Hospital Pictures

Pictures of the newest Kranz....I know I'm biased, being mom and all, but she is absolutely beautiful, and the spitting image of her proud Papa.

Mom, Dad, and baby Natalie

Minutes after birth, trying to figure out the light and sounds

Meeting Grandma Powell for the first time

Natalie and Aunt Beth

Newborn smile

Three Generations

Uncle Ronnie and Aunt Jessica with Nattie

Worn out from a hard day

Attempt at video upload.....if it works, it's pretty cute.  

Welcome, Natalie!

Tuesday, December 28, 2010

At the Kranz household, I woke up at about 1:00 in the morning, feeling just awful.  I had been feeling pretty lousy since Christmas Eve, to be truthful, and put everyone on notice that I felt like labor was pretty imminent.  But after several days of feeling like something was happening, and not, I was none-too-hopeful on this occasion either.  So, back to bed I went.

Around 3:30, I woke up to my first contraction.  Again, trying to be calm and not read too much into it, I went back to bed, but continued to feel terrible.  Contractions were 15 minutes apart and lasting about 40-45 seconds  immediately.  I stayed in bed, trying to get some sleep.  Around 5:00, I woke Eric up to let him know what was going on and that I planned to stay in bed until 6:00.  I couldn't take anymore at 5:45, and got up, showered, and started packing for the hospital.  My plan, per our birthing class, was to call the doctor when contractions were 5 minutes apart for an hour.  At 7:45, I placed the call to the on-call doc who advised me that since this was my first baby, I should hang tough awhile and call the office when it opened at 9:00.  Contractions continued to intensify, accompanied by some pretty righteous back labor, and at 9:00 I was having contractions about 4-5 minutes apart and lasting between 60 and 90 seconds.  I was told to come into the office for evaluation and they would decide if I needed to go to the hospital yet.  Again, and this time by the nurse, I was told that since this is my first baby, I was still a long way from delivery.

We left for the hospital sometime between 9:15 and 9:30, and arrived at the office, bags in tow for the hospital, around 10:00.  The nurse practitioner examined me to announce that I was 100% effaced and 5-6cm dilated, and that we should proceed to the hospital and she would call ahead to let them know we were on our way.

At 11:00, we arrived at the hospital.  I was now 8cm dilated and in so much pain I could barely stand up straight.  By 12:15 I finally caved and asked for an epidural, and while they were ready to give it to me, let me know that it probably would not kick in before the baby was born.  I was allowed to start pushing, and decided to go without.  Pushing brought the relief I needed, and at 1:16pm, Natalie Beth Kranz was born.

Stats:

Name: Natalie Beth Kranz

Date: 12/28/10

Time: 1:16pm

Weight: 7 pounds 13.5 ounces

Length: 20 inches

More pics and video will be posted shortly!

39 weeks

Christmas has come and gone, and despite the big progress in the past week, and generally feeling pretty rotten the past 2 days, no baby yet.  

39 weeks

Ash & Bernie on Christmas Eve 2010

We had a wonderful Christmas Eve with the Clark side of my family, complete with Yankee swap in which Adam's velour Christmas sweater made a triumphant return, and Eric took home the same old t-shirt he submitted as his own gift.  

This morning we celebrated Christmas with immediate family, and brought home a beautiful wooden rocking chair.  Not a fancy glider, but a good, old-fashioned rocker.  I LOVE it, and cannot wait to sit and just rock with the baby.  Hopefully we won't have much more than a few days to wait.

Merry Christmas, all.  We hope you got to celebrate in your own wonderful way with your own families.

Progress is Progress

Well, I didn't say a prayer, and I most certainly did not light a candle.  Instead, I used the power of positive reasoning and decided that instead of being a grouch about last week's lack of progress, I would try to find something good in the whole thing.  And I came up with this: the longer it takes for the baby to come, the more paid time off I'm accruing at work.  Voila, my motivation to hang on until the baby is ready.

And today, progress!  50% effaced and 2 cm dilated!  Holy moly.  The doctor said she thought the baby would be delivered within a week to 10 days!  Holy moly.

Now, reason tells me not to get too hung up on this.  After all, women walk around 2 cm dilated for weeks before delivering.  But, as they say, progress is progress, and I'll take it.  And just in case it's still nothin' doin' at least I'm still accruing PTO.

Last Christmas as Children

In all the Christmases that Eric and I have spent together, we have never exchanged Christmas gifts on Christmas day.  In fact, I can remember exchanging gifts with each other as early as Thanksgiving!  And this year, Eric got his gift from me even earlier than that.  As I opened my gift from him today, we decided that this would be the last year that we can get away with this.  We need to grow up and set a good example for our baby that gifts must wait until Christmas to be opened!

Which brings me to the real reason for this post....

Ladies, prepare to be jealous!

I opened a beautiful card (that actually did make me cry) and a gift card for a full day of spa treatments!  That's right, 5 full hours of pampering.  And, I get to choose all the services!  What a great and thoughtful gift.  I cannot wait to use it, and know I am going to have a hard time waiting until several weeks post-baby when I can stand to be away for a whole day of quiet, relaxing, Ashley-time.

