Today was Avery’s 11 day wellness checkup. I can’t believe my little baby is 11 days old. It seems like just yesterday I was at the hospital. It still makes me sad. I’m going to be a basket case for the rest of his life as he gets bigger and bigger. Fantastic.

He did so well at the doctor’s. At his 48-hour appointment, he screamed and cried. This time, he didn’t really make much noise at all, just looked at the nurse when she measured him and kept turning his head when she tried to get his temperature. He slept in my arms for most of the appointment and he checked out just fine, just a little on the small side.

Everyone at the doctor’s office assumes Avery is a girl until they look at his chart. His name is traditionally male, but is now unisex and I guess it’s more commonly known as a girl’s name these days. It means “king of the elves” or “elf counsel” though, so I think it’s just fine for a boy. Yes, I might as well have named my child Legolas. I nearly died when I found out what his name meant. When I was picking it, the site told me it simply meant “leader.” I think it’s hilarious and I don’t care. I still love, love his name.

He weighs 7 lbs, .2 oz now. When he hits 8, I’ll have reason to cry because I’ll have to move him out of newborn clothes. I’m in denial that he will get bigger. I love him right now. He’s just the right size for me and I think he’s absolutely precious. Ben can’t wait for him to get bigger and start talking and everything, but I want him to stay my little, tiny newborn forever.

I’m really appreciative that Ben went to the appointment with us today. I couldn’t have lifted and carried Avery and his carrier to and from the appointment. My abs have been hurting me lately and I’m still having weird pain. I’m only 11 days post-partum so I’m doing pretty great for where I am (they give you 6 weeks to recover) but I still have to take things slow, I guess.

Speaking of slow, Avery and I just chilled the rest of the day. I watched way too much E! and baby slept on and off while Ellie ran around and tortured Vesper. The weather was amazing and warm. It was a nice, relaxing day.

Avery’s birth announcements came in the mail today! I can’t wait to show you all. I absolutely love them. I got them from Tiny Prints and am ridiculously proud that I managed to get my ish together and ordered them. I felt so organized and like a true mom as I sat there and wrote them out today. And now I have “forever” stamps so I don’t have to worry about the darn postage going up again without my knowledge. LOL.

I got a little stressed out tonight when everything was happening and I was on my own and I just needed a second to breathe and recuperate. It all worked out okay, though. I told Avery I didn’t know what I was doing but I was doing my best and I loved him so much and he calmed down and we cuddled until he fell asleep. He’ll probably be up in  a half-hour or so to eat again so I’m going to try and snag a quick nap.

Here’s today’s pic of me and my baby boy. It’s technically from yesterday but it’s so sweet, I wanted to share it.

Goodnight, world!

Today was Avery’s and my first day on our own because Ben started his last semester today. I had little one all to myself in a nice empty house all day long today and it was awesome, even if it rained  non-stop all morning.

Today’s crisis, I would like to point out, was that Ben couldn’t print out his permit to park on campus. This happens every semester. I have no idea why they don’t upgrade their system or whatever because they know that their ish can’t handle the droves of students logging in to try to purchase and print their parking permits. If they insist on raising tuition and overcrowding the campus with thousands of new admits every semester, I have no idea why they can’t kick their servers up a notch. But that’s just me.

The point is, I got myself and little Avery ready in record time, put him in his car seat, and drove Ben to class. This was my first time driving with the baby in the RAIN with random pedestrians walking out in the middle of traffic, so I’m pretty proud of myself. I was nervous though. The doctor said no driving for two weeks but I lived. I still hold my hand over my tummy when I drive, though. It’s an old habit I had that made me feel like I was protecting the baby.

What else happened today? Well, since it rained, the pet license fee I was trying to mail into the city got drenched waiting for the mailman to pick it up. I ended up having to rip open the envelope–Rip is a kind word. It more like disintegrated in my hands–and pull out the license paper, vaccinations record, and check and dry them out on the counter. The problems really started when I discovered that I did not have a single envelope in this entire house. I even dragged a chair over to the closet, piled three pillows up on it, and tried to root through a box that I was certain had envelopes, nearly killed myself, and no luck.

