Knittypants

New

Pretty new yarn.

A new sock started. (These are addictive, perfect for knitting on while nursing.)

Swatches for new sweaters.

A new pattern to love. (From the Spring Summer Vogue Knitting)

Simple Socks

I promised some socks in my last post. Here they are. Toe-up stockinette, Lorna's Laces Shepherd Worsted, Irving Park. Simple and basic, yet they rarely leave my feet. I finished these before Simon was born, but of course haven't had a chance to post them. Life is getting a bit simpler now, so I will hopefully keep you more updated on my knitting. I have been starting a few sweaters, and am hoping to get a pair of socks and a lacy scarf on my needles today. After months of very monogonous knitting, I have a deep desire to get a little wild and crazy, and have been flirting with new projects all over the place. So much fun :-) These will have to wait for another post to show, as my pics were crap.

 

Here is Simon in the Placket Sweater I made, he has almost grown out of it already!

The rest of the pictures are for the grandparents, so scroll down only if you need a baby fix.

Simon snoozing.

Fiona and Simon napping together. This is so cute, but I couldn't leave them this way, I was afraid Fiona might squish him!

Simon's Birth

Simon is one month old today, so it seems a good day to post his birth story. (Plus my grandparents have told me to quit procrastinating and start blogging again. I love that my grandparents read my knitting blog, it's so sweet)

This may be too much birth story for some, so if you want to pass on this post, I promise to write about knitting next time. Just so you're all warned.

The two weeks before Simon was born were soooooo long!! I was so extremely uncomfortably HUGE! Too big to do the dishes, too big to do the laundry, too big to hold a toddler on my lap and read a story. Too big to knit! Very frustrating.

Fiona had come 12 days early and I really thought I would be early with Simon, too. At 38 weeks my midwife, Lindsey, said we could start trying to encourage things along. We decided to try stripping my membranes. I was sure I would go home from my appointment and call her a half hour later in labor. No such luck.

So a few days later my midwife came over and we stripped my membranes again. (I never knew you could strip your membranes more than once) and then we bundled up the kids and went over to the mall to walk around and around to encourage my body to do it's thing, and again nothing!

We tried it again a third time, but Simon just wasn't interested in coming early. Looking back I can be all rational and say, "Babies come when they come, you can't rush these things." But at the time there was no such thing as rational :-)

Feb 20, Peter went to work and Jesse and Kaelen went shopping. I was left watching cartoons with the 4 and 2 year old. I went to the bathroom to pee and I didn't stop. Thought this was kind of weird I am sure I didn't have to go this badly. Hmmmmm...still not stopping. Maybe my water's broken. Waited a few more minutes, and I am still peeing. Yes, I think my water's definitely broken. Yay! So happy, this means baby will finally come!!

Maybe I should get a few more adults in the house, going into labor with the toddler duo as birth attendants might not be the smartest thing. So, I called my mom, to let her know what was going on. This again doesn't completely make sense, since she lives 10 hours away and wasn't going to be there anyway. So then I call Peter, he was working a few blocks away and said that he would be home for lunch. I called my sister and she says she will come, but she just wants to finish up her shopping. I call the midwife and she says she will be over later to check things out.

I wasn't actually having contractions at this time, so I don't blame anyone for not being in a hurry, but I still felt like singing and dancing I was so happy to get things going.

Eventually, everyone came home and my sweet midwife came over and set things up in my bedroom so everything was ready for the little guy to come, but still no contractions. The kids were going to go spend the night with Peter's aunt and they would stay with her until their brother arrived. I thought that once they were gone, I would be able to relax and go into labor that evening. Nope. Well, probably in the middle of the night then. Ummm...no. I woke up on the 21st still very pregnant.

I called my midwife and she suggested more walking and that she would come over after lunch to check on my progress. So, Peter, Jesse and I went out for breakfast and then went back to the mall to walk and walk and walk. I was starting to feel like such a mall bunny, but it was way too rainy to walk outside. Besides there are bathrooms at the mall and my poor bladder only lasted about half an hour between potty breaks.

We walked all morning and nothing. I was starting to feel very frustrated, if my body didn't kick into labor soon, I was afraid I was going to end up in the hospital to get help getting things going. We had chosen at the beginning of the pregnancy to have a home birth, because my last birth had been so quick and we were afraid of having the baby in the van on the way.

We came home and I talked to Lindsey again. We had an appointment for 1:00, and it was about 11:30. She suggested nipple stimulation, which normally I would think sounds like lots of fun as long as Peter's included, but we both felt this was a bit of chore. We dutifully did our job (it needed to last 40 minutes to be effective) even enjoyed parts of it, but by the end I still hadn't had any contractions.

My midwife came and checked me over, we listened to the baby and he was doing well, so then she did an internal to see what was going on down there. Simon's head still wasn't really fully engaged and there was a bulge in the bag of waters. I had managed even without contractions to dilate to 5 centimeters which was very encouraging. The midwife tried to break the bag of water, but without Simon's head pushing down it wasn't working. We talked it over and she said that since I was progressing albeit slowly and Simon was doing well that we would wait until the morning and if I had still not gone into labor we would go to the hospital. I am so thankful for the encouragement and patience of Lindsey. She made things feel so bright and promising even when I felt so discouraged.

Well, the midwife left at about quarter to two, and I went to the bathroom. While there I felt a grindy clunking feeling which I believe was Simon's head finally settling down where it needed to be. I exited the bathroom and sat down on the bed and had my first contraction. It was strong enough to make me want to cuss! This was at 1:58, I remember looking at the clock for that first contraction. Then there was a second and my third one made me cry and I told Peter to call the midwife back.

The rest of my labor starts to blur a bit, I went to the bathroom and when I came out, Peter had covered the entire bedroom in plastic. (His biggest worry about a home birth was the mess it could make.) When my midwife arrived I was rocking through my contractions and not really paying attention to what was going on around me. I do remember my feet getting cold and deciding I needed my Firefighter socks on. They were very warm and comforting to wear.

I wasn't sure what position I wanted to be in for contractions, labor was moving so quickly that what felt good for one contraction would be all wrong for the next one. I ended up kneeling at the foot of the bed. During my contractions I would lean back on Peter and he would rub my back and then I would lean forward on the bed to rest between them.

Pushing Simon's head out was crazy, I mean this is never an easy thing, but ouch what a noggin!! I remember looking up at the alarm clock and thinking it would be over soon just a little bit more. And Peter was holding my hands and just being there which is so wonderful when you feel so out of control. And then there was this surreal moment when the cat came in just in time to watch Simon being born. That was a bit weird.

The best part of course is getting to hold him finally. And falling so much in love. That part doesn't change, the amazingness of meeting this new little life. I have felt it so strongly with each child, and it was just as powerful with Simon as it has been with the others.

We are all adjusting to the newest addition to our family, and it's getting a little easier every day. He is a good eater and a good sleeper which of course helps a lot. Life will be back to somewhat normal soon.

Next post, socks!