The Birth

I figure I should write down the story of how Brian came before I forget it all. On Wednesday, I started having contractions. Of course it was the one day that I didn't want to have him. My friends were throwing me a baby shower that night and Jason had a job interview that afternoon (more on that later). So once I got the laundry and the dishes done, I spent the rest of the day sitting and drinking water. Fortunately that helped slow things down but they didn't totally go away. In fact, as I was driving Jason to the interview, I got a little bit closer to the car in front of us than we were comfortable with because I was having a contraction and we decided that's why they say a woman in labor shouldn't drive herself to the hospital. Then I had contractions all through the shower and as I was taking gifts out to the car, my water broke.

Jason had just put Anna to bed so my friend who hosted the shower came home with me to stay with Anna while we went to the hospital. Once we got there, we had to wait in the lobby a while for a room to be open. Once we got in and got things set up, it had been two hours since my water broke. The contractions for this labor were different than the ones for Anna, there was a lot more in my back. After a while, I was ready for my epidural. At this point, I was dilated to a 4. They checked me again after two hours to check my progress and I was fully dilated! We were all surprised. The resident who checked me said to not laugh while we waited for the doctor to get there. I was very glad that I was numb for that because going 6 cm in 2 hours would not have felt very good.

Once the doctor came, it was pushing time. With Anna I pushed for two and a half hours (don't even get me started) but I had high hopes that this time it would be faster. This time it only took about 40 minutes. After a bit, they brought in a mirror so I could see what was going on. When they first suggested the mirror, I said no because it just seemed strange but after a while decided to go with it. It was a bit strange but pretty cool too and it helped my pushing be more productive because I could see what was going on (especially since I couldn't feel anything). He was born at about 3:15 am, about 7 hours after my water broke, weighing in at 8 lbs 1 oz and 22 inches and cute as can be.

Brian is Born

This is Jason guest blogging for Ellen to get a few pictures of Brian up as inquiring minds want to know.

Brian was born 2/2/12 at 3am at 8lbs 1oz and 22 inches long. He is healthy and well, sleeping a lot at the moment while he recovers from being born. Ellen is doing great as recovering as well. We anticipate they'll be home tomorrow night.

Almost There

Anna took this picture. She had given me a make over (which did not include brushing my hair but she did do my lipstick). I look like a study in round.

I am almost 39 weeks along now and after my dr appointment today can say I am two, maybe two and a half centimeters dilates. It's nice to see that things are moving along. Today the doctor brought up inducing me. I was induced with Anna on the day after my due date ( more because I cried in the office than any other reason). We decided to just wait for things to kind of happen on their own for now. Occasionally I have contractions but they don't really hurt, they are more just uncomfortable. I realized today that I would rather get as dilated as possible before the real pain kicks in. So, no rush on the inducing.

We're working on getting ready. A friend of mine is throwing me a shower next week (side note: when your due date is right after Christmas and a lot of people go to other places for the holidays, you have late showers, I've noticed). I've talked to some people about watching Anna when we go to the hospital so she has somewhere to go. I washed the carseat cover and we bought a new base for it. I also washed things like the blankets we have, sheets and the newborn size clothes. I figure I'll wait to wash the rest until we have a place to put them all, like a dresser. I have every intention of putting together a hospital bag sometime soon.

Putting together the hospital bag early is not really our strong point (I don't think we did it until we went to the dr appointment where I cried). I figure, I'll have plenty of time to do it when we are ready to go to the hospital. After all, my contractions have to be at five minutes apart for an hour before we need to go in. More than enough time to stick some stuff in a bag. Plus, a lot of things I'm currently using so I don't want to pack them until the last minute anyway. I plan on putting up a list for Jason so we don't forget anything. Don't you love the way I justify my procrastination?

Another Anna shot. I'm starting to grow out of my maternity clothes, not a good sign. All in all, I don't think I'm too big because when I tell people I'm due in a week, they seem surprised. Plus, I still feel like I can get around (I've even been known to sit on the floor and get up by myself - yes, I'm bragging) and, most importantly, my turkey timer hasn't popped yet.

So we are gearing up for this baby to come. It should be soon. I keep thinking about what I'd do if my water were to break right then. I kind of feel like a ticking time bomb waiting to go off.

Honolulu City Lights

After Christmas we went to a Honolulu tradition called Honolulu City Lights. This is something they do every year and have for 27 years. Basically, around the city hall, or Honolulu Hale, the city puts up big Christmas themed statues, have lights in the trees, rides for kids and all kinds of decorations in the City Hall.

We had a lot of fun walking around and seeing the decorations.

Santa and Mrs. Claus hanging out by the fountain. There was more to this one but there were so many people I couldn't get it all without having people block parts.

Anna as the mermaid

and the little doll. We spent a lot of time here putting our faces in all the holes.

Anna riding the little carousel. There were four horses and although she went straight to this one before it started, once it got going, she wanted to switch. Fortunately the operator didn't mind her doing so.

Inside the Hale, they had trees that had been decorated by lots of different groups and organizations along with a little Santa's workshop type place. I think they had a Santa there before Christmas but he was gone when we went. I didn't get any pictures of this part because the lighting was bad. They had gone all out though.

Down one hallway, there were a bunch of wreaths. There had been a contest and some of them had ribbons in various categories. I found I was most interested in the non-traditional wreaths. Here are my two favorite.

