Thrifty and Healthy!

Oh how do I love salad! It's one of the only things that makes a lunch actually makes me feel full and satisfied!

Wendy's tips for eating healthy:

1. Leave the chips and cakes at the store. When you get hungry mid-morning, there's nothing wrong with having a small lunch at 10:30 and then another lunch at 1:00 and then another lunch at 3:30.

2. Leave the ice cream at the store. When you're hankering for something sweet, reach for an apple! They are so sweet, crisp, and juicy!

3. Thirsty? Drink some water, duh! If you don't like the taste of plain, filtered water, there is something wrong with you and you need to get over it.

4. If you are really hungry and your only/fastest option is the nearest Burger King, then don't get fries and don't get a soda, instead: get both a burger and a chicken sandwich and a cup of water. Then, don't let it happen again by packing 4 granola bars in your purse/bag for the next eating emergency and think ahead before you leave anywhere and pack a sandwich and apple if you anticipate hunger.

5. Never go to any Olive Garden, TGIF Fridays, etc. unless you're celebrating something (3 times a year) and feel free to eat anything you want: just drink only water and don't get a dessert.

6. Go to the grocery store 2 times a week to ensure a continuous supply of fresh lettuce and bananas.

9 months

Moving wasn't as bad as I had feared it would be after all and living here isn't as bad either. The cons about living here are: not across the street from the store, is cold, higher utility costs, maintenance, yard work. Although it can be harder to live in a big house than in a small apartment, the extra space does give a little more freedom. I put the futon mattress on the floor in the baby's room and now I sleep with her or leave her in there sleeping without worrying that she'll fall off and hurt herself. Since the house is owned by a family member, we don't have to pay rent: we just have to pay the property taxes and utilities and help fix it up. And the family members that moved out left us some sweet furniture.

It would seem selfish to keep this big house to ourselves, so I would like to rent the upstairs bedroom to someone. The idea is kind of scary and it would have to be someone that we trust. Or, should I just keep it available for visiting family members?

Since it's pretty cold in the house, I have to keep some clothes on the baby. So now I only sit her on the potty whenever she wakes up in the morning or from a nap and whenever I change her diaper. Crystal is still getting taller, of course. The last time that I sat Crystal on a bathroom scale, she weighed 20 lbs. Her shots appointment is next week and hopefully it won't give her a fever this time. I think that I want to space my kids 3 years apart, what do you think?

8 Months

Crystal has been crawling for 1 1/2 months now and she now pulls herself to standing very easily. Before, she would pull herself up and get stuck, but now she can also easily lower herself! She can take a couple of steps while holding but prefers to get down and crawl in order to get somewhere. I keep trying to find a baby that has been crawling as early as she (at 6-7 months), but I haven't found one yet. Out of curiosity, have you found any babies like this? Tell me more about them! When do they start walking?

Crystal has two bottom teeth now and will get the top two teeth soon. She only nurses to sleep now and won't suck on her pacifier anymore and will only play with it, so she has officially graduated from the pacifier. I was afraid of having to force the pacifier away when she would turn one but now I don't have to worry about it. Now I am wondering about how she will relax herself in the future when there isn't nursing: whether it'll be difficult or whether it will come naturally.

She's getting better at picking up little things, like cherios, with her fingers but still needs more practice. She has just started practicing some more consonant sounds like "dadada" and she acts so silly when she does, smiling and with her tongue flapping.

I got tired of Crystal's diaper rashes about a month ago, so Crystal has been naked for most of the time that she's at home now. I've been sitting Crystal on the potty when she seems like she's about to pee. Though, since it requires me to watch her constantly, she often ends up going on the floor. Since it's more obvious when she needs to poop, we always make it to the potty for that. It's easy also because she poops at the same time every day: after she wakes up in the morning. Hopefully, now she'll transition easily to going to the potty on her own in a few months.

I had been continuing to let her go in her diaper while we sleep at night and taking off the over-full diaper in the morning until last night when I tried sitting her on the potty (that I kept next to the bed) throughout the night. Each time we awoke, she wouldn't nurse until after she went pee anyways. It surprisingly went smoother than making her go in her diaper, since she peed more quickly when I sat her on the potty than when she was laying on her back in a diaper. We woke up a 5 am this morning and I actually felt rested! The potty had so much urine in it--I can't believe that the diaper had been holding so much before.

Other news: Steve has been sanding the floors in the house for these past few days. He may have to take another day or two off of work to finish the project. We're moving on the 27th.

About photo: Crystal was a dinosaur for Halloween and we took her trick-or-treating!

How to put this ...

