My Kid Has Dimples

I can't even, you guys. Dimples?! Not only is he the cutest thing I've ever seen, I also got dimples?! It's too much.

We've been home with Caleb for over a week now. We had a wonderful visit from Nana S and Papaw Whale from North Carolina- they got to experience some serious Wisconsin winter weather! Despite the cold we got out to church a couple times and ran a few errands, including Caleb's first dinner out.

The burger is the same size as the baby in this picture. He slept through the entire meal.

Now life is really quiet- I haven't left the house since Sunday morning. Thankfully I've had lots of visitors with my parents and friends dropping off meals. Everyone has been great about bringing us food or helping clean the house or do a load of laundry. The post c-section restrictions are really the most annoying part of giving birth that way, in my mind. But it does allow for a lot of relaxing with the babe.

In general, life is pretty great. Caleb sleeps a lot, and for 2-3 hour stretches, especially at night. Last night we probably got 3 hours in between each feeding. Brian and I switch off the nighttime feedings, so he and I each get a lot of sleep at night, considering we have a newborn. There's the usual baby things happening- lots of bottles to wash, onesies to wash, crib sheets to wash. We're trying to figure out the best diapers for Caleb not to pee through. We did the first bath last night. It's all fun and games here at Caleb's house.

His preferred sleeping position- swaddled, arms out.

Mama and Caleb at 1 week old

Baby fat wrinkles starting to come in

Caleb: The Arrival

Where do I even begin? I'm sitting here at 6:30 am with a one week old baby at my side, sleeping soundly, although the reason I'm not still in bed is because he was being fussy. Now he's out cold.

I just re-read my post from the night before we went into the hospital. It's funny how different my birth was from the "plan." I had hoped for a natural labor and birth, to hold Caleb immediately afterwards, and thought that we'd be home on Saturday with our baby. Instead I labored through 7 hours of pitocin-induced two minute apart contractions. I was in the tub, realizing that was the most comfortable place I could possibly be, and still in lots of pain. I decided that I could take laboring naturally but I didn't want to push without drugs, so I got out and got the epidural. After that I labored for another 6 hours without pain, just waiting for things to happen so we could push this baby and meet him! However the progress was slow and Caleb started the day at a zero station and never descended further. It took 10 hours to dilate just shy of 6 centimeters and things should have been moving faster.

At 8pm Dr. K walked in and gently told me that we needed to think about a c-section. She would let me labor a little longer if I preferred, to see if anything would happen, but her guess was that Caleb was stuck in my pelvis and that the positioning just wasn't right. My first thought was "I'm 28! I had the perfect pregnancy! I'm in great shape! I'm supposed to push this baby out- all my girlfriends did, I can too! This is my first child- all my subsequent children will most likely have to be born by c-section too!" My second thought was "Well, at least I don't have to push..." Brian and I discussed it very quickly, but both of us had the gut feeling that we didn't want to labor another couple hours, attempt to push for a couple hours, and ultimately need a c-section anyway. We trusted that Dr. K had our best interests at heart and wasn't trying to speed things up or get home in time for a good night's sleep. We told her that we would agree to a c-section and not wait any longer. Brian and my wonderful doula got suited up to join me in the OR. Just as we were about to leave the room, I remembered something about going to surgery with contacts in- you weren't supposed to or something? I asked someone to grab my bag so I could take them out, was handed my glasses and we headed to the brightest room I've ever been in. It was supposedly cold in there but I had been hot all day and vehemently protested when some lovely person tried to put a warm blanket on me. Brian stood with me up by my head and I could hear Caleb cry the moment he was born. I gasped so sharply upon hearing him that one of the doctors asked if I was ok. Brian was able to go be with Caleb as he was toweled off, then bring him to me to see. I was thrilled to see his little face and all his hair, but honestly I was shaking from the drugs numbing my body and feeling sick at the same time. Not the experience I had imagined in meeting my son. Brian and Caleb went back to our room while my doctors finished up and my doula came in to be with me.