What a great husband I have.

A Whole Lotta Nothin'

I had an impromptu check up yesterday.  Not because anything awesome was going on, but because they (correctly) were calling for a lot of snow over night and into today, and I didn't want my appointment, originally scheduled for today, to be canceled.  I think it's safe to say that anyone who has a guess in the baby pool for the next week is probably going to lose.  Sorry, I wish there was more I could do about it.

The word is there is absolutely no dilation and no effacement happening.  I was bummed.  I was hoping for a centimeter, at least!  I know people walk around 1 cm dilated for weeks, but at least it's a start.  Instead, nothing.  Mom was so kind to tell me that just because nothing was happening at 2:30 doesn't mean that I couldn't be in full on labor later that night.  True.  And I learned that in our birthing class, but still.  Nothing.

The doctor told me that I should start praying to St. Gerard.  And, for extra good measure, I should also light a candle.  Dang.  It was really bleak.

I also lobbied hard, in a final last-ditch effort, to have her consider the original due date of Dec 27th as medical fact instead of what is looking increasingly like hopeful Ashley fantasy.  I even went so far as to offer to name the baby Carol (girl or boy) if she could promise it would be born in December.  Clearly her name is Carol.  And, while she was very excited at that prospect, no dice.  Dang again.  I held it together though, and left there thinking that maybe I could try mind over matter for another week to see if the power of mental motivation can actually get the body into gear.  I didn't tell her that the thought of being pregnant until Jan 13th (worst case scenario) is something that puts me on the verge of tears.

And let me be clear...

I'm not on the verge of tears because (1) I am anxious to meet our baby, or (2) because 9 months is a trick and really you're pregnant for 10, or (3) because the baby is making me so uncomfortable that I want to scream, or (4) because I hate not being able to shave my legs or polish my toes, or even put my shoes on without a heaving effort, or (5) because I'm tired of being winded walking up the stairs, or (6) because I just want one glass of wine, or (7) because rolling out of bed like a beached whale 3 times a night to pee is getting a tad bit old, or (8) because wearing the same 4 shirts and same 2 pairs of pants every day is getting redundant, or (9) because it's time already, or (10) because I think my belly button could actually shoot right off the front of my body at any given second if I stretch any farther.  No, not because of any one of those reasons alone.  Rather, a combination of all the reasons, and then some.  And because for the love of everything chocolate, I'm getting cranky, and that is atypical, and I. don't. like. it!

Split Decision

I had another baby dream last night.  This time it was a girl.  I remember saying very clearly her name (the one we have picked out) to the hospital staff, who I did not like. Hmm....

In case you're keeping track, this is now 2 baby dreams in recent weeks.  The first was a boy though.  I thought these pre-baby dreams were supposed to be a clue?!  Conclusion: I have absolutely NO idea what we are having, and the suspense is really starting to get to me.

You may wonder why I'm posting at 7am.  I thought I'd have a quiet morning to sleep in a little, watch the local news, have breakfast in my jammies.  Eric had to leave early for work, and I am working at home as much as possible, including today.  Not a chance, as soon as Eric was up, so was Bernie.  Dang.  So, I figured I might as well start work early, get everything done and maybe knock off a few minutes early this afternoon.....

Hurry Up and Wait

This past week we had to take a personality test at work.  No one will be surprised to learn that my overall personality style is "Perfectionist" with strong tendencies towards organization, order, and rules.  Sounds pretty accurate to me, right?  Well, it should surprise you less then that at exactly 2 weeks until D-day (if you're observing the 12/27 due date) or 3.5 weeks (if you're leaning towards the modern medicine theory of due dates), that everything is caught up and in place for the baby's arrival.  And, wouldn't you know it, I'm officially bored.

It started out as anxious.  You know...when will the baby be here?  Will I really know when labor starts?  I hope I don't go into labor at work, what are the odds it will start at night or on a weekend?  And now, I'm over all that and ready to just get the show on the road.  2 weeks seems appropriately early, especially if the baby takes after me.  Best to arrive a few minutes early than trying to time things on the nose, or heaven forbid arrive 10 minutes late!  3.5 weeks does still seem a tad on the too early side, though.

I'm caught up at work, and will have officially transferred all my cases this week.  The house is cleaned and the nursery is ready to go.  All the baby laundry is washed, folded, and put away.  Our laundry is caught up.  Christmas shopping is completed and gifts are ready to roll.  I just checked a major project off my list for Dad.  So, now what?  Eric suggested I enjoy the quiet time to just relax.  WHAT?!  I don't even know what that means, really.  I can stand all that sitting around for about 26 seconds before I feel like I'm going to implode.  And besides, sitting isn't really all that comfortable these days anyway.  As a matter of fact, neither is standing.  Or laying down.

What's a girl to do?  Thursday is our next doctors appointment where I fully intend to plead my case on observing the 12/27 due date.  She will do an internal exam and with any luck, mother nature will be cooperative and I'll feel a little less like a crazy person....

