ben and i would like to introduce....

our beautiful baby girl!!! marley mae lonsert was born at 338am thursday february 19, 2009 via emergency c-section. labor lasted for over 24 hours, but never has such pain had such a wonderful reward...tears of happyness just keep coming...who would have thought i would be such a softie...she weighed 7 pounds, 11 ounces, was 19.5 inches long, has great big beautiful blue eyes, and appears to have auburn hair. she's perfect. her daddy is walking on clouds, as am i. here are a couple pictures for you....

the first is marley mae, second marley mae and me, third is marley mae, fourth is the best nurse in the world (she helped us so much!) lindsey and marley and the last is daddy and marley in the nursery right after birth...

finding nemo

ok guys. nemo is officially due for a grand entrance any minute now. so i need everyone to send welcoming vibes this way and convince him/her to come and greet the world. it's even a sunshiney day. i'm starting to get really antsy. so is ben, and i'm sure my mom is too. any time the phone rings, i'm ready to start answering: no baby yet. but patience has never been one of my virtues, and i think i may finally learn this lesson from nemo. probably everyday for the rest of my life. =) anyway, just an update to say that nemo seems to be very shy and needs to feel some encouragement from everyone. thanks!

the waiting game

my weekly e-mail update:
Your baby's waiting to greet the world! He continues to build a layer of fat to help control his body temperature after birth, but it's likely he already measures about 20 inches and weighs a bit over 7 pounds, a mini watermelon. (Boys tend to be slightly heavier than girls.) The outer layers of his skin are sloughing off as new skin forms underneath.

grandma gretchen arrived safe and sound on monday. since then nemo has not made a move towards entering the world. now i have both ben and mom staring at me, going well...? anything? or if i make a noise, was that a contraction? nope. nothing. maybe nemo just wants to be on time. we had an appointment on tuesday with the doctor. he doesn't seem concerned and says my body has made no progress towards delivery. so we made an appointment for next tuesday. they don't let pregnancies go past two weeks (or 42 weeks total) these days because of the placenta aging. so nemo will be here sometime in the next two weeks. hopefully tomorrow. or today. hell, right now sounds good to me...
mom and i have put the finishing touches on the nursery. we have also set up the play yard/ bassinet in the bedroom. now we just need a baby for it. i think she's going to have me start running laps around the pond soon. =)
we're busy sewing today, but i'll try to keep everybody posted if there should be any progress. keep your fingers crossed for us...

the big baby report

so, ben and i went yesterday to get the ultra sound. i had my mom convinced that there were actually twins in there, not just a big baby...=) if i'm not careful she's never going to believe anything i say. but there was good news. the baby is measuring 6 pounds 15 ounces. but the doctor said that could be plus or minus a pound, so realistically anywhere between 6 pounds and 8 pounds. none of which is abnormal. yea! no 12 pounder for me!
i guess also good news, though personally ben and i are ready and i think nemo is too, there is no indication that i am near beginning labor. we got to see some good images of nemo. no, still don't know if it's a boy or a girl. we will find out on delivery day. but we did get to see nemo's profile. it was cool. you could make out the eye, the nose, and the chin. and tucked under nemo's chin were nemo's arms, like he/she was curled up for a nap. i am ready to hold this baby!
ohio is so weird. a snow plow just came down the road, plowing the empty road. there is seriously no snow or ice on the road and the plow is trying to plow. first they take out the phone lines and now they are plowing imaginary snow. the weather is warming up, as per grandma gretchen's orders. it should be around 50 for the next couple of days. woo hoo! i can not wait for spring!
we're back to the waiting game, as far as nemo is concerned. today we have officially been pregnant for 39 weeks. one more to go?

week 38's email update, seriously late:
Your baby has really plumped up. She weighs about 6.8 pounds and she's over 19 1/2 inches long (like a leek). She has a firm grasp, which you'll soon be able to test when you hold her hand for the first time! Her organs have matured and are ready for life outside the womb. Wondering what color your baby's eyes will be? If she's born with brown eyes, they'll likely stay brown. If she's born with steel gray or dark blue eyes, they may stay gray or blue or turn green, hazel, or brown by the time she's 9 months old.

this has been a good week for ohioans, at least my experience of them. it started when i got stella, the honda, stuck half in the drive and half out. a carload of guys stopped and gave me a push. which i think was really nice of them. and then the neighbor across the street came over with his bobcat, which is a funny little tractor that looks like something lego makes with a snow plow on the front, and plowed out our driveway and walkway. he told ben he was worried about me slipping. ben had been out with a shovel, but the ferocious ohio winds made that an exercise in futility. and, this really happened, then a snow plow took out the phone lines. sounds like something that is made up, kind of like when an errant bale of hay took out our mailbox. anyways, we had no phone for a couple of days and the repair guys were very nice and called and said because of my "extreme condition" they were going to make sure that we at least had phone service. and when they had to disconnect it again to continue repairs, they told me to come and tell them if i needed the phone. i thought that was really sweet. so, while i am really starting to hate winter (this was the coldest january in 20 years!!!) i am appreciating the people around me this week.

ben and i go in for the big baby ultra sound today and we're both nervous. neither of us are sure why. most likely the doctor is going to go, yep, that's a big baby. and that will be the end of it. i think we both just have mounting anxiety the closer we get to the due date. any time i call ben now his first question is are you in labor? and my mom answers her phone asking did you have the baby yet? believe me they will both know in plenty of time to experience this with me. =) after birthing class on monday i was again against the idea of giving birth. i thought this class was supposed to help. i have several mantras that i keep telling my self.
~thousands of women do this every day
~ most of the women i know are mothers and they survived, and some even had more than one kid
~my body has been thru some pain before and i tolerated it well. i mean i am sure it is nothing like child birth, but realistically i had part of my heart burnt away and that went ok, i had a tattoo on my spine for 8 hours and i survived that. i walked around with a fractured foot for 24 hours before seeing the doctor and i was ok. i think i have a fairly high pain tolerance. and my body is strong. i've taken better care of it these past 8 months than probably ever. so while i know i have no idea what kind of pain i am in for, i feel like i should be able to take it.
ben and i are gathering calming cds for the delivery room. so far nemo is going to be born to bob marley and paul simon. any other suggestions?
i will give a big baby update when we know more....