40 Weeks Later..

40 weeks have gone by since I got that big fat positive pregnancy test. 40 weeks of joy, excitement, first kicks, and indigestion. I bitched and moaned there for weeks about how this would never end.. and now it has. And already the pregnancy seems like a distant memory.

Already, the feeling of her little kicks and hiccups emanating from within me are fading. I no longer remember how uncomfortable I was and the discomforts that I complained about daily. Or maybe it's just that I don't have time to sit and try to conjure up these memories at the moment, because about a week and half ago, I become a mother of 2.

This week has flown by in a wave of hormones and exhaustion. I keep having to remind myself (and others) that not only do we have an infant, but I'm also recovering from abdominal surgery. Oh yea, and we also thought it would be a good idea that we all get flu shots last week.. good in concept - bad in actual reality when 3 members of the family, including the one recovering from child birth, all feel funky.

Zoë is a fabulous baby thus far. Yes, we are tired (as to be expected), but not necessarily from lack of sleep at night. Zoë has been granting us 3-4 hour blocks of sleep. Sleep that we savor and need just to get through the day of dealing with an adjusting 3 1/2 year old and an itsy bitsy infant.

Our friends and my family have been wonderful this week. My mom was here helping this week and we've had a stream of friends bringing food, wine, presents and oohing and ahhing over the unbearable cuteness of Princess Peanut Buttercup.

Tomorrow a new challenge awaits me. My first day home, totally alone, with Lucas and the baby. Oh, and since I'm not supposed to drive my car until Thursday - we will be HOME. All day. If I have one thing in common with Brittany Spears, it's that I just can't stand to stay home.

Tomorrow also seems as this new milestone for me - tomorrow is the first day of the rest of my life. How cliche, I know. But really, tomorrow and the days that follow starts how our life is now. No more people coming to stay and help, Jason back to work... real life. Real life as a parent to 2 kids. And while technically I'm still in recovery, starting tomorrow I need to start getting my routine in place and figuring this whole 2 child thing out.

You know, the most important part of the whole thing that I never really thought of during the past 40 weeks...

Introducing Zoë Alyce

Little Zoë Alyce entered the world November 1, 2007, at 3:00 PM. Surprising us all with her petite size, she weighed in at only 4 lbs 15.5 oz (a ½ ounce shy of 5 lbs) and 17 ¾ inches long.

She's a tiny, beautiful, little peanut. We are all in love..

More pictures can be found here..

News! Exciting! And the worst weekend for my blog to go down!

What a weekend to be down... but we are back and that's all that matters! It's been quite the emotional roller coaster this weekend, baby joy mixed with internet frustration. Quite the combo of highs and lows.

Friday was our level 2 ultrasound. Jason, Lucas, my mom and I crowded into the little room to get another glance at the little being growing inside. The u/s technician told us that at fist she was going to do all the measurements and check the baby out, then she would give us a "tour" and point out all the parts. 30 minutes I laid there analyzing her every word. I swore at one point she called the baby a "him". And I smiled. I envisioned my two little surfer boys out at the beach running around. I thought of the future with my two huge, beautiful guys and all the girls that will banging down the door to get to them. Since the tech was obviously not giving anything up at this point, I casually asked, "So, you can see the sex?" to which she replied the puzzling "I thought I could, but I haven't really checked yet.." Oh. HUH?

After an agonizing long time of her pressing the baby further into my bladder, she turned us all around and let Lucas hop up on to the bed with me for our "tour". We saw the baby's back, it's face, and the baby even  gave us a "thumbs up" from in there. A natural SCUBA diver in the making!

Then she showed us the baby's legs... and pointed out the baby's bottom.. and put an arrow between the baby's legs.. AND....AND.... The damn phone started ringing.. and ringing.. and  the tech says "Oh, excuse me. Let me get that."

WHAT?! REALLY?!

As she answers the phone, we all stare at the screen and try to decipher what we see there. At this point, my mom and I were convinced we saw a little penis between those legs, but really - who the hell knows?! 

The tech comes back, laughs and says "Now where was I?" Obviously u/s tech humor that is lost on the rest of at the moment. Then she begins to type...

 

We are having a girl. We are all seeing PINK. Two boys would have been amazing, but to have one of each...I was in shock.

You may remember, if you've been around here for awhile,  that my beloved Grandma Alyce passed away in March 2006. For such a healthy older woman, it came too suddenly for our family. While she loved her 3 great grandsons (Lucas and my cousin Jenny's 2 boys), she really wanted a great granddaughter. Just days before she passed, my Grandma reach over to my cousin and said "When I get to heaven, I'm going to send you and Beth baby girls.." This was her dying promise.

I really didn't get into here, but Jason and I actually started trying to get pregnant this time around last August. Getting pregnant with Lucas was too easy. We kept thinking "oh, you never know how long it will take..might as well try and see.." and BAM! 3 weeks later I was gestating. It was so easy that we were amazed that we were responsible enough that we never got pregnant before. Of course, we assumed it would be the same this time around. I assumed that by last September we would be on our way to Baby 2. The months started floating by.. no big deal really, we actually held off a month in November/December time frame because we knew we were going to Vegas for my mom's birthday. Then January.. then February.. then I realized it had been about 6-7 months and I began to start to "think about it a little more" (i.e obsess and worry).

Then in March, a week shy of the one year anniversary of my Grandma's passing, I got what the internets world calls a "BFP" - A BIG FREAKING POSITIVE pregnancy test. A quick calculation shows a November due date. My Grandmother's bday was in November.

I got the chills.

And now, to find out this is a girl. Well.. wow. While I'm not a religious person, I do believe that we all have angels and people "out there" looking out for us. I think I knew in my heart of hearts that this was a baby girl. My pregnancy has been so different than it was with Lucas. But I would really not let myself feel one way or another, because really, whatever we got would have been a gift.

Of course, now that we know it is a girl...LET THE SHOPPING BEGIN! 

WOW, we are in trouble, huh?