Meals on Wheels

Aurora and I have been so lucky to be able to spend our first week at home recovering, getting used to nursing, and generally taking it easy. But I’ve been SO much hungrier post-baby then I ever was when I was pregnant. Luckily, my friends at work signed up to bring us food. Chuck needs to keep working and is no cook, so having nutritious meals delivered has made every aspect of this whole adventure so much easier for all of us. Here’s a recap of our food deliveries so far:

Monday – Daniela grabbed fish tacos & cheese enchiladas from Chuy’s.

Tuesday – Bianca brought a tray of mac ‘n’ cheese from Central Market.

Wednesday – We had spinach lasagna, French bread, a garden salad AND almond gelato thanks to Tara.

Thursday – Haley delivered manicotti and a huge roll of garlic bread.

Friday – Devon & Melissa came together with two days of meals. Devon brought a Greek salad, tabouleh, hummus and pitas, chicken for Chuck, and one amazing orange pound cake for dessert. Melissa made the best eggplant parmesan I have ever tasted.

Saturday – Bianca & Aaron came over at lunchtime, and while Bianca held Aurora, Aaron made his famous squash and pesto casserole right in our kitchen! I love squash.

Sunday – Kelsey & Jim stopped by with smoked mozzarella pasta salad, roasted potatoes and veggies from Whole Foods.

Monday – Daniela took a 2nd turn coming to visit, this time bringing yummy homemade lasagna.

Tuesday – Jennifer brought us manicotti, French bread and cookies!

Not only has all the food been delicious, but I’ve loved looking forward to having visitors each day and sharing Aurora with each of you one-on-one. I’m not sure how I’ll make it 10 more weeks without you guys… I guess I’ll just have to bring Aurora in for lunches in the LAF kitchen.

My First Outing

This afternoon I decided to take a trip to HEB on my own. I’d just fed Aurora and knew that she’d be out for the next two hours, and thanks to Bianca for giving us an HEB gift card, I figured I should take advantage of the beautiful day and head out into the real world.

The strangest thing about going out was that I feel so different and I’m still so sore, but suddenly everybody looked at me like my old self and treated me like any other person moving too slow - cutting me off with their carts and looking right past me. When I was pregnant, people looked at me like I was special. They'd hold the door for me and ask when I was due and whether I was having a boy or a girl. The times we've gone out with Aurora, people treated us like we were doing something really special, and wanted to know how old she was and what her name is. Today when I asked for help out to my car, the lady looked at me like “you’re kidding, right?” I think I need a sign that says “I just had a baby 10 days ago – I’m still special!” Oh well. Maybe we should just treat everybody we meet like they're special, but we don't.

I stocked up on wipes, grabbed some water, soda, juice, fresh fruit, cereal and milk (I am so hungry first thing in the morning), as well as some coconut almond chocolate chip ice cream. It’s already half gone.

Here’s a photo for you – me with the most special part of our little family:

A Good Night

Last night was our best night of sleep yet. Aurora’s fussy hour has slowly been shifting earlier and earlier in the evening, and last night she was done crying by midnight. We all went to sleep soon after (Aurora in her bassinet next to us), and she didn’t wake up until just over 3 hours later. Daddy picked her up and brought her to me while I set up my nursing pillow, and she fed for 20 minutes straight (yay!). A new diaper and we were off to another 3 hours of sound sleep before her next feeding.

During that 2nd feeding, I watched as the clear sky turned ominous, lightening started to strike in the distance, followed by clapping thunder, pouring rain, and a hail storm! I opened the bedroom door to let Tater hide under the bed, but the baby didn’t even notice. Chuck loves storms, so he woke up to snuggle Rora and called it a “magical moment.”

Aurora didn’t wake up again until 8:30am, when I fed her and gave her to Chuck for some snuggle time. They’re still snoozing, but I decided to take advantage of the quiet morning – took a shower, tried on more pre-pregnancy pants (they fit!), and decided to document our good night. I don’t know if all these details are interesting or not, but I figure the blog is as much for me to journal my experience as it is for you to share in it!

I hope you’re all having a good weekend.

Sleeping Cutie

Okay, so we’re going to call this a milk coma. If you are a mom and have experienced this phenomenon, any friendly advice you can offer is greatly appreciated, as this whole nursing thing is new to us…


Basically, once Rora’s been feeding for, oh 8-10 minutes, she totally conks out! I can tickle her feet, pump her arms and legs, rub her cheeks, burp her, change her diaper – sometimes she is just out for the count! I know she’s only a week old, but my goal is to give her full feedings, and our pediatrician said feedings should last 20-30 minutes. She also said Aurora was gaining weight fine, and I don't think milk production is an issue – so maybe her tiny tummy is just filling up fast.

