Things That Would Make Mama Life Easier...

And that I can NEVER actually implement because they are dangerous!...

1. A strap to keep his binky in his mouth. A definite choking hazard, but seriously that kid spits it out twenty time a day and yelps to have it back!

2. A strap to keep Gremlin in place for him to stare at. He is SOOOO interested in the kitty, but she disses him left and right. I would likely forget strapped-down kitty and come back to a very sad kitty, since I only have baby radar these days. One day, Grem. One day he will walk!!! Muahahah.

3. To keep him in the Moby while I drive. It gets annoying pulling him in and out of the Moby and sometimes I would love him to stay sleeping and cuddled next to me instead of back in the sad lonely car-seat. Alas, that would probably be the most terrible and stupid thing a mama could do. I am not Brittany Spears.

4. A pause button. Sometimes when I need to get things done or want a nap I would love a pause button so that he would be safe and happy and frozen in time until after I took my few minutes. This is also a terrible idea because if you have ever seen a sci-fi show or movie you know that in order to spice up the plot something would go terribly wrong with my baby-freezer. No good.

Back to life as usual, I suppose (at 5 am). Where is my coffee...

These are a Few of My Favorite Things...

Being a new mother is an insane roller coaster ride of emotion; it is not uncommon to feel unbelievably overwhelmed and yet incredibly thankful to God all in the same moment. Any bit of frustration or sleeplessness is all too worth it if it is the deal you have to make to have the amazing little person that you are blessed with, and sometimes I really think the tough parts (staying up late and being patient with him, caring a whole lot less about my body and how it looks and feels, and especially learning how to juggle the needs of the baby with the wants of friends and family) are things that have been purposely put in place to slowly raise a mommy so that she CAN raise a baby.

Having said that, I have quickly come to find that focusing on small but lovely things once and a while can really help to alleviate some of the stresses so that I don't go all the way crazy. Here are a few of my not-so-guilty pleasures since having my wee little lovie bear...

1. A venti Starbucks unsweetened iced green tea. I get these about once a week now. Since mainlining coffee is not really an option for a nursing mother to use in order to pep up, and alcoholcan't be used to wind down, I love to get this cool and refreshing drink when I need to do either. It is actually pretty healthy for the little man if he gets much through the milk, and it is WAY healthy for me to stop, take some sips, and regroup. 

2. Co-sleeping. Before the Aug-Miester was born I was a little nervous about this one. I was scared I would roll on top of him or NEVER get any sleep for fear of doing so. Not true! I love, love, love, love laying him down in the (large) space I make between Forrest's and my pillows and looking into his little sleepy eyes as he drifts away happily, knowing he is safe next to me. It actually helps me to sleep knowing that he is so close, and I was surprised about how strong my instincts are. I wake up easily if he moves or cries, but when he is resting nicely (usually one 4 hour stretch and one 3 hour stretch a night with one more iffy stretch in the morning) I sleep like a happy rock. I always lay him on his back but I generally wake to him laying on his side facing me, and he usually manages to squinch his way quite a bit closer to my face. Waking up in the morning to an amazing little finger poking me haphazardly in the face couldn't be a better wake up call.

3. Underwear. I know this one is silly, but it is nice to have one item of clothing that didn't have to be replaced temporarily when I got huge. Even now, when I put on the two-sizes-too-big pants I had to buy until I shrink down a little, and a bra that is too big to politely mention the size of, my underwear are unchanging. Well, I change THEM, but you get the picture. 

4. Other mama's. Having now realized some of the reasons my sister's did or said certain things when they were new moms, or suddenly understanding how much my own mother has agonized over my safety and well being are all overwhelming thoughts, but having that increased understanding makes me feel so much closer to all of them, and my mama-friends as well. It is like an unspoken bond or a secret club that one gets to join. We all know that if something wants to hurt our little person we will die trying to protect him/her and that is no joke. I now see how a woman can lift a car off her kid. It is a neat and scary feeling, but I wouldn't have it any other way.

