The Story...

Okay, so I haven't been in touch with anyone in a full week now and I finally am taking the time to share "The Story" of how Neko came to join us:)

Let's see, LAST Friday, the 18th, was a regular day of being pregnant. 39 weeks Dr. appointment showed all was fine. 1cm dilated and 50% effaced which was not much of a change from the previous week. Keller and I had a nice visit with friends, Vicky, Jen, Molly, Jack, Becca, and Richie. I even managed to take Keller and Gramma D's dog for our Friday walk. Keller and I played a little Ring Around the Rosie which I remember thinking just might have been what put me over the edge. That night I felt a little funny and the next day was a rough walking day. Felt kind of like a bowling ball was between my legs. Very nice, eh? So an uncomfortable day.

Sunday was Father's Day. Still felt a little off but walking was better. On Saturday night my "plug" started coming out and continued little by little throughout the day. Now with Keller I remembered I lost it and soon thereafter was in labor. But I also know that it can take up to 2 weeks to go into labor so my hopes were not up, although I knew things were going to happen soon. We even brought Keller's "go bag" with us in case we needed to leave him somewhere that day. But alas we made it home uneventfully.

Monday morning at 4 I woke up with a little of a "leak"---I let Trav know and then climbed back into bed. By 4:30 I realized that I was officially having contractions and got out of bed with intentions of resting more on the couch. Yeah, right! So I watered the plants, window boxes, swept, etc. and by 6:30am called my Dad to come get Keller, knowing he was an hour away and would need a little wake-up time...I showered and then called the doctor when it seemed like contractions were 4-5 minutes apart for awhile. Now with Keller, I was here with similar pain for almost 10 hours before we finally headed to the hospital to find I was only 2cm. So I figured I still had a long ways to go. I tell the doctor my deal, including that I'm a VBAC person and a Strep B person and she said to go to Labor and Delivery just to get checked out. So Dad came and took Keller and Trav and I headed off to the hospital. I was expecting to get checked and told to go home. I was wondering on the drive over in between contractions why it was that I hadn't just opted for the scheduled C-Section!! And I also remember telling Travis that this time I didn't think I was so adamantly opposed to drugs on an as needed basis:)

So we get whisked up to the L and D triage and before I even was to a bed they decided to just admit me. That seemed more promising than going home or walking laps for hours and hours like I did with Keller. I wasn't really good at walking by that point. Dr. comes in to check me around 9am and tells me I'm 5cm!! That was great to hear considering that it had only been less than 5 hours since things began and with Keller I only made it to 7cm total after 30 hours! After being monitored awhile and hooked up to the antibiotics because of the Strep B, I opted against walking laps and did my "work" beside the bed. Being in the bed was horrible for me. I dreaded getting checked because it seemed to make contractions 10x worse.

So how about that work! Yeeeouch!! The good thing was that I was making progress. Knowing that things were going the way they were supposed to go I managed to remain drug-free. The doctor agreed it was a good idea to do as much as I can without an epidural considering my 7cm hump the last time, acknowledging that epidurals can slow things down a bit. The nurse had been practically pushing the epidural on me. I'm thinking that it was when my check showed me to be 8/9 cm that the doctor ruptured my membranes. This was pretty much where things went a little down hill because it totally slowed things down and I was stuck at 8cm for four hours I think (not even the 8/9 that I had been earlier and my effacement lessened as well).

Soon thereafter I was ready for the epidural. In came the anesthesia team, well all but the person that was needed to make it happen. So I waited and waited and waited it seemed. Got the epidural and waited for it to kick in, but it didn't. Ugh! Here we go again! I had epidural issues with Keller, too...So everyone just kind of watched me in pain, waiting for it to kick in, talked about trying it again, but also recognized that it would be a challenge to do with my strong contractions. I swear I saw my doctor was texting the other doctor that delivered Keller asking what she should do...I pretty much pleaded for help of any kind and so they gave me Staidol (sp?) a narcotic which made me good and loopy pretty quickly:) They sent for the "100% success rate" anesthesiologist to retry the epidural. By the time he came in I remember seeing people heads bobbing up and down and pictures on the walls kind of bouncing around. Much better than being in pain!!!

