Darais Days

At your newborn photo shoot, Sarah Severson (www.sarahseversonphotography.com )did such a great job taking pictures of you, and we are so excited to see how they turned out. She had you in such cute poses that Daddy and Grandpa got in on the act, too. You had your very own Paparazzi.

Happy one week anniversary, Lydia! We are in love with you, and so we’ve probably taken too many pictures and videos of you. But you are such a miracle in our lives! And even though your mommy complained and complained about how much she wanted you earlier, you timed your arrival just right.

Day 2 with Daddy

This is one of your favorite poses, and you do this almost every time we try to feed you.

And the day before that you got a LOT of presents from your Nana (Mommy’s mom), Grams, and Grandpa.

You made them all so happy, and everyone loves holding you!

Day one in the hospital with Grams and Grandpa

With Nana (The nurses gave you a faux-hawk!)

With Uncle Clark

With Daddy

Nana laughing after you peed all over her

Yesterday, Daddy also gave you a tour of your new home. Mommy recorded it on video, but the sound isn’t so great at the beginning of the video. Mainly you hear Mommy doing a lot of Darth Vader breathing (ever since labor, blowing her nose kind of hurts some rather sore muscles…and so her breathing is all skeewompus).

Here’s the tour Daddy gave you:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_Ywtzx_JUKI

Also, here is a birth video!: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5Ol9qBv29z

We love you, Lydia!

Hello fellow bloggers and blog readers! Thank you so much for rejoicing with us at this special time in our lives. We are SO happy to have Lydia here, and it’s so fun to share our joy with you! Lydia’s arrival was a special event, and so I am excited to record how everything happened.

On Monday I went walking for hours with my in-laws, and I finished up by eating a spicy burrito doused–nay, drenched–in tabasco sauce, all in the hopes that these efforts would yield some real labor pains. To my dismay, at the end of the day, I felt great. Not a pang in sight. Sorely disappointed, I retired to bed at 1am.

One hour later, I woke up with some of the worst pain I have ever experienced. It was too good to be true! In between contractions, I felt so great that I doubted whether I was experiencing the real deal, but an hour later we went to the hospital. Abe kept assuring me I was in labor, but I didn’t believe him until the doctor at the hospital told me that after a mere hour of contracting at home I was already 5 cm dilated! How very exciting.

By that time, the pain was so bad that I was begging for an epidural and vomiting everywhere. Abe’s favorite part to tell occurred right after I threw up all over the place. He brought us two cans of ginger ale and was just about to open his when I insisted that was wasteful and that he share mine. It didn’t occur to me at the time how gross my request was, but he dutifully complied. What a husband!

Abe had to leave the room for the hour that it took for them to put the IV and epidural in. (He faints at the sight of needles.) It took exceptionally long because I kept moving around when I was supposed to be sitting still, and at one point, I doubted they would get the epidural inserted in time. The nurse had the same concern; she called in a bunch of people right before they finally got the epidural in because she thought I was about to start pushing.

Finally, they got the epidural in. After that point, labor turned from agonizing to AWESOME. Really–after I stopped feeling pain, I was overcome with excitement. We had such a great team of nurses, and the room was charged with anticipation and joy. I could not wait to meet Lydia, and I couldn’t keep myself from grinning nonstop. At one point, one of the nurses told me to stop smiling while I was pushing because I needed to focus all of my muscle energy on the pushes–but I couldn’t stop! It was too wonderful to know I was about to meet my daughter.

Plus, I was pretty much in love with everyone in the room. The nurse who helped me through the epidural process stayed 2 hours after her shift ended so that she could help me through pushes and meet Lydia. One of the other nurses just happened to be my old Sunday School teacher from my days at the First Presbyterian Church of Evanston–and she regaled me with tales about my dad and brother between pushes. The other med students in the room were so enthusiastic, our doctor was amazing, and, of course, Abe was the best support team/cheerleader ever. I felt so happy to bring Lydia into the world surrounded by such a wonderful collection of lovely people!

