SHE is here

Please meet Norah Jean Burke

She was born this morning, March 31 at 2:18 at home. on our bed.

She's 22 inches long and 7 pounds, 15 ounces.

As soon as I'm off bed rest and am able to put it together, I'll be sharing her incredible, life altering story with you.

Happy Birthday my sweet girl
Mae

Psalm 46:10

"Cease striving and know that I am God; I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted in the Earth"

Psalm 46:10

Yesterday I woke up with easy contractions 10-15 minutes apart.
I went to bed last night with strong contractions <7 minutes apart.
I woke up this morning with no baby, and not in labor.

I wanted so badly not to be that mom that alerted her midwives and friends too early. I wanted desperately not to have days of practice before my actual labor like I did with Lily. But this is the way God created me. This is how my body prepares for birth. It can be overwhelming...ok, it is overwhelming sometimes, but I am taking this as a blessing. The days of warm up labor with Lily led to a fantastic birth, so I will trust my body, I will trust the Lord, and know that I will meet my baby soon.
I am so grateful that we are having a homebirth. Had I gone into the hospital last night- with a day of early labor and 7 minute growing contractions [I actually broke a sweat through a few], and then suddenly stopped at 3:30, they'd have given me pitocin and started trying to get my baby out when s/he is clearly not ready. My birth team is very excited for me and have been such a huge support the past 24 hours, I know they will be joyful to celebrate with me when it actually is time.

For now, I will continue to wait, continue to grow my baby, and start trusting that the Lord is on my side. He will bring this baby into the world on the date that He set before I was even born.

Hope you're having a great start to your week,
Mae

Mama Said There'd Be Days Like This...

No. Baby.
It's probably bored to death like we are, lol.

Today was absolutely, mind numbingly boring for me. I'm sure the rest of the family would describe it as "uneventful" but for some reason I'm just out of my mind bored.

Last night/this morning, baby punched me SO HARD in the cervix that I was sure that my water just popped [which didn't happen until I was pushing with Lily, so I'm not totally sure what that feels like, but I'm assuming that since I'm not walking around looking like I peed myself, that wasn't what it was] but other than that...my body's done nada. I tweeted earlier that I'm not quite so sure that my body knows it's supposed to have a baby soon. It's just behaving so differently this time around! Yes, I should be grateful that I'm not working through 2 weeks of cramps and mucus, or days of per-dermal labor, but it makes me feel like my body's being lazy!

I know it will only be a few more days [please sweet Jesus, only a few more days...] but all this sitting around is making my mind wander...and that's never a good thing!

Last night I went out to my birth center for a "belly painting pj party." It was lots of fun and I got to see other mamas and get cold sticky paint rubbed on me.
Can you guess which belly is my 40+ weeks belly??? Huuuuuuge....

I will leave you with a list of things I've said today
"The baby will come when it's good and ready!"
"This baby is never going to come out."
"Maybe sextractions will help?"
"Well if the chili doesn't give me contractions, at least I'll be less bored because of all the pooping"
"But I don't want to have a two hour labor!"
and of course,
"Lily, don't stick cheese up your nose"

Hope you all had a fun, more eventful weekend than I did ;]
Mae

D Day

Yup, the due date is here and I've got NOTHIN going on...nuh-thing.

For some reason I gave Eamon's guess on when the Baby is going to come a lot more salt than anyone else's so when I woke up [from my 4 hours of sleep....urgh] last night not in labor...I was pretty disappointed. I was also hoping for last night because Eamon could then take today, tomorrow, PLUS the weekend to have with us, but no such luck.

So now the hard waiting starts. I'm hoping last night was my friend H's turn to have her baby since she's been waiting almost TWO WEEKS to meet her baby girl. So if she's all done, 'tis definitely my turn!

****Edit****
SHE DID SHE DID SHE DID!!! Baby S got confused and came on my due date, not her's ;]

Click here to see the full series

Here's to not having a "Week 41" photo ;]

Mae

Nesting in the Ghetto

Yep, still pregnant :]


Last night I tweeted about a young man who came in to our workout center while I was walking on the treadmill. It went something like this:
"Hey, how you doin' tonight?"
"Fine, thank you"
He looks around the gym for a sec, doing that weird rubbing-hands-together-thing
"You mind if I ax you somethin' real quick?"
"Uh...sure"
I was expecting something along the lines of how far along are you, or does your doctor know you're doing this.
"Whatchu walkin fo?"
I laughed and said "Well, I'm about to have a baby, it's hard work, I've got to stay in shape."
He walks towards me, still rubbing his hands together [gag...why you gotta be a creeper?] and says "Well, to be honest wit chu, you look good just the way you is."
Before I could even say anything he said
"I mean, you just pregnant"

OOOooooh...wasn't aware...
He noticed my tattoos and that I'm married and quickly exited after that.
I just kept walking, laughing at the ridiculousness that just happened. I shook my head thinking...Why? Still laughing.