I might check out the "Baby Bistro" breastfeeding support group at Seton, just to make sure we’re doing everything right. Until then, any tips or tricks in general are welcome!

One week old

Who says all babies do is eat, sleep, poop and cry? They also squirm!!!



Sue Potts told me awhile back that everything your baby does is cute – that in fact, I’d think my baby’s poop was cute. I believe I looked at her like she was a bit silly when she said that. But boy was it a true statement! You might be wondering, what’s so cute about poop? It's not so much the poop itself, but faces she makes when she realizes she’s pooping! The diapering is much easier than either of us expected it to be, but I’m not sure I’d describe diapering as adorable. Oh, and don't worry - she's not pooping in this video. Just making cute faces.

Life in the Nursery

We’ve been pretty much living in the nursery these last few days. We have it set up with everything we need, including Chuck’s laptop and Wacom tablet so he can actually work while hanging out with us. Did I mention how lucky we are to have a daddy working from home??? He claims he hasn’t been getting enough work done, but I swear – he types something, looks up at Aurora, draws something, picks her up and snuggles for a few minutes, goes downstairs for some water, gazes at her features for awhile then grabs the camera (you get the idea).

We did take a little walk through the neighborhood yesterday and introduced Aurora to a couple of the neighbors, and we've been hanging out on the balcony here and there for some fresh air. Overall, it's been a relaxing day, and a pretty neat week.

4 Days of Firsts

Friday I had my first hospital stay, my first I.V., and my first baby. Now I’m finding everyday is filled with firsts! Daniela was our first visitor at home, The Bachelor was the first TV show Aurora watched, and last night was the first time I pumped (my milk came in big time!). Today we had our first visit to the pediatrician and our first family trip to Babies R Us. We bought her a couple of preemie outfits, because all of our 0-3 month stuff is too big on her skinny legs!

According to the pediatrician, Rora’s doing great. She was born at 6 lbs 11 oz, but by the time we left the hospital she was down to 6 lbs 4 oz (which is pretty normal). Today she’s 6 lbs 9 oz, and the doctor was pleased with her weight gain. In fact, the doctor was pleased with everything about Aurora, and said she’s beautiful and perfect… a little jaundiced, but probably not enough to warrant treatment.

No Nurses, No Room Service

And somehow our first night at home went great!

At the hospital, the nurses were just amazing. They were so attentive, making sure mommy and baby had everything we could possibly need to recover. Room service was nice – they had so many vegetarian options that I never ate the same thing twice.

Chuck was even more amazing, changing almost every diaper and keeping Aurora safe and happy so that I could take it easy. Here at home, he’s the one who has to be right next to her sleeping so that he can always hear her breath. And this morning he happily snuggled her while I showered and took some time to figure out how my body’s doing. The soreness is healing, and my milk’s already coming in – so now my tummy is small again and my breasts are getting even bigger!

Aurora certainly has her fussy moments (and hours), but she’s a really good girl. She cries a lot when gas bubbles get stuck in her belly, and when she’s gassy or trying to potty… I can only imagine that learning to digest is hard work!!! So we do everything we can to help her feel better and get some sleep too. She’s a sleepy baby right now, and we all slept pretty well last night, considering.

I know what you’re thinking… where are new pictures!? None today, but I’ll try to post pics as often as possible from here on out. Now that I’m not working for awhile, I will consider blogging my main “job”!

Welcome Home Aurora!

Thanks to Daniela’s comment and many phone calls and emails over the weekend, you probably all know the news – Aurora Ruth Wadey was born on Friday, April 18th at 7:16pm, just 5 hours before her official due date.

Labor was pretty easy and seemed to go quickly, but the hour and a half of pushing was tough. I was lucky to have Chuck and Kim Barnett supporting more than just my legs. Afterwards, the doctor spent awhile stitching me up, and I’m not going to lie… recovery from that has been the hardest part. But we’re home and all doing great. I think the pictures tell the story better than I could, so here they are!

Click here for More Photos

Labor Day

Amber is now in labor. We've checked into the hospital. The doctor just came through and broke her water. The doctor reports that she is 6 cm dilated. That's up from 4 cm a few hours ago. Usually women dilate at 1cm/per hour once the water has been broken. Add another hour for pushing... and our estimate is that Blueberry could arrive between 5-6pm this evening. Looks like she'll beat her due date after all. The epidural and pitocin is on it's way.

So far this has been calm and easy. Amber is cheery and doesn't seems to be in much pain. Daniela is visiting and we've spoken to a few friends and parents on the phone. Daniela brought me food and it looks like she'll win the baby pool by guessing the correct birth date.

