In which the player to be named later is named

I’ve told the story here before about how when Tristan was born almost six years ago, although we knew his first name from the time we found out we were having a boy, we had some trouble deciding on what to do for a surname. Beloved and I couldn’t leave the hospital until we completed his health card application, and of course his health card application needed a surname. In the end, we hyphenated our surnames.

This time, when we left the hospital we left behind a health card application that showed the same hyphenated last name that he’ll share with Tristan and Simon, but in the space designated for his first name, we simply put “Baby Boy.” We had a name in mind, had been 60 to 80% settled on it for months, but we just weren’t sure. And for the longest time, we had absolutely no idea about a middle name.

About two weeks ago, we decided on a middle name, and then toyed with that as a first name for a while. Then, yesterday morning when Beloved came to rescue us from the hospital and bring us home, he reintroduced a name we had been toying with a few months ago and I found myself caught between two names I liked very much. We went from no name to too many names!

So we spent the first 40 hours or so calling him Baby and Baby Brother and Little One, and testing out all the name combinations we could think of. After spending the first night in the hospital trying out one and the first night at home trying out the other, we’ve finally (oh how I hope it’s FINALLY) come to a decision. My apologies, Nancy, because he was very nearly Benjamin. I love love love the name Ben, and it’s only the fact that we have a recently deceased and wickedly mean cat named Ben (who really never did stop hating me in the 10 years we lived together) that made us finally decide against the name Ben.

And so, with no further ado (and hopefully, no further changes of heart!) I am actually tearing up just a little bit as I introduce to you the Player Now Named:

Lucas Sawyer

Lucas Sawyer


(And he already has his own photo album on Flickr!)

My first one-handed post

Wow!!! Thank you all for your sweet words – Beloved and the family and I are as delighted by your joy as we are by the newest little member of our family. It will take a while for me to reorient myself to mothering a newborn (it’s harder than I remember!) but I so loved Mad’s comment about me not missing a blogging day that I had to stop in and say hello. (It was Beloved who posted the photos last night.)

I know y’all are dying to hear the details and I can’t wait to tell the story, but for now you’ll have to wait until baby is willing to be put down or I learn to type faster with one hand!

Oh, and as for his name? We still have no idea!

Friday’s child is loving and giving

Just one last post before we head out to the hospital for the induction! The hospital called to have us come in for 7:30, but when I called the student midwife she called the hospital back to delay it until 8:30 to give the other midwife time to sleep after their long day yesterday. Just waiting for Granny and Papa Lou to arrive, and for my last cup of coffee to percolate.

Can you believe this agreeable little baby of mine actually let me sleep somewhere around seven hours last night? It took me a while to fall asleep, which never happens, but I slept pretty well in two and three hour chunks and was fast asleep when the hospital called at 6:00. I had a few contractions on and off, but nothing regular and nothing painful. (I’m sure I’ll be having those soon enough!)

By the way, the title of this post was inspired by my mom, who started reciting the lines of the old poem at the beginning of the week when we were first facing a Tuesday’s child (full of grace). I’ll admit that when I thought my water broke at 1:15 on Wednesday morning, one of my first thoughts was “Oh no! Wednesday’s child is full of woe!” But Friday’s child is loving and giving, and I can confirm that because I’m a Friday’s child, too! *grin* What day were you born?

At least, this child BETTER be born on Friday!!!

Unfortunately, I won’t be bringing my laptop to the hospital (no wi-fi, darn!) but I’ll have my notebook and my camera… and lots of juicy details for you in the next couple of weeks. Thanks again for playing along with me yesterday, I can’t imagine a more fun way to pass a very strange but ultimately memorable and enjoyable day!

Liveblogging labour – part five

The midwife has come and gone. One of my favourite memories of this labour, if not this entire pregnancy, will likely be Tristan and Simon, clad in their pyjamas, creeping down the stairs to see what the midwife was doing, and having them and Beloved sitting on the floor together across the room, listening to Baby’s heartbeat on the doppler. You can’t buy memories like that!

Still not much in the way of contractions, but the Player to be Named Later and I continue to fare well. Assuming I don’t go into active labour some time overnight (which would hardly surprise me, given his to-date propensity for nighttime shenanigans), we’ll head out to the Montfort tomorrow morning between 8:30 and 9:00 for the induction. The midwife said I could actually continue to wait it out, as long as FOUR DAYS!!!! That is just not going to happen, if for no other reason than the leaking would in fact make me lose my mind. The midwife checked with the hospital on her way over, and though they have five people on a list for induction tomorrow, they will make room for me and my ruptured membranes.

So I guess I’ll watch LOST and then just go to bed. (On a really thick stack of towels and waterproof crib pads!) Seems ridiculously anticlimactic after this very strange day, but I don’t know what else to do! As if I’ll actually get a decent night’s sleep, but I’ll give it a good try anyway. Lying calmly in the darkness, being grateful for a bountiful life, is almost as good as eight hours of sleep, right?

