Elizabeth Helen Wakeman

I've been a little slow on getting the "Elizabeth is here" blog up!

Elizabeth Helen Wakeman was born on February 11 at Holy Family Hospital in Spokane. She was 8 pounds, 4 ounces and was 21.5 inches long. She was almost the exact same size as Nathan. He was only an ounce more but all other measurements were the same. We have very long babies!

I woke up on the 11th just feeling bad. I was throwing up and having such tightness and quite a few contractions. The whole family headed into the doctor and he informed me I was at about 5 cm so it was time to check me into the hospital. We called the Grandparents and they were on their way up to pick up Nathan!

Dr. Brasch broke my water at 12:30. Contractions wouldn't start so at 3:30 they gave me pitocin. By 4:00, the contractions hurt too much so I asked for an epidural. It sure was nice to have that pain just fade away to nothing!

6 1/2 hours later Elizabeth was born. She was born at 7:01 pm. Much faster than the 18 1/2 with Nathan. This time, all went well and she's very healthy!

Elizabeth is now 2 weeks old. The past few weeks have been spent nursing, changing diapers, and cleaning up curdled milk spit up! Oh, and trying to get some sleep. Elizabeth likes to sleep the day away and party at night. At her 2 week appointment yesterday, all was well. She's back up to birth weight and everything else looks good too.


At this point, she looks EXACTLY like Nathan did at that age! It's uncanny!


Playing with Grandma


Nathan with the nursing pillow...he's trying to help...don't think it will work!


Uncle Brian came to visit!


Sitting and sleeping. Sleeping all day is a big hobby. Waking many times a night and not sleeping much at night is another hobby!


Relaxing in the bouncer.


Valentine's Day with a brand new baby!


Nathan deciding what to do with this new baby!


Elizabeth and Daddy


The hospital picture. Nathan was at home with Grandma and Grandpa!

39 weeks, 5 days

Today I had my 39 week appointment (even though I'm almost 40 weeks). Everything is pretty much the same! 3 cm and 80% effaced. We just wait now. The big issue is just all of the pain I'm in. It's funny because I told the doctor how the pressure is just so painful. He said, "Well, next we might discuss the "i" word IF you want."

I must have grimaced because he said, "Yeah, and that's the look I always get!"

He said that most women will put up with the pain for a few more days because we don't want to risk induction and all of the risks associated. I know I would never want to be induced unless a doctor deemed it medically necessary. Apparently most other women have also done their research too and give the doctor the same look! He agreed with me though and said we'll drop all talk of that if/when it becomes medically necessary.

He did strip my membranes though which "might" get things going within the next 48 hours. It didn't hurt much at the time, but it's given me a lot of cramping and some contractions tonight. They've calmed down quite a bit though so it looks like another day of just waiting! My blood pressure is still a consistent 100/52 or so. All good there. Apparently, I am done gaining weight as I haven't gained a pound the last 3 weeks. He says that's normal though and I've gained enough for a healthy baby so that's all that matters.

Luckily, Jeremy has the next 3 days off so I can continue to just relax and wait for the next part. Hopefully the baby will come in the next 3 days!

Tomorrow is Nathan's Valentine's Party at preschool. Jeremy is going to be nice and get up early to take him as it's just so hard for me to be up and around for long periods of time. It should be fun for Nathan! We filled out his cards for the other children and he told me which ones to write for each kid. They have a potluck afterward for all the kids, but Jeremy will just bring Nathan home since Nathan can't partake in the foods there.

Hopefully the next post will be about our healthy baby girl and our uneventful labor and delivery. That is my hope anyway!

Nathan's Dream?

For the first time, Nathan told me about a dream he had. The only problem is that he thinks it's real...

This morning, he got up out of his crib ALL excited. He ran to the window and kept telling me that Prairie Dawn was coming in 2 days and was bringing him a dog. He kept telling me this over and over. It was really weird! He usually never acts like that.

THEN, he ran and grabbed his clothes out of his dresser. This is the same child whom I have to wrestle to the ground in TEARS most mornings to get him dressed. Yes, it's great fun.

How do you explain to a 2 year old that dreams aren't real and are just his imagination? I'm not sure, but he keeps looking out the window and telling me that Dawn is coming with that dog soon.