The week before Cashew was born we celebrated Wingnut’s birthday. As ready as I was to have the baby I’m grateful Cashew and Wingnut don’t share a birthday.
On his birthday we took Peanut to preschool and ballet and I spent the afternoon making cupcakes for after dinner. Wingnut requested a “black cake” for his birthday so I made chocolate orange cake with orange frosting. For his birthday dinner he chose corn dogs so I picked a bunch up from Arctic Circle along with some french fries and he was in heaven.
After dinner we opened gifts. I think the favorites were a bat, ball, and glove set and a new scooter. Wingnut’s been riding Peanut’s Strawberry Shortcake scooter for a little while and I thought he might like one of his own since Peanut isn’t always happy to share it. Now they can ride together and he loves it.
The bat, ball, and glove have seen a lot of use, too. And I don’t even have to remind Wingnut not to use the bat as a weapon very often anymore. That’s progress. He loves hitting balls off a make-shift ball stand ODD rigged up when we realized we probably should have included one with the gift. Yes, that would be PVC pipe and our Christmas tree stand, but hey, it works!
After playing with all the fun things outside we came in for the cupcakes and sang happy birthday to my great big boy.
I’d noticed he was getting to be a big boy lately but after bringing Cashew home it became that much more obvious. Wingnut is not my little baby anymore. He still loves to snuggle and is free with his hugs and kisses, which I love, but he’s such a grown up boy now. I don’t know how it managed to sneak up on me. He’s very much three and very much a boy but I wouldn’t trade his sweet personality for anything. He really has a heart of gold and makes me feel like a good mom more often than not.
Sunday morning I woke up for my usual early morning potty trip around 4. When I crawled back into bed I noticed my contractions were feeling closer together and didn’t subside when I was lying down. After an hour or so I pulled out my phone and started actually timing everything. My contractions weren’t hard but were definitely there and as I timed them I could see they were consistently 5-10 minutes apart. Around 7 ODD got up and started getting ready for an early morning meeting. As he got dressed and brushed his teeth I told him I thought the beginnings of labor had started. He asked how I felt and what I wanted to do. I told him to go to his meeting but to probably plan on having a baby before the day was done. I told him I wasn’t quite ready to go to the hospital yet and wanted to wait a while longer to see how things progressed but that I had no intention of getting the kids up and going to church. He agreed that was probably a good idea and left for his meeting.
All Saturday I’d had sporadic contractions – only one or two an hour. Since I was still pregnant I thought I should probably figure out something to wear to the NATS winners concert I was singing in that night. Peanut asked me if I was going to wear my “pretty dress” and I had to point out that with my big baby belly that wasn’t really an option this time. ODD and I dropped the kids off at the babysitter and made our way to Gardner Hall at the University of Utah. Though I felt awkward and uncomfortable I was reassured that I looked lovely. I enjoyed the concert and felt good about my performance. If you’re interested, I had ODD record it. I forgot to have my parents record all six of my songs in the actual competition but figured one is better than nothing. So here’s what I did Saturday night.
After the concert we picked up the kids and once they were in bed ODD and I had some take out and watched a movie. I tracked my contractions throughout the night but they weren’t consistent enough to make me concerned so after the movie we went to bed.
While ODD was at his early morning meeting on Sunday I called my mom to let her know about my contractions. After talking to my dad she told me they were going to head over to our house before long since it sounded like the baby was on his way. While waiting for my parents I finished one last pair of booties and got the kids up, dressed, and breakfasted. When ODD got home from his meeting he did some last minute cleaning and pulled out the infant carseat, getting things ready to go. By the time my parents arrived I felt ready to go to the hospital. My contractions still weren’t terribly strong but they were getting stronger and they were still quite consistent. We kissed the kids goodbye and calmly drove to the hospital.
We checked in and after being observed for a bit they called in the doctor on-call. He conveniently happened to be my doctor and, knowing my situation, he decided to keep me and and do my section as soon as everything could be prepped. After he left I asked ODD to give me a priesthood blessing, which he did, and I felt calm and content. Not much later we walked over to the OR and met the team who would be doing my section. It all went quickly and smoothly and felt very well taken care of.
When they had the baby out and showed him to me I was so overcome with how perfect and little he is and tears filled my eyes. After giving me a kiss ODD followed our new little baby over to see him weighed and measured. His cry was strong and beautiful and he has a fantastic set of lungs. Within minutes ODD brought our newest little man back over to me and I held him on my chest, kissed his puffy cheeks, and told him how very much I loved him.