A rainbow of crayons with them all melted together in the middle.

Painted rubber slippers with pictures of the people involved. This one just feels so Hawaii to me.

It was a fun evening and I was really glad we went after Christmas. At first I wanted to go before but in retrospect, I think it probably would have been too crowded to be fun.

Bishop Museum

Anna with her grandparents and the giant head outside.

The day after Christmas we visited the Bishop Museum. It's a Hawaiian museum and science center. The have several buildings with a different theme. We got a membership so we can go back and take people to come to visit.

Anna's favorite was the science building. There were lots of things to play with. They had a lava demonstration which talked about different forms of lava and volcanoes and what not. After living on the Big Island, where there is an active volcano, I already knew most of the information but it was interesting.

At the end of the lava show, they had some that had been heated and poured it out so we could see how slowly it moves.

That building also had fun big snails to climb on.

And big nenes out front. Of course, I had to join Anna on the birds.

That building also had costumes that kids can try on and pretend to be either a native or invasive species. Of course those subtleties were lost on Anna but she had a lot of fun trying things on and running around.

She is trying to "hide" in the mural on the wall. We have since gone back and there was a little boy there who wanted to chase Anna as if he was a predator. Of course, he kept ending up on wrong end of the food chain. Like a spider chasing a bird.

There is another building that has traveling exhibits. The exhibit there at the time was about Mars and what it would take to go there and if you would want to.

One activity with that was walking on Mars with less gravity. We all talked Jason into trying it out. It looked like a lot of fun but I wasn't sure they would let me do it in m current condition.

There are two other buildings, one with Hawaiian history and artifacts and stuff and a planetarium. Maybe next time we go we'll get pictures in there.

Christmas

I'll admit, I've been putting off blogging about Christmas. Frankly, I wasn't thrilled with how the day turned out. The dilemma was I didn't want this post to become a gripe session but I didn't want to say how great it was either. Falsely positive isn't really my style. So, let's see if I can capture how my Christmas was with a happy medium.

We had Jason's parents come visit us and it was fun to see them. Anna, especially, was thrilled. They came on Friday morning and left Monday evening. Not a long trip but better than nothing. The first two days they were here we went to the zoo and did some shopping.

Christmas morning was a bit odd. I was up at 5 and Anna got up maybe around 5:30. We let Jason sleep in until 6. At this point, we did stockings and got into what Santa brought.

A trunk of fun princess dress-ups. Anna must be tall because that outfit is supposed to fit together like a dress.

And of course, I had to "try on" a dress too.

We didn't open everything then because church was at 9 and we figured we would need to get ready. Of course I wasn't planning on getting up so early otherwise we might have planned on more opening before church but as it was, we had plenty of time to get ready and even got to church a little early. Anna slept through almost the whole meeting which was probably for the best.

Playing with her new song book with Papa.

After church, Jason's parents came over and we opened presents. With so few people, it took maybe half an hour before we were done so once I got dinner started, we went on a hike. It was only about a mile and a half round trip but it was all up on the way out then all down on the way back.

The view from about half-way up. After this point, we turned a corner and the wind really picked up. This kept it from getting too hot.

It's hard to strike a sassy pose when there is hair in your face. Darn wind.

We passed a lighthouse but it's not open to the public.

Jason's parents at the top.

This is my favorite of us at the top. Anna's hair makes me laugh every time I see it.

Then we came home and had dinner. I wasn't thrilled with how things turned out but other people seemed to like it (at least they said they did). Plus we managed to get through all the leftover ham before it went bad so I call that a success. We talked to family but other than that, I don't really remember what we did that evening. I guess we just hung out.

Gingerbread Houses

Anna ready to go. Sorry, the pictures are a bit dark. I did get Photoshop for my little computer but we haven't installed it yet.

Well Christmas has come and gone and now I have a minute to sit and blog about it (helped by a bit of pregnancy insomnia). A couple of days before Christmas we did gingerbread houses. After last year's debacle we decided to go with a kit this year. The one we chose had five smaller houses with it so we invited some friends over to do them with us.

Delaine and Bryant moved to the area about the same time we did. I think they came right off their honeymoon.

Putting her house together.

For some reason, the directions said to assemble the houses before decorating them and the other adults in the room seemed to think this was a good idea. It is NOT a good idea. It just makes it harder to put the candy on.

In spite of that, we had a lot of fun. Jason helped Anna with her house this year although she didn't really need much help. At one point while she was waiting for him, she picked up an icing bag and did it herself. From then on, she was on her own.

Delaine and Anna with Anna's completed house. As you can see, she really got into the landscaping.

Jason and his house. His is a bit bare bones this year since he was helping Anna. Somehow we didn't did a picture of me and my house. Probably because I was working on mine the longest. Apparently when given time and full creative license, I kind of go to town.

We were not quite sure what to do with our houses once we were done. We don't have a shelf or mantle or anything to put them on so they just hung out on the counter. In an attempt to keep the ants off of them, we covered them with plastic. Oddly enough, that didn't keep the Annas off of them. Her 'yard' was gone the next day and I don't think the house itself lasted much after Christmas. Mine and Jason's houses did last until New Year's but they had lost some pieces too. I guess when I sleep in but Anna doesn't, there is no keeping her from the candy on the counter.