Any given day Lily and I open our living room window and see the "bad dogs" [pit bulls] being walked, a baby daddy picking up his kids, the maintenance men rushing off to fix something else, "Biggie Smalls" rolling his joints or yelling at Red Shirt Man, or the ambulance or cops picking someone else up [it's unREAL how often this happens...] It makes me infuriated with myself because I chose to live here.
I constantly think, "This is not the way I wanted to raise my kids. I want them to be able to play outside without getting a second hand high. I want them to have other baby friends in the neighbor hood that won't teach them how to hot wire a car." To be honest, I want to shelter them :\

But the past few days we've been privileged to watch these two working away outside of our window.

Lily stood at the window a few mornings ago yelling, "DUCK! DUCK!" And when I went to see what on earth she was talking about, I saw these two fighting the wind, picking up sticks and dried leaves to build a little nest.

 It's so cute to see that while I'm inflating my pool, setting out outfits, putting together birth supplies [that's not weed, I promise, it's an herbal mixture for our bath, lol] and cleaning like mad, these little birds are pretty much doing the same.

I've been waiting anxiously to see what their finished product will look like, and when she'll lay her eggs. Well this morning I saw Mama Bird sitting proudly in her finished nest. And then the Lord did a tricky thing.
He said
"Now if this tiny little bird picked this tree, in this neighborhood with faith that she can lay her eggs, and prepare her babies for flight, why can't you?"

Dangit.
He's right [duh]

It's little reminders like this that assure me over and over AND OVER again that He's taking care of us. Our bellies never hunger at night, we go to bed in a big fluffy bed at a ridiculously comfy temperature, and despite our biggest fears, we are safe inside our apartment every night, despite the chaos going on outside [and when we're not, He even protects us in that]

Matthew 6:25-27

25 "So I tell you, don't worry about everyday life--whether you have enough food,drink, and clothes. Doesn't life consist of more than food and clothing?

26 Look at the birds. They don't need to plant or harvest or put food in barns because your Heavenly Father feeds them. And you are far more valuable to him than they are.

27 Can all your worries add a single moment to your life? Of course not.

Ok, now I'm ready to have this Baby :]

Happy Wednesday Friends

Mae

First Day of Spring

The weather has been absolutely beautiful lately, and the first day of spring marks just another day that I'm still pregnant :]

I got a LOVELY gift yesterday from some sweet friends of mine, Esther, Lesley, and my doula Leila. They came over with cleaners and brooms and trash bags, and scrubbed the dirty out of my apartment!! I feel like such a failure sometimes for not being able to keep the house clean like I want it to be, but each one of them said "Oh, you can't do that when chasing toddlers" Ha! So my kitchen and bathrooms are sparkling and my living room and bedrooms are cozy and tidy...it's SO nice. Eamon took Lily on a date while the ladies cleaned up. When he came back he said "...So...they just came over to clean our house?" YUP! "...that's SO weird!" It is so foreign to the both of us to just have friends who do stuff for you just because! They're such a light of Jesus...

Ah...

Anyway, I feel like there is such a weight lifted off of my shoulders. Every night when I go to bed I think "But if I go into labor tonight I'll have this and this and this to do" It's kinda been stressing me out. But now everything is set up. The pool is inflated, hoses are ready, all of the supplies are where the midwives and doula can get to them, a girl's and boy's outfit are picked, my postpartum basket and a baby essentials basket are filled and accessible, Lily's activities are planned out for her and daddy. It's all coming together :]

I'm now starting to prepare myself for being pregnant past the 40 weeks, even though I'm already so uncomfortable and so ready. Yesterday I woke up in the wee hours of the morning to cramps and irregular contractions, but they stopped after a few hours and then I got nada, lol.

Here are the stats

• 39.5 weeks pregnant
• 30 pounds gained [I've been walking 30 mins every night to get ready for the birth and to build momentum for post partum]
• just now getting swollen fingers and feet
• appetite is not as monstrous as it was
• sleep is not coming easily
• Baby's head is way...WAAAY down low
• and I wouldn't be surprised if at any moment my legs separated from my hips in order to let my hips splay out more

Well this is my Due Date week, let's see if any of your predictions come true :]
Mae

Super Moon

On my Facebook Feed, there is a whole lotta talk about the moon right now.
Not about going back to it or the man that's in it, but what it's doing to uterus's around the DFW.