And I could still move around and feel the pressure of contractions, so pushing was a great experience. At one point, the doctor gave me a pep talk and told me I could have Lydia out in five minutes or two hours–depending on how hard I pushed. Two contractions and five minutes later, she was out!

She is beautiful. Her head was so full of hair that the doctor and nurses joked that they would start braiding between pushes. She looks like a little surfer baby because her dark brown hair has light brown highlights at the tips. So cute! And we can’t tell what color her eyes are; they look grey/blue, but I think they will change. She was 7 lbs 9 oz, and 20 1/4 inches long. Yay for not birthing a 10 pound baby!! She is just adorable, and even though she is every bit as vocal as Abe and I expected (having both been quite vocal ourselves when we were her age), we are in love with her.

Here is a picture of Abe calming Lydia:

And when Lydia first came out:

We have more pictures, but at the moment I can’t access them. (I have been up all night with Lydia, and I finally figured out that the bassinet isn’t working. The only thing to do is keep her with me if I hope to have her sleep. So she’s sleeping in front of me while I type away; I am scared to fall asleep with her in the bed until I learn more about co-sleeping from the doctor.)

She is having her newborn pics taken this weekend, so hopefully next week we’ll have a deluge of Lydia shots!

On Saturday night I had a bunch of contractions, and Abe and I thought Lydia was coming soon. So I suggested we write Lydia a letter before she gets here, but I wasn’t sure what I wanted to say other than that I love her and want her to come soon. I didn’t need to worry. Abe had no problem writing a letter to Lydia; pretty much the only thing I did was change the way he signed it. (He signed it, ” Love, Abe and Lily.” I had to remind him that Lydia probably won’t be referring to us by our first names!)

Before I paste the letter, here’s a quick update on steps we’ve taken to encourage Lydia to come soon. I’ve continued to douse my food with red pepper flakes in the hopes that spices will get things going. We also went for a walk with Abe’s parents yesterday at the Baha’i temple. My mom went into labor with both my brother and me on the steps of the Baha’i, and I was really hoping Lydia would follow in that tradition. Sadly, she didn’t come–but we still had a wonderful afternoon. We are also hopeful because the doctor said it’s likely she’ll come in 24 hours. He said that yesterday morning after the plug came out (sorry for the TMI!!) and my (false) contractions were coming at regular intervals. We are hoping!!!

Also, one more quick shout-out to my little brother. Yesterday he spent hours laboring over a Mark Bittman recipe I gave him, and the result was soooooo tasty. Not only was it great food, but I felt so loved because of all the effort and time he put into cooking for us! I have the world’s best family. Abe and I felt so happy last night as we said our prayers and thanked God for being part of such a beautiful network of people. His dad and stepmom arrived yesterday, and we enjoyed spending our afternoon and evening with them and with Clark. We love them, and we can’t wait for Lydia to join us.

Here’s the letter we (and by we, I mean Abe) wrote to Lydia:

Dear Lydia,

We love you. We are so excited to see you! Your mother has carried you for nine
months, and we just can’t wait for you to arrive. We have so enjoyed reading books to
you, picking out clothes for you, talking to you, feeling you kick and listening to your
heartbeat. What a great heartbeat! We can already tell you will have a lot of energy,
which is great! You will be a bundle of excitement in our home.

I don’t know what clothing is like in the pre-existence, but you have sooo many cool
clothes awaiting you here, so don’t feel bad if you have to leave your favorite pair of
spirit slippers behind. We have all kinds of great clothes, in many colors, but mostly
PINK. We’ve decided that will be your favorite color. (Of course you can change your
mind if you want.)

We already know some great things about you through prayer and blessings. We know
that God has long planned your birthday. We know you will have musical skills. And
we know you will be a special spirit. We intend to raise you up unto the Lord, to find joy
in Him, and in the people around you. We want to guide you back to Him, so that we can
be an eternal family. We are so grateful for you, and can’t wait to see you!

Love,

Mom and Dad

This morning, after he discovered me kneeling in the closet crying into the laundry basket about how tired I am of being pregnant, Abe offered to give me a blessing. In our church, a blessing is when someone who hold the priesthood acts like a mouthpiece for God and speaks words of comfort or guidance to the person in need of a blessing. I am so grateful to be married to someone who can do this.