Epidural #2 in and Lisa can finally relax a little. Trav got some dinner and I just relaxed/rested for awhile. Around 6pm on Monday I had developed a bit of a fever (again, part of the reason for my C-section with Keller) and the nurse was very straight with me saying that since I'm a VBAC they really have to take precautions so if the fever increases much more it would probably mean C-section. But the doctor would decide. So the doc finally comes to check around 8pm and things looked good, thank god! I was fully dilated and ready to start the pushing. Best part was that I could barely even feel the contractions:) They had said I could keep the epidural in as long as I could prove that I could still push. Well, go figure, during some adjustment, something had disconnected the epidural tubing from the insert (nothing I felt) so it was already unplugged. The doc assured me that it didn't wear off that quickly and I'd be okay. So we did it. Everyone had guessed an average sized baby--a 7 to 8 pounder until that little baby's head appeared! He surprised everyone, although coming from a family that makes big babies, I was not all that surprised. And so Neko Downey Passaro joined us at 9:39pm on Monday night after about 18 hours of labor and a much different birthing experience than my first. He weighed in at 9lbs. 5oz. and 20.5 inches long with a full head of black hair and eyes that look like the kind that just might stay blue. We'll see!

In the midst of all of the laboring, I heard my phone do the little text jingle a number of times but never checked it, being rather busy...By the time we settled in to a room, the phone was dead, we had no chargers, and even once home discovered the phone to be officially dead...boo. So don't call it or text me:) I'll let you know when I have a new one:)

We are loving having our new little boy around here. Keller has been AWESOME about the new addition. And Trav and I have even been getting *some* sleep. Little Neko loves to sleep, although moreso during the day it seems, but really not horribly in the nights either, considering he's just a week old. Thanks for all the well-wishes and good thoughts! I'll keep you posted!

The Happy Family!

Would Be Nice...

...to be able to breathe through my nose again...as if I don't have enough going on already to keep me awake at night...grrr....Luckily Mom, Dad, and Mom-In-Law have taken Keller for some time this week. I'm like walking around in a daze...oh, and still pregnant...50% effaced and "fingertip" dilated. The doc today says that the 7cm I made it to with Keller won't count towards an "easier" 7cm this time...boooo...everyone else has told me otherwise. Oh well. It is what it is and this baby will come out one way or another so no stress.

Memorial Weekend

This picture cracks me up...reminds me of something you'd see in a "star-spotting" kind of magazine... "Famous Diva Lisa spotted on NH beach looking less than her lovely self with her toddler and looking rather pregnant...Who's child is she carrying now???"

So on Memorial Weekend, Trav had is annual "man trip" which began as his bachelor party type weekend and has continued every year since up at a friend's "camp" in NH. It's usually Father's Day weekend (my dad and his dad both go, too) but given our impending Father's Day gift-to-be? he planned the trip for a little earlier. I took the opportunity to head up to New Hampshire as well, with Keller and my mom to go visit my sister Abby who has been living in Portsmouth now for a year and a half and I have yet to visit. So glad to have made the trip, and so glad to have had Abby and my mom tag-teaming Keller so I could squeeze in a little rest here and there. Keller tends to be an early riser when he is not at home and while one 5am waking is acceptable now and again, 3 in a row just doesn't cut it...but anyway, we had a nice time.

We spent a lot of time sitting out on Abby's back patio. Keller played in Abby's flowerless window-boxes calling them sandboxes and was dumping soil everywhere. He also played with the hose that was dripping just a little, until Sunday when someone actually turned the water on for him. He learned quickly how the sprayer worked!

And found it to be particularly amusing to spray Grandpa, who joined us on Sunday along with Trav and Shan (Abby's husband, who also went to the camp).

Also on Sunday, before the men returned, Mom, Abby, Keller, and I went into town to poke around a little. We headed straight for the river to go see the Tall Ships that were in town and that Keller kept repeating for the whole 6 minute drive into town. Unfortunately, as we were walking down to the ships, little Mr. UpAt5am zonked out to sleep (which he never does in the stroller) and so we continued to make our way to the ships, found a shady bench to wait out the nap and people watched. It was nice. And you have to love a sleeping baby in a stroller anyway.

