We have a son!
Tate was born at 5:37pm on 15 September after a very long and complicated birth. He weighed 4184 grams which is 9lbs 2oz! Babies don't get their length measured here because the Dutch believe it hurts their newborn hips so we will measure him soon. Jackie and Tate are staying at the hospital until Saturday. I will write a birth story in the next few days. Jackie's labor was an ordeal, I am so proud of her for going through with having a natural childbirth. She was so strong for 17hrs straight starting at midnight - so she was extremely exhausted. Supporting Jackie through birthing Tate was the hardest thing I've ever done. It was a difficult day but today was much better. Jackie is doing well and so is Tate. I love them so much!
Photos will come shortly.
Wednesday, September 16, 2009
Monday, September 14, 2009
Jackie Pushing It
today jackie is 11 days past estimated due date. jackie's becoming a facebook star!
check out this video from 2 days ago:
as you can see, jackie's spirits are still high but we remain anxious to meet our little baby!
check out this video from 2 days ago:
Jackie Pushing it from Emily Razzano on Vimeo.
as you can see, jackie's spirits are still high but we remain anxious to meet our little baby!
Saturday, September 12, 2009
41 weeks and 2 days....
So, this past Wednesday 9/9/9 we went had our last scheduled appt with one of our midwives. Not much going on other than the fact that I am still pregnant. I'm getting bigger by the minute - well it feels like that anyway. Oh, and I think the Danish gene seems to be prominent in the SIZE department - apparently this little one is looking to be over 8.5lbs. ouch.
With that said, thankfully, it appears things are looking good so there is no need to worry about anything - it's just that our impatience is in full force now! In any case, keep positive thoughts and energies coming our way for a safe and healthy delivery! All we ask is that the baby is healthy.
IF the baby has not arrived by tomorrow (sunday) then the midwife will come over and "strip my membrane". Stripping the membrane will hopefully kick-off the contractions. You can read more about membrane stripping here.
Apparently there is a 70% chance the membrane stripping will start contractions and, therefore, go into labor. If this happens then GREAT - we may have a baby with us later that evening!! If the membrane stripping does NOT work then the midwife comes back over on Tuesday to try again. If that doesn't work then I will be considered a "medical case" and will have to visit the hospital on Thursday to meet with a gynecologist and to be monitored. Then, soon after the monitoring, they will start to induce me (either next Thurs or Friday).
Our midwife suggested I try "induction" acupuncture beforehand to see if this will help. I had that session yesterday and it was really cool but, as you probably figured out by now, I'm still pregnant. The acupuncturist showed Emily some pressure points she can use on me while I am in labor to help ease some of the pain. We'll be practicing that until the big day for sure!
I'm so pregnant and Em and I are so bored that we are trying to find fun things to do with the video camera -- it's all PG rated, don't worry... Just some dancing and moving around!
Here's one example for you for now - stay tuned for more. And God help you all if this baby goes until its 42 week - who knows what we'll be videotaping by then to relieve our boredom and impatience!
With that said, thankfully, it appears things are looking good so there is no need to worry about anything - it's just that our impatience is in full force now! In any case, keep positive thoughts and energies coming our way for a safe and healthy delivery! All we ask is that the baby is healthy.
IF the baby has not arrived by tomorrow (sunday) then the midwife will come over and "strip my membrane". Stripping the membrane will hopefully kick-off the contractions. You can read more about membrane stripping here.
Apparently there is a 70% chance the membrane stripping will start contractions and, therefore, go into labor. If this happens then GREAT - we may have a baby with us later that evening!! If the membrane stripping does NOT work then the midwife comes back over on Tuesday to try again. If that doesn't work then I will be considered a "medical case" and will have to visit the hospital on Thursday to meet with a gynecologist and to be monitored. Then, soon after the monitoring, they will start to induce me (either next Thurs or Friday).
Our midwife suggested I try "induction" acupuncture beforehand to see if this will help. I had that session yesterday and it was really cool but, as you probably figured out by now, I'm still pregnant. The acupuncturist showed Emily some pressure points she can use on me while I am in labor to help ease some of the pain. We'll be practicing that until the big day for sure!
I'm so pregnant and Em and I are so bored that we are trying to find fun things to do with the video camera -- it's all PG rated, don't worry... Just some dancing and moving around!
Here's one example for you for now - stay tuned for more. And God help you all if this baby goes until its 42 week - who knows what we'll be videotaping by then to relieve our boredom and impatience!
Friday, September 4, 2009
40 weeks and 1 day
still waiting. and waiting. and waiting.
I honestly thought our little one would be at least prompt if not early! Apparently Baby Wazz has already taken after Emily's "no sense of urgency" disposition. teehee. Although, I'm not really laughing at this moment
Today I felt very weird. My stomach was not feeling happy at all. I thought it could be contractions but they were occuring at the top of the uterus, not the bottom. These "contractions" also felt like food poisoning cramps not the typical, or apparently typical, menstrual like cramps.