Alison is moving out and we're moving into her place in College Park. I'm sad that they are moving away to Utah. We'll still be around since we're only moving 3 miles but I'm sad about leaving our ward and leaving Greenbelt. Since it will be a lot of empty space, let me know whether anyone wants to rent a bedroom or two from us. We'll now also have the space to get and store our own Christmas tree, so thanks anyways, Merinda! :)

Hooray for Baby!

We misplaced our camera, but I wanted to write a post anyways. At her 6-month appointment, Crystal measured 17 lbs and 3 oz, 25 1/2 inches long, and 17 inches around head. At 6 1/2 months, Crystal is now really crawling! She also surprised me by pulling herself to standing! Crazy. I read online that babies typically don't do these things until they're at least 8 months. Crystal still has no teeth, but I can see her individual teeth underneath what seems to be a thin layer of transparent gums.

Crystal's diaper rash was making her do a hurting cry, so I left her diaper off this morning for it to heal. So, I read a little online about infant potty training. Even though she's past the ideal starting age of 4 months, as she is 6 1/2 months, I took Crystal immediately to the toilet after she whizzed on the floor anyways. I sat on the toilet backwards holding her up by her thighs in front of me. She started grunting and kick-pushing the toilet lid in front of her and she pooped in the toilet!

Throughout the rest of the day, I sat on the back rim of the toilet while holding Crystal in front of me between my legs. She also peed in the toilet in the afternoon. I was so happy with this that it didn't bother me whatsoever that I had to also clean up multiple pees and poops from the floor. I was learning when and how she tends to go. I already knew that she tends to do a squeaky grunt when she goes pee and a grunty grunt when she goes poop.

Other news, we bought Crystal's Halloween costume online and I'm really excited to actually celebrate Halloween this year! Speaking of holidays, if anyone has an extra small Xmas tree, we may want to borrow it! Speaking of borrowing, we could still use
more baby clothes size 9M and up. :)

6 Months!

Gnarl slurp grunt

Lately Crystal has been crying whenever I don't let her grab food from my plate. I've given her a couple bites of oatmeal puree, but lately I've been letting her gnaw on some carrots. I think that I like the idea of letting her explore the texture of adult food and practice biting and chewing even though she hasn't any teeth. Don't worry, I keep a close eye on her and I won't give her something that she can totally fit into her mouth. It would be a plus if she is getting some nutrients from licking and biting the outside of the food, though, as she's not yet 6 months old, she doesn't need to actually ingest it.

Wet Grass

Crystal is 5 months old now. I am still breastfeeding her. Instead of cutting her off when she's 1, I kind of like the idea of letting her wean herself or stop whenever I'm pregnant again after she's 2. I hope that I won't be throwing up as bad during my next pregnancy because that was the worst.

I tried sleep training for one day and decided that I really love holding the baby all of the time. The sacrifice of hurting back is way worth the sweet closeness that I get in return. :) And, seldomly, if I put her down in an exact place at the exact moment and cover her with the blanket in an exact way, she'll dose off on her own. This has worked only a couple times so far but I'm eager to see her gently learn at her own pace how to fall asleep.

We've stopped looking for houses. Partly because the tax credit deadline has passed and partly because of our fear of being tied down. Also, I really love it in our small apartment in Greenbelt. I know that we can't live there as Crystal gets bigger, but I would like to move to something that's a lot like it where there are beautiful walking paths and a grocery store and bank within walking distance.

Speaking of the outdoors, Crystal seems to be fussy all the time unless we go sit outside and then she's the perfect angel. Lately, we've been spending a lot of time outside but the mosquitoes are killer, so I have to wear long sleeves and pants while we're out in the heat.

Momentarily Sits

Pretty good for a 4-month-old! She's also moving around a lot on her back and comfortably rolling in both directions!


Crystal's new sound that she's been working on is: loud gasping. I'm sometimes wonder whether she'll make herself pass-out while breathing like that. She does make herself cough though. Last week's sound was: constant raspberries.

Since church made Crystal not get enough napping and she was less happy, I've lately been trying to be more diligent about following her nap schedule and bedtime.

I've also just started using sign language with her so that she'll be able to tell me more easily in a few months when she's hungry, tired, sick, etc. Yay! Fun!

I'm planning on not going back to work full-time. But, they might let me keep working part-time from home until my replacement is hired in a year or so.

We're resuming the house-search this week. We're visiting three 3+ bedroom houses in Lanham/Riverdale/Hyattsville for around $100K.

Sleeping Crystal

4 1/2 months now. She had a 2-month-long break from rolling and now she is reliably rolling again; still just from front to back though. I recorded a video but my internet speed won't allow me to do anything else on the internet if I were to upload it for a few hours.