This has been a blast today — thanks for coming along for the ride!!

Liveblogging labour – part four

Okay, seriously? This has to be one of the weirdest labours ever. I was just playing Wii Bowling with the boys, trying to stimulate some contractions (hey, it’s not in the literature as a contraction-inducer, but you never know!) when the student midwife called. My new primary midwife is on her way home from the clinic, and is going to stop by the house to check on me and the baby. I can’t imagine THAT ever happening with an OB!

Gotta run, I’m up….

Liveblogging labour – part three

Coming up on 4 pm, seven hours since my water started breaking (and breaking, and breaking). It was a nice, quiet afternoon but now everyone is home. Beloved and Tristan are playing The Incredibles on the computer, Simon is watching TVO Kids and I’m wondering exactly when the contractions will begin in earnest. There have been a few more recently, but still very mild and sporadic.

I’m kind of bummed about the midwife situation. My primary midwife goes off call at 5 pm, so she won’t be there for the birth, and the secondary (who I really, really like) is currently attending a long first birth with the student midwife I have also come to like very much. The student, Amanda, has promised to try to make an appearance at my labour, depending on how the other one goes.

The good news is, I think we’ve found a way for my mom to be there. If I go tonight, Papa Lou will stay with the boys until the nanny comes to take over for the morning, so we should be covered in any case. I’m so pleased that my mom will be able to be there!

And now you have to give kudos to Beloved, who not only went to the drugstore to restock my supply of feminine hygiene products, but did so without complaint. Does he rock or what?

And so we wait. And wait. And wait. Any thoughts on what I should make for dinner? I’m thinking anything heavy on garlic, onion or spices is probably not the best idea, but since the baby has dropped into my pelvis and given me a little bit more room near my stomach, I’m STARVING!

Liveblogging labour – part two

If only you could have seen me. I got annoyed at the lack of contractions (two between 11:30 and 12:00, then nothing) so I decided I was going to take the dog for a walk. But, I’m leaking like friggin’ Niagara Falls. So I took a page from Ingrid and Allison’s book and stuck a washcloth in my underwear along with the pad and pulled on my coat and boots. But as soon as I opened the door, I saw all that fluffy white snow that has been falling all morning, and knew that’s what I had to do.

Shovel the driveway.

And with each push of the shovel, more water leaked out. I shovelled the entire driveway, and soaked my pants to the knees.

And still nothing.

Gonna be a long day….

Liveblogging labour – part one

Okay, so my concentration is a little shot and I keep wandering back to the computer after every half task or so. I’m all by myself here, and not doing anything productive anyway — might as well keep y’all posted!

First, I forgot how much I hate the leaking. Hate. The. Leaking. I can’t concentrate on anything, can’t get anything done, because every time I move I can feel more leaking and it’s toying with the frazzled remnants of whatever sanity I have left at this point. (TMI alert, consider yourself warned! I’m on my second pair of underwear, something like my seventh pad, and I’ve abandoned my pants entirely. Send Depends!!)

Second, I just called Beloved to let him in on our little secret. (Hell, I could barely hold of on telling the Internets about the positive pregnancy test before I told him, so you got this scoop first.) He’s teaching this morning, and I thought I had waited long enough to catch him in between classes, but when he answered and I asked if I could talk, he said he just had to step out for a moment. There was a loud and raccous cheer from his students, who have been expecting my call right along with him for about the last, oh, four weeks or so. The cheer was so loud and heartfelt it actually brought tears to my eyes! (Heck, who am I kidding, they’re just happy because they’re getting out of class this afternoon!)

Third, I am LOVING your captchas!!! Remind me to send links to these posts to the guys who created that app after all this is done – I don’t think they ever expected anyone to get so much enjoyment out of them!!

STILL no contractions.

Ugh, the leaking… I can’t believe I was actually looking forward to this!!!

Sploosh!

Hey, guess what? Breaking news – or should that be breaking water? I’m leaking. Really leaking. A lot! Even women gestating elephant calves don’t have *these* kind of bladder control issues!

Waiting for the midwife to call back… still no contractions.

And you know why my water is breaking as we speak? Because tonight is Survivor Fans versus Favourites AND the new episode of LOST, and they’re on back to back on different channels and I don’t know how to set the VCR to tape both of them. (Yes, I’m about to go into labour and my biggest dilemma is which show to tape and whether I have enough time to learn how to set the VCR. I’m just that shallow.)

Edited to add: the theme of this pregnancy really is turning out to be “hurry up and wait.” Since I’m still not having any contractions (but there is absolutely no doubt in my mind – nor my soaked pants! – that this is the real deal) I’m just supposed to hang around here and wait for something else exciting to happen. The midwife will call me around lunchtime to see if contractions have started and talk about next steps, which will likely include another 40 km round-trip drive to their office this afternoon for another assessment.

Really, I’m sure there are more important things I’m supposed to be doing right now…