It took a few minutes back in the room for the strongest of the drugs to wear off, but I eventually felt strong enough to hold Caleb. He was so tiny, so perfect, so much more beautiful than I could have possibly imagined. 8 pounds even, 20 inches long, with dark hair in the exact pattern of Brian's. At this point the nurse and my doula started working with Caleb and me on nursing, which is an entirely different saga that I won't get into here, but sometime around midnight we all started on a futile attempt to get some sleep. And so the adventure of being a parent begins...

Caleb Osborne Sigmon

Born January 16th, 2014

9:22 PM

8 lbs

20 inches

Welcome Baby Caleb!

Scheduling a Baby

They say you can't schedule babies and I'm guessing 98% of the time "they're" correct. However, tomorrow I'll be 10 days post-due and this baby is scheduled for an induction. (Watch, I'll publish this post and immediately go into labor.) I've had Braxton-Hicks contractions for weeks now, and they've been more regular and intense for the past week. However, they only show up during the day- at night I go to sleep, sleep all night, and we start the progress all over again the next day. I had been truly hoping for a very natural labor experience- Brian and I planned on laboring at home as long as possible (my doctor originally told me to "come in when it hurts"), and I was hoping for no medical interceptions- pitocin, drugs, etc. Originally I was even hoping to talk the nursing staff out of giving me an I.V. line "just in case." But tomorrow we'll head for the hospital at 7am and start pitocin to jumpstart the process. I'm holding out hope that at some point my body will take over and we'll be able to stop the drugs and just let things progress naturally.

I'm trying to focus on how awesome it will be to bring home Caleb this weekend. We're ready to start taking care of him and seeing how life works as a family of three.

41 Weeks

My patience levels continue to drop with everyone who asks "Really? You're still here?" This is why I was advised, early on, not to even tell people the exact due date, but really, how do you get around it? However, next time around I'm tempted to tell people that the due date is a week later than it actually is. It's so normal for first time moms to go at least a week past their due date.

41 weeks and going strong

The end is in sight- Baby Caleb has an induction date later this week, so come hell or high water, he'll be here by this weekend.

/Rant: The Stupid Things People Say to Overdue Pregnant Women

"You're still pregnant? It's a boy."  "Well, yes, we knew that 5 months ago, but thanks for the update." 

"You were so fidgety in church on Sunday I was sure you were going into labor that afternoon!" "Nope, I'm just really, really uncomfortable. But I'll be sure to skip church this weekend so I won't bother you." 

"Well, he'll be here by Friday night, I promise you. The pressure's going to drop drastically and it'll send you into labor." "Thanks, I'll plan on that. That doesn't sound like bogus science at all." 

*Just a pantomime of my belly and a sad face from across the room.* Me: *Break eye contact and make no visible response.* (This happened multiple times.)

"It's too cold for that baby to come!" "Yup, we read him the weather every morning and he makes a decision on if that's a temperature he can handle or not."

In real life, all answers are smiles and nods. The italics are what's going through my brain but not coming out my mouth. 

/EndRant

Sweet Potato-Mushroom Turnovers

It's been forever since I posted an actual recipe on here. I made these Sweet Potato-Mushroom Turnovers on our "polar vortex" day-off yesterday, also know as my baby holiday. 

Sweet Potato-Mushroom Turnovers
Makes 4 turnovers 

1 package frozen puff pastry, thawed
2 medium sweet potatoes, peeled and diced into 1/2 inch cubes
Olive Oil
Salt & Pepper
Smoked paprika
1 8 ounce package cremini or baby bella mushrooms, sliced
2 tbsp butter
1 tsp dried thyme
1 tbsp chopped fresh parsley
1 - 1 1/2 cups heavy cream
1 egg

Preheat your oven to 350 degrees. Spread the sweet potato cubes onto a large baking sheet and drizzle with olive oil, salt and pepper and smoked paprika. You don't need too much olive oil, you don't want the potatoes to be oily. Roast for 30 minutes, tossing halfway through.