Midwives, doulas, and birth photographers are trying their hardest to catch up on their sleep and might be carb loading to get some extra energy. Why? There is a Super Moon tomorrow night. This means the moon is at least 14% larger and 30% brighter than a normal full moon because it's so close the the Earth. Tomorrow night we're supposed to see the biggest one ever! [Ok, that is not an actual fact, but roll with me on this one...] Last night one of my doula friends counted SIX births just last night. If that's just the warm up, friends...it's about to get crazy!

Is this just a bunch of Hocus Pocus Mumbo Jumbo?
Probably.
Does the possibility of me having a baby soon get me excited, even if it's dependent on how close the moon is to the earth?
Absolutely.

Since I did NOT get my St. Patrick's Day baby [...obviously] maybe I'll get a Super Moon baby. If not...I'm just settling on this baby coming on April Fool's Day. This is my kid we're talking about here...

Have a great weekend!
Mae

Luck O' the Irish

Last year Eamon told me I didn't need to wear green on St. Patrick's Day because "you've had a little bit of Irish in you." Isn't he sweet? [insert HUGE eyeroll...who is he, Matt Damien?]

For all his talk about his Irish heritage -dad is first generation, grew up on the docks of Boston, Eamon and his brother have "done enough Catechism to be priests"- I have never benefited from the Luck of the Irish that is supposed to come with hailing from the most beautiful, superior, and awe-inspiring place in the world.

When we were dating, I always noticed that nothing worked out for Eamon. He had the worst luck in the world. Bank accounts went haywire on a regular basis, cars went kaput, injuries were acquired...it was never ending. Then we got married.
My identity got stolen, bank accounts were overdrawn by about $2000, my car bit the bullet...all of a sudden I was no longer the good luck charm in our relationship, I too fell under the spell of bad luck.

So as I sit here, wondering how the heck I have done nothing but clean for two weeks and my house is still a wreck, 39 weeks pregnant with a mini watermelon [according to Babycenter.com], I wonder if Eamon's Irish luck will finally kick in. Will I get my St. Patty's Day baby? Or will this baby just hang around and be an April Fool's baby? [Oh Lord...I could still be pregnant in April...ooooy...] 

Happy St. Patrick's Day Everyone!
Mae

39 Weeks

I'm posting a night early because I'll be busy tomorrow :]

No signs of anything yet...hmmm.
On the morning of week 39 with Lily I lost my mucus plug [did I just make you barf a little? I did, didn't I?] which, by the way, is still the only part of the birthing process that makes my stomach turn. Granted I didn't actually HAVE her for another TWO FLIPPIN WEEKS, but it was still progress.
I started a Monistat treatment and my infection seems to be getting much better [HALLELUJAH! It only took...3 months for me to finally do it...blegh]


Ummm...

Every night before we go to bed we change our boy name. Not even kidding. Every time I think "YES! If this is a little dude he will not be nameless!" Eamon comes to bed and says "Hey, so what do you think about the name XYZ?!" [I told him we can't just name our kid letters...just kidding, that was lame, huh?] Part of me gets really frustrated because I'm thinking "Did we not just stay up and talk about this LAST night and come up with a name?" but I'm glad we're both coming to names we really like. And since we keep flip/flopping on the name, I don't think I'm going to reveal it now ;] But Norah Jean is definitely still our girl name.

Let's see...
Well, I just don't have a lot of interesting things to say at this point other than I'm ready now! Tomorrow is my prediction for when Baby is supposed to make his/her appearance, but that looks far fetched now ;]

Hope you're having a great week!
Mae

Still Growing

No Baby yet!

Yup, s/he is still hanging out in there, makin my shirts work overtime.

I'm finally almost done with my birth playlist. [Thanks for the help Karissa!] I've been swaying and swinging back and forth to it trying to keep Lily occupied and me active.

I've got outings planned for the next two days to keep me busy, but after that, Eamon and I would really like to meet this baby. And how fun would it be to have a St. Patrick's Day baby?!? I thought about it, and even if Baby takes as long as Lily did to come, I potentially only have 17 days til I meet this baby :] That makes the wait a little [read very, very tiny] bit more bearable.

I'll be updating less [unless I'm totally driving myself crazy waiting around] while I drink in the last little while of having Lily as my one and only. But I'll definitely be here to give you weekly bump pictures on Thursdays. Hopefully I'll have some newborn pics to share soon ;]

Happy Monday!
Mae

While You're Sleeping.