It all worked out though, really, because I just realized that postage went up a penny yesterday. If they had taken my mail, it would have been sent back to me. But still. What the H, USPS.

Today’s triumph is that I’m learning how to read and understand Avery. I know that when he fusses and chews on his hands, it does not always mean that he is hungry. I check his diaper or I just hold him and most of the time, it does the trick. He and I are on the closest thing to a “schedule” that is possible with a 9 day-old infant and it’s awesome. If only I could have napped when he slept. I tried. I got about 15 minutes of shut-eye during one of his naps but ended up getting woken up shortly thereafter.

Ben came home with Chris, one of his friends who helped him build a computer and they fiddled around with it for a while. Overclocked it and stuff like that. Sounds intense. Then they went to Fry’s and Chris wanted to take Avery so he could teach him what a processor is and everything but baby is still too little and it’s too early to take places with lots of people.

Avery and I snuggled for a while and listened to music together and it was awesome.

Here are some pics of me and my little hungry caterpillar.

And this one.

Love, love, love him.

He’s here!

Avery Akira Fox was born at 9:30am on Saturday, January 14, 2012. He was 6 lbs. 12 oz, and best of all, completely healthy. He took pity on me–I was growing so impatient to meet him–and came two days early!

I could not have asked for a better, easier, or more amazing labor and delivery. I believe I went into the early stages of labor on Thursday, the 12th, with timed contractions that would stop if I went to sleep. On Friday, yes, Friday the 13th, I went into the doctor to do the echocardiogram to monitor Avery’s irregular heartbeat. The doctor didn’t hear anything–in fact, his heartbeat was completely normal. He showed us all the parts of his little heart and even tried to re-determine the gender for us one more time, but his little foot was stuck in between his legs. Then, I went to do my NST with Nurse Jo. I told her I had been having uncomfortable contractions every 10 to 15 minutes and sure enough, she caught some during the monitoring. She told me that I should come in if they get too painful or if they come 5 minutes apart. Then, she quipped, “Maybe I’ll see you later tonight. I’m here til 6.”

I decided to try all I could to change my activities to determine if this really was labor and so Ben and I went to Target and picked up a few more things for baby. We picked up lunch and ate it at home, where I tried to drink water and lie down on my side. Then, I took a shower and we went for a walk. Nothing changed my contractions.

Ben was making cinnamon rolls in the kitchen when I decided I was definitely having painful contractions. I didn’t want to go to all the way to Labor & Delivery only to be sent home but Ben convinced me just to humor him and go. My contractions slowed down in the car–of course–which in reality was a blessing because people were driving crazy and Ben kept having to slam on his brakes.

I honestly thought they’d send me home after they hooked me up to the machines to monitor me and baby but since I was 100% effaced and 2 cm dialated, they let me walk L&D and post-partum for an hour and a half to move the baby even further down and see if I could make any progress. That’s when the contractions really started to kill. After an hour and a half, I was so exhausted I basically crawled back to the bed and told them I’d just lie there for the rest of the night. Long story short, they admitted me and wheeled me into a room where I got my epidural and was told to sleep through the night–I’d have the baby in the morning.

It really couldn’t have been more relaxed.

See what I mean? This is actually the morning, minutes before I started pushing.

Ben, patiently waiting for baby and keeping family and close friends updated on progress. In the background, the board reads, “Welcome, baby boy!”

They broke my water overnight and two hours before pushing, they sat me up in bed to move baby’s head down. By the time they decided to have me push, the nurse and Ben could already see his head. I know, crazy.

Before I knew it, he was here!

Here is my lovely little boy, and the genuine love of my life.

The first thing I ate after I gave birth was a Razzmatazz smoothie from Jamba Juice. I was just so incredibly thirsty. The last time I had eaten was 4 in the afternoon the day before. I was dying! I also wolfed down a Jamba Juice jumbo pretzel and the entire hospital breakfast.

We spent two days in the hospital before we went home. We got to pick a “celebratory lunch” to celebrate Avery’s birth the afternoon before we left.

Gratuitous picture of Avery yawning in our hospital room. He’s so tiny and precious!

