finally ready to do c-section
8:26 pm: Isaac Alexander is born after what the surgeon called "the most difficult c-section I've ever done." (Long story short: Lexie's epidural was no longer working. They didn't know this until they sliced into her skin. Baby's heart rate plummeted so they continued with the surgery anyway. When they cut the uterus open, baby's face showed and was being squeezed by a continual contraction of the uterus muscles. They couldn't get him out. After much pulling, squeezing, and yanking, they got him out and cut the cord that was wrapped twice around his neck. They immediately gave Lexie medicine through a mask to knock her out.)
9:10 pm: We got to visit our baby in the neo-natal intensive care unit. Fell head over heels in love.
10:00 pm: FINALLY got to hold our son for the first time after they spent 45 minutes (!!) trying to find a vein through which to administer extra fluids.
10:00-12:30 am: Snuggled and cuddled Isaac until we had to tear ourselves away to go home and sleep for a few hours.
6:00 am: Back to see our baby

*Isaac's vitals were strong right away and stayed that way through the night. He was kicked out of the NICU in the morning and joined us for the rest of his blessedly uneventful hospital stay*

Now- the fun part!


My little purple baby =) This was taken in the NICU before they poked him for 45 minutes, trying to find a vein.


Morning cuddles. It was SO hard to leave the hospital that first night, but we knew Isaac was in good hands. We figured we'd better get a few hours of sleep since we are in it for the long haul!


Isaac seeing his birth mom for the first time. Because it was such a chaotic delivery and they needed to heavily sedate Lexie as soon as he was out of her, she didn't get to see him until the next morning,


Baby and his two mommies. Lexie gave him the birth name of Jacob Michael. She wanted him to have further proof that she loves and cares about him- she put the time and energy into choosing the perfect name for him.


Love him.


Four generation picture! Isaac with his birth mom, grandma, and great-grandma.


Lexie and her parents


Isaac meets his Grandma Patty for the first time. I'm not sure that I've ever seen a smile quite that big before... =)


Our little guy


The night before discharge, the hospital gave us a room to spend the night with Isaac. So we could practice full-time parenting with several wonderful nurses available at the touch of a button! Isn't that fantastic? The hospital offered this to us... I never would have thought to ask.
This picture was taken after our first night as a family =)



Cuddling with his birth mama during our last day at the hospital.


What is going on?!


Okay, I'll sleep some more.

Since this post is already verging on epic-length proportions, I won't go into Isaac's amazing birth mother, her family, or anything else that made those days at the hospital so wonderful. Another time. =)

The Six Words I've Been Dying to Say...

I've been trying to think of a cute or clever way to say this, but I've given up. So here it is:

I'm going to be a Mommy!

Yes it's true! And Jonathan's going to be a Daddy! And Cody's going to have to share his space with a fur-less loud little wrinkly thing.

I have to get back to work, so I'll give more details later, but I can tell you that our baby boy is due tomorrow. Tomorrow?! What?! Yep. Tomorrow. So, like I said, I have to get back to work! We have a nursery to whip together, tiny baby clothes to wash, and some panic attacks to have.

Will write more later!

Sun Kissed

We got back from our North Shore camping trip two days ago, and I'm still basking in the afterglow. There's nothing like Lake Superior, a rocky beach, and a few pine trees to recharge the batteries.

Here are a few highlights of our lovely weekend.


The traditional "setting up of the tent" photo. We stayed at Tettegouche State Park.


We may not have running water or a flush toilet, but we do have a foot stool.


Our campsite was a "cart-in" site. We parked the car in a lot and used this wooden cart to bring our stuff a half-mile in to our site. Cody got to test it out.


Packets of potato-and-veggie goodness


Hike to Two Step Falls and High Falls. Many, many stairs involved.


Cody cooling off at High Falls


Crossing a rickety bridge over a rushing river


Our friends and camping partners, Jill and Elliot. This was the beach at our campsite. Yep, at our campsite. I still can't get over how beautiful it was.


Elliot and Jonathan showing off the cooking spears they whittled. Aren't they manly?


This cart provided us with hours of entertainment.


A view of Palisade Head, a huge rock formation that was apparently formed 1.1 billion years ago. Don't let the raincoats fool you. We lucked out... it sprinkled for only an hour or so on our very last day.

So Jonathan. When are we going back?