Squinty eyes all around...(I believe my mom told Abby and I to remove our sunglasses for the picture.)

But apparently she is not required to remove hers...

Looks like Keller's got the best seat in the house here...hopefully he's not too uncomfortable when that big bump goes away!!

And as we were heading back to the car, Keller discovered a new interest..."noisy drums and pipes"...We heard what sounded like a parade and discovered this pipe and drum corp playing on the sidewalk. It was Loud and Keller Loved It! He sat mesmerized and while I caught him jump/startle a few times when the big base drums would start up again, he just continued to stare and then continued to talk about "noisy drums, man-man, pipes..." for the rest of that day, and the next, and the next...I found a few good you-tube videos for him to watch and in doing that have also been playing other drums for him too...especially African drums since I relate most to them:) And Trav has apparently exposed him to Peter Tosh after which he would request, "More Peter Tosh pweese"...I like a musically inclined little boy. I showed him how to make his own "noisy drums" out of the pots so he'll pull them out and use wooden chopsticks (Trav's idea and a good one at that after I regretfully gave him wooden spoons).

On Sunday night we hit the beach so Abby could fly her kite and Keller could play in the sand(box). Check out this cool dude!

And look more cool people--I told them they looked like a band's album cover or insert or something...too cool for school;) But really, they were impatiently waiting for Keller to be done digging in the sand since there was no wind down on the beach...they wanted to go over yonder to the green grasses and blowing trees but I had to request more time for sand playing for the littlest cool dude...

And yet once we went to the grass, little cool dude jumped right in on the kite flying (dragging) which he learned how to do while babysitting a few days before...So stinkin' cute..."Run, run, run, run...fly kite!"

And there she is, my cool kite flyin' sister, maneuvering her blue butterfly kite in the sky. It really was a nice weekend, nice getting away, nice having a real visit with my sister rather than the chaotic visits of holidays and lots of people around. And hanging with my mom, checking out a new city (I could live there (if it were here), and being lazy! It was a much needed getaway and change of scenery for a little while!

Home Stretch

I love this sweet little picture. Keller practices being a big brother with his own baby.

The baby clothes are washed (mostly) and ready to go (well, mostly meaning that when you don't use the dryer on whites especially, BoBo hairs linger noticeably and so I have to wash them again and I guess dry them at the laundromat since we haven't gotten the new dryer up and running yet--we have old wiring and Trav has to exchange the adapter he bought...)

So I feel like we're in it. Home stretch. All systems go. Just waiting. Two and a half weeks until due date and a C-section scheduled for 3 weeks from today just in case this one doesn't at least make an attempt at an exit...I don't expect to get to that point though. Trav and I have decided that we got a little gypped with Keller's labor and so we're entitled to a little easier of a show this time around;) Even if we are on the high end of all of the estimated time-frames for each phase of labor, we'll still be about 10 hours ahead of where we were with Keller...cake. (chuckle;)

Did I already write that the For Sale Sign is down and it feels good to know that we can just relax in our own home and adjust to life with a new baby. We'll even get some tomatoes planted soon and maybe, just maybe, BoBo will get a proper doggie bed. We'll see. And maybe Keller will get the sandbox I was going to wait on---those things that in my head I figured why get now if we are just going to have to move it...I'm eager to see how it all will pan out. I'm also looking forward to enjoying my summer and hopefully being able to do a few day trips here and there until we can finally get to our Cape trip late summer.

Overall, I feel good. Those really hot, humid days kept me house and a/c bound (with a sick? teething? cranky baby) --but on a day like today, I look forward to getting out for my walk with Keller and Becky (the dog we walk). Then there's the BoBo guilt. Poor BoBo. But it is much easier walking a 20 pound dog as compared to a 100 pound dog... As for the belly, it is still "high" and sticking straight out. And while I'm looking forward to being able to get back into the swing of things exercise-wise (and clothing-wise) I might ever so slightly miss the belly, particularly since this is most likely the last big belly I'll be having...