The birth story

Pull up a chair and get comfy. Those of you who know me know I don't tell short stories. Here is the story of Suvi's birth:
I went for my 39 wk. check-up on Tuesday, Sept. 1st. The Dr. said my water was close to breaking and she'd prefer it to be broken in a controlled environment b/c of the excessive amount of fluid I was carrying. (I believe the medical term for this is hydramnios).
We headed to the hospital and checked in at 10:30am. They started pitocin around 3pm, and I started having contractions shortly afterwards. After a night filled w/ awful late night tv programs, increasing contractions, and only 1.5 hours of sleep, I was fully effaced. I took the first dose of pain medicine in my IV at 6am Wednesday, Sept. 2nd.
The plan was for me to get my epidural that afternoon and they'd break my water, which would make me dilate quickly. At 3pm Wednesday afternoon as they start placing the epidural, my water breaks. I can't move as they're putting a needle directly into my spine. Immediately, I feel an extremely painful contraction hit, and I was instantly brought to tears. I still couldn't move b/c they weren't done with the epidural. I endured a few more contractions before the medicine kicked in. The nurse had to talk me through me them as my legs were shaking so bad from the pain. I totally commend women who have natural childbirth...no way I could do it.
I was fully dilated a few hours later, but they couldn't tell if Suvi was face up, which would be bad. Her head also wasn't descending into my cervix as it should be. They continued to wait around and see if her head would drop down. The epidural only took on one side so I continued to feel small contractions on one half of my body. They gave me another dose of medicine around 8pm or 9pm, and I become completely numb. I couldn't feel my legs at all. They rolled me on my side to see if gravity would allow Suvi to turn face down, but it didn't work. I then pushed off and on for an hour or so to see if her head would come down, but it didn't.
Around 10pm Wednesday night they decided to do a c-section b/c I was exhausted, her head wasn't descending, they didn't know if she was face up, and continuing to push could result in more harm than good for Suvi.
She was born at 10:39pm. I was so drugged up, exhausted and experiencing severe shakes from the medicine they gave me that I didn't get to feel the extreme joy and happiness I was looking forward to upon her birth. I just wanted to sleep due to the morphine they gave me at the end of the procedure.
As soon as I got a few hours sleep and some of the drugs left my system I was overjoyed and completely in love with our little girl.
Jarmo was great during it all..he took lots of pictures and was such a proud dad.

Even though her birth didn't happen as I would've liked, I would it all again b/c the end result is amazing.

Suvi Lynn has arrived!

Suvi Lynn arrived Wednesday, September 2nd at 10:39pm.
She weighed 8 lb, 11 oz. and was 21.5 inches long.
She's beautiful and perfect! I've been told she looks like Jarmo. Poor girl.
I'll post her birth story and more pictures later.

SAHM I am

I'm officially a SAHM! I'm still waiting on the baby part, but I'm "retired" from work. It hasn't quite set in. I feel like I'm on vacation.
So, what have I been doing these past few days?
I've been running errands and cooking like crazy. I will say the eggplant parmesan I made last night was worth not being to distinguish between my ankles and knees from standing up all day preparing the delish dish.
Today is more errands and a double batch of muffins to freeze.
Now if only I could be as motivated to clean as I am to cook.

Surprise Shower!

My friends Brooke & Pilvi found out I wasn't having a baby shower in Cincinnati and put together a surprise shower for me yesterday!
Jarmo told me were going to lunch, and we ended up at my friend's house. I walked in to see several of my friends waiting for me.
It was a fun afternoon complete with a pink and brown theme. We played baby shower games and enjoyed delicious homemade cakes and pastries. Pilvi is a genius in the kitchen.
I didn't have a camera, but will post some pics once my friends send them. I only wish Jarmo had said we were going somewhere nice for lunch so I could've dressed a bit nicer.
I'm truly blessed to have met such great friends here!

I'm also officially 37 weeks today...only 3 more to go!

7 weeks and counting

I'm officially 33 weeks today. SEVEN weeks to go, but who's counting, right? I feel pretty good, but am starting to feel worn out. It's humid, my feet always hurt and I could be the Stay Puft Marshmallow Man's stunt double with all the swelling I have. If you poked holes in me and set in the front lawn I'm sure I'd water the yard better than our cheap sprinkler head.
But some positives to looking this pregnant and still have almost two months to go:
1. When shaving I never have to worry about nicking my ankle with my razor because I have no ankles due to the constant swelling.
2. People stare, but move quickly out of my way at the gym. (I think they're afraid I'm going to have the baby right there on the elliptical machine!)
3. It's socially acceptable for me to balance my plate on my stomach to avoid spilling food down my shirt.
4. I got out of going to an after hours work event b/c my boss said I couldn't help set-up tables, etc. and she didn't want me standing on my feet for the 2 hour event. Very thoughtful, indeed.

I also notified work that my last official day would be August 21st. That's five weeks away...I can't believe it! Our lives are going to drastically change soon! But, for the better.

How to clean your basement

We learned how to efficiently clean our basement this weekend.

1. Fill basement with 3" to 5" water.
You can do this yourself by putting a hose in the basement, but we opted for the free route of having our power go out at midnight Friday morning, and let the torrential rainfall seep into our basement. Woo-hoo...way to avoid that high water bill!
2. Let soak for a few hours, or in our case until 6:30am when we woke up to a hot, sticky house b/c we still have no power and realized we should check our basement.
3. Purchase costly gas powered generator from Home Depot employees who laugh at you and wish you luck. Dangerous thing to do when it's 7:00am and you haven't had coffee because you still have no power.
4. Let your husband move all the boxes from the basement to your backyard because you can't lift a damn thing b/c you're 7.5 months pregnant.
5. Run to Home Depot again for a longer extension cord for the generator. Plug in generator to sump pump and curse yourself for not having battery backup system for said sump pump.
6. Let the neighbors come over and look at your ruined, limp, wet stuff that has been scattered across the backyard drying all day.
7. Grill out with neighbors since food in your fridge/freezer is defrosting at an alarming rate. Admire their wet, ruined stuff in their backyards, too.
8. Go to Costco and purchase shelving units for basement and lots of Rubbermaid containers for basement storage.
9. Sort through semi-dry stuff. Wonder why you had half that crap saved in boxes in the basement. Fill multiple trash bags with ruined stuff, including most of your Christmas ornaments that now weigh three pounds each because they were filled with water and quickly rusted.
10. Assemble shelving units. Have husband carry back down all the stuff now in Rubbermaid tubs. Give husband lots of beer.

We now have a fresh, clean basement without a speck of dust in it because it was all washed away. Aren't you jealous?

I hope your weekend was better than ours!

Beer Tasting

We hosted a beer tasting with a few friends and neighbors Friday night. Jarmo and our next door neighbor, Tim, put together 11 beers to sample. They realized too late that several of the beers were heavy, and might not be liked by the participants. I mean who wouldn't want to taste a beer called "Old Engine Oil?"
Or what about this Finnish beer? It was so thick it left a trail of sludge behind in the cup.
My favorite was this beer mainly because the name. I adore Elephants, but was rather surprised when I realized the skunk smell wasn't coming from outside, but from the beer. It really smelled like skunk!
The heavier beers also resulted in several of the participants being highly intoxicated by the time we finished the tasting. Several games of cornhole ensued. The trash talking ended by the third game, but only because everyone's speech was slurred and incomprehensible.
Everyone had an enjoyable evening, including this pregnant lady who looked longingly at the beers as they were being tasted all night. This is going to be a long summer.