The Ever After

Last post I dedicated to Kestrel's birth story--now for what's been going on since then.

Frankly, it's been pretty rough since Kestrel made her debut into the world, but in her defense, it has not been her fault at all. I can't really imagine a much happier, contented, easy baby. She's five, almost six weeks old now--what should be the peak of fussiness for a baby. She sleeps well, only waking once or twice to eat, nurses amazingly, and has never fussed without me being able to figure out what she was trying to communicate within minutes. Seriously, an easy kid.

When awake, she is generally content to play on the floor or in her swing, where she will often drop off to sleep on her own. If she gets fussy there, I snug her up in our Mei Tai or wrap. If she is overtired, sometimes we have to put on some music to help calm her, but that's about the extent of her woes.

The problem has been with the rest of us. We have had a grand total of one (1) weekend since she was born that we have not been sick. The first week, Tiernan had a sore throat. For the second and third weeks, Robert and I had it. We were gearing up for a fun Labor Day weekend when I developed mastitis, and instead spent it battling a fever of up to 104.5 for two or three days. By the time I was recovered enough to attempt a social outing, we arrived only to have Tiernan throw up in the parking lot as we got out of the car. So we got back in and went home to quarantine ourselves yet again and care for Tiernan as he threw up over and over. Robert came down with the virus two days later. Miraculously enough, I seemed to be being spared--two, three, four days passed after Robert had it, and I still hadn't contracted it. I planned a couple fun events for Saturday, eager to finally be with people again.

Friday night, it hit. At that point, it was beginning to feel like some conspiracy to keep us from ever having fun again.

Thankfully, it was a 24-hour bug, so by Sunday I was feeling mostly back to normal...but unfortunately, with stomach viruses, you can stay contagious for a long time after you feel better, so we're still holed up here, hoping and praying that Kestrel doesn't get it--at her age, it'll be a far more serious case if she does.

As far as how we are adjusting to having two kids, it's been mixed. In addition to Kestrel being a superb baby, Tiernan is a great brother. He loves to 'hold' her, give her kisses, stroke her hair, and play with her. He's very attentive to what she is doing, giving us status updates every time she moves, hiccups, opens her eyes, etc. ("Baby wake!" "Baby sleeping." "Baby moving!" "Baby sad.") The closest thing to jealousy I've seen is when he gets upset and wants me to hold him when I'm already holding Kestrel, he suggests where I should set down the baby so that I can attend to him. Not bad.

Practicing swaddling.
I suppose we should get him a baby doll so he doesn't need to use blocks.

However, as many of you know, Tiernan is a confirmed extrovert. So, naturally, our extended confinement has given him a wretched case of cabin fever, the symptoms of which include being exceedingly volatile and weepy, a strong urge to rebel and test everything, and general disagreeableness. It's certainly been enough to drive me crazy on more than a few days. We're having difficulty finding effective methods of discipline for him, not to mention outlets for his incredible reserve of energy.

Staying at home drives Tiernan up the wall...

We have our good days and our bad days. Days when I feel hopeful and excited about our new and improved little family, and days when I feel overwhelmed and like I'll never get the hang of things. At this point, I just want to be able to establish a rhythm and way of life that doesn't include being holed up at home week after week. Back in June or July I became very passionate about getting fit and active--rather pointless, given I was on bedrest at the time. The good thing is that I still want to, and as of this week, it should be safe for me to begin taking up more active hobbies. I've already begun slacklining most mornings, walking, and intend to begin rock climbing as a habit soon. I have other ideas, such as taking up yoga, jump rope, and fire dancing. Perhaps once I've brought my body back from its atrophied state after so much bed rest I'll take up parkour, capoeira, or, if I'm really daring (and have lots of money) aerial silk. If you have interest in joining me, I'm looking to do any or all of it socially--I much prefer doing those sorts of things with people.

Tiernan learning how to slackline, with a bit of help.

Kestrel's Birth

I had a baby!

Kestrel Tessa was (finally) born on August 11, 2011 at 5:45 AM, one week overdue. By that time, I was massive--the questions in the grocery store changed from "When are you due?" to "Are you having twins?" I'd gained 40 lbs, and it was almost all belly. By the time the due date came and went, I was feeling pretty surly about the fact that I was still pregnant. I was convinced that I was going to be the one woman who stayed pregnant forever.

40 Week Belly/Family Pic

But she did come. Contractions picked up in intensity at noon on Wednesday. We checked into the birthing center at 9:45 that night. I was rather hoping we'd be pretty far along at that point, but we had just reached 4-5 cm, marking the beginning of active labor.

Checking into the birthing center

It was, well, labor. As far as labors go, it went really well. It tended to progress more slowly than I thought it should be, but then that probably tends to be the case. The hardest part was when I began getting the urge to push when I was only 7 cm. Pushing at that point could damage the cervix, causing lots of problems, so I had to spend two hours denying that urge--one of the hardest things I've done. Not  the most painful part of labor, but definitely the hardest.

This, my friends, is one of the primary reasons we have had both of our children at the Austin Area Birthing Center. Neither of them were actually born in the water (not that I would have minded) but it is sooooo good for laboring. Their showers are spectacular, too. As far as I know, they are the only place in Austin that has birthing tubs.

Okay, so this one is a bit more accurate. The first one was in between contractions. I have to say, Robert has got to be the best labor support ever. He really is amazing.

Finally, at 4:00, the midwife gave me the go ahead to start to push--don't think it happens often, but transition actually felt good, at least for a while. An hour and a half later, she finally made it out.

All told, we had about 10 hours of early labor and a full 8 hours of active labor. Long, but significantly shorter than the 24 hours of active labor we had with Tiernan.

Another surprise was her weight--Tiernan was 8lbs 12.5 oz, a big baby. We knew she was big, but since girls tend to be smaller at birth, I still expected her to be closer to 8lbs. Wrong. She weighed in at 9lbs 8oz...which would account for the second degree tear she gave me.

She came out knowing exactly what to do--she and I had nursing down pat within the first hour, without any help or problems. She was very alert for three hours before starting to doze.

We got home around lunch time the same day to introduce Tiernan to his new sister. He was fascinated. When he said her name it sounded more like 'Baby Cashew' than 'Baby Kestrel', and although his pronunciation has improved since then, we still refer to her with some nutty references occasionally. 

Our first week with Kestrel was so much easier than we had with Tiernan. Breastfeeding was a breeze, with no pain, no problems at all--I didn't know it could be as easy as it was. She got her days and nights sorted out within days, to the point that the hardest thing was getting her to wake up to nurse at the maximum time we were supposed to let her go in between feeding. The other difference was that with the stitches, the midwife recommended that I stay on bed rest for the first week, sit rest for the second week, so I had to stay pretty inactive. True to what she said, the rest of postpartum recovery has gone very well for having taken that time to heal.