Thanks Austin!

April 17, 2006, Chuck and I finished the drive from LA to Austin and signed the closing documents on our house. I remember the first time I met my next door neighbor, June, she seemed surprised that it was just me and Chuck moving in. She said "that's a lot of house for only 2 people!" giving me the "when are you going to have kids" look.

It's been a great two years. We moved out here without jobs, just knowing that it was time to try something new. We were ready to buy our own home, and Chuck had always wanted to freelance out of his own home-studio. As much as I knew this move was the right thing to do, I don't think either of us could have predicted how well everything would really work out. I was lucky enough to find a job I love working with amazing people, and Chuck's freelancing took off more quickly than anticipated and turned into a great full-time job working from home.

Of course, owning our own home was the first step in "getting ready" to start a family. We knew we weren't ready two years ago, but everything certainly has come together for us and it's exciting to be embarking on this next stage in our lives... any day now!

Another date with Dr. Belt

Today’s appointment went fine. I actually lost 2 pounds from being sick over the last week, and other than that nothing has changed. The baby hasn’t dropped, I’ve made no further progress with dilation or effacement, and my OB doesn’t think I’ll be having this baby this week. She set my next appt for April 23rd, and is convinced I’ll still be pregnant by then – at which point we’ll have a non-stress test and another sonogram to check fluid levels and figure out if we need to induce or just give it more time.

But like I said, Sunday’s a full moon! I'm sure this baby and this body of mine have an agenda of their own. I’ve spoken to SO many women whose doctor’s told them something similar, and they went into labor very soon after… we just cannot predict it (if only we could!).

Sue wants me to take long walks and prove my doctor wrong by letting gravity get this baby into position and outta here, so I walked for almost an hour and a half after work today (at the mall... I needed dinner and a new pair of sunglasses). And Kelsey wants me to blog everyday now to ensure everybody always knows if I’m in labor or not. Hmmm… well Kelsey, this blog’s for you. Whether I can think of something to blog EVERYDAY from here on out, I don’t know… but I promise to let you know when we’re in the hospital, even if it means Chuck writes a guest blog.

Maybe tomorrow I'll post my birth plan. Maybe not!

Still Pregnant

I was planning to title this weekend’s post “Nothing to see here folks, move along…” and just mope about how I'm still feeling sick, but today I woke up feeling better than I’ve felt in days, which is a very good thing. Lately I’ve been just miserable enough with sinus pressure, a runny nose, sore throat, and coughing fits that I don’t mind waiting for the labor marathon. She can come on her due date or even a little late… we just want her to be healthy and ready for the world.

Saturday morning I did feel good enough to go to prenatal yoga, and I was glad I went. It was fun doing yoga with my friend Jennifer and her cute 20-week baby bump! Afterwards, Chuck & I had lunch, and then I took a long nap. We haven’t been making grand plans for our last weekends of freedom, just doing chores and taking it easy. Today is such a beautiful day that we decided to take a few pictures on the balcony, so here I am, feeling better and probably about as big as I’m gonna get:

Thank goodness for maternity leave

It’s one thing to get a bad night’s sleep and feel exhausted and crummy when you’re just living a normal life… it’s not easy, but it’s doable. Add in pregnancy, and it’s definitely harder. But lack of sleep (and getting sick) when caring for a baby seems to me like it just might be impossible if we couldn’t stay home from work for at least a couple months.

I love my job and hate missing a day, but I’m beginning to look forward to maternity leave. Not enough to take off early, mind you - I want all the time off with my daughter that I can get! But I am looking forward to it. For the last couple of days I’ve been working shorter hours as I train Bailey. It’s just all the energy I have right now.

Being tired and feeling sick has kind of shaken my confidence. A few days ago I felt ready to give birth anytime. Now, I just hope I feel better the day she comes. This would not be a very fun way to begin motherhood. Aren’t I supposed to have a spurt of energy and do some serious nesting before the big day?

1 Centimeter

Today was my weekly OB appointment. This time the internal exam was sort of worse, but just the fact that I knew what to expect made it easier. My doctor was very pleased to tell me that I’m 1 cm dilated; she liked seeing progress. My belly also measured 1 cm larger (as usual), so Blueberry's still growing just as she should be. My next appt is Monday, and Dr. Belt said at that point we’ll have the conversation about induction, though she’s impressed with how well we’re doing and does think this baby will come on her own without intervention, even if she’s late.

I just learned that April 20th is the next full moon, and apparently full moons cause babies to be born! We’ll see… baby girl will come when she’s good and ready, and I'm sure she'll be here before we know it. I am still feeling really good, other than another sore throat that's been looming. And this week I’ve been feeling a lot of pressure on my bladder and on the nerves at the top of my right leg, which causes random shooting pain that can stop me in my tracks.