While the sweet potatoes are roasting, saute the mushrooms in the butter and a tbsp or so of olive oil over medium-high heat. Season them with salt, pepper and dried thyme. Once the mushrooms are dark and caramelized, add the parsley and saute for another minute. (If you have a little white wine, deglaze your pan with the wine at this point. I used a teensy bit of water, maybe 2 tbsp.) Then turn the heat to low and add the cream. Let the mushroom and cream mixture bubble very gently for a few minutes while you take the sweet potatoes out. Add the sweet potatoes to the mushroom/cream mixture and let everything thicken up together. (I used entirely too much olive oil when roasting the sweet potatoes because I didn't want them to stick to the pan. However, to keep the mixture from being oily, I actually patted the sweet potatoes down with paper towels before I added them to the mushrooms.)

Wipe down your baking sheet and line it with parchment paper. (Obviously you can use a clean one, but Brian does all the dishes and I attempt to keep them to a minimum.) Take each square of puff pastry and cut it in half diagonally, then spoon the sweet potato-mushroom filling onto half of the pastry. I probably used 3/4-1 cup of filling per turnover. Seal the edges by crimping with a fork, poke a couple holes in the top, then brush an egg wash (egg whisked with a little water) over the whole turnover. Make 4 turnovers- I had extra filling, which I ate as an afternoon snack.

Bake the turnovers until golden brown on top, about 35-40 minutes. They will reheat well in the oven.

Due Date Holiday!

I'm calling today my Baby Holiday. It's Baby Caleb's due date, and he's not here yet, but I've got the day off work due to the -15 degree weather. Brian and I were lazy, lazy, lazy all weekend. We saw good friends who are off to a new adventure, he got to see the newest baby in our crowd (Caleb's the last of the 2013 Baby Boom), we had a very delicious brunch with my parents, then sat around in our comfy clothes watching a mix of football, basketball, Sons of Anarchy and Alias. We did not do anything on our to-do list: laundry, etc, but we keep telling ourselves "Soon, we will have no more lazy days. The baby will be here and sitting on the couch not doing anything for 6 hours won't exist." One of the many things I love about our marriage is our ability to let go and not worry if we're not super productive for a day. So I'm celebrating Caleb's due date with breakfast, baking and more TV marathons. Soon it'll all be different...

Pecan pancakes, maple syrup warming, the last of the June strawberries bubbling away.

Chocolate chip pancakes, strawberries, toasted coconut

Waiting on Baby

I shouldn't even feel like I'm waiting yet, seeing as how my due date isn't until Monday, but seems like everybody has had their babies early and I'm ready to go! The newest adventure in late-stage pregnancy is acid reflex and last night I ended up sleeping half the night in our large comfy chair in the living room. I certainly felt less nauseous once I wasn't laying down any more and the ottoman for my legs was nice, but I missed our warm bed and my husband next to me. In looking up triggers for acid reflex (besides being 39 weeks pregnant) I found I hit a triple whammy of pizza for dinner, a chocolate cupcake for dessert and both being too close to bedtime. So I'm planning some meals for the weekend that avoid triggering acid reflex and hopefully I'll get to sleep in my bed again!

In other news, Baby Caleb is coming during the coldest, snowiest winter in recent history. The predicted high for his due date is -12. That's negative 12. That's the actual temperature, not the wind chill. School districts and my office has officially closed on Monday. The windows in our apartment must be older than I thought because they're covered in a layer of frost constantly. Brian has been out shoveling almost every other day. In an effort to keep each other sane and our spirits high we've taken to calling Caleb our "winter joy baby." As in, in the depths of this horrendous winter, he's bringing us a lot of joy and happiness. We can't wait until he's here- I have big plans to stay indoors and snuggle him constantly.

Feathery frost on our window panes