bye bye galbladder

Yesterday I said goodbye to my galbladder. And as my friend John so correctly articulated, I never liked the galbladder much anyway - good riddance!

But once again I'm recovering from surgery. This one is easier, but still not pretty. I have five incisions - one just below my belly button and four across my right set of ribs. So I now have six incision sites on my abdomen - there were zero there before june 20th! :)

Our biggest challenge - breastfeeding. It has never gone smoothly and now, because of the drugs in my system, my little girl has been taking food from a bottle. As of this morning, the drugs have worn off, but my incisions are so sensitive that I can't figure out any holds that would be comfortable enough to keep her away from my incisions - plus Annabelle is a mover... this morning she gave my belly button incision (the biggest and most painful) a nice elbow! That's when I decided I better pump one more day and give her the bottle.

But otherwise, we have a beautiful angel on our hands. Okay, angel is probably strong, but she is an incredibly sweet little girl. And to everyone's surprise when they meet her, she is a smiler. An intentional smiler.

I'm doing my best to keep up with all her changes, but the last 5 1/2 weeks have flown by. She has been in more doctor's offices for me than you would believe, and has never once screamed through an appointment. She is still trying to decide what she thinks about bath time. She loves to be naked on her changing table/dresser and kick and stretch. And Miss Annabelle has so much personality.

Most of all, she is adored by all her family and friends. Everyday she gets something more in the mail and everything has been so thoughtful and generous.

Check out what I mean about the smiles!

what's in a name

Many people have asked us how we came up with Annabelle Juliette.





Annabelle was a name I had heard before and found it very endearing. Joel and I both felt like it would be a great name for a baby, but also a great name for a woman. That was important to us. We wanted something that was fairly timeless. But I guess only time will truly tell.





Juliette was easy. We debated about using it as a first name, but Annabelle (the name) charmed us early on. Juliette is my maternal Grandmother's first name. As many of you know, my grandmother and I were great friends and she meant (and still means) so much to me in her years, especially the last ones. Though Joel did not have a chance to get to know her well, he knows how influential she was in my life. We hope and pray that our Annabelle inherits her ability to love everyone individually (and many more things). Between my Grandma and Joel's mom, we just might have an artist on our hands, also!

pictures

For those of you who have too much time on your hands or just love cute babies, I'm attempting to upload Annabelle's pictures to our shutterfly site. This would be all the pictures (most of the good ones are on Facebook already).

www.klullo.shutterfly.com

my "unnatural" natural birth story

As anyone who has read this blog before knows, we had planned and prepared for an unmedicated birthing experience. We had taken classes, read books, hired a doula, and mentally prepared for the pain I was about to experience.

So, when I woke up on Sunday, June 20th with contractions starting at 5 minutes apart, I called on all my resources. Within 2 hours, our doula was at our house. The funny thing was that I really just wanted to labor alone for the most part. I spent significant time in the bathroom and just tried to think about all that we were going to need for the hospital (interesting side-note, I was not hungry and hadn't eaten much since Friday). Eventually I figured out what was comfortable for me and what I wanted from others and we hung out in the baby's room, rocking in the chair, getting my feet rubbed, and waiting for things to progress. And they did fairly quickly. At noon I decided I was ready to be at the hospital.

We arrived at the hospital by 1 and it was determined I was already at 8-9 cm, which was good because the baby was having small decels after each contraction. Since I was so far along, it was just a waiting game. Within an hour I was at ten, but my water had not broken yet. We decided to push to see if we could get my water to break. After 20 minutes of that and no movement, the doctor decided to break my water, convinced that the baby would then come very quickly. An hour and 40 minutes later, the baby hadn't budged a millimeter and the doctor managed to break the news to me that she wasn't coming vaginally. She was stuck on something and no position we had tried had moved her at all. Even after breaking my water, my contractions slowed and became less painful. We still have no idea what happened.

Within minutes my room was flooded with doctors and nurses and all ability I had to work through my contractions was gone. I wasn't scared, just ready.

