Baby picture!

* Our darling baby *
one day old - Jan 29, 2009

Isn't she just a cutie-beauty?

More pictures will be added soon...
(The camera battery died just after transferring this one to my PC.)

Breathing... and expleded ideas

1:10 pm
Last night as i lay in bed listening to Baby's breathing while she was awake, i counted that for every one of my breaths, she breathed 9 times! Later when she was asleep, i counted again. This time she breathed 4-5 times for every one of my breaths.

She is so warm and cuddly! It is so nice to feel her body against mine skin to skin. I like carrying her around in the carrying scarf.

I had this idea before that it shouldn't be too hard to get her to stop crying. Just test one after the other: giving her to Mommy's breast, changing her position, hugging, singing, bouncing with her etc. and see what works.
But it ain't that easy... She can be hungry, but then get frustrated when she can't get a good grip on the nipple or for some other reason and start crying heart-rendingly and then you can't really do much till she's calmed down for a new attempt. She's got powerful lungs for a newborn.

She seems to really like it when i sing to her. Several times she's calmed right down when i start singing "Baby, baby, baby, cuty beauty baby" and just making things up as i go along. Have a feeling she is going to be musical when she gets older!

Now it's time for breakfast!

Intense

6:15 pm
It's my hope and wish that Mommy Mariel will start writing here as well. But she is very tired and weak and the baby requires her almost full-time attention. They are sleeping right now, i can't sleep.
They say, "Learn to sleep when the baby sleeps." But it's easier said than done. I seem to be rapidly turning