This is a picture I took the Sunday before I went in for my c-section. The cute thing about Aviendha right now is that those little flippy curls on the sides of her head are natural! I wanted to get a good portrait picture but I was doing this by myself and extremely uncomfortable, not to mention trying to get a 3 yr old to smile normal among other things was a challenge. So, this will have to do for now until I can retry with hubby's help.
She comes in every morning, early, and climbs into bed so she can pet baby Gage and try to cuddle with him while he's in bed with me nursing. After we get up, she continues to pet and try to curl up next to him for the rest of the day. She tells me how adorable and cute he is and wants to help us figure out if he's made a mess in his diaper. I need to video tape some of these moments and take some pictures for when they start fighting over stuff!
I went in for an appointment last Monday to check the usual as well as my fluid level. Unfortunately my fluid was dropping to dangerously low as were my insulin requirements. For a diabetic those are both bad things that mean the placenta is giving up. It doesn't matter that I took excellent care of myself, it's just the nature of the blood vessels in the placenta of a diabetic. It would have failed much faster if I hadn't kept tight control of my blood sugar. But, I was less than a week away from my due date so I did more than ok! Anyway, we scheduled a c-section for 7:30 the next morning (Tuesday the 20th) which meant we had to be at the hospital at 5:30, which meant I had to wake up and shower at 4 and make sure all my stuff was packed.
We ended up not getting to sleep Monday night until midnight between all the stuff we had to prepare and the food shopping we had to do for Tekara and Aviendha. After only 4 hours of sleep I was exhausted before the day even began. The c-section this time around felt like it went much smoother for me, probably because there was more preparation. The anesthesiologist lady was really nice, she took lots of pictures for me including baby being pulled out of me (I know, totally weird right?) I wish we could have had that last time but I didn't even know having a camera there was an option then. I'll post them pulling baby out if anyone is interested but otherwise it'll just be the 3 I chose for now.
This was pretty awesome because last time I didn't get to even touch Aviendha because they strapped my arms down. I think it had to do with the difference in having a spinal vs. an epidural. Anyway, this time I got to touch him and be close to him for a while before they took him down to the nursery, plus we got this groovy picture of Nick looking pretty rad in his duds. Gage Nicholas Terry was born at 7:55 am, weighing 6 lbs 13 oz, 20 inches long.
This is one super excited Aviendha to meet her new brother. The funny part is, she kept calling him Ezyas (Naomi's kid) because that is the last baby she got to hold. We've finally convinced her that it is indeed baby Gage who was in Mom's tummy this last little while. She treats him like a prince so far but the novelty will probably wear off here pretty soon. She loves to hold him and give him kisses. For some reason she's been obsessed with smelling his hair and telling us how stinky it is. She also likes to constantly tell us he's poopy even when he's not. She also had to check all the cupboards and closets in my hospital room every little while and announce to all the nurses after each one "Nope, no monsters in here!"
Here he is, 6 days old. He looks quite a bit like Aviendha did when she was first born. So far he's following the pattern Aviendha followed from the beginning which is not wanting to eat too much during the night and eating more during the day, which we are totally fine with! It would be awesome to have another one who sleeps like her but we'll see how that goes... Things have been going well other than the fact that the pain meds make me fall asleep sitting up when I think I'm perfectly awake. I'll try to update with better details and more pictures when I can think straight...
I remember growing up when my Mom would watch Sewing with Nancy all the time. I remember thinking to myself "Ugh, how can anyone watch this stuff??? It's sooooo boring!!!" And then one day it happened. I was sitting around, totally exhausted, flipping through the 8 different PBS channels we have and there it was. Sewing with Nancy.
I was hooked.
After about 2 different episodes and rolling my eyes at myself I decided it was inevitable. I'm too crafty NOT to like something like that, or any of the other shows of it's like. I also decided that while I'm laughing at myself, my Mom probably is laughing at me as well!
So, as promised, here is the quilt I've been working on the last couple of weeks. I still need to put the batting, backing, and binding on. I'll post the full finished product when it's done! Until then you get this poorly lit image, taken at night in all my excitement that I couldn't wait for some sunshine tomorrow. It's pretty large (91"x106") so there was no avoiding the fact that you can't see any of the prints very well, if at all. I guess this will make the final product look that much better right?
I've been trying to sew a ton while I have the energy to do so before baby comes. I know I said I have something like 5 projects lined up but I'm only going to (hopefully) be able to finish one. I've been working on a quilt for Nick and I for a couple of weeks now and I'm finally piecing the top of the quilt together and will hopefully be able to have it done in the next couple of days! It took a little longer than expected considering I ran out of some key fabric and the store here didn't have anymore. I had to go down to Lewiston to get more, luckily they had the print I needed! Also I've been trying to get out as much as possible because I know I'm not going to want to go out a whole lot after this baby is born.
I also made another stuffed goodie for Aviendha for Easter. We're not big on the Easter Bunny, mainly because it has no symbolic relationship, or otherwise, to what Easter really is. Because of this, we decided that every year we would give our kids a stuffed lamb and keep all the bunny-related stuff out. We still do egg hunts and candy (we're not totally nuts!) Anyway, this year instead of buying a lamb, I made one instead:
I'm still improving on my embroidery for the facial features, but oh well! Aviendha doesn't care, she plays will all of these things I've been making her more than any of her other toys so it's been well worth it!
As soon as I get the quilt top done I'll be sure to post a picture!
