Just Because...

Two weeks old!  Actually, this was taken a couple of days ago, so it was before her two-week-old birthday, but still.  Today Maisie is two weeks old.  Happy birthday, Maisie!

Maisie's Home; Still Cute

Maisie finally came home on Saturday afternoon, when she was six days old. She was fine, but my labor was long enough that I eventually ran a slight fever, which required both Maisie and me to take some precautionary antibiotics. Her antibiotic course ran through the weekend, so although I was discharged on Tuesday, she had to stay in the hospital nursery until Saturday. We spent the end of last week at the hospital, which was pretty exhausting but did accomplish something -- we are so grateful to have her home that I am even happy about the nighttime feedings and diaper changes.

In addition to coming home from the hospital, Maisie got to meet all four of her grandparents this weekend. My mom is still here for another week and we are SO glad. I don't think I would have slept at all yet but for her.

Maisie is already pretty hilarious. I kind of thought that one-week-olds didn't do anything yet, but she is thoroughly entertaining. She makes the funniest facial expressions, and I have to think that at least some of them are more than just gas.

Fiona has adjusted well so far -- she apparently thinks Maisie is her baby, and likes to be close by at almost all times. She likes to sit with me while I nurse Maisie, with her head resting on my leg, and every time I sit Maisie up to burp her, Fiona sits up and watches, only lying back down when Maisie resumes eating. It's pretty adorable. When Maisie cries, she jumps up and looks at me, like, "You gonna do something about that? Help her!"

Little Sammy has not yet acknowledged Maisie's presence, but he did let me know that he was pretty mad that he felt neglected for a week. We went into the hospital early Friday evening and our dog walker took care of them until Monday, at which point Jake started coming home from the hospital just long enough to feed Sammy and take Fiona around the block. Even when I came home Tuesday night, we spent the next three and a half days clocking in about fourteen hours or more at the hospital nursery (at home first thing in the morning and just before bed, with only one midday visit to feed and walk the dogs), not leaving much time for the pups. By the time we got home with the baby on Saturday afternoon, Sammy had been without his mama for over a week and he was pretty mad. Maisie's birth and subsequent hospital stay were stressful -- I'll spare you the labor details, but it wasn't pretty -- but I think I was as sad to realize how depressed Sammy was as I was to realize that my epidural(s) did not work (!). I have tried to remedy the situation by making sure that anytime I sit without Maisie or take a nap, I scoop Sammy onto my lap and snuggle with him. He is on his way to forgiving me, I think, so all will be well soon.

Really, things are great here already. How could they not be when we have this precious (and funny) face to stare at all day long?

One More...

Here is one more for now. So far, the general consensus is that she looks like a Greene. I look just like my dad and sometimes when Maisie makes a serious face, Jake says that she looks like a little Jim clone. My dad and I also have the same weird feet and Maisie is already our identical foot triplet. Lucky for her, she is much, much prettier than I was as a newborn. I was splotchy and red and not so cute.

We think we can already see the blonde underneath all that dark hair. I had hair that dark when I was born, too, though not that much of it.

Here's What Maisie Looks Like

First picture ever -- minutes old!  Please look at the cheeks and the double chin.  --

Maisie on her birth day -- the hair! --   

Whoa!  Everything is new when you're a baby. 

We think she looks like my dad in this one. 

Hi!  I'm 48 hours old.  

Miss Jackson is Finally Here!

Margaret James Sommer was born yesterday afternoon at 2:27 p.m.  9 lbs., 4 oz., 20 3/4 inches long.  We call her Maisie.  

With unsurprising parental bias, we think she is pretty much the cutest thing that we have ever seen and, as I expected, Jake is so good with her.  They are best buddies already.  She is already really fun and it's amazing to feel like we have  gotten to know her so well after only a day.

Blogger is being ornery about uploading our photos, but I'll work on that so that you can all see her spiky dark hair, big eyes, and REALLY chubby cheeks.  

Miss Jackson Has Not Arrived Yet, But Her Friend Has

Yes, I am still pregnant, but... Nora's not!  Sweet little Powe was born yesterday afternoon.  I visited them today and he is perfect.  We are hoping that Miss Jackson will soon want to follow him into the real world. 

I kind of freaked out last night, because I had felt sick all day yesterday and secretly thought that maybe that meant that something was about to happen.  Alas, no.  I was disappointed.  I also started to worry that maybe I should postpone my induction from 41 weeks until 42 weeks just to give her more time to come on her own, while simultaneously feeling like if I had to wait for ten more days I might totally lose it.  Thankfully, I talked to my doctor about it at my appointment today and he feels strongly that inducing on Sunday is the safest and best thing for MJ.  In fact, he said that we could "negotiate" on waiting until I was, say, 41 weeks and 3 days, but that was as late as he would let me go.  When I asked if those extra days were worth waiting on -- i.e., if there was a real benefit to doing it on Wednesday as opposed to Sunday -- he said no.  I feel much better knowing that we'll get this show on the road starting Sunday evening and that I don't need to feel guilty about rushing Miss Jackson out of there.  I love and trust my doctor so I don't have any doubts that this is the way to go.  

And who knows?  Maybe she will surprise us and decide to pop out this weekend after all.

Miss Jackson Is Late!

No baby!  

Nora is still waiting, too.  I can't complain too much because she is a week late and I am only a day late.  

I really believed for several weeks that she would be early, so I was sort of stunned yesterday when I realized that it really wasn't going to happen this weekend.  I was grouchy and cranky, which made me sad because it's such an exciting time and I should be full of happy anticipation and not foul impatience.  I woke up this morning in a much better mood and I'm currently feeling very relaxed.  This will probably change tomorrow, though. 