Pretty soon my little Lily, your world will change over night.

As you slumber deep inside your crib, I'll be pushing with all my might.

I savor the last few nights I have listening to your breath

Reminiscing of the time you were the only baby on my chest.

I watch you grow with each new sunrise and pray for the days to slow

All while thanking Our Father as your adventurous heart begins to show.

Every night I plead the time is right to meet your brother or sister, 

Right before I go check your bed "Just to see and kiss her"

Catching Rainbow Fish is hard work and exhilarating, even while you are dreaming

But it can't compare to the surprise we'll share when you wake from sleeping.

---------------

I've been cleaning like crazy, and preparing Lily to meet her new sibling [we learned how to put cloth diapers on her babies yesterday :] And even though she's thrown some tantrums that outdo any tantrum any toddler has ever thrown...ever [I exaggerate sometimes] I'm still trying to just savor each and every moment we have right now. I can't believe how fast 20 months have gone by...

Happy Thursday,
Mae

38 Weeks!

I loved reading all of the responses to the giveaway! You guys are great! Here's what it panned out to be:

Looks like it's pretty evenly mixed between boy and girl, but so far Norah is winning ;]
I wouldn't mind that ONE bit...but I also really want a boy. Last time I REALLY wanted a girl, but was convinced she was a boy [we named her Finn] but this time I truly want a boy or a girl. I love having a little girl, love love LOVE it...aaaand we already have everything for her, lol. But I really do want to give my husband a son and I want to know the joy that is raising men. As a matter of fact, I think I like his guess best

"Sometime Wednesday night.
Boy
7lbs 6oz"

He couldn't decide between the 23rd or 24th.

I'll post a real update soon, but for now, here's how Baby Burke is doing:

Mae

So much for trying

When I got pregnant I promised myself I wouldn't fall into the "You can have a baby any minute now since you're 37 weeks." mindset...

Welp, so much for trying.
EVERY. NIGHT. I dream about labor, holding the baby, calling the midwives...SOMETHING. Last night I dreamed that I had just woken up [don't you hate that?!?] and went to the bathroom to find "the big show" When I woke up for real I thought that I had just gone back to sleep and should call Eamon to let him know.
Then I realized it was a dreamed I was slightly ticked off...Ok, I was really ticked off, but I'd probably lose half my readers if I wrote down the actual thoughts I had...

Last time was so different, I had distractions.
I had our one year anniversary to keep me busy, then moving, then my birthday. There were little things every week that even if I didn't have the baby, I would still have something to do.
This time I'm just sitting. Waiting. Looking at the storage bin that the birth tub is in. Making double triple sure I have the essentials like Depends, olive oil, hydrogen peroxide, and extra sheets [homebirth can be weird, y'all]. I've organized and reorganized each room multiple times. I keep cleaning up the house so that when my birth team comes home they don't see what kind of pigs we really are.

And I'm still two and a half weeks away from my due date. THREE and a half weeks from when Lily was born...

I was kinda encouraged though when I looked in the mirror this morning and noticed Baby is sitting practically between my knees, see?

So it can't be that much longer...right?

I'm actually praying it happens Friday. Next week is Spring Break at the TCC campus and Eamon will be off, so we'll have a whole week AND an extra weekend of just the four of us if the baby comes this weekend. But it's really just not likely.

How on Earth am I going to distract myself without putting myself in labor? Ugh.

Lastly, if you haven't already, go enter the big Hip Green Baby giveaway by telling me what your predictions for this baby are! So far you guys are thinkin boy ;]

Mae

200th Blog Post & A Full Term Baby Giveaway!

Well, our baby is officially "full term". For my blog readers I want to do something fun, something baby centered, and I want to give away something REALLY cool.
So without further ado....

200th Blog Post & A Full Term Baby Giveaway!
*GIVEAWAY CLOSED*
Winner will be announced when Baby is born :]

Many of you have heard me talk about my good friend, Kristi, over at Hip Green Baby.

She is our source for cloth diapers, teething necklaces and crunchy parenting advice since she's a mom of six! She is EXTREMELY knowledgeable when it comes to what cloth diaper is best for your baby's bum and goes out of her way [often!] to help her customers out. So just for my readers, she is offering a 

$50 STORE CREDIT TO HIP GREEN BABY!!!

How exciting is THAT?!

The Details:

So how do you enter this amazing giveaway? See the calendar below?

Predict what date that you think Baby Burke will come!