Crystal is so full of energy all of the time that it's still difficult to get her to sleep when she's tired. The only thing that will calm her down enough for bed time is to hold her while walking around. Otherwise, she transforms into a irritated banshee, squealing at the top of her lungs. With how big she has gotten, it has become increasingly difficult to constantly hold her. Lately, I've only been holding her for 5-minute increments before putting her back down to sleep/play.

Ever since before she was born, I was considering using Ferber's "cry-it-out" method when she would be old enough for it. Now, I think I'd rather continue what I'm doing, which is the walk-her-around-until-her-eyes-are-droopy method. This way, she doesn't ever cry all day and all night and she still gradually learns to go to sleep on her own as she's still awake when she's put to bed. She is also able to go to sleep anywhere, which is helpful when we're not at home. Maybe when I'm older and have more children I won't have the energy for carrying her around all of the time, but maybe I will have, with the experience, found easier ways to do it all.

I also don't want to let her cry herself to sleep because when I do let her cry it out after I'm too tired to comfort her anymore, I eventually pick her up anyways, try feeding her and learn that she's actually hungry and not just cranky. So, I don't want to make the mistake of trying to make her cry herself to sleep when she's actually hungry. Again, by the time I have more babies, I may be better at recognizing hunger before the crying starts. I can read a newborn's hunger cues but not a 4 month-old's.

She has pretty good naps: 8-9am,12-2pm, and 4-6pm. I'm pretty happy with the night-time wakings for the most part, as I'm only awake for a short time while I nurse her and she goes straight back to sleep. She is still waking up every 3-4 hours or so. Apparently My own sleep rhythm seems to have matched this because I woke up last night around 12:30 only a minute before Crystal woke up to eat. Though, I've always tended to wake up multiple times throughout the night anyways even before I was pregnant: nightmares, stress, snoring, who knows why.

One thing that I wish is that Crystal would go to sleep before 9 pm so that Steve and I can stare into each other's eyes, hold hands, and say sweet nothings to each other each night. Oh well, I guess that we'll have to remember to do these things while half-ignoring the baby or wait till Saturday.

New skills

Crystal is still growing strong and learning lots! She also just started sucking on her lower lip. Makes me laugh every time. She likes to screech at the top of her lungs whenever she wants attention. She also wants to stand most of the time. She is even getting better at grabbing and picking up nearby toys. And best of all, when she's sleeping, now I can put her anywhere (ex. on the floor) and she will wake up momentarily and go back to sleep! She even slept on the floor at church! (I guess that the trick is to keep trying it even when you expect it not to work.)

Also, at her 4-months appointment, Crystal measured at 14 lbs, 11 oz, 25 1/2 inches long, and 16 inches around her head.

Beach House 2010

Last week was our annual Kelley family beach house trip to Buxton, NC. This year was different though because we brought our new little addition. I was a little nervous that I wouldn't have much of a "vacation" while taking care of her but it turned out to be better and happier than I was fearing.

I planned on going to bed early with her every night instead of staying up playing board games with the adults. I ended up staying up to play Nertz for two nights because that's my favorite game ever. On the other nights, someone mentioned Scrabble and I promptly went to bed since that is the most boring game ever. I like to play Risk with them only if I start in a good position since it can be depressing if I'm the one with only a handful of countries in Asia. I wasn't in the mood to play it this year.

My ultimate favorite thing to do at the beach each year is to go swimming in the ocean. I only got a few chances to swim this time. Wah. Sad Wendy.

This year, we left on Friday and stayed at a motel in NC so that we could arrive at the beach house earlier on Saturday. The swimming pool at really warm water so Crystal was pretty happy in it. She was totally trying to swim around and I was fighting to keep her head above the water. The last time that she went swimming, Dale and Tammy's pool was a little too cold for her and she was crying because of it until I gave up trying to get her used to the water temperature and took her out.

At the beach house, Crystal's not a fan of the cold water as we dipped her feet a little bit in the ocean. The baby pool got filled with some water and once that warmed up, she really enjoyed sitting, laying, and splashing in that. Even more, she enjoyed being in the hot tub. The very short time that we allowed her in, she spent splashing, kicking, and trying to dive.

Don't worry: we kept the baby in enough sunblock even though the bottle says to ask a doctor if she's under 6 months old. Doctor Mom says yes: we don't want the baby sunburned.

Crystal loved all of the family members constantly goggling at her. She started smiling and laughing almost every time anyone looked at and talked to her. Such a happy baby! I must be an excellent mother! ha.