My most favorite part of the blessing said that God had picked Lydia’s birthday long before she was even conceived. That was good to hear–especially since I spent the morning researching the pros and cons of induction. I keep getting stressed out because not only am I tired of being pregnant, but I feel bad that people are traveling all the way out here to help us with the baby–and we have no baby yet!!! My brother has been here for weeks and has to leave for Mali the day after my due date. I was hoping he’d get to meet his niece before he leaves, but every day that passes with no Lydia stresses me out a little bit more. And Abe’s dad and stepmom are coming in tomorrow or Sunday and will be here a week. I will feel TERRIBLE if they have taken off all this time out of their busy schedules–and then don’t even  get to meet their granddaughter.

But I am turning the matter over to God. He has a plan for Lydia, and I am trusting she’ll be born at the exact right second, just like the blessing said. In the meantime, I’m kind of giving up on trying to keep everything perfect in the house. I can see a film of dust on the coffee table in front of me, and I think I shall simply pretend it’s not there and go take a nap.

Maybe I’ll wake up on Lydia’s birthday!

Yesterday as I moaned about how icky I felt, Clark suggested I go for a swim. I haven’t swum since the weather got cold, but since it’s warming up, I allowed myself to entertain his idea. He was quite persuasive.

“With that thing,” he said, looking pointedly at my belly, “I’m sure you’ll, uh, float.”

Hmm…floating did sound appealing, and I really liked the idea of being weightless. So today, when Abe finally prodded me out of bed (at 1pm), I decided to go for a swim.

As I walked down to the pool, I felt sorry for the doorman who has to watch the condo pool on camera. What would he think when he saw a pregnant woman of elephantine proportions floating blithely in the pool? Would my stretch marks show up on camera?

But I cast those thoughts aside as soon as I stepped in the water. Words can not describe how utterly blissful that pool felt. Here are a couple reasons why it felt so good:

1. The water made me feel light as a feather! Weighing in at 200 + lbs, that is a special feeling I don’t get often.

2. My thighs are constantly rubbing together in a very unpleasant way. In the water, I could spread out all of my limbs and let them enjoy the silky feeling of water. I closed my eyes and pretended I was skinny, and no physical sensations contradicted my pleasant delusions.

3. I could lie on my back!! That is my most favorite sleeping position, and these days I can’t sleep like that without experiencing exquisite pain upon waking up. In the pool, I could lie on my back and bob like a cork. Wherever my belly bobbed, the rest of me followed. It was so fun.

4. When I did decide to be active and do some laps, I felt great. No worrying about whether I was hurting my low-hanging baby, no sweat where my new folds of fat rub together, no stretching myself into uncomfortable positions just because the yoga lady on the DVD appears to find these stretches pleasurable…in short, I could have stayed in the pool all day.

But all good things must come to an end. When it was time for me to get out, Abe took a couple pictures at my request. I wanted to remember how great it felt to be in the water, and I also wanted to share the pictures with you! If you are or have been pregnant and are experiencing/have experienced a body image crisis like mine, this picture will comfort you. I have more abjectly humiliating ones I am happy to send out upon request. For any non-pregnant readers, feel free to avert your eyes. =)

I am doing slow snow angel like moves and grinning. At that moment, life felt beautiful!

I am trying everything I can think of to speed along the birth process. The number one thing everyone recommends is walking, and so today my friend Katie and I went for a walk. Even though my back felt broken, I had such a great time. First of all, Katie is a delightful walking buddy. She is so positive and cheerful that it is hard to feel down around her. Thank you, Katie!

Secondly, this is the first day of March. The snow was melting, the weather was mild, and we even spotted buds on the bushes. By the end of the walk, I felt so buoyed up.

We are happy! Wouldn’t all that feathery foliage in the background make you happy, too?

BUDS! On the branches!!! This thrilled our souls. Spring is springing.