In any case, Em made sure we had everything packed up in the hospital bags just in case. Now these bags continue to wait with us in anticipation of what is to come and to feel useful.
I stayed in bed most of the day with Em taking good care of me and checking up on me regularly. Em is even making my fave cookies right now - snickerdoodles!
Well, not much else to report other than that BabyWazz is enjoying his or her time in my apparently more-than-comfortable womb.
We were hoping today's full moon would have had some sort of effect on initating labor but so far la luna is not cooperating either.
hopefully in the next post or two we'll have some more interesting news!
-j
I honestly thought our little one would be at least prompt if not early! Apparently Baby Wazz has already taken after Emily's "no sense of urgency" disposition. teehee. Although, I'm not really laughing at this moment
Today I felt very weird. My stomach was not feeling happy at all. I thought it could be contractions but they were occuring at the top of the uterus, not the bottom. These "contractions" also felt like food poisoning cramps not the typical, or apparently typical, menstrual like cramps.
In any case, Em made sure we had everything packed up in the hospital bags just in case. Now these bags continue to wait with us in anticipation of what is to come and to feel useful.
I stayed in bed most of the day with Em taking good care of me and checking up on me regularly. Em is even making my fave cookies right now - snickerdoodles!
Well, not much else to report other than that BabyWazz is enjoying his or her time in my apparently more-than-comfortable womb.
We were hoping today's full moon would have had some sort of effect on initating labor but so far la luna is not cooperating either.
hopefully in the next post or two we'll have some more interesting news!
-j
Wednesday, September 2, 2009
Hello, Due Date!
Baby Wazz is due TOMORROW!! WOW.
I am so so ready to meet our little son or daughter! I think I've been ready for at least two weeks. Every day gets harder and harder to be patient - I just want to meet this little one. It's hard to sleep with so much excitement ahead.
So 279 days have almost passed since we made the baby. And here we are, ready and waiting for his/her arrival. I know Jackie will be so strong during her labor. I imagine she'll be a birth goddess:-) I am looking forward to supporting her throughout her experience and strengthening our bond through the birth of our baby.
So Baby Wazz, we are ready to meet you! We can't wait for your birth - to see what you look like and to finally hold you - and to learn if you are a girl or boy! Your Mommy will be birthing at home until our midwife says it's time to go to the hospital. If you happen to come out really fast or if your Mommy wants to stay home (and the midwife says it's ok), then we will do that. We wish the best for your birth and hope to see you soon!!
I am so so ready to meet our little son or daughter! I think I've been ready for at least two weeks. Every day gets harder and harder to be patient - I just want to meet this little one. It's hard to sleep with so much excitement ahead.
So 279 days have almost passed since we made the baby. And here we are, ready and waiting for his/her arrival. I know Jackie will be so strong during her labor. I imagine she'll be a birth goddess:-) I am looking forward to supporting her throughout her experience and strengthening our bond through the birth of our baby.
So Baby Wazz, we are ready to meet you! We can't wait for your birth - to see what you look like and to finally hold you - and to learn if you are a girl or boy! Your Mommy will be birthing at home until our midwife says it's time to go to the hospital. If you happen to come out really fast or if your Mommy wants to stay home (and the midwife says it's ok), then we will do that. We wish the best for your birth and hope to see you soon!!
Monday, August 24, 2009
Ten day countdown!
posted by jackie
I can't believe how quickly time has gone by during our pregnancy! Em and I are at the 10 day countdown already! My lack of posting/updating to our blog has been disappointing. I'm a slacker, what can I say...
So, here is my attempt at starting this up again! wish me luck!
Today I had a reflexology session to help possibly induce labor, diminish some of the swelling and work out any kinks necessary. The main reason, however, is to hopefully induce labor. We want our little one to come out when he/she is ready but we are hoping their his/her timeframe coincides with ours, which would be tomorrow ;) Well, OK, we'd be ecstatic if the baby made their debut before September 1 at the very least.
As I was reclined and ready for my reflexology session I had a distinct feeling that the baby is NOT going to come out in the next few days. I didn't say anything to the practitioner though, hoping I was wrong and hoping she could work some magic. Hilda, the reflexology practitioner, asked me several questions about my health before we started. She had such a calming disposition; I felt relaxed immediately.
I watched her carefully as she started intently rubbing my right foot and its toes. I was a bit enchanted by watching her at first - she looked like a musician playing their favorite instrument with passion. I immediately had the impression of a violinist swaying with the notes as she worked her instrument. In this case, it was my toes. I closed my eyes and relaxed as she listened and played her instrument. I felt myself sinking down into the massage bed with each rub of my toes. I don't believe I fell asleep but I was relaxed and comforted to the fullest extent imaginable. I tried to listen to the baby and I attempted to communicate that we can't wait to meet him/her. I said that we want to meet them soon but that they should only come with they are healthy enough to do so.