5. Forrest carrying Augie to communion during mass. Before we had any babies, and in fact before I ever even knew Forrest, I would always coo and aww at the sight of a man proudly carrying his little one up for communion. Of course the sight of a mama and baby are precious, but there is something unmatched about getting a glimpse into the softer side of a strong and good man. I think Forrest knows this about me, as I would sometimes point out the particularly cute baby/daddy couples once in a while when we were first married. Now that we have our own little bear he always insists on carrying him up for me during communion, and it makes me so happy. To see how proud he is of the little person we made and to get a reminder of what a good man I chose to marry all in one fell swoop? Nothing compares. 

Augie and Meredith

Today Augie and I ventured over to Fort Worth to pay a visit to the newest member of the Weldy clan! Lucky for us Aunt Sarah was in town too, so our visit was a double special AND some neat pictures were taken. Augie was actually just crashing Meredith's newborn photo shoot, but we will take cute pictures anytime!

Note the purple hand from being under her head! Yipes!

As it turns out, the only thing cuter than one sweet little baby is TWO sweet little babies posed together like teeny little friends!

Thanks for having us over, Lydia! We had fun... (Other than the mind-boggling construction and traffic issues)

Getting Back In Shape!

So this Tuesday Augie will be 6 weeks old, which means that I will be six weeks postpartum. This means several things, including the fact that it is time for me to begin exercising, eating "right" and getting back into shape. Really all I want is to fit properly into my clothes from before the little bear was conceived.

Here is the plan--

I am big into making lists and plans and goals, therefore I know I need to employ something that plays on that part of me in order to lose weight. I found (via the suggestion of a family member) MyFitnessPal.com. This thing is awesome! It is essentially a calorie counter, much like what you would have to pay to use with WeightWatchers online, BUT IT IS FREE! It tracks your exercise in order to allow you more calories if you earn them, it has a pretty good library of foods to look up and add with calories already accounted for, AND it has a breastfeeding allotment! I mean, WOW! That is the main thing I was concerned about with any kind of diet, is making sure I don't do any harm to Augie's weight gain. This site definitely meets all my needs. Here is my weight loss ticker that I will be updating on a weekly basis...

Created by MyFitnessPal - Free Calorie Counter

Another neat thing about this site is that it takes a note from Facebook and allows you to have "friends", be in "groups", AND it has a status thread on your home page. I am really excited to get started tomorrow and I believe this site will help me stay on track.

Hopefully if all goes well I will meet my goal of ditching 25lbs sometime this summer. Probably just in time to get prego again. Haha. Wish me luck!!

One Month Old!

     Today we had Augie's one month appointment with the pediatrician. His newest stats are 10 lbs (really it said 10lbs 4oz, but I weighed a cloth diaper and they are 4oz) and 22 and 3/4 inches! What a big boy! In just one month he has gained 2 lbs and 1 and 1/4 inches. Woot woot!

Here is evidence of my little bear's growth...

Smiley face

Handsome pose

Clearly Forrest's offspring

     Last week we went to my 3 week postpartum checkup and I got a picture of Augie with Carol (the Midwife who birthed him) and Makayla (the nurse who was an angel throughout my labor)...

Makayla (left) and Carol (right)

     I had such a wonderful experience at the birth center throughout my entire pregnancy and birth that I almost can't wait to get pregnant again. How many people can say that they are sad to not be able to go to weekly appointments to see their healthcare providers? Apparently breastfeeding amenorrhea (lack of menstruation that comes with exclusive breastfeeding) is usually about 98% effective as "birth control" for the first six months. That's all the birth control I am willing to use, so I guess everyone should stay tuned in to see if that percentage is true for me. I will miss those ladies in the meantime. They really made my journey from unassuming little pregnant lady to full fledged mama more amazing and simple than I could have ever hoped. 

     I will start asking Forrest to take regular pictures of Augie from now on so that I can quit posting the terrible ones that I take. I can't WAIT to start having fun summer activities to do with my fellas, and I am also quite excited about letting Aug get to meet his newest peer,  Meredith Weldy! Congratulations, Lydia!! 

The Story of Augustine Ransom's Birth

     The night of April the 1st I began having what I described to my husband, Forrest, as "painful" contractions, and so I got a little excited that it might be time! Little did I know I was just in for a night of prodromal labor and that my first-time-mom butt had no idea what a "painful" contraction was.