After the walk, Clark and I had dinner with our wonderful neighbors from across the hall. We had lasagna–but not just any lasagna. This lasagna took us EIGHT hours to make. We started yesterday and worked on it intermittently for an entire day. I got the idea to make the lasagna when Clark casually dropped a 1 lb package of ground grass-fed beef on the counter and suggested we make dinner. We went back to the store, bought a ton of other ingredients, and a day later we were ready to eat. Thank goodness Dick, Sarah, and Ethan came over to help us eat. There was no way we could have tackled it by ourselves–especially since Abe had to work late tonight. (Don’t worry–we saved him some!)

Clark sharpens his knife as he prepares to tackle the chopping ahead. With the food processor not working, we had our hands full chopping onions, carrots, celery, mushrooms, and prosciutto.

Clark, Sarah, Ethan (looking cute!!), and Dick. We miss you, Abe!

1 comment:

1. Thalia RandallMarch 8, 2011 at 11:47 PMWhy won’t my comments post up??? Anyway I loved your story about the Forever Young song!!! xxReply

I was rereading some of my recent blog entries, and it’s remarkable how many start with, “It’s [some absurd hour of the night] and I can’t sleep, so I’m blogging instead.” This one is no different. I got up to go to the bathroom at 3:15 am, and that was the end of my good night’s sleep. I lay in bed with my head nestled in Abe’s armpit for the better part of an hour; finally I gave in and got up. Nothing to do but play online scrabble and blog.

Can I just say, without my family and friends, I would be a miserable wreck right now. But every day, the beautiful people around me remind me that, despite my super swollen ankles/face/fingers/feet, my perpetually aching pelvis, and my burgeoning bump (which, according to the doctor, currently houses a SEVEN pound baby!!), life is still good.

Take yesterday. My dear friend Randee rescued me from the Monday blues by coming over and taking me to the Lake County dog park. This dog park is a huge meadow and forest preserve that makes you feel like you’ve completely left the city behind. When Randee pulled up, her smiling face and Sherman’s wagging tail immediately brightened my day. She was test driving a mini cooper, and so our drive to the dog park was quite exciting.

Once we got to the park, everyone had fun. The whole ground was solidly iced, but that didn’t stop Sherman! In thirty quick seconds, he had a coterie of doggy friends following him happily around the meadow, and he had a blast outpacing them all in vigorous games of fetch. If his happy form hadn’t been so beautiful to watch, I would have been jealous of his agility and speed. I tried to take pictures, but they didn’t capture the pure joy expressed by the body of a dog in top form.

Randee and Sherman exchanging smiles

Sherman running after a ball. In his enthusiasm for the sport, he has left his new friends waaaaaaaay behind.

After the dog park, Randee gave me this sweet outfit for Lydia to wear home from the hospital. I love it, and I love its little message! Even now when I look at it, I feel encouraged. Lydia is definitely worth the wait.

After the dog park, Clark and I went to go get Indian food. The hope was all the spices would help induce labor, but so far that hasn’t worked. Sunday night I was up until 3am experiencing false contractions. They were so close together that I got super excited and thought I might actually be going into labor…but, sadly, they stopped. As they dropped off in frequency, I started praying and explained to God why it would be advantageous to all parties involved if Lydia made her splashdown right away, but then it occurred to me that maybe God was holding off sending Lydia for Abe’s sake. I rolled over and asked Abe suspiciously whether there was any good reason for him for Lydia to be born later, and he reluctantly replied that he had to teach a class Tuesday, and that it would be better if she were born after that class.

Dang it! I rolled back over and told God I would wait until after Abe’s class, but after that I fully expected some divine cooperation in getting Lydia to earth sooner rather than later. She’s already more than seven pounds, and if we wait around much longer, I could be birthing a pretty big baby. So my new prayer is that she’ll be born later tonight–after Abe’s class.

Her head is so low that for the past couple weeks, the doctor has had to push it out of the way in order to figure out how dilated I am. There’s nothing like sitting through a third trimester doctor’s exam to make you feel like a farm animal. I sit there, legs wide apart, grimacing and breathing hard while the doctor exclaims over and over about how incredibly low her head is and how he has to shove it out of the way to get to the cervix. Good times, good times. But, as Randee’s onesie says, Lydia is worth the wait!