Ben stayed with us. They have chairs that open out into beds for the dads. Not entirely comfortable and they don’t feed anyone but the mothers so I always felt bad when they wheeled my meals in, which happened quite often because I’m breastfeeding. He ventured out for food once the entire time we were there. This is probably why he left the hospital with a migraine.

We bundled up our little guy when we got home on Monday night, which was my original due date.

Ben’s mom and little brother, Nate, came up from Manteca to help me out and to keep me company while Ben went back to work and I can’t tell you how much they made my life easier in those first few days. Since I can’t drive for two weeks, his mom went with me to Avery’s first wellness check-up and breastfeeding clinic (we passed with flying colors!). They also ran errands for essentials and kept me well-fed when it was too painful for me to get up and keep making myself food.

This is my little sweetheart now. He’s already looking much more like a baby and not like a newborn any more. Sad! He’s already growing up too fast.

I would do this again in a minute. Every single night and day of morning sickness, insomnia, body aches, hormones, and the whole giving-birth process was so worth it. If I had to go through it all again to keep him, I would in a moment. I can’t imagine my life without him and have never experienced fulfillment, joy, and love like this before. It’s so overwhelming. I can’t believe that he’s mine and that he was in my tummy for 9 months and he grew there into this wonderful little person I get to hug and kiss everyday. I want to be with him every moment and I can’t take my eyes off him. Just thinking about how much I love him and how wonderful he is and what a blessing he is makes me cry. I know my hormones are still going insane, but I think I’ll cry for the rest of my life thinking about my beloved baby boy.

This has been an indescribable journey with its ups and downs. I had so many fears and hurdles to overcome, but in the end the reward was far worth it.

Mommy and Daddy love you so much, little Avery. Thank you for picking us.

(On a side note, the human body is an amazing thing. The burning question: how’s the post-partum body? I’m 6 days, almost 7, post-partum and my body has pretty much snapped back to pre-pregnancy. You would not be able to tell that I had just had a baby.  I still have some toning to do but it’s far more progress than I expected. I don’t mind my baby body in the slightest. It carried my son and I’m so grateful for that privilege!)

I’m 39 weeks pregnant today which means that I’ve become incredibly obsessed with my little guy. Obsessed. I am also pretty sure that he’s going to push his birthday to the limit. Why? Well, because his secret identity was blown two weeks ago. Poor little thing. He tried so hard. He almost got away with it, too. Darn you, you crafty, crafty ultrasound tech.

Anyway, his date of arrival is the only thing he’s got left in this world. So I will try to honor that.

I said I would try. I have been experimenting with everything to get him moving along. I am looking for any sign that his arrival is impending, to no avail. I’m officially super uncomfortable. I didn’t sleep at all last night. If I went on my left side, I agitated him and he would poke me until I moved. If I go to my right side, I can’t breathe. The same goes for when I try to lay on my back without actually laying on my back. And if all else fails, once I get comfortable, the little one decides to jam his head into my bladder and I have to get up, go to the bathroom, and start the whole tossing-and-turning process over again. It was not pretty. Plus, since our bed is so small and incredibly cramped since we both sleep with two pillows and a dog, I’m keeping Ben up.

My last day of work is on Thursday because I have appointments on Friday and Monday, my due date, is MLK Day. I’m really sad to leave work because I love it and the people there so much but at the same time, I feel like it’s getting me one step closer to having Baby A with me. By which I mean on the outside of my body.

My main concern is since his due date is only a week before classes start for Ben, I’ll end up in labor during the first class meetings and I don’t want him to have trouble getting into his classes because he’s taking me to the hospital. It would be even worse if he had to be in class instead of there to see his baby born.

Otherwise, I have about 12,000 bills to pay and rabies shots and registration for Ellie to take care of before things get started so I guess I shouldn’t be rushing to get to the hospital. It would just be nice, is all I’m saying.

I’m also super bummed because the full moon was last night and nothing happened. I took a class in college about how women go into labor under the full moon. Total myth.

So for now, I’ll continue my spicy-food-eating, scary-movie-watching, long-walk-taking lifestyle in the hopes that the baby will come any day now.

Stay tuned!