One Week Old!

Little Miss Lilah had a very busy first week in this world!  She met her Grandma Susan, who she loves to sing with, and her Grandpa Jon, who she loves to nap on.  Her big brother Wilson is getting used to her, and likes to give her gentle kisses.  Chris and I are totally in love with our little girl, and enjoying every minute getting to know her personality.

We took a little one week photo-shoot over the weekend, here are some of my favorites!

Lilah Adeline Wheeler

Sorry we're so bad at posting on this blog. Here's a pic to tide you over until we write a longer entry with her birth story.

8lbs 3oz, 21.25 inches long, 100% lovable

Born @ 3pm Saturday, August 17th

It's a GIRL!

10 fingers and 10 toes

The point of no return

She's straddling the cervix fence. Floating around at 7cm. It is pretty tough. She's exhausted. We're at ~13hours. She's getting tons of support. We've been in the bed, on the toilet, in the tub, out of the tub, and back again. She keeps make progress, ever so slowly. I have so much helpless sympathy for her it breaks my heart. We had a little bit of a false alarm, we're not quite as far as we thought. Oh boy, she's in transition now. Off I go to get my hand broken by super grip Kimmy.

In Labor

It's happening! It started getting serious around 4am. Still pre transition.

Due Date

Today is Bean’s due date!  It seems like s/he is perfectly content hanging out for a little while longer, so we aren't feeling too optimistic that we’ll get to meet him/her just yet.  At my weekly appointment yesterday my midwife gently reminded me that many first time moms go 10-14 days past their due dates, and to hang in there.  All of my and the baby’s vitals are still doing well, the amniotic fluid levels are good, and s/he is still very active.

Even though we've had this date circled on our calendars since December, we're surprisingly not all that anxious that Baby isn't here.  There is a never-ending to-do list that we’ll continue cranking through, we’re both really busy at work (yes, I am working up until the baby gets here – but only working from home), and Wilson gets to be a spoiled only child for a little bit longer.    

Getting Ready for Baby Bean

Hello friends and family!  It’s been a while since the Wandering Rascals have blogged, but with the upcoming addition to our family, we figure now is as good a time as any.  As our due date nears, we are finding that a lot of people have questions for us – general ones about how we’re doing preparing for a new baby, and specific ones about our decision to have a home birth.  So, we decided that we would use this blog as a way to keep everyone informed in this last week (or weeks, as the case may be) on how things are going.  If we are able to update the blog with some information during labor, we’ll do that too.  At the very least, we’ll post on here once little Bean Wheeler arrives.

Some general information:

• Our baby’s estimated due date is August 14^th (next Wednesday!).  

• We don’t know if we’re having a boy or a girl.  General consensus from most of our friends (and some random people on the street) is that we’re growing a mini-Chris in there.  But we’ll find out soon enough.  Here’s a recent picture of Kimmy.  Feel free to make your own guess!

• We are planning for an un-medicated home birth with a midwife.  Our Midwife’s name is Karen Baker, and from what we can tell, she’s the best-of-the-best in our area.  There are many reasons we decided to have a home birth, but we might need a whole blog post for that, so tune in next time.

• To prepare for labor and delivery, we took a 12-week birthing class called the Bradley Method.  It’s geared towards un-medicated births, both at home and in the hospital, and stresses the importance of the coach’s role in the childbirth process.  We really liked the class for the most part (it got a little redundant towards the end), and have been practicing the techniques we’re supposed to use during labor.  Who knows if they will work, but it’s worth a try, right? 

We’re getting pretty excited to meet this little rugrat who’s been squirming around for the last 39 weeks.  It’s hard to imagine how much our lives will change with a baby, but we’re looking forward to finding out!