We have a Pine Grossbeak that stops at our feeders every so often, and I have been trying to get a good picture of it - well, I got a few pictures but none of them are good. This is the best I can do for now. He was hanging around with this male Cardinal today, but usually he only stops when the feeders are empty.
I am posting Calista's arrival story or those of you interested in birth stories.
I finally got in for my induction at 3:30 on the afternoon of June 27th. I had been having contractions pretty frequently for a few days leading up to my induction. When we got settled in to the hospital room and they hooked me up to all the machines it showed my contractions were already coming about 3 to 4 minutes apart. Our nurse got excited, she was pretty curious to see how fast it was going to go once they actually induced me. I had a really great nurse, it made the whole experience that much better.
They hooked me up to Pictocin at 4:45 and broke my water at 5:15 that evening. Things got pretty crazy by 7:00 and I got an epidural. Wow, I can't believe I delivered my first two children without one! I actually felt guilty about having no pain during labor. It was very strange and actually got to be pretty boring.
My doctor felt it would go quick too, and so he told me he would just stay right there at the hospital and wait. Wow, these people had a lot of faith in me. It was nice, gave me hope that I wasn't going to have to sit there (bored stiff) for hours and hours.
As usual (for me) I didn't dilate much at all. We just sat there waiting. Just after 10:00 I finally said to Ben "How am I going to know when it's time to push since I can't feel anything?". Right about that time, I got a terrible tummy ache. I was told not to eat after Thursday night, so I was pretty famished by this point. As the tummy ache worsened, the baby put her foot right up on my rib and persisted to push (and push and push). My back started to hurt pretty bad and I told Ben we probably should call the nurse because I thought I knocked my epidural loose or something.
When the nurse came in, first thing she wanted to see was if I had dilated at all. She was really excited and told us that I was complete and we were ready to have the baby! I was shocked! This was pretty effortless so far.
I told the nurse I couldn't feel anything, so she had to tell me when to push. I told her that I thought I was pushing, but I couldn't tell. Both the nurses and the doctor started to laugh, and then they told me the baby was already crowning - so I must have been doing something right!
I pushed only two or three times total and there she was! Our pretty little girl! Calista Drew March came into the world at 10:21 that night. She weighed 7 pounds, 4.1 ounces and was 19.5 inches long.
We got to hold her for over an hour before they even weighed or bathed her. It was really nice to have some time with the baby before they gave her shots, put goop in her eyes, and basically wore her out. She was very awake the whole time.
Overall, it was a wonderful experience (and almost painless)! We are all doing well since then and extremely glad we decided to make our family this much larger. I'm looking forward to having a flatter belly again and will be ecstatic when Calista starts sleeping more at night, but things really couldn't be better for us!
So far Reese has been pretty happy with his new sister and he gives her kisses quite often (unprompted even!). Maddie is thrilled (of course). She wanted a sister so badly this time, and her wish came true. I'm excited for all of my children, they each have wonderful siblings to share their lives with. They are all wonderful souls and I feel priveleged to call myself their mother.
Thank you for all the kind words and visits. Calista really appreciates everyone making her feel so important and welcome!