I had recently bought a swimming suit that would fit my larger nursing breasts but it's a string bikini. I wanted to be able to match a different size top and bottom. If I got a swimsuit where the bottom fit, then my breasts would be falling out. If I got one where the top fit, then I would be flashing people the other way. The adjustable ties are good because even though my breasts are large, I can make it tight around my slender back. I would've gotten a tank-ini if I saw any that would work. Oh the dilemma! Even though Steve doesn't approve of it, I wore the skimpy swimsuit anyways. At least I tried to stay covered while I wasn't in the water. I didn't want to look saggy, so I wore it so tight that it was actually quite uncomfortable as the string dug into my neck.

Every year it seems that Steve gets sick and has a miserable time. It was no different this year except that everyone else got sick at the same time. I merely had a slight sore throat, runny nose, and a little cough. Crystal also got a cough and a slight runny nose. Steve, on the other hand, got those things but much worse plus a 102 degree fever. He seems to always suffer worse from getting sick than I do. He tends to get a sinus infection along with it. Maybe it's a genetic thing? Ear infections tend to run in his family though he, himself, doesn't seem to get those specifically. I really hope that Crystal won't be prone to ear infections.

Beach Photos

Find the Baby #2

Crib Baby

Steve's coworkers gave us a $160 gift certificate to Babies-R-Us, so we got Crystal some new toys yesterday. We got her a teething ring, too, since I think that she has started teething. We'll save the rest of the gift cert for when she's older or when we need something.


Crystal has been sleeping in bed with us basically since birth because she wouldn't go to sleep or stay asleep in her bassinet. Now, as she's 3 1/2 months old, she's no longer considered a newborn. So it is safe to let her cry it out a little bit without losing her trust.

I set the crib up today and she took her first crib nap after only a few minutes of her yelling and me periodically replacing the pacifier and blanky. The bed in our beach house room will not fit the three of us, so Crystal may be using a pack-n-play to sleep in. So, we will need to practice having her sleep in the crib before the upcoming beach trip.


Crystal's aunt, Karen, will be in town soon and we are so excited for them to meet the new baby!

We put an offer on a house in Mt. Ranier but we were out-bid. We're going to continue the house hunt in August.

Baby Wendy

Everyone seems to say the Crystal looks exactly like me. So, for your pleasure, these are some of my own baby photos:




Different from Crystal, I had a lot of hair and brown eyes. I think that my nose is different too. So, from her dad, she at least got his nose, baby baldness, and blue eyes. Everything else Crystal and I seem to have in common.

Almost 3 months

I can wear 6-9 months clothes now! It's funny how the average 3-6 month year old would fit in 6-9 months clothes. I think that whoever labeled the sizes for baby clothes wants mothers to feel like their baby is ahead of the game when the baby is merely average. Crystal is super tall though.

Crystal loves going outside while she's awake. If not, she is fussy. So, I've been spending a lot of time walking/sitting around Old Greenbelt like one of those old ladies. :)

I had put on offer a house in Riverdale but we were out-bid. Looking at more houses this week.

Search and Find

Find the baby! Other things in picture: a spyglass, the yellow pages, a cell phone, an Edgar Allan Poe book, baby links, and an elephant.

2 1/2 months

At 2 1/2 months, Crystal got bored today. She was screaming her guts out until Steve picked her up and let her look out the window. He then put her in her rocky-chair to look at her baby links and she was fine for a few minutes like that too. Then he picked her up and showed her the window again and walked around the apartment with her and then walked outside. I was making her cry-it-out. When she's tired, she tends to go to sleep after 12 minutes of 3-minute cries. Steve couldn't handle that; he is too sweet. After they came back, she fell asleep instantly when I snuggled with her.

At her 2 month appointment, she measured at 12 lbs, 3 oz, 24.5 inches long, and 15 inches around head. She is really long! I've still been trying to get a video of her rolling the other direction but she only seems to do it when she's hungry and in the middle of the night.

We put down an offer on a house in Riverdale this week but there are multiple offers on it. We'll see.

Rolling

At 2 months, my baby is doing what most don't do until 4 months!



Her first time was when she was more like 1 1/2 month.

As far as rolling from back to tummy, she still needs some work. She usually would do it from her side to her tummy and then her arm is still caught underneath her. And, she only does it spontaneously.

Eight Weeks

I'm improving my mother skills each day as I can get her to sleep within 20 minutes of holding and moving her the right ways. During the day, she's been getting hungry about every 2 hours exactly making it easier on me to know when to expect to feed her. I've usually been able to get 2 hours of work in each day while she sleeps on me. At night, she gets hungry every four hours as I typically feed her at 9pm, 1am, and 5am.