If you have extra room in your prayers, you can feel free to join me in praying that the wait ends SOON. =)

9 comments:

1. Shandi and AlexMarch 1, 2011 at 8:39 AMI can TOTALLY relate to feeling like a farm animal… Sebastian dropped around 30 weeks which made for some very uncomfortable doctor’s exams! I hope, for your sake, she comes soon!!
   
   P.s. Random question, but whatever happened to Lulu? Do you still have her?!Reply
2. LilyMarch 1, 2011 at 8:49 AMThanks, Shandi! Lulu has a new home with my cousins. They have four kids, a big home and an enormous yard–so she is much happier there. I miss her a lot though! Sherman was her best doggy friend before the big move to my cousins. I can still see her, though, so that’s good. How is Sebastian getting along with Piper, and what kind of dog is Piper again?Reply
3. AnonymousMarch 1, 2011 at 11:35 AMThe wait will be over before you know it! I can’t wait to read your mommy blog posts. Good luck with all things labor and delivery! I hope it is a wonderful experience for you and that Lydia decides to come see her mommy soon!Reply
4. LilyMarch 1, 2011 at 12:28 PMThanks, Kristi! I hope so too. =)Reply
5. It Started With a WinkMarch 1, 2011 at 6:20 PMHas Lydia been sitting low the whole time? That’s probably the number two comment I get, he’s so low!! Even when the Dr looks for his heart he always has to look super low!Reply
6. LilyMarch 2, 2011 at 8:38 AMLiz, I honestly don’t know. The doctor only mentioned it a couple weeks ago when he tried to check me and yelped that the baby had completely dropped and her head was right there. I don’t know what low or high would look like, so it’s possible she’s been low this whole time and I just didn’t know! =)Reply
7. CandaceMarch 2, 2011 at 7:40 PMAck, I’m so excited for you!Reply
8. LilyMarch 2, 2011 at 8:20 PMCandace, I am excited for you! You must post some pics of your home improvement work soon. Your youtube clip was so fun to watch!Reply
9. Sarah SMarch 5, 2011 at 3:47 PMDr. Miller has BIG HANDS. That is the only downside to him being your OB 🙂 When I have gone in to the hospital (once in labor) and some female resident checks my dilation, I have always been amazed at how easy it was with someone who has smaller hands. Maybe TMI for a blog comment, but who cares 🙂
   
   Also – I went into labor with Charlie after having lunch at Wholly Frijoles in Lincolnwood… I think that spicy yummy salsa really got things going. Just an idea for Monday if things haven’t progressed… 🙂 It’s always fun to go out to eat anyway!Reply

Okay, did any of you moms out there experience an overwhelming urge to document EVERYTHING about your life leading up to birth? I feel like I am becoming a compulsive blogger, and I don’t know if that’s the insomnia, a chemical knock-off of the nesting instinct, or both. Usually I get up in the middle of the night and can’t fall back asleep. Tonight I can’t even fall asleep! And since I can’t sleep, all I want to do is play online scrabble and blog.

In addition to this strange desire to document the boring details my life, I have also experienced the actual nesting instinct. It kicked in full force this afternoon.  We were on our way home from church having a nice discussion when all of the sudden I checked out of the conversation. All I could think about was how I needed to organize the house. After the deluge of presents from the baby shower #2, my friends’ visit, and another baby shower coming up this Saturday, I had no idea where to put all of Lydia’s new stuff! And even though it seems that we have the basics set up, the lack of a definitive set-up for clothes and miscellaneous gifts was driving me completely bananas.

And then there was also the post-fun clean-up to take care of. I had such a blast with my friends, but I didn’t exactly focus on housework while they were here. The thought of tackling the laundry, dishes, and various messes I’ve been ignoring made me want to cry. Luckily, Abe and Clark came to the rescue. Abe came up with an action plan and then Clark came home and pitched in. He and Abe helped me clean and organize until everything looked beautiful–and then Clark went on to make dinner! What a super star.