O, Christmas Tree

It's officially Christmas season.  I have a hard and fast rule not to decorate the house for Christmas before December 1.  This year, as you'll read below, our house almost didn't get decorated at all!

St. Nick

 You'll have to use your imagination on the lights...they're up, but at night when you can see them, the pictures turned out too dark.

Stockings hung by the chimney with care.  5 stockings this year: Eric, Ashley, Cici, Bernie, and baby

I love Christmas.  Ever since I was little, and even now that I'm nearly 30, I have led the charge on Christmas morning, well before the sun comes up, to rouse the troops and spend all day in our jammies by the Christmas tree, opening gifts.  When else is it acceptable for a responsible adult to act purely like a wide-eyed child?  

With the looming due date so near Christmas, and our holiday plans altered slightly, I have been prepping for Christmas at break-neck speed.  We had to have nearly all the shopping, baking, and wrapping done before Thanksgiving this year in order to celebrate in Wisconsin.  Mission 1: accomplished.

Mission 2: decorate the house.  Last year I put up two trees.  Our beautiful, but gigantic, tree in the living room, and a smaller tree above the front door to be seen from the road.  Since the latter involved me hoisting a tree, lights, ornaments up a 15 foot ladder and decorating on a very narrow platform, I voted to forgo that this year.  It remained safely boxed up in the basement.

Tree 2, however, nearly killed me.  I put it up in record time, despite having to carry up the branches a few at a time from the basement (you know, since I can't carry anything heavier than a loaf of bread, and my stamina is about that of an infant snail).  Once up, it was time for the lights.  Unpacked, I carefully tested each strand.  What were the odds?  They all worked!  After 2 hours on and off 4 strategically placed chairs (did I mention the tree is 9 feet tall?), the lights were strung up.  Drum roll......I plugged them in, so excited at my progress.  [Cymbal crash]  They didn't work!  Or, I should say, about 1/3 of them worked.  How could this be?!  Eric came to the rescue as we tried to figure out the problem.  Eventually, the lights had to be taken down.  My method for this was violent ripping in an attempt to cool my frustration.  If I could have picked that tree up, I would have javelined it off the back porch!  Are you kidding, 4 hours and nothing to show....

The beauty of the whole situation was the the lights still all worked when I took them back off!  I was having visions of me, Beth, and Ronnie sitting Indian-style on the living room floor as kids, anxiously waiting for mom and dad to string the lights so we could start putting on the ornaments.  Mom would always tell us a quick story about the ornament we got to put on.  Usually this happy memory of ornament story telling was preceded by strings of profanity, hours of painful frustration as the lights went up, came off, went back on, and were finally just left.  

The next day I went in search of Christmas lights.  Who knew that in mid-December, lights are hard to find?!  I suppose when stores start selling lights after the 4th of July, that's what I should have expected.  In any case, lights were purchased, restrung.  And finally, after 2 full days, ornaments were on and the tree was decorated.  I like the tree a little less this year...

Childbirth Class

At 36 weeks pregnant, having had two amazing showers, done countless loads of laundry, and spending hours of time organizing and getting the nursery ready, I still felt like there was one more thing to accomplish before baby. And today we checked that off our list!  We attended childbirth class.  All day.

As you can imagine, Eric was none too excited about spending 8.5 hours learning more than he ever wanted to know about pregnancy, labor, delivery, and post-partum care, but he hung in there like a champ, and I have the utmost confidence that he will get me through the hardest parts of labor.

I learned two very important facts today:

1. My belief that I want no part of an epidural if I can at all help it was reaffirmed.  I know women get them every day and everyone walks away just fine.  There is something about a needle going blindly at my spine that I just cannot get past.  Also, I really, really hate not being in control of my body.

We learned breathing techniques and when to do which techniques throughout labor.  Many of the techniques I have already employed in running.  I have said that I really want to try for a natural delivery since I found out I was pregnant, and I still intend to do just that.  Today the instructor told us that most of getting through labor drug-free is mental.  Running long-distance is the same.  In order for one's body to tolerate 20+ mile runs, you have to decide to do it.  You have to make your mind take you to a place that convinces your body it can do it.  The pain remains, but it becomes tolerable and an accepted part of the whole experience.  While I have absolutely no idea what to expect from labor pain, I feel like I am as prepared as I will ever be to hang in as long as I can.

2. This leads me to lesson number two.  I have decided that I was probably dropped on my head at some point in my early development.  Most of the breathing techniques I got and feel really comfortable with.  One of them had me so confused.  I could not figure out how to do it at all!  I was only breathing out, and could not get the rhythm and was doing all kinds of gasping breaths in.  Wow, it was bizarre!

I did practice again when we got home, and figured it out.  Now I'll just have to practice until the baby actually arrives...

With all that said, I feel like the baby can be born anytime now and I will be ready.  Or, should I say, I cannot do anything else to feel more ready at this point.

Also going on in the Kranz household this weekend: Christmas decorating.  Check back soon for pictures of our beautiful fireplace and Christmas tree, decorated with my brand new ornaments!  We have a stocking hung for the baby, just in case he or she arrives prior to Christmas...