Lady of Leisure

School ended on June 15. I start nannying on the 23rd. That left me with 7 summer days of freedom! I have used them wisely. Here are a few of the things I've done:



Relaxed outside my favorite Osseo coffee shop, Segue, with an iced chai and a good book




Lounged in a cute Adirondack chair on the deck of our new library. (It overlooks a little lake! A man-made lake, yes. But still a lake.)



Made the BEST CAKE EVER! (Butterfinger Bliss) Jonathan brought it to work... these are the slices he saved for me. =) I told you he's a good one!



Enjoyed Cody enjoying the river



.
Got hooked on the show "Weeds." I'm 6 years (?) behind the trend, but definitely loving it.



Savored a hand-dipped cotton candy ice cream cone! (Disclaimer: This picture is from the internet. I did not eat three ice cream cones. Although I could have.)



Watched a Shakespearean play "Troilus and Cressida" at the grand opening of the outdoor stage in Maple Grove. (Photo and acting courtesy of Cromulent Shakespeare Company)



Hunted down a hard-to-find bar on the Mississippi River. Jonathan and I enjoyed a beer or two on the deck. This was the view!!

And... I even took a nap! (I don't have a picture of that, because that would be weird.)

I LOVE SUMMER!

Another Reason Why I Love My Job

If I notice a stain on my shirt when I get dressed in the morning, I can still wear it and pretend that one of the kids did it. That day.

I Got Thumped

Have you ever found yourself going through life on auto pilot or rushing through every minute of the day or just plain crabby and then something happens to make you realize how good you've got it? Or how amazing this world truly is?

My co-worker calls that "getting thumped." God sees you taking everything for granted or throwing yourself a pity party and gives you a big ol' "thump." Hey, open your eyes! SLOW DOWN! Maybe even smile a little bit.

Well I've been getting thumped a lot lately. It's a particular kind of thump. The kind that reminds me how GOOD people are.

This whole adoption thing has made me interact with people I never would have met otherwise and in ways I never would have dreamed (like discussing my infertility with the Fed-Ex man, for example.) Over and over I find myself touched by how perfect strangers are willing to go the extra mile to help us find our baby.

Just a few examples:

• A college student at St.Olaf offered to make extra copies of our flier, consult with his boss, and hang them every possible place he could think of. On his own time.
• An acquaintance of mine from high school owns a store and offered to put a pile of fliers by his cash register. We haven't talked for 10 years, and rarely crossed paths even before then.
• Several people have posted our information in their personal blogs. Some of these people I have never met and probably never will.
• A waitress at Fitgers in Duluth saw Jonathan hang up our flier and came to our aid. She said he had put it at "hip level" and it would be destroyed by the many servers walking in and out of the kitchen. So she took a new one, dug up some industrial strength packing tape and completely laminated it to the wall. It might peel off the paint when it's time to take it down.

And those are just people we don't know! I can't even BEGIN to list all the ways our friends and family continue to love and support us. I feel like I go through every day wrapped in a giant bubble of prayers, love, and positive thoughts.

Thank you, thank you, thank you.

Have I Ever Told You How Much I Love My Husband?

I got a good one, you guys. A really good one. He can make me laugh even when I don't want to.

Remember how I mentioned in the last post that a pregnant girl said to me, "Oh my God! YOU are pregnant? You look fantastic!" I figured this would happen, but I still didn't respond in a very intelligent way when it did. I said "Yeah, I'm not. We're adopting." And then I mumbled something really witty like "Well I'm glad I don't look pregnant... since I'm not..." and then walked away really fast.

Jonathan could tell I was a bit rattled. When I went into the bathroom, I passed the baby off to Jonathan so he could watch him while I was peeing*

(*What? I forgot to explain this part? We were given baby dolls at the beginning of class and told to treat them as we would a real baby. Specifically, "You wouldn't leave your babies lying on a table, would you? Pick them up!" She said if we needed to go to the bathroom, we had to bring them with us or find a sitter)

So, back to the bathroom. Me, going over the encounter with the pregnant girl in my head; Jonathan, watching our plastic child.

When I was done using the bathroom, I opened the door and hit something. Something small. Something low to the ground. Something... swaddled? There, lying on the commercial grade blue/green/brown flecked carpet was our little wide-eyed baby. Waiting for me to hit him in the head with the bathroom door.

I burst out laughing and couldn't stop until we got back into the room.

That, right there, is why I love my husband.

Why I Love My Job

I get hugs. At work. How many people can say that?!

Sometimes I'm sitting on the floor and a kid scoots over to me, squeezes my arm, and then goes back to doing whatever he was doing.

It's moments like that when I remember all over again how lucky I am.