When Hilda started out on my left foot I felt some little pangs on the right side of my tummy. I'm not sure what it was or what was going on but something she was doing was creating tiny jolts througout the right side of my tummy. I watched Hilda again for a few moments - her expert hands on her instrument; her swaying with each pressure she gave to my foot and toes. The image of a violinist came to mind again.
Hilda continued on and I felt relaxed and comfortable - I think I dozed off for a few minutes. I apparently also had a reaction when she worked on the part of my foot that was related to my minor back pain I've had for the last week or so.
We finished and she noted a few things about the session to me. Hilda said that the baby is not yet ready. She marked down a date she believes the baby will come but she chose not to tell me! boo! Hilda showed me a few points on my hand I can use to help "activate" the baby and a few other presure points I can do at home as needed.
Before I left I told Hilda that I thought she looked like a musician when she was working her reflexology magic. She said, "That's my profession, I am a musician.". I said I envisioned her playing the violin; turns out she plays the viola ;) ha. close enough!
My next appointment is 31 August - that is, if Baby Wazz doesn't come out before then!
Wish us luck!
I can't believe how quickly time has gone by during our pregnancy! Em and I are at the 10 day countdown already! My lack of posting/updating to our blog has been disappointing. I'm a slacker, what can I say...
So, here is my attempt at starting this up again! wish me luck!
Today I had a reflexology session to help possibly induce labor, diminish some of the swelling and work out any kinks necessary. The main reason, however, is to hopefully induce labor. We want our little one to come out when he/she is ready but we are hoping their his/her timeframe coincides with ours, which would be tomorrow ;) Well, OK, we'd be ecstatic if the baby made their debut before September 1 at the very least.
As I was reclined and ready for my reflexology session I had a distinct feeling that the baby is NOT going to come out in the next few days. I didn't say anything to the practitioner though, hoping I was wrong and hoping she could work some magic. Hilda, the reflexology practitioner, asked me several questions about my health before we started. She had such a calming disposition; I felt relaxed immediately.
I watched her carefully as she started intently rubbing my right foot and its toes. I was a bit enchanted by watching her at first - she looked like a musician playing their favorite instrument with passion. I immediately had the impression of a violinist swaying with the notes as she worked her instrument. In this case, it was my toes. I closed my eyes and relaxed as she listened and played her instrument. I felt myself sinking down into the massage bed with each rub of my toes. I don't believe I fell asleep but I was relaxed and comforted to the fullest extent imaginable. I tried to listen to the baby and I attempted to communicate that we can't wait to meet him/her. I said that we want to meet them soon but that they should only come with they are healthy enough to do so.
When Hilda started out on my left foot I felt some little pangs on the right side of my tummy. I'm not sure what it was or what was going on but something she was doing was creating tiny jolts througout the right side of my tummy. I watched Hilda again for a few moments - her expert hands on her instrument; her swaying with each pressure she gave to my foot and toes. The image of a violinist came to mind again.
Hilda continued on and I felt relaxed and comfortable - I think I dozed off for a few minutes. I apparently also had a reaction when she worked on the part of my foot that was related to my minor back pain I've had for the last week or so.
We finished and she noted a few things about the session to me. Hilda said that the baby is not yet ready. She marked down a date she believes the baby will come but she chose not to tell me! boo! Hilda showed me a few points on my hand I can use to help "activate" the baby and a few other presure points I can do at home as needed.
Before I left I told Hilda that I thought she looked like a musician when she was working her reflexology magic. She said, "That's my profession, I am a musician.". I said I envisioned her playing the violin; turns out she plays the viola ;) ha. close enough!
My next appointment is 31 August - that is, if Baby Wazz doesn't come out before then!
Wish us luck!
Monday, July 20, 2009
Visiting Copenhagen
In honor of BabyWazz, we spent a long weekend at the end of May visiting Copenhagen! As you may or may not know, that is where we found our Sperm Donor. Our trip began Friday night (29 May) with a 1hr 5min flight up to Copenhagen. We managed to find the train, get into the city, pick up some Danish Kroners and get settled in our hotel. I already felt so much excitement! Becoming settled seemed grim, our hotel was not so nice so in the morning we searched for a better place to stay. We ended up at the First Skt. Petri which was in a great location! We received an upgraded room with a balcony, inclusive breakfast and two tickets to Tivioli amusement park.
Off we go!
Off we go!