Steve had been getting frustrated lately as he tended to get stuck with the baby when she's crying and he can't get her to stop. So now I make sure to give Steve more chances to hold her when she's happy and asleep so that he would feel happier with the baby. This has been working pretty well.


She has always been a strong baby and it appears that she is somewhat ahead for her age as she has already rolled over from both her back and her tummy!


It seems that her arms and legs are getting too long for some of her 0-3 month clothes, so I tried her in some of her 3-6 month clothes and some of those seem to fit! I'm curious to see her weight and length at her 2 month appointment next week.


The structural engineer basically said that the house that we had been looking at is in terrible condition, so we pulled out of the contract, and will resume looking at other houses.

Taking a Shower

Well, the vibrating rocker didn't put her to sleep, but it kept her happy for my whole shower! Well, it did as long as I kept reaching out to reinsert her pacifier over and over.

Motherly Experiments

I learn things about being a mother every day. I also forget things every day.

Crystal has just recently only been giving me one 4 hour sleep block instead of two at night and I haven't returned to daytime sleeping because Crystal won't sleep with me in bed during the day any more even though she easily returns to sleep in the middle of the night. The only thing that will put her to sleep during the day is if I wear her in a sling. Taking her out of it wakes her up, so I've been baby-wearing these past couple of days. I'm fine with it though because I can do stuff with both hands when I wear her. I might start doing some work soon.

I still need to figure out when to take my shower. The middle of the night might be easiest for a shower even though I should be sleeping instead. Maybe we'll try a shower after giving the baby to Steve after he comes home. I noticed her quietly watching me from across the room while I was putting away groceries today. Perhaps she'll be fine if I sit her down in the bathroom within eye sight of me while I take my shower. I don't know whether she can recognize me through our clear shower curtain though. Maybe I can sit her in a place where she can peek through the back side of the curtain at me.

I wonder whether all babies do the same things that she does. For instance, since as early as her 2nd week, I've occasionally noticed her laughing. There are some experts that say that newborn smiles really aren't from gas and that they are genuine. I would never understand what she's thinking about when she suddenly bursts into smiles. It's usually when she's sleepy and relaxed. Also, she really likes to suck. Even her cry is really cute.

After always staring at her, I think that she has Steve's shaped eyes and his color eyes, Steve's hair, Steve's nose, Steve's hands, my mouth, my cheeks, and my chin. I'm interested to see how our next child would compare. For no reason, I have a feeling that we would have another girl. Too early to think about that yet, I guess. I wouldn't want to freak out Steve.

As far as the house search goes, we just got the appraisal report. It seems to have been appraised at a value only slightly higher than the price we offered. Aw shucks. The house inspection is scheduled for Thursday night and then we'll decide on whether we want the house next week.

Club Foot

Steve got worried about the increase in yellow nastiness coming out of Crystal's eyes, so I took her to the pediatrician on Tuesday and he said that it is just from her clogged tear ducts and told me to massage them at her diaper changes. He also prescribed some optional eye drops and said that the problem could last for 4 months and wants to know if it is not gone by then. She was weighed at 9 lbs, 10 oz. Perfect growth.

The appointment with an orthopedic specialist was yesterday. He basically said that she has border-line club feet and wants me to stretch them at diaper changes for a month and then we'll go in for an appointment and if there hasn't been any improvement, she'll get the casts.

I've expressed some breast milk and given her a bottle a couple of times already in the past couple weeks. Having a bottle on hand was a life saver when we were in the waiting room for only 5 minutes and in the exam room at the orthopedic clinic. She was able to eat while the doctor looked at her feet.

Crystal has become more fussy lately as she sometimes have been crying when she's not hungry. I've found this to mean that she's tired even though no matter what I did, she wouldn't relax. I've found that letting her cry it out for 5 minutes by herself tires her enough so that she'll finally start relaxing after we pick her up.

We have a ratified contract on the house in North Brentwood and are going to sign the mortgage application for it at the lenders this afternoon. Meanwhile, our agent is trying to get the seller to turn on the utilities for the inspection.

Life With Baby

I didn't want to start using the pacifier until after another couple of weeks but, at day 8, Steve introduced it anyways. I wasn't angry though because the tired baby automatically stopped fussing and I know that Steve only did it because he was wanted to give me some relief. So far, it looks like Crystal is still latching onto the breast the same, but she seems confused for a couple of seconds when given the pacifier. The only time that she seems to need it is at 8 pm at night, or fussy time. Otherwise, she wants to "comfort nurse" and be constantly attached to my nipples for 5 hours until she's able to sleep.