After I was put back together we were taken to a recovery room for some skin-to-skin time. My temp was a little low so I was piled with warming blankets. Before long my parents brought Peanut and Wingnut over to meet the new baby. Peanut loved seeing him and giggled and squealed as he was passed around to my parents and my sister Teeny. Wingnut was a little freaked out by the big hospital bed and seeing me covered in blankets but I think he liked see the baby, too. Before my parents took the kids home we skyped my brother Fuffy who is interning in Florida so he could be included in the happy baby news, too. I was still feeling a bit loopy from the anesthesia so I don’t remember a whole lot but I gave Peanut and Wingnut each a new Dr. Seuss book, kissed them goodbye, and my parents took them home with them for the week.
Once my temp was back to normal we were taken to the maternity ward and I spent the next couple of days napping and admiring my little guy. I got up and walking by Monday morning and was feeling so good I asked to be discharged Tuesday afternoon. While it’s nice having all my meals taken care of and not having to think about it at all I don’t love people coming in and out all night long and waking me up. The baby and I were both doing really well so the after all the paperwork was complete we brought him home for the first time.
That night Em came over with some flowers she’d arranged and a baby gift. It was great seeing her and sharing my new little guy with her.
ODD went in for a surgery yesterday afternoon and is back to work today and tomorrow but I’m feeling great and happily getting settled with just the babe and me at home. I miss my other nuts but am happy to have this little babymoon before we’re thrown into the reality of life with three kids. I get to spend uninterrupted time staring at my little man, nuzzling his squishy neck, and smelling his sweet baby smell. When he’s awake and looking around I love seeing his dark blue eyes. He doesn’t mind when I give him Eskimo kisses and even seems to like it when I rub his softy blonde hair. He still has peach fuzz on his yummy cheeks and I love rubbing my own cheeks back and forth against them. He has the same dimple in his chin that I have and his long, narrow feet are definitely little replicas of ODD’s right down to the pinky toes. He’s absolutely beautiful and I can spend hours at a time just looking at how tiny and perfect he is.
So now I’d like to introduce to you, my lovely readers, the latest little nut to join our family. Please meet my little Cashew.
On Sunday afternoon I delivered our latest little nut. I’m home now and back on the computer. Our newest little nut is beautiful and perfect and the delivery went really well. I’ll post about his birth soon-ish but in the mean time here are a couple of pictures of the newest little man in my life.
I don’t tend to get very swollen during pregnancy. I’m really lucky that way. I know some women who can’t even wear their normal shoes because their feet get so swollen. I wait until I’m in the hospital before the swelling hits me. Then it doesn’t do anything to my feet and legs but hits my face and hands instead. It’s awesome.
That said, my feet and ankles do get a little bigger than normal. My doctor asked about it at my last appointment and I mentioned they looked big to me but that most people probably wouldn’t notice. I only notice because I know what my feet and ankles normally look like.
Typical size.
Swollen. I’m used to seeing my ankle bones and some vessels and tendons in my feet.
Even my toes are a little pudgier than normal. For those curious, the color on my toes is from China Glaze called “For Audrey”.
While they look a little bigger than normal to me I’m grateful they aren’t sore or tender and I can still comfortably wear my regular shoes. As long as I don’t have to bend over to tie them.
With Peanut I didn’t bother doing any maternity photos. I would take some belly shots fairly often, especially near the end, and send them to my family so they could see how I was growing.
With Wingnut I took belly shots like I had with Peanut but also attempted a few self-portraits that were more artsy fartsy. I still didn’t have any real maternity photos taken, though.
This time around, though, I asked my sister-in-law, Teisha (a.aka. Wildbound), if she’d take some photos for me. She’d never done a maternity shoot before and neither had I so it was a new experience for both of us. It was a lot of fun and I love the way they all turned out. She did a beautiful job. For more clickety over to my maternity photos post on Everything Is Amazing.
I'm HairyShoeFairy. In general I blog about random crap - everything from crafts to cooking to my family to anything that's on my mind. To find things I think are especially cool or interesting clickety over to my other blog, Everything Is Amazing.
My Family
ODD - My husband.
Peanut - My 5 year old daughter.
Wingnut - My 2 year old son.
Cashew - My newborn son.