Clark made an omelet “cake” that I saw on a Rachel Ray episode a couple days ago. I haven’t ever tried any of her recipes, but this was really quite delicious. It’s just three veggie filled omelets layered with a ricotta-milk-thyme filling and topped with arugula and Parmesan. The omelet and ricotta stacks are yummy, and the arugula keeps the whole thing fresh. The picture didn’t do it justice, but here it is anyway:

And then, as if my night hadn’t been blessed enough, who should knock on my door but my wonderful neighbor from across the hall, bearing a container full of homemade chocolate chip cookies! My mom’s building is brimming with the best neighbors in the world. I love them. And our neighbors across the hall are incredible bakers to boot. I knew I’d like them before I even met them; I remember coming home from Christmas break to a plate of cookies they’d given my mom. I took one bite and knew right away I’d like the people who made those delicious cookies. They both have doctorates form Harvard in science, so you can only imagine the precision they bring to the world of baking. Super talented scientists + good recipes = over-the-top deliciousness. I’m pretty sure they used this recipe (it’s one they’ve used before), and it’s a total winner. http://www.nytimes.com/2008/07/09/dining/091crex.html

Clark was kind enough to photograph the surviving cookies just now. I was too lazy to get out of my chair, but I did so want a picture for the blog.

One last food note. Yesterday Jean, Sherelle, Sherelle’s sister, brother-in-law, and I all went to lunch at the Oak Tree Restaurant on Michigan Avenue (http://www.shop900.com/shop/oak-tree-restaurant), which serves both breakfast and lunch. I could not believe I did not know this restaurant existed before. The food was fabulous and affordable, and the ambiance was great. So fellow Chicago people, if you haven’t already checked this place out, you must! I feel sad that I’ve been missing out for all these years. It’s on the top floor of the Bloomingdale’s mall on Michigan Avenue. My only regret from yesterday is that I forgot take a photo…but check out the website, and the next time you’re downtown shopping, order one of the delectable sandwiches at the Oak Tree Restaurant. You won’t regret it! Many thanks (and, of course, big hugs) to Sherelle for introducing me to this new pleasure.

It’s 4:30am, and even though I would rather be sleeping, I am happy. Why? Because currently my house contains these (sleeping) people!

Abe, Jean, Clark, and Sherelle. I am so lucky!

My friends, Jean and Sherelle, are on their February break and are visiting from Boston. I can not tell you how excited I am to see them! They are some of my favorite people, and I have not seen them since grad school. We have had so much fun already, and we still have a whole day of fun to go.

Yesterday we all spent some time downtown at the Art Institute of Chicago. They have free hours, and so we joined the crowds and wandered happily around. Then we took the El back; Jean and Sherelle got off downtown to do some shopping, and I took it all the way back home to make it to a baby care class at the hospital. It was my first time riding public transportation while pregnant, and I thought it would be hysterical if I went into labor en route. Sadly, that is one story I won’t be able to tell…

Today Jean and I took a long and super vigorous walk all around Evanston while we waited for Sherelle to join us (she spent the first night at her sister’s). Jean is used to Boston crowds, and she sets a quick pace. I was huffing, puffing, and starving by the end. Since Jean is a hypercritical connoisseur of southern cuisine, we put our local southern restaurant, the Dixie Kitchen http://www.dixiekitchenevanston.com/evanston.html, to the test to see if it passed Jean’s standards. She told me that there are places in her home state of Arkansas that don’t even pass muster, but guess what? Dixie Kitchen passed with flying colors! She loved it.

Jean looking very happy with her hurricane and beignets.

We are both clearly happy to be eating. Jean was one of my best eating buddies in grad school, and this brought back many happy memories.

This was on the wall next to our table. It made me laugh so hard.

Then we met up with Sherelle. Jean and Sherelle were sneaky and left me behind in the lobby chatting with a neighbor while they went up to the condo and set up a surprise for Lydia. I was so touched! They have such great taste, and I’m so excited for Lydia to wear and play with all of the pretty things they brought for her.

Afterward, Clark joined us for a rousing game of Scrabble. As usual, he won. (I play him constantly on Facebook and have lost 11 times a row that way. This game made it 12.) We had tons of fun anyway, and we even learned some new words. Did you know that “yom” is singular for “yomim,” and that it means “day”? This vital information enabled several highly successful plays.

