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Babies born in the caul are thought to be destined for greatness. Baby girls born in the caul are supposed to grow up to be the best midwives.

Baby A was born 4/6/10 at 12:55 pm. I was in active labor for 10 hours. I pushed for 9 minutes.

Yep, that’s right. NINE MINUTES. And let me tell you, that shit was crazy. She came shooting out of me like a torpedo, her bag of waters fully intact.

She weight 11 pounds even. She’s 22 1/4 inches tall. Her head is 15 inches around. She is bigger and taller than her brother was! She has brown hair, and enough that I could put a little bow in it if I was so inclined.

H is happy to be a big brother. He missed the birth since she came so fast, but i don’t think he really minds. He’s acting like a typical 2 year old, kissing the baby one minute and offering to poke her eyes out the next. He’s already shown her all of his monster trucks. He even let her hold one so I think he likes her.

I feel great. It was an awesome, intense experience and so wonderful to be able to give birth at home.

H is very fond of telling me “Mommy, PUSH A BABY OOOOOUT!” about 5 million times a day. I never got around to my post about how we’ve prepared him to be a big brother, but suffice it to say he knows more about labor and birth than most adults I know.

And now it’s 5:30am and I’m in active labor. I’ve been having contractions on and off since Friday, but usually only when H is asleep which is fascinating to me. Monday night my contractions started as soon as he went to sleep. I took a bath and they stopped for a while, but around midnight they picked up again. They’ve been 5 minutes apart lasting a minute long since about 3:30am.

This labor is already really different. The contractions feel different. Last time they felt crampy. This time they feel squeezy. I think it’s because my water hasn’t broken yet. And also weird, I’m in textbook active labor, you know… can’t talk during a contraction, have to focus on relaxing etc, and in between contractions I’ve been running around cleaning and washing diapers. And blogging. I was NOT doing that last time. I was in the tub refusing to get out.

And now I’m about to make a breakfast casserole. Be back later. Hopefully with a cuddly newborn to show you!

We don’t know the gender of this baby, which has been more or less driving me crazy. I decided not to have any “diagnostic” ultrasounds with this pregnancy and there was never a medically valid reason for having one, so we never found out.

But you guys, I just can’t knit one more sensible, gender neutral baby item. I love knitting baby things. I would prefer to knit nothing but baby things. The thought that one day I won’t have any babies to knit for makes me desperately sad. But I can’t knit another chocolate brown cardigan. I can’t knit another plain vest or hat. I’ve been obsessed with little, frilly baby knits for the last couple of months. I finally gave in.

I know that knitting this pretty much guarantees I’ll have a boy. I’m ok with that. I love having a boy! And, quite frankly, I’m not so keen on the idea of changing a baby girl’s poopy diaper. But technically I didn’t knit this for my baby. I originally told myself it was for my cousin, who had her baby girl yesterday, but it was such a pain in the ass to knit I don’t think I can give it away. I’ll knit something else for my cousin’s baby. Something simple and bigger so it fits longer. I decided to enter this little cardigan in the fair this year. I didn’t knit it for my baby. Nope. Not me.

Besides, it’s so tiny it’ll barely fit. Did I mention my midwife thinks this baby is already 10 pounds? And she claims to never be off by more than half a pound.

Details

Pattern: Baby Valentine Sweater (Ravelry link)

Mods: So, I liked this pattern but it was kind of fiddly. I don’t like to criticize patterns because sheesh, I’d never have the patience or math skills to design a pattern. The directions were kind of all over the place, which confused me at times and caused some ripping and reknitting. And swearing. I was almost finished with this sweater in early February but I got so mad at the sleeves I threw it in a drawer for a few weeks. BUT it looks like the PDF has been updated since I downloaded it. Maybe it’s a little clearer now. And even if it isn’t, I managed to work through it with very few mistakes.

Ravelry Link

I haven’t blogged very much about this pregnancy, and now I’m at the very end of it. Today (April 2) is my due date. I can’t believe it! It’s kind of bittersweet because this is my last pregnancy. I’ve enjoyed it every bit as much as my first pregnancy. Possibly more. I’ve felt great the entire time. I had maybe 3 days of nausea. Once I got over the extreme exhaustion of the first 12 weeks I’ve had tons of crazy energy. My house has never been more clean and organized.

I’ve breastfed H throughout my pregnancy, which is something I am very proud of. It hasn’t been all that difficult for me. It hasn’t been that uncomfortable to nurse while pregnant, and incredibly I am still producing enough milk to keep him happy. Granted, it’s salty, colostrumy milk but he doesn’t seem to mind.

What I wasn’t expecting though, is what a beautiful experience nursing while pregnant would be. The hours we have spent cuddled together nursing these last 9 months have been the most precious moments of my life. My baby nestled safe inside of me, my first born at my breast, and my body protecting and nourishing them both at the same time. It’s an incredible, intoxicating feeling. H summed it up perfectly a few weeks ago. He finished nursing, smiled, patted my belly and happily sighed “We’re all together!”