Life with Sweet Camille

Ain't it grand! It's been abut 3 1/2 weeks with this wonderful, delightful, sweet, alert, etc. baby and I don't know if it feels longer or shorter. Between the feedings, diaper changes, gazes into her eyes, pumpings, cries that break your heart and charming hiccups, time just passes and we haven't really tried to figure out if it is going by slowly or fast. In a few months I'm sure it will be going way too fast. A summary of life so far...

(this was what I started to write on Sunday...)

It's been a wonderful and wonder filled 3 weeks so far! In a way it's hard to believe Camille is already 3 weeks old and some ways it seems like she has always been in our life. She has changed so much already! Camille (aka: Spud Monkey, Sweet Petunia, Sweet Pea, Baby Lady, Sugar Bear...) arrived at 1:56pm on Sunday, March 22nd -- her due date! Wouldn't you know the daughter of a mother who hates running late and a father who is exceedingly punctual would arrive when she was due!

The labor story: On Saturday, I had had a full week off work to get everything prepared and was feeling like I might have to return to work if the baby didn't come. So, Eric and I did a little research and found a variety of things that may bring on labor. #1: Walking -- we went to Lake Lynn (a local walking trail around a pretty lake that is about 2.5 miles around). Here we are pausing (there was a lot of pausing) on the walk.

#2: Eat pineapple (random!) -- off to the grocery for pineapple! We dined on that for dessert after #3: Eat spicy food -- we ate at Dos Taquitos, a wonderful local Mexican restaurant. At dinner, I casually asked Eric, "So, when do you think I will go into labor?" Eric replied, "I think you're going to go into labor tonight." (My husband sure can predict things...read on for an even greater prediction). So after spicy food, pineapple and a walk among other things, 11:00pm rolls around and I start feeling more consistent contraction feelings. Hmmm..."you might have been right, honey!' We go to bed and about every 3 hours I feel twinges of something happening. At 4:45am I wake Eric up as the contractions start feeling even more consistent and painful. Timing starts now. By 6:00, they were between 4 minutes and 3 1/2 minutes apart (the birthing coach said to call the hospital when they were 5 minutes apart...egads!). Off we go to Duke! I remember birds singing as we left, which was nice. Once in the triage unit, I was already 3 cm dilated. Progress! I was in this small room (triage) for about 3 hours waiting for a labor and delivery room. As I muched on a banana, drank OJ and used my meditation techniques for breathing, in rolls a screaming woman, clearly in labor, wailing like the best of them. Bless her heart. (Is that what I'm in for, I thought briefly!) -- she took my room. So we wait a little longer and by 11:30 I was in the room that would be "home" for a couple of days. Fortunately it had a jacuzzi tub, birthing ball and other helpful tools. The tub was awesome -- such relief! The ball was horrible. At this point, I was already 7 cm dilated! Even more progress! Fortunately I was managing the pain reasonably. Soon (sooner than anticipated), I was 9 cm and nearly ready to have a baby (still no pain meds). From 9-10, cries of "I think I might want the epidural now!" came but were not answered as I continued to progress so quickly. Soon it was time to start pushing and thank heavens that only lasted about 40 minutes. Then...sweet cries were heard and Eric said, "it's a girl!" Now, Eric always thought this baby was a girl and he was right! He also had predicted that our friends Anne and Dave would have a boy and sure enough...Soren Avery arrived 36 hours before Camille. Sweet Camille came out with her hand up by her head waving/giving a high 5/already playing "superwoman" which needless to say, caused some added pain for me. Alas...

Here we are at home! Many have asked how Mabel and Bowie have been with Camille and it has been quite an amazing thing to watch. Mabel, who had 2 litters before I adopted her, first sniffed me, then sniffed Camille and it was like she said in her mind, "you've brought my baby home!" Ever since the first day, she's been Mama Mabel and as protective and proud as any Mama would be. It's very sweet.

Week 1 brought grandparents! And our first visit to the pediatrician!

Week 2 brought more grandparents, and...bath time! Camille apparently does not realize yet that her father used to spend the majority of his time in the ocean...that is, with lots of water. Let's hope she changes her mind about the water.

Stay tuned for weeks 3 and 4! Then hopefully I'll get back on track. Thanks everyone for all your sweet emails and phone calls!