The Kello Show

Hannah Elizabeth was born at 11:26 on June 30th. She weighed 6 lbs 8 oz and was 18 3/4 in. long. She's such a tiny little peanut. She is teeny, adorable, sweet, cuddly, and infinitely entertaining (if you like watching sleeping babies' facial expressions, which we do). She is a good eater and sleeper and brings us so much joy.
Names she's been called so far: peanut, tater tot (Julia has referred to Hannah as food since she found out I was pregnant, including pickling cucumber and bratwurst), piranha (thanks to the lactation consultant), sweet girl (of course!), and Bella and Jillian (mom still calls Kelly "Terry" at least half the time).
Today, Kell was changing her diaper and announced it was a pee diaper. I said, "She hasn't pooped all day." And, as if on cue, diaper off, wipey in hand... squirt. That's our girl! Same sense of humor as mom and dad. I laughed so hard it made my incision hurt. It could just be sleep deprivation.
People have been requesting tons of pictures (we were in the hospital, people!), so daddy created a site just for Hannah's pictures. Enjoy!
Oh, and mom and dad are doing fine too!

So, our little girl won't budge. This means we have scheduled her birth date. It will be June 30th. She is scheduled for a morning C-Section, but I've had friends who have gone in and been rescheduled because there was no room at the inn. So, hopefully, the 30th won't be a popular day.

So, we've finally got Spring here in Sandy. We had a week of really gorgeous weather (maybe even a little hot for Kell's taste). We got some good work done in the yard and I am loving all the flowers that are blooming. These pictures are to to show off my belly (and Bella) and my clematis. I think it's so pretty. I love when all the flowers are in bloom.



I had my appointment yesterday and my VERY stubborn girl is in exactly the same position she was a couple of weeks ago, bottom down, head and feet up by my ribs (Frank Breach). It’s apparently one of those positions that is quite difficult to get out of. If she were any other kind of breach, she could pretty much just lean forward and gravity would help out, but if she tries to turn from this position, she will pretty much just rock back and forth. So, that means we have two options.

External Version – My midwife wasn’t really keen on this for my case, probably particularly because I wasn’t super keen on it. She said with first babies, they are usually packed in there pretty tight, which reduces the possibility of success. Success is pretty low anyway because they can only get the baby to flip about 60% of the time, and 40% of the time the baby flips back around anyway because they’re not comfortable. It’s also pretty darn painful and it can cause you to go into labor, which with a breach baby, they really want to avoid.

Scheduled C-Section – My midwife suggested that we schedule a C-section for 38 ½ to 39 weeks. This way, we can avoid going into labor and just having to have a C-section anyway.

We’re going to go ahead and schedule the C-section, then I’m going to spend a lot of time flipped upside down with incents on my pinky toe and soft classical music at my lower abdomen (all recommendations from the Midwife), though I’m not sure I’m supposed to do it all at the same time.

So, we’ll plan on having our girl the last full week of June (no official date yet) and see if she decides to work it out herself. I think, perhaps, she’s just going to do things on her own terms. I wouldn’t know anyone else like that, would any of you?

Last weekend, Kell and I attended an Intensive Child Birthing class at Mt Hood Legacy, which is where we'll be having the baby. The class was great. Our instructors were a lot of fun, and one reminded me a lot of my mom. She had a lot of practical advice and didn't pressure us on what's the "right" way to do things.
They had one of the dads put on a sympathy suit. The best part was that they added a weight to his bladder and a restricting band around his chest (so he couldn't breathe) and then put the belly and breasts on. Just seeing him try to put on his shoes was enough so that every man in the class didn't need to wear it. I never feel the need for Kell to have to experience exactly what I'm feeling, but it was funny to watch another man go through it. Kell has been sympathetic all along. He has even totally had sympathy symptoms like heartburn.
We got a lot of good info about breathing and relaxation techniques and a lot of good positions that are alternatives to laying in bed. Our birthing center has jacuzzi tubs for labor (not birth) and birthing balls and squat bars. They're really good about letting you do what you need to to be happy. Plus, the rooms are pretty darn nice. Walking through the halls, I got really anxious for our girl to come.
Next weekend, we have baby care class. That should be lots of fun too.
I go in this Wednesday to find out if our girl has flipped. I'll keep you all updated on that.

Remember how much fun that game was as a kid on rainy days when you couldn't go out for recess? Well, the Head's Up I'm talking about isn't as fun. That's right, our Hannah girl is bottom down, legs and head up breech (Frank Breech - think that means I can blame my dad?). We had an ultrasound on Wednesday to make sure she was assuming the position. Her head is below my right ribs and her legs are below my left ribs. That explains the abundance of heartburn. I've only really felt a lot of movement down low all along, so it makes me wonder, does our girl have really bad gas? Or is she like momma and likes to shake a tail feather?
Our midwife suggested a number of things that we could do to get her to flip including accupuncture, laying with my head down inversion-style, and classical music played very low at the top of my pubic bone. Most places I've seen say only 3-4% of babies are breech, so I'm thinking, she's going to pull through for us. Meanwhile, I'll be the girl who's laying on an inversion table with headphones on my lower belly.
It's times like this that I really wish my sisters and mom lived in the same place I did. I could totally go for some belly kisses and first-time mommy advice. If any of you have any pointers for getting my family to move to Oregon, do please share. Thus far, my attempts have been futile.