Anyway, yesterday we hired my temporary replacement at work! I start training her tomorrow, and who knows, I could have a day or a week (or more?) to train her. One thing about the LAF is that the more things change, the more they stay the same. Who knows what the volunteer program will look like in 3 months? But I know she'll be great, and am glad that my job will be in good hands while I’m gone.

Chuck's Weekend Workout

This weekend Chuck gave the lawnmower a tune-up and mowed our huge lawn for this first time this year. Now that the garage under his studio is finally finished out, he's been loving all the open space. The lawnmower and yard equipment only take up a small corner, so we've been contemplating what to do with the rest of the room.

He decided to make it into a gym. Chuck wants to be able to open the garage door and "go running" rain or shine (and as you know, it's the shine that prohibits him from running outdoors). Of course, that which we don't do now may be put off indefinitely, so today we bought a treadmill and some gym flooring, and spent the afternoon putting it all together.

You'd think we'd want the gym in order to take off the baby weight - I mean, I'd totally peg Chuck as the kind of guy to put on sympathy weight during my pregnancy. But since I haven't gained much, there wasn't much sympathy needed. In my opinion, he looks as fit as ever - which I attribute to his tummy being so small compared to mine! But what Chuck needs is a workout routine to keep his blood pressure in a healthy range.

So, now the question is whether or not to keep our 24 Hour Fitness memberships. Chuck loves swimming in the indoor pool, and we only pay $30/month for both of us. But it takes about a half hour to drive to the gym, and he just doesn't often have that kind of time. I'd like to go back once the baby is old enough to use their childcare (6 months), but until then I'll be sticking with Yoga Yoga and walks around the neighborhood.

Anyway, I'm amazed that we're suddenly utilizing all the space in our house! Both the nursery and the spare garage had been useless and abandoned for the past 2 years - and the garage was also in dire need of repair - but now both are finished and ready to be put to use. Here’s a before and after of the garage:

Lights, Camera, Action!

This afternoon Chuck and I filmed a podcast (which is like a TV show that will only be viewed online) for the Lance Armstrong Foundation. The topic was cancer and fertility, and we basically hosted the segment by telling our story and showing that we're pregnant now. While infertility didn't end up being a side-effect of Chuck's chemo, it's definitely an issue we dealt with. I hope we delivered our lines well - we had like 10 or 15 takes at different distances and angles, and it was a pretty big production. They brought in the set, tons of equipment, and a full film crew just for us.

Haley & Devon made sure that Chuck got some wine beforehand, and they asked if Blueberry needed anything special. I said hair and makeup (and maybe a mani & pedi). All we got was some powder to help with glare, but that was good enough. I don't know when the video will be available for viewing, but the whole experience was pretty interesting!

No April Fools baby here!

Today I had my 37 and a half week OB check, which included my first internal exam. I feel like my doctor just got to 2nd base with me. It wasn't the most pleasant thing, but it wasn't bad. As far as progress, well, she said I'm still "all closed up." All those Braxton Hicks for nothing. My blood pressure's still good and low, my weight actually hasn't fluxuated at all in the past 2 weeks (sorry to even mention it Suz, but I haven't even broken 140 lbs), but my belly is measuring 1 cm larger each week.

And now, for the more trivial part of today's blog:
Things that are harder to do when you're pregnant

Pulling weeds. This weekend we went out to do yard work, and I pulled weeds for as long as I could, but it was way hard!

Using my lap desk. This has been a tough one, because we eat on our lap desks, I pay bills on my lap desk, and my laptop is on a lap desk. The hardest thing about the laptop is just moving it to and from my lap (it's kind of heavy). The hardest thing about eating with the lap desk is not being able to lean forward and spilling on my tummy.

Reading out loud. Since I'm reading the baby books and Chuck isn't, I like to read the important parts to him. Lately I get so out of breath AND I get heartburn when reading aloud (I'm usually laying on my side). Crazy!

Hugging. I think Chuck's afraid of squishing the belly, and I'll admit it's a little awkward, so we've been getting fewer good hugs in these days. Now that I've typed that out, I realize it's kind of sad.

Figuring out why my tummy feels weird. I could be hungry, or is it just the baby moving? Maybe I have to go to the bathroom... or if I just change positions. Something I ate? All I'm saying is there's a lot going on in a relatively small space!!!

I had more on the list, but most of them would've bored you... I mean, obviously it's harder to do things like carry boxes, find a comfortable sleep position, walk fast, and drink enough water, but you already know that. Chuck says I should also mention doing summersaults.