After working through another 45 minutes of contractions and relaxing enough to get a spinal, I was strapped down in the OR with Joel standing at my side. Spinals are pretty incredible things as I felt none of the tugging or slicing or anything. Within 10 minutes, our baby girl was being pulled from my womb. They positioned her in a place where I could see her. She didn't cry immediately, but Joel was calm, so it kept me calm. Within minutes she was crying. She was having a few problems breathing, so they explained to me that she was just fine, but they were going to take her to the special nursery (not the NICU). I sent Joel with her so that she could have a familiar voice and presence and I just waited patiently while they finished me back up. The doctors and nursing staff were wonderful and I was back in my room quickly.

Thankfully, Joel and Annabelle Juliette were back with me within minutes and I got to hold my girl immediately.

The stupid cliche of love at first sight has never been more true. She is beautiful and truly a little miracle. We love her with all of our beings and love each other more.

The road to recovery may be a little longer, and clearly the C-section was unexpected and not wanted, but my little burrito is here and making my life more full of love. And modern medicine has created wonderful medication that doesn't harm her and makes mommy able to help raise her child.

After 4 days in the hospital, we are home. There is much more to tell and remember and document including the tale of breastfeeding, but that is for another time. Daddy and Annabelle are watching Saturday morning cartoons and Mommy is desperate to join them!

Shrek feet

That's what I have. No baby and Shrek feet! We are so anxiously awaiting this baby's arrival. Friday/Saturday is our "due date" and even though it's no exact science, it feels like a deadline (we know it's not, it just feels that way).

Update from our appointment on Tuesday. I'm 4 cm dialated. As a matter of fact, my doc told us to go right to the hospital. (Note to self: next baby, find new doctor). I knew I wasn't contracting, so I asked her to monitor me and then we'd decide. Lo and behold, not contracting (at least not substantially). So, we went home and got ready... bags packed, showered, all excited... nothing. Wednesday, nothing. Thursday, nothing. Why did she have to get us so excited?

So, I gave up and finally went grocery shopping. I kept hoping what we had in the house would hold out until Squirt came, but we were running low on the basics. We're now stocked (another note to self: shopping at 40 weeks pregnant means you come home with 2 different cake mixes and frosting - which is really funny because we never make cake!).

I have a list of to-do's for the weekend so I don't get too stir crazy.

But, tomorrow is my last day of work. I decided that work isn't making me any nicer right now! But as far as what I'll do for the next two weeks (if it goes that long) - no idea! Here's to hoping Squirt joins us soon.

Good thing we have sports to distract right now. Joel loves World Cup soccer and I'm beginning to understand and enjoy it too. And tonight, we'll be watching game 7 of the NBA finals.

I will be watching from the comfort of my fitness/birth ball.

as promised

Though we're not 100% complete, we're 99%, so I figured it was time.

Here are some before and after pics of the basement. I know I'm impressed! :)

BEFORE

AFTER

38.5

39 on Friday.
We're ready... actually bored with waiting. Doc says I shouldn't go over my due date, but this is the same woman that told me two weeks ago that we'd have the baby in two weeks! :) Still 2 cm, 75% effaced (making progress there), and baby is really low.
I'm not crazy uncomfortable yet, but I still have to watch what I'm eating. I told Joel that when this baby comes, I will need a Diet Coke from McDonald's pretty quickly! I haven't even sipped one in 10 months.
I need to update pictures of Joel's basement project. It looks beyond awesome! Everyone that sees it is impressed with the craftmanship and the amount of use we know we'll get out of it. Now it just needs to be cleaned up from all of the sawdust and organized. Of course, you think this would keep me busy, but the amount of energy I have to do it is pretty low. Maybe tonight. I can't finish this thought without thanking Mike and Kyle - they were absolute God-sends with all their help.

We have really enjoyed our time lately - we have been on two extended dates and spent quality time with family and friends. People have been so generous and thoughtful and we can't wait to share our little love with everyone!