Brance, Lauren & Haddie

One of my good friends from college is getting married this weekend in Independence, VA and I am one of her bridesmaids.  Here are some pictures that Brance took last night from the rehearsal.

I was surprised to be woken from sleep, not by a contraction, but rather by sunlight pouring through my bedroom window.  I got out of bed and checked the clock in our living room, 7:00 a.m.  I was sorely disappointed.  Had a restless night of painful contraction been for nothing?  Had what I had experienced been merely false labor?   Brance also woke up around the same time and we debated taking a walk to see if my labor would start up again.  But we were both exhausted and decided that since my contractions had subsided we might be better served by laying down and getting a little bit more sleep.  I’m so glad that we did; little did I realize how valuable that extra sleep would be 30+ hours later.  When we woke up after two or three hours of sleep, my contractions had started up again.  At this point they were spaced out and not very intense.  But they were there and for that I was thankful. 

To get our minds off labor Brance, Rodger and I decided to meet my parents for lunch in Christiansburg  where they had been doing some shopping.  My sister Holly and her fiance Chris met us there for lunch as well.  Brance and I timed my contractions on the way to the restaurant, which was about 30 minutes away, and during lunch.  They were coming about  every 20 minutes.  Lunch was a lot of fun.  Brance’s father and my mother are both cut-ups and we always have a good time when we are together. Lunch was especially exciting because

The air conditioning at Brance’s studio is broken and it is blistering hot.  I was really worried when he came home Monday evening dehydrated and faint after spending the afternoon working without air. It took little persuasion to convince him to work from home until it is fixed (I think he felt pretty bad Monday evening).  So, it looks like Haddie and I will have daddy home during the day for the next few days. He is having to work, of course… but we’re loving it.  I fixed him a special treat of funnel cake yesterday afternoon and teased him that we were trying to tempt him to work from home more often.  I probably should be careful, a few mornings of working in his slippers and bathrobe and I might not be able to get him to return to the office .

This picture cracks me up.  It looks like Haddie is giving her daddy bunny ears!

My poor baby has an eye infection.  I think I have been bothered more by this eye infection than Haddie has. Poor thing, even the morning she woke up with her little eye matted shut she didn’t seem to let it bother her.  She was such a good baby, hardly crying at all. I on the other hand nearly lost it looking into her swollen, runny, red eye as she would grin back up at me.  I took Haddie to the doctor yesterday and was reassured that it is very normal for babies to get eye infections.  Their immune systems are very low the first 6 months of their lives and coming down with an eye infection isn’t all that uncommon.

 I didn’t realize how bothered I would be by something like this.  After all it’s only an eye infection, and babies are little people who aren’t immune to becoming ill.   I guess subconsciously I  just assumed that because I’m breastfeeding, Haddie wouldn’t come down with anything.  Silly, huh!?  Anyway, I was surprised at how protective a mom feels over her little baby.  It amazes me that I hardly let my own sickness bother me or keep me down, but I can’t help but worry myself sick over this little girl.  You hear about maternal instincts everywhere, but there is nothing like experiencing them first hand.  

Alright, I’ve been working on Haddie’s birth story for a little while now.  Brance is teasing me telling me that it is turning into a novel (he might be right ).  It is getting a little long, but I don’t want to omit details as I’m afraid I will forget as time passes and I want Haddie to know in the future exactly how it happened.  Because of the length, I’m going to post it in pieces over the next week or so.  Here is the first section.

Haddie’s Birth Story: Part I

I took a pink sharpee and marked through another day on the calendar posted in our kitchen where I was counting down the days to Haddie’s due date.  I had washed all of Haddie’s clothes and put them neatly away, I had arranged and rearranged her nursery to my suiting, and  I had even purchased 4 cases of toilet paper, 3 boxes of dishwasher detergent, 2 containers of laundry detergent to name a few of the things I had stocked up on.  Brance kept referring to this as the nesting instinct.  I’m not sure if a nesting instinct truly exists as a symptom of labor as all of the books like to say, or if women simply realize that the emminent is drawing near and frantically try and get everything in order.  Before Haddie’s arrival I hoped that nesting was a sign of labor, as I was ready for this little girl to get here and I was nesting like crazy.  I’m not sure what exactly I was going to do once I reached Haddie’s due date, April 24th.  Would I also mark it with a pink slash?  It is amazing how childlike one becomes when they are awaiting the unkown.  I had  done something similar as I awaited my wedding day two years previously.  Only I had made a paper chain to count down the days.  I think it helped give me something to do.  You know how weddings are… a flurry of activity of planning followed by lull until the big week where you are once again frantic right up until the moment you and your new husband exit the reception.  I think that was what was happening.  I had researched and planned, I had bought and returned, I had cleaned and organized and now I had nothing to do but wait and mark through days on my kitchen calendar with a pink sharpee.

Rodger arrived the weekend before Haddie’s due date.  I think that is when it really hit me, Brance and I were having a baby and it would happen during Rodger’s visit.