I've picked up some tricks which help things. After nursing, if she'll sleep while I'm holding her, then I can keep her snuggled on me and sleep in our bed. She seems to stay asleep this way and, during the night, she sleeps for 4 hours at a time. Don't worry: I won't roll onto her. My carefulness tends to cause me to freeze my body and seemingly sleep with both eyes open. Lately, the bassinet only seems to be keeping her asleep for 15 minutes at a time, no matter how snugly bundled she is. I'll keep in mind that I should move her out of the bed as early as I can, while she's still young or when she's less upset, in a few months I suppose.

I'm pretty much back in the same shape as I was before the pregnancy, except for my chest, as I had only gained 7 lbs. I'm probably one pants size bigger due to the change in my bone structure. I already owned clothes that were too big anyways, so no big deal. The birth hardly injured me at all as I physically feel much better now than when I was pregnant. I was even able to go to church on Sunday, at two weeks. The baby stayed asleep basically the whole time and I only had to feed her once. So, I was able to play the piano in Primary.

Other news: It turns out that we didn't get the contract on that one house. We put an offer on a different house instead, one in North Brentwood which seems to not require any repairs or upgrades, for 126K. Moving there would probably put us in the College Park Ward. Though, for some reason, I'm not sure that I like the idea of being in church with Steve's parents. I'll get over it, I guess.

Crystal's Doctor Visit #1

Just came back from the pediatrician. Although babies are expected to weigh less than their birth weight after a week, Crystal has gone up from 8lb-1oz to 8lb-4oz. I guess that all of that feeding did her some good!

Plus, Doc says that she's very strong since she can hold up her head. Though, her right foot is a little crooked, so we got referred to an orthopedic specialist.

Feeding Frenzy

All I ask for is a 1-hour nap! Crystal was on a constant feeding binge last night from 8:30 pm to 2 am. She just finished another one from 12:30 to 4:30 pm (at least I think she's finished).

Is Crystal being a special case of demanding? I've been topless for most of the night and day. She also poops about 8 diapers a day: about 3-times the minimum required amount.

Now it's my turn to get something to eat. At least I got two 2-hour naps this morning. At what age do newborns slow down? At this point, it seems that she is only speeding up.

All of this pregnancy, childbirth, and nursing has made me feel very womanly.

Crystal's First Week

The Birth Story

Sunday, March 14th

7 AM: I wake up before having an uncomfortable contraction followed by a squirt of fluid. I run to the bathroom to leak over the toilet and I have a bowel movement. I had taken my timer along with me and was timing a few uncomfortable contractions while sitting there. I continue timing my contractions as I sit half-naked on a towel in the bedroom and notice an hour's worth of contractions 2-3 minutes apart. I tell Steve that I'm in labor, I call the midwife, and we start some last-minute packing of my tooth brush and snacks and so forth.

For each contraction, I seem to prefer either being on my hands and knees or standing and bent over a table or rail. The Lamaze slow breathing was actually helping too.

9 AM: We make it to Prince George's Hospital Center. In the triage, the midwife confirms my labor as she says that I'm only 3 cm dilated and cannot labor in the birthing center until I'm 5 cm dilated. She also confirms that my membranes are ruptured. This was almost obvious as I had been squirting everywhere for two hours. So we head to a standard labor and delivery room for me to labor in until I'm more dilated.

In the labor room, the worst part of this were all of the questions that people were asking me while in labor. Steve was asking me things like "are you alright" and "anything I can do?" My mother-in-law asks the same question: "anything I can do?" The nurses ask me questions for their paperwork: "on a scale from 1 to 10, 10 being the worst pain you've ever felt, what is your pain?" I'm thinking "STOP BOTHERING ME!" as I am in the middle of a million contractions.

11:15 AM: The midwife checks my cervix and says that I'm 9-cm dilated and we start heading to the birth center room. I later realize, because of my shakes, that I was starting the friggin' transition phase of labor while people were bothering me in the labor room.

In the birth center room, the nurses attempt to fill the tub for me. They can't get the water to be clear enough as it's not used often enough. After only a few contractions, I say that I'm ready to push and I am put on my back on the bed. I have no idea whether this is the best position for pushing, but I would agree that it is the best position for resting between the pushes.