Saturday we planned to walk around the city and go shopping! Along the way, we witnessed a Danish carnival celebration. Near our lunch stop was a temporary art exhibit called 'Signspotting" – we got a kick out of some of the funny signs that actually exist!
"Signspotting" Exhibit "Signspotting" Exhibit">The most famous restaurant for open faced sandwiches, Ida Davidsen, happens to be closed on the weekends so we found a different restaurant to try this typical Danish lunch. We enjoyed our open faced sandwiches but mine was missing the bread!!
Danish Open Faced Sandwich
First Lunch in Copenhagen
We knew it was our only shopping day because the stores are closed on Sunday and Monday was a holiday. Leaving Denmark without any cute Danish baby clothes would be a sin, so we headed to the Stroget, the main shopping street in Copenhagen. We got two sleepers at Name It – oh my gosh these clothes are so cute and I later found out we can find them in the NL!
How could we be in Denmark without having a Danish!?
This one was very good, not too sweet. At the Danish department store, Illum, we found two more sleepers and a nice blanket. I love the bright patterns on the clothes in Denmark! Let me show you the prams in Copenhagen, they are basically cribs on wheels! It is common to see prams outside of stores with or without babies sleeping in them!
Big Danish Prams
After the stores closed we made our way to Nyhavn (pronounced New-Han but sounds more like new-how).
Nyhavn
As we walked to the edge of the harbor, we stopped to take pictures and also found the best ice cream ever!!! Who knew Danish ice cream would be so good?! The ice cream was soft serve vanilla and you could see the vanilla bean specks in the soft serve. We could either have a hard chocolate coating or a cocoa powder on top! During this trip (there were subsequent visits!)
I had the hard chocolate – yum yum yum!
Best Ice Cream Ever! Same Day, Different Ice Cream
And the cone was the best cone I've had!! Freshly made right at the shop. We made some room in our bellies and decided to stay in Nyhavn for dinner. There was a nice little Italian place we both got pasta at and it was pretty good, I think even made with fresh pasta. That night we wandered back to the hotel to relax and fell asleep early.
Sunday morning I woke up at 6:45!! This never happens to me and I was wide awake! So we just got up and tried our inclusive breakfast at the hotel. It was so good, Jackie was extremely happy!!! We had so many choices – yogurt with many toppings, meats, cheeses, fruits, eggs, fresh juice and great coffee! Our plan for the day was to go on a bike tour of the city so we ate a lot and got out of the hotel. We found Mike's Bike Tour by 10am when the tour started.
Mike's Bike Tour
Mike's Bike Tour
There were about 16 people on our tour from various nationalities. The tour was such a good idea to do and we really enjoyed seeing the city by bike because we went to areas we wouldn't have gone to by foot. We saw Hans Christian Andersen's grave and learned he wasn't very well liked among the Danish.
Hans Christian Andersen Gravestone
Talk about popular – the Little Mermaid Statue was the most busy place! Jackie managed to snap a few photos of me alone with the mermaid.
Little Mermaid Statue
There is a real hippie village called Christiania, which we biked through. When our tour ended we found out we biked around for over 3 hours totaling 26km!! The tour ended and we kept our bikes to explore more alone. First we needed some food and stumbled upon a cute café called Café Luna. Guess where we went next? Back to the best ice cream shop!!! I'm telling you, it was so good!!! We had to return our bikes that night by 7pm so we biked a bit more around the city, had a resting break at the hotel, parted with our Danish bikes and then headed to Tivoli amusement park. Jackie and I went on our first ride together! It was a slow one, safe for the baby! We played skeeball, Jackie beat me as usual. Then Jackie got an airbrushed tattoo on her belly of a Virgo sign – totally cute.
Virgo Air Brushed Tattoo
We walked around for a while and then got hungry so we decided to head back towards the hotel. Unfortunately, we thought it was a good idea to eat Mexican in Denmark – I think we found a too touristy place. And that was our Sunday in Copenhagen. I took this photo of the outfits we got for babywazz.
Special Danish Outfits
Monday we went to Sweden! The city is Malmo is only a 40min train ride so off we went after checking out of the hotel and storing our bags. We only had a few hours so we walked the main shopping street and went to a Swedish supermarket where I was so totally distracted! I wanted to look at everything. At least we found some Swedish meatballs and Swedish Fish!
Swedish Fish in Sweden
Swedish Meatballs in Sweden
The stores were similar to Danish style and we found a nice red blanket for the baby as well as the cutest little red sweat suit.
Blanket from Sweden
Before we knew it we had to head back to Denmark to get to the airport in time.
Our trip was meaningful to both of us as we were able to feel connected to a part of where our son or daughter comes from. While we were there, I wrote a note to the baby, telling him/her how happy we are that someone special from Denmark helped us create our family. Baby Wazz, we can't wait to meet you soon and visit Copenhagen with you.
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