My estimated due date is March 24th. Lily was born exactly one week after her due date, which would put this baby being born on the 31st if he/she follows the same pattern. I've put any "relevant" details on the calendar to help you pick a day :]

To Enter:
1. Follow my blog & leave a comment.
2. Leave a comment telling me the date you think Baby is going to come on. [If it's past the 8th, we're gonna have a talk...]


For extra entries:
3. Leave a comment predicting a Boy or a Girl.
4. Leave a comment predicting the weight [Lily was 7 lbs 11 oz]
5. Link this giveaway on your Facebook page and leave one comment saying so.
6. Blog about this giveaway and leave a comment here with a link to your blog.

Did I win?!?
If you have the most accurate predictions, YOU WIN!
*If more than one person has 3 correct predictions [Date, Gender & Weight] or if several people have the same number of correct predictions, we will put their names on a slip of paper and put it in a hat for Lily to pick the winner. [The more comments you leave, the more slips of paper you'll have in the hat!]

The giveaway will be open until Thursday, March, 10th so you have plenty of time to tell you friends ;] [maybe?]

Have a wonderful weekend everyone! Get your thinking caps on and start guessing!

Mae

Oh, and in case you're wondering, this is how Baby is doing ;]

Check out the full series here :]

Who's Gotta Potty?

At my baby shower one of my friends said "Oh, Mae...one of these two has a stinky diaper"

I thought "Uh...it's not Lily, she doesn't crap in her pants anymore, duh!?"

Then I realized I sounded an awful like I did a few months ago when this blessed incident happened. To try and avoid a second, prideful, poop slap in the face, I went over and checked anyway.

SUCCESS!!!

The poop smell was not coming from my child!
But I kid you not, I ran to my hostess's bathroom like lightening [for a pregnant woman, anyway] just in case she was about to pee/poop. In my rush I made Lily drop the bottom half of her pants in the toilet. At my baby shower. I walked out red faced as Lily walked out happy as can be looking like Huckleberry Finn with her little pants rolled up to her thighs. This only happens to me, people...only me...

Lily has actually pooped in her diaper 3 times in the past 4 months, it's pretty exciting!
Even though I swore up and down that I would NOT have two babies in diapers, it looks like I'm still going to. Lily poops in the potty about 95% of the time. Sometimes she is running to the potty trying to hold it in and she screams "UH OH MAMA! POPE! POPE!" [I didn't think we were gonna raise her Irish Catholic like the rest of Eamon's family, but somehow...] She pees in the potty about 90% of the time, but only when we're at home. I haven't been brave [brave in this sentence could also mean "willing to get up from the table every 20 mins when we go out to eat"] enough to try it out in public, but I know the time is coming. When she misses at home, she brings over Rusty, calls him and "bad dog" for licking up [gag] the pee she just shoved in his face, runs to her bedroom to get a cloth diaper, throws it over the pee and stomps on it until it's all dry. She has a mind of her own, I tell ya!


So here's what's worked for us
1. Lily's "Diaper Free" around our house at all times, and has been since she was itty bitty. 
We've started letting her wear panties [She'll bring them to us and say "Panies?" when she wants to put them on, so cute] but she still isn't really good at pulling them down before she sits on her potty.
2. No physical rewards, just LOTS of praise.
We don't have a sticker box, candy dish, or dollar store toy chest that we let Lily dig into every time she potties. We kinda think it's weird to bribe your kid, and Lily is BEYOND excited when she brings us her little pot saying "DEE! DEE!" or "OOOOOOH!!! POOOOPE!" and we clap and give her kisses. She feels really special, and we never have to worry about whether or not we have her "reward" for her when we go out.
3. Patience.
Six months ago all of our friends thought we were insane for having Lily's potty sit out where she could get to it, and that we put her on it as much as possible. They thought we were pretty sick for having to clean up the pee/poop off of our floors too. But I tell you what, by slowly introducing all of this to Lily, her "training" has put her at the top of her class. [You know, if you want me to get all competitive mom on you...]




I feel really confident that before her birthday we'll be able to go out in public with Lily wearing panties and just have to worry about the baby's diapers, but am still kinda kicking myself over the fact that she still will be in them for these first few months.

But please, PLEASE don't worry! I'm sure there will be PLENTY more poop stories in our future. One night, after watching me sing Lily's Potty song [I sing "Lily's gotta potty, Lily's gotta potty, Lily's gotta potty, hey, hey, hey, hey! Who's gotta potty? Lily's gotta potty!" to the tune of the Little Rascal's "I got a pickle" song] Eamon told me "You know, I'm so glad we're not covered in poop anymore, but I just realized...it's about to start all over..."

Stay tuned for a super fun, awesome giveaway :]!!!

Mae