For each push, I held my legs back along with Steve holding my left leg and foot and Cindy, Steve's mom, holding my right leg and foot. The midwife says, at each contraction to push hard and like I'm "having a BM" (bowel movement). I am also supposed to put my chin down for each push and I forget to do that. I also forget/don't care about doing the Lamaze breathing for this pushing stage as I quickly pant a few times before the big inhale before the push. On the "exhale," I tend to go "ingggggggg" and do it probably without letting out enough air since I was later told that my face was turning purple and my face's blood vessels popped like they do when I throw up. Perhaps it's expected to be like this. Anyways, the most painful part is when the baby's head is half-way out and it stings so much that I'm afraid to push to get her the rest of the way out. Of course, I force myself to anyways.

12:44 PM: The baby is born on the bed in the birthing center. I hear the nurse give her an A.P.G.A.R. score of 9. I am hardly damaged at all as I hear that I got 4 stitches on my inside though I eventually got pretty swollen. They hook me up to a Pitocin IV to contract my uterus and reduce the bleeding and I try to initiate breast feeding but the baby isn't interested in latching right now.

I can't believe that I was in labor for only 5 hours and 44 minutes before having my first baby and I did it completely natural, without any drugs or intervention, as I had planned. Though, I don't know if we even had enough time to put something in me even if I wanted it. I suppose that I should get a home-birth midwife for the next baby as it would be expected born even faster that the first.

Baby born

Crystal Dawn Kelley
12:44 PM, March 14, 2010
8 lbs, 1 oz
20.5 in

Stay tuned for the story

Baby to Arrive Soon

My due date was yesterday. At my appointment this morning, the midwife checked my cervix and everything is perfect. I am 90% effaced and 1 cm dilated and the baby is at station 0. Maybe she will come this week. If not, then definitely next week.

It looks like we may not get the house that we almost had a contract on after all. I'll give it another day before we start looking at more houses.

Photo 1:
taken 1 day before due date
Photo 2:
the bedroom setup for baby

Baby Preparations

So much to think about; so much to do.

The baby is due March 7: 16 days from now. We have a ratified contract on a house on 68th Ave, east of Capital Plaza Mall. We're figuring out the sellers' legal issues before scheduling the inspection.

I'm expecting the baby to come before we close on the house. So, I'm getting organized. Things to do: We're going to take down the crib and put up the bassinet and the glider-rocker. I'll also pack my hospital suitcase and install the car seat in one of our cars. Steve will put on the replacement side-view mirror that we just received (someone smashed the previous one after the snow storm).

I had my second baby shower and still did not get any diapers, so I'll just go ahead and buy those this weekend along with other things that I still need: diapers, wipes, rash ointment, bras, nursing pads, nipple cream, breast pump, bottles, pacifiers, baby record book, massage oil, and new age CDs.

I'd like to get an eye doctor's appointment and a dentist appointment in. I also need to get some more quarters for laundry.

I've pretty much finished what I wanted to get done at work before my coworkers take over for me. I'm still trying to get my donated leave pool set up for me to use for the 6 weeks after the birth since I don't have enough sick leave saved up to cover that. After that, I plan on staying on part-time from home working 1 hour/day or so.

Latest health info: everything's good, except that the baby is posterior. So, I should be expecting to have back labor when the time comes: ow. Apparently I'm still vomiting occasionally (1/month) as I threw up Wednesday night's dinner. I've gained 22 lbs so far this pregnancy.

"Snow-mageddon"

A tree hit our apartment building in Greenbelt, MD around 8am Saturday morning but went through someone else's windows. Our power went out around 9am. Steve decided that we should escape for the day because we wouldn't be able to cook anything without power. Steve's parents came with their Explorer and picked us up. Yay! We spent a lovely day and night at their house and are now ready this Sunday afternoon to return home and check whether the power is back on yet. We got 22-30 inches of snow. The men had been re-shoveling about twice everyday. Church for today was canceled for the whole stake.


We'll have to dig my car out so that I can go to my prenatal appointment tomorrow.

Sonogram at 35 weeks (8 months)

They said that the baby is 5 lbs, 6 oz and estimated a due date of March 17th, 10 days after my actual due date. So, it looks like I'm all set to have a smaller than average baby or give birth 2 weeks late.

At my last prenatal appointment, my uterus only measured at 31 instead of 35, but the midwife said that it may be because the head is down really low. The baby is also posterior, facing forward. This explains the clobbering that I get up front and the soreness in my back. There are also feet jabbering my rib cage.

I was prescribed some iron to take in addition to my prenatal vitamins to treat my anemia. The directions say to not take it within 2 hours after or one hour before eating any food. Ugh, so in order to take my iron, I need to starve myself for 3 hours twice a day. Whatever.

Baby Shower: Part 1

I just got home from the ward's baby shower for me.

Things that I have enough of now: newborn onesies, newborn nightwear, receiving blankets, burp rags, towels, crib sheets, and a car seat. Thank you!

