Bittersweetness

Hadleigh's great-grandfather, B. G. Fitzgerald, passed away on Saturday, December 1st. We had the funeral this week, which (as funerals tend to be) was a sad affair, because Granddaddy was such a wonderful man. While we mourned Granddaddy's passing, his memorial service was a beautiful celebration of his life. We regret not having him with us anymore, but we are so blessed to have known him.

Hadleigh offered levity in our time of grief and her presence reminded us that in death there is life.

Trick or Treat!

Hadleigh is smiling more consistently now. What a special Halloween treat, to capture her smile on camera! Although we were all surprised with a huge trick at bedtime on Halloween night, when Hadleigh projectile-vomited the entire contents of her stomach in our bed (totally unrelated to her candy binge, I'm sure). She settled down and went to sleep right after that, though! I don't think Daddy was too happy about having to change the bedsheets at 11:00 p.m., but hey, we needed clean sheets on the bed anyway.

The joys of working from home

I'm slowly starting to get back into the swing of adult life, accomplishing honest-to-goodness work stuff. I've made some phone calls, sent some emails (my email works now - yay!), and scheduled a home inspection for a buyer client of ours. "Ours" refers to the NRVLiving Real Estate Team, where I work with REALTORS Jeremy Hart and Steve Ayers.

Hadleigh keeps the work day fun and reminds me to keep things in perspective. This morning, she slept from about 8:30 until 10:45, which allowed me to do some work. When she's awake, I try to keep her entertained in her bouncy chair while I continue to work on my computer. She sits beside me in my office, bats at her toys, and gazes out the window. Today, her view features dew-kissed grass, autumn leaf colors, and a misty fog resting lightly on the ridge behind our house. Sounds romantic, huh?

Getting more comfortable

At six weeks old, Hadleigh is showing signs that she's more comfortable in this world than she was upon her arrival. Her body language is more relaxed and she experiences fewer meltdowns. We have noticed that she "fights sleep" worse on evenings after she's been passed around from person to person during the day. Yesterday was a particularly good day; she slept in her car seat for about four hours during the car trip from Stuarts Draft to Blacksburg AND during Mommy's post-partem check-up. She was cheerful the rest of the day, all the way to bed time. Good stuff!

Hadleigh is becoming more alert and more content during her wakeful times. She is tracking well with her eyes, and starting to show interest in toys. Each day is an adventure!

More photos

I've never really enjoyed taking the time to snap photos of special experiences. I don't mind being in photos, but I generally prefer storing my memories in my brain instead of capturing them on disk or photo paper. I must admit, however, that moving into the realm of proud parenthood has changed my relationship with the camera. I've taken more photos in the last two weeks than I have in the last two years, probably. Here are a few photos of Miss Hadleigh over the last few weeks...

IT'S A GIRL! Hadleigh Elizabeth, born September 4, 2007

Little did I know when I took the picture on the left sidebar of Pistachio at "T-minus 2 days and counting," it would be the last picture of Pistachio EVER. Pistachio decided to arrive that night as a baby girl, whom we named Hadleigh Elizabeth. Here's the story...

As I headed home from work Tuesday afternoon, I was just sure Pistachio was not going to arrive until after his or her due date. I spoke to several friends and neighbors and mentioned there was no indication that the baby would arrive soon. Around 6:00 or 6:15, however, I began feeling contractions. They were quite mild, but coming every 2 to 6 minutes. Over the last nine months, I had heard every labor and delivery story imaginable; I had heard enough to suspect that I could have had false labor pains for days, so I didn't get too excited about my contractions. After about an hour of light, but frequent, contractions, though, the contractions got much stronger. My sister-in-law, Tasha, came to our house to keep an eye on me and distract me from the discomfort with massage therapy. Brian returned home from work in time to take a shower and drive us to the hospital - by about 8:00 my contractions had been strong and frequent enough (still about 4-5 minutes apart) to warrant a trip to the Birthing Center.

I expected the nurses to check me and possibly send me home (I must have been in a state of denial), but I was 4-5 cm dilated when we arrived. They kept me, of course, and offered me pain relief, which I refused.

I labored for several more hours, with very little relief between contractions. At some point, they let me take the monitors off and spend some time in the whirlpool tub. That was a mistake - moving from the bed to the tub and back was miserable - the movement was extremely uncomfortable. Plus, the water didn't get nearly as hot I would have hoped. Every time I had a contraction (which was pretty much constantly), all I could think about was drugs. The words "Nubane" and "epidural" swam through my head. When I felt pressure on my tailbone, I knew it was time to get back into the bed.

The nurse came back to check me to see how far my cervix had progressed. It felt like she was going to just pull that baby right out. After rooting around, though, she declared she was going to get the doctor because it was time for me to push. I was not mentally prepared for that - but somewhat relieved that the end was in sight. I jokingly asked if it was too late for drugs. The nurse assured me it was, in fact, too late.

With Brian, my mom, Tasha, the nurse, and the doctor coaching me on, I pushed and pushed for 19 short minutes - through about five contractions. Really, it didn't seem like that long, probably because I was concentrating so hard. Pistachio apparently was in a bit of a hurry to join this world, because her whole body came out in one squirt (the doctor had to scramble to catch her).

I honestly was surprised to see that baby Pistachio was a girl - a girl in need of a name, which we immediately declared was Hadleigh Elizabeth. Hadleigh meaning "field of heather" and Elizabeth after her great-grandmother Elizabeth Fitzgerald, her grandmother Elise Blacka, and another great-grandmother Bette Meeteer. She weighed 7 pounds, 1.3 ounces and measured 19 inches at birth. Her first APGAR scores were both 9 - a very healthy, beautiful baby.

Immediately after the delivery, I observed that I NEVER wanted to go through that again. But six days later, I'm proud of the accomplishment and admittedly open to trying it again sometime. But for now we're going to get used to life as a family of three and give little Miss Hadleigh all of the love in the world!

Okay, baby, any time now!

At T-minus 2 days and counting, the Doyle household is closer than ever to being prepared for Pistachio's arrival. The nursery has been finished for some time now, with new carpet, a fresh coat of zero-VOC paint, a super-comfy glider rocker, a borrowed like-new crib with brand new bedding, clothes and diapers (disposable, cloth, and gdiapers), and several years' worth of baby bath products.

Our carpenter friends completed their construction of a wonderful home office set-up, laundry cabinets, and closet shelves, which our parents lovingly painted and covered with a no-VOC polyurethane called Polyureseal. We've tiled and grouted our bathroom floor and installed a new commode and Euro-vanity sink. We're definitely in the home stretch now! After a final layer of poly on the new cabinetry, all we'll have left to do are installing tile in the bathroom shower and poly-ing the office floor. The tile will be a big, intimidating project, but we're definitely seeing the light at the end of the tunnel!

Speaking of the light at the end of the tunnel, I keep encouraging Pistachio to go toward the light. Based on what my doctor described after a delicate examination a week and a half ago, that's exactly what he/she is doing. That must be the reason for the great discomfort I'm feeling in my groin area. The sensation of a 7-pound baby "resting" on my pelvis is reminiscent of the painfully sore muscles I would experience after a week of "two-a-day" basketball practices in high school. The good news is that I survived two-a-days, so I guess I will survive this, too!