This morning I had a non-stress test and amniotic fluid check (routine when you go past your due date).  I didn't know I was supposed to eat breakfast beforehand, so I didn't, and I was a little worried when the nurse acted like that might make it more difficult for them to get a good read on how the baby is doing.  Oh, no -- despite my lack of food this morning, MJ was moving all around.  The nurses said she did perfectly and it was the quickest non-stress test they had done all morning.  This is great news, of course, because it means that she's doing well, but... that also means there is no hurry to get her out of there.  My fluid was a little bit low, but not a problem, especially when combined with the really good NST results.  So, for now, she is healthy and thriving and I guess I should let her come in her own good time.  Easier said than done -- I have been pinching her foot when she kicks me because I am ready to see that little foot (and the rest of her!) in the flesh, up close.  I want to hold her and not just pat her through my (ridiculous) belly.

After my appointment, Nora and I went to see American Teen.  This is our fourth movie since last Saturday, and after tomorrow (when we will probably see Wall-E), the babies better get here because we will have run out of movies.  

Miss Jackson is Still Waiting to Come Out

The Olympics are here, and Clay Aiken's insemination baby is here, but MJ is not here yet, at least not on the outside.  I'm getting increasingly cranky, which is really very whiny of me considering that her official due date is still two days away.  

I'm getting a prenatal massage and another manicure today, which should help the impatience. Yesterday I had an awesome long lunch with an old friend (my freshman year of college roommate -- thanks, Facebook!), did some grocery shopping, folded lots of clothes,  bought myself some more cute postnatal pajamas, and drank two cups of midwife-recommended raspberry red leaf tea (which is not helping anything so far, but it can't really hurt, either). 

Additionally, I'm scheduled to be induced on the evening of Sunday, August 17, if MJ doesn't appear before then.  August 18 is my parents' 35th wedding anniversary and my cousin Sam's fifth birthday, so maybe she wants to wait until then to fit in with the rest of the family.  At this point, though, I am going to suggest that if she wants to be born on anyone's anniversary, Jake and I are celebrating five years tomorrow and it sure would be nice of her to come on out and celebrate with us.

Miss Jackson is Still Inside, Going to the Movies

No, she's not here yet.  Miss Jackson is still just biding her time, and I am biding my time by going to the movies, which is pretty much the perfect activity when you are enormously pregnant in August, as it provides a chance to sit down, an air-conditioned distraction, as well as delicious concessions.  (Though strangely enough, the only movie concessions I have wanted lately are enormous Diet Cokes -- which are not really strange for me -- and hot dogs -- which are.  I'm a popcorn-and-Junior-Mints girl usually, but I guess MJ isn't).  Saturday Nora and I saw Mamma Mia, today we saw Brideshead Revisited, and tomorrow we will likely see The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants 2.  I am sure we make quite a sight considering Nora was due yesterday.  Today as we left the theater a homeless man asked us who was going to go first.  We told him it was a close race.

Jake and I did have an unfortunate distraction over the weekend in the form of Miss Jackson's canine brother, Little Sammy, getting sick.  Poor Sam is old, mostly blind, and has a myriad of chronic health problems, but he had been doing really well lately... until Saturday, when he had what I will just call a bad night.  We worried and fretted all day Sunday and took him to the vet yesterday, by which point he appeared to be pretty much fully recovered.  He is the spunkiest, feistiest four pounds of scraggle that I have ever seen, and needless to say, we adore him and are glad that it seems that he has rallied once again.  Resilient doesn't even begin to cover what all he has been through.

So, now we just continue to wait, cuddling on Sam and trying to stay cool.  I should have known that if Miss Jackson takes after me at all, she will wait until the last possible second to arrive.  I am nothing if not a procrastinator.

Miss Jackson is NOT Here Yet

But oh, how I wish that she were!

I will try to keep posting so you can tell that I'm not in labor, but at this point, there is not that much exciting to report.  Right this second I feel calm and relaxed and patient.  In the last couple of days, though, I have had one hormonal crying jag and at least three instances of wondering whether castor oil actually works, so I'm not zen all the time.  I am filling my time by laundering everything in the house (including our shower curtain... which, maybe you wash your shower curtain all the time, but I really don't), folding baby clothes, writing, reading (currently:  The Story of Edgar Sawtelle, which is going to be magnificent if the first 100 pages are any indication), and going to the movies (weekend before last:  The Dark Knight and Mamma Mia; last weekend: Step Brothers; tomorrow: Mamma Mia again with still-pregnant Nora, who is due on Monday!; still on the horizon: Hellboy 2, Wall-E, Brideshead Revisited, The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants 2).  

At this week's appointment (on Wednesday), my doctor said we could discuss induction at my 40th or 41st week appointment if nothing had happened yet.  I told him I do not intend to have a 41st week appointment.  He laughed.  I did not; I was quite serious.  He also told me that maybe he'd see me tomorrow (as in, yesterday) in labor and delivery because he was on call that night.  So, basically, none of us have any idea when M.J. is getting here.  

Jake is being very very sweet as usual.  He brings me lemonade and fountain drinks on a regular basis, and yesterday he even bought me a bag I have been coveting/lusting after (which will be here courtesy of Endless.com's miraculous free overnight shipping any minute now, a thought that makes me almost delirious with joy).  I'll say again, I am most excited about seeing her and her tiny little baby toes with my very own eyes, followed closely by watching Jake interact with her.  (Jake is most excited about seeing her and then seeing Fiona's reaction to her... not kidding.  He says he knows how I'm going to react to her, but Fiona will be a surprise.  Good point.)

We just really want to meet her (and tell everyone her name!).