And then we ventured out to Whole Foods and picked up ingredients to make dinner. Originally, I envisioned myself cooking for Jean and Sherelle. They came all this way, and I wanted some way of communicating how happy I am to have them here. But every night I have been beaten to the punch! The first night I came home from the baby class to discover Jean cooking up an AMAZING meal, and last night Jean and Sherelle made the most incredible salmon. All I did was zest a lemon. It was pathetic. But dinner was sooooooooo yummy. What can I say? My friends are the best!

I did make a coffee cake before they got here. I wanted something fun to have around for snacking when people got hungry. Boy, does this cake fit the bill! But Clark has forbidden me to make it ever again because, in his words, “it’s wrong on every level.” (Translation: there is nothing nutritionally redemptive about this recipe; this cake will, quite simply, make you fat and leave you grovelling for more. But it is DELICIOUS.) Here’s a picture and the recipe (courtesy of Martha Stewart!) if you feel so inclined to indulge in carbohydrate craziness. http://www.marthastewart.com/recipe/new-york-style-crumb-cake

More to come! Today we are going downtown again for lunch. I am already looking forward to it. Now if I could only fall back asleep so that I don’t sleep through today’s fun…

As part of his job requirement, Abe is a certified CPR instructor. So we decided to use our Family Home Evening (it’s a Mormon thing: http://lds.org/family/home-evening?lang=eng) to learn infant CPR together. After praying that we’d never actually need the skills we were about to learn, Abe set up the DVD and I settled back into a comfy position on the couch. I don’t know what I expected–maybe I thought we’d absorb the information osmosis style while cuddling on the couch–but I was wrong.

The first thing Abe did after setting up the DVD was dig out one of my dolls from the closet. He then set up a little practice station for us to hone our resuscitation skills on. I was already comfortable and therefore declined his initial invitations to join him in practice. Instead, I took these pictures:

After a while, Abe’s diligent example guilted me into joining him. I took a casual approach to the exercise and jumped right into the act of resuscitating my unfortunate doll.

“Ummm…” Abe interrupted apologetically, “I’m so sorry, but since I’m a stickler for sequence, you might want to try again. You forgot to check to make sure the scene was safe.” I looked at him in disbelief. Seriously?  But he was in full-on instructor mode, and that meant we were tackling this CPR session like a real class. Okey dokey.

One and a half hours later, I was pooped. We had role played, practiced, and honed our resuscitation skills to perfection. If Lydia or any other baby in the vicinity so much as coughs, we know what to do.

1. Check to make sure the scene is safe
2. Tap the baby’s foot while asking loudly, “Are you OK? Are you OK?” (Obviously, the baby can’t talk back, but if the infant is conscious, you should get some type of physical response.)
3. Order someone to call 911, or call yourself if the phone is close. If the phone is not close, do 5 sets of compressions and breaths, and then call.
4. Tilt the baby’s head back slightly, hold in place, and begin compressions. For a baby, you draw an invisible line with your fingers between the nipples and then place two fingers directly below the center of that line. Press down hard. You should aim for pressing down to half the depth of the chest. Release and repeat 30 times.
5. Cover the infants nose and mouth with your mouth and give two breaths. Draw your head away from the infant’s head in between breaths.
6.Repeat steps 4-5 until help arrives.

I hope we never have to use these skills, but I’m glad I learned them. And I’m glad to be married to someone who cares enough to force me off the couch and practice for the sake and safety of our daughter.

I hope she gets here soon! To pass the time until then, I made these:

Remember the rolls Elise made for the Hyde Park baby shower? She was kind enough to give me the recipe link. I have been searching for a good roll recipe for years, and nothing I have tried even comes close to these. If you need rolls in your life, you MUST try this recipe. It is amazing! http://www.ourbestbites.com/2008/03/rolls-and-orange-rolls.html (Also, the rolls in the picture are shiny because they were hot when I rubbed butter all over them. After they cool, they look appropriately matte.)