Things that I still need: diapers and wipes, rash ointment, rubbing alcohol and cotton swabs, baby soap, sponges, baby first-aid kit, breast pump, bottles and bottle brush, nursing pads, pacifiers, 6 month clothes, baby monitor, toys...

Home Search 2

Well, Prince George's county just announced that it is running out of money for its NSP (Neighborhood Stabilization Program). So, I guess that we now can no longer get the $3000 from them for buying a foreclosure. Oh well.

We plan on going out one more time to visit houses on Saturday before making a decision on one. It appears that the only affordable ones are where the public schools (Templeton EM) and the crime (burglaries/car thefts) are a little worse than other areas. After moving there, if I can't get our first kid into the Robert Goddard Montessori school, then I would probably resort to homeschooling. We'll see.

Anyways, if we got a 3 bedroom house, I was thinking that we'd only live in it for 6 years before getting something bigger. So, perhaps a 4 bedroom house with some storage space would be more ideal for a longer term. I have no idea how many children we're going to have or how room-sharing would work out among the number of girls/boys. In any case, the house that we get will also require some repairs before it can be livable.

Our favorite house so far is in Riverdale with 2 bedrooms on the main floor, and 3 bedrooms in a finished basement for $89,900. It also has a huge attic with floorboards in it. Things that would need fixing/replacing: the three cracked radiators, all the broken basement windows, and the moldy wall. The hardwood floors will also need a refinishing. We'll need to see if something needs to be done to the gigantic tree threatening the power lines and other people's houses. Anyways, I don't want to spend more than $5000 on the necessary repairs. If we decide on it, we'd need to get a couple of professionals to check it out first.

Home Search

On Saturday, Steve and I attended a home buyer's course. Yesterday, we looked at 5 bank-owned houses with our agent. It was a new experience for us. I think that we might go out one more time to look at a few more before deciding on one. I'm looking for a 3+ bedrooms for under $100,000.

I'd like to buy something before April 30th so that we can get the $8000 federal tax credit. I was thinking that we can use that money to help pay the monthly payments for two years or until Steve gets a raise or a new job. We have about $15000 saved up so far that I would like to use on repairs and as a large down payment so that we could earn more equity faster.

One thing to watch carefully is the property tax. The last house we looked at was pretty sweet and had a low price but it was in Bladensburg where there is an additional city tax. There is no way I'd pay about $7000 ($600/month) solely on property taxes. We wouldn't have visited it if I noticed this beforehand.

Pregnancy update: 33 weeks pregnant now with 7 weeks left.

We've been attending Lamaze classes. Out of the 6 pregnant women there, even though we are all due around the same week, I seem to be the smallest. Though, my uterus has been measuring well at my prenatal appointments and I've been gaining 1 lb/week. I guess that I just have a small body to start with. I haven't any stretch marks. I almost fainted during the last class. I must not have been drinking enough water during that day.

So far, we scored some baby clothes, a rocker, a boppy, and a crib. I'm happy to accept any other hand-me-downs. Diapers are the most needed, of course. My ward's baby shower for me is for Jan 30. The family+other baby shower Feb 6th?

7 Months Pregnant

Nine more weeks left until my due date. I just bought some maternity clothes from the thrift store. If any of you want to get baby gifts, please by all means give us some hand-me-downs rather than buying anything new. There are some higher quality clothing at thrift stores than at target.

My new nurse-midwife felt that the baby's head is down low with the the butt up high. My uterus measured at 30 cm which is good at 31 weeks. I haven't had any swelling and I don't have any stretch marks [yet]. Also, my nipples, apparently, are in good shape for breast feeding and that when I will breast feed that the baby's mouth needs to be over top of the colored parts too. We may go for a tour of the birthing center on Friday. Our Lamaze class starts this Wednesday.

My mom and I haven't had much of a relationship since she was diagnosed with bipolar disorder and schizophrenia 15 years ago, but we got to talking a little the other day about pregnancies. I was asking her about her pregnancies and childbirths and I learned some things about her that I never knew.

She had vomiting and had bedridden herself in the first trimester just like I basically did. She said that she had figured out a painless childbirth method for herself that combined Lamaze, hypnosis, and new age music, and that she was willing to teach it to me. It's funny that I just assumed that she had epidurals like everyone else but I guess that her and I are more alike than I had thought.

Steve put his resume on monster.com and he got a call from some bank. I told him that he could have an interview with them anyways but maybe not take the job unless he's willing to have a career change.

We had Steve's parents over for dinner on Sunday and they thought that catfish is a weird idea but they were okay once they tasted it. It's been my favorite fish to eat this past month.