      Cut to the next night, I had some more of these "painful" contractions, but I assumed (since it was my real due date and NO ONE in my family could possibly deliver any sooner than two weeks late) that it was more practice contractions, and so I decided to let Forrest sleep. He slept and slept. He slept through me getting in and out of the bathtub several times to try and cope with the pain. He slept through me trying to put counter pressure on my OWN back and tearing up every time I knew a another "fake" contraction was coming. I would like to officially state here that I am a superhero for not waking him up. I am glad I didn't because I needed him to be on the ball the next day, but seriously, I thought I was dying. Finally around 5 a.m. I moaned right in his face something about how I might very well be in labor, and he began to take notice. We pulled up the contraction timer on my tablet and started timing them to see if they were getting organized and regular. They were. WHAT. THE. CRAP. I can't have a baby! It's not time! (Is what I started telling Forrest when he informed me it was time to call the midwife and go in.) Lucky for me I have the most incredible, level headed, works-well-under-pressure husband ever. We called Leslie around 6 am and she agreed that I was likely to have the baby later that afternoon. Leslie's on-call shift was about to end and so we called Carol about an hour later and she agreed to meet us at 8:30 at the birth center. We also called my mom and dad to start driving up from Corpus Christi and one of my best friends:  the most incredible photographer I know, Sarah.  We got everything together and on the way to the birth center I had maybe one or two contractions that weren't that bad. Forrest started worrying that I had quit laboring, but little did he know that things were about to get real.

When we arrived at the birthing center, Makayla, the nurse on call with Carol, began her job of being amazing and wonderful. She got out two birth balls, and I sat on one while Forrest sat on the other and rubbed my back during contractions. By the way, the counter pressure was so great, it almost took the pain away during those earlier contractions. Poor Forrest would just try and do what I asked as I would call out, "Harder!  No, softer! Up! Down!" in rapid succession. To get my labor going faster, Makayla made me some Rasberry leaf tea with black and blue cohosh. It worked. The contractions got harder and more frequent. Carol then advised that we go outside and walk around during contractions to help them work better for me. We went out on the deck and I walked and walked and walked. I walked right through contractions and drank water and ate my peanut butter sandwich.

After a while we went back up into our room so that Carol could see how I was progressing. When I first got to the birth center that morning I was a 4, and when she checked me the second time around lunch time I was a 5! Since I went into this basically expecting to be in labor for days I was always happy with any progress. Right after being checked, Sarah arrived.  That was a fun moment. Forrest informed me that she was on her way up so I might want to put my pants back on (they were off from the aforementioned check) and when I declined and said I didn't care, he exclaimed, and I will never forget this,  "You have lost your modesty! That means you are getting close!" He learned that in the Bradley class. I love that man.

Soon after Sarah arrived, Makayla began filling up the tub for me to get into and I got super excited. Up to this point I was making jokes and talking through contractions. My mom got there just after I got into the tub and I cried when I saw her. I honestly believe that my labor became fast and furious at that point because I was waiting for her to get there. It was so important to me that she get to share in this incredible event in my life, and after driving 7 hours through tornadic weather, she arrived just in time!

When I first got into the tub it felt so nice, but soon the contractions became so tough that with each one I had to jolt up from my relaxed position and hang my head over the edge, blow air through my lips like a horse, and stroke a soft towel that was under my head to try and distract myself. I could no longer talk at all through them. I remember at this point looking at Sarah and mumbling "No flash!", which is why from then on she had to do what she could with a borrowed rebel camera at 1600 f 1.4 and only 4 candles lighting the room.

I wanted SO BADLY to have a water birth, but for whatever reason, being in the warm water made me feel faint and so Carol decided I needed to get out and cool off. Throughout my labor Makayla would frequently check the baby's heart rate, and it was always good, but I knew it was not safe for a laboring woman to feel woozy, so I got out and laid on the bed.

Carol checked me again and said I was a good 7 with some cervical lip that was being stubborn. She broke my water to help things along more and soon I got the feeling of being "pushy", but it did not feel like I thought it would. I was under the impression, based on some of the birth stories I had read, that I would like this feeling but I did not. I sat backwards on the toilet and pushed a little bit, and then Carol suggested I go and hang onto one of the posts of the bed while squatting on the floor. While I did this she held back the last bit of cervix that wouldn't recede while I pushed. This is where painful became excruciating. I said a few words during this time that ladies do not usually utter, I may have claimed that I truly was going to die, and I asked repeatedly how much longer it would be until it was over. Unfortunately there was no answer to my question at the time, but it would be less than an hour.

As it turns out it was for the best that I was way way into "labor land" by this point, because tornado sirens were going off and candles were being lit in case the power went out and I don't even recall noticing. According to Sarah it only took me about 6 pushing contractions at this point to get him all the way out once my cervical lip was gone. I did not know it at this point, but I had torn a bit toward the front of my lady area and so Carol asked me to lay on the bed. This was probably so that gravity would be off that area, and to decrease my bleeding. I pushed and pushed, and cursed and cursed, and before I knew it I felt the strangest feeling I have ever felt in my life. A head was coming out of me! Now THIS was the only part of second stage labor that I can say I liked. I knew it was almost over and I finally remembered why I was doing it.

After baby's head came out, Carol turned to Forrest and told him to reach down and grab his son. He was not prepared for this, and in his bewildered state went to grab the baby with one hand on either side of my left thigh. There was a moment of confusion as he realized that he could not pick the baby up that way. In my eternal impatience I did not wait for things to get figured out, and instead reached down, pulled Augustine Ransom Womack out of myself, and brought him to my chest at 4:26 p.m.  It is worth noting that my mother retold this part to all of her friends and relatives as if I had leaped a tall building in a single bound.

Forrest holds my hand while I get stitched up...

When Augie came out, it was like meeting someone I had known my entire life for the very first time. He was a little bit purple in the face because he was tilted slightly to the side before he came all the way out, and also he came out with his right hand against his face. Both of these things probably factored significantly into the ouchy-ness of my labor. His eyes were, and still are, big and dark blue. He has a full head of blond hair that flips me out every time I look at him. Three weeks in, and he is still not much of a crier but rather just lets out a yelp once and awhile as if to say, "HEY! I need milk/cuddles/a new diaper." I love to watch him sleep, and I just absolutely cannot believe that he is the same little person who grew inside of me for nine months.  The same little person I talked to, bargained with, and loved so much before I ever saw him. I can't wait to see who he becomes and then let him read this story, and all the others I plan to write, to remind him who he was when he first started out...

The Little Uterus that Could...

So I am pretty ticked. I have been all day, and I am finally coming to terms with my lack of labor. Not because I just feel like I want the baby out, but because I really thought I was in LABOR! Late last night I was having quite a few painful contractions (for the first time I can say these were the "real deal" and not Brx Hx) and finally dosed off at about 1am thinking "THIS MIGHT BE IT!!". Cut to about 4am, I wake up with more painful contractions AND my back, front, and even thighs ache like I am having a very bad menstrual time. I get up to pee several times through the night, I even go get a banana and some milk. I switch positions, I sit up for a while, and I even get on my and knees for a bit. The contractions never get into a pattern, but I figure early labor is like that, right? I call my mom at 6 am to see if she has a class scheduled to teach, and to warn her this MIGHT be the start of something!

Cut to 7 am, one hour later, when I step out of bed to get up for the day. NOTHING. Immediately I feel fine--as if I hadn't been in pain all night. What. The. Crap. Are you kidding me? Oh well. I read up on prodromal labor today, and at least I may have become more dilated, or gotten the Aug-Frog into a better position. Oh yeah, and I have a few more stretch marks, too. Harumph.

Current Stats:

How far along: 40 WEEKS!!!!
Weight gain: ??  I don't have my appt until Weds and I don't own a scale
Cravings: Sandwiches. 
Sleep: Grr.
Moods: Grumpy as heck
Stretch Marks: Yeah. Sigh.
What I Miss: My sanity.
Milestones: Serious contractions. 
Looking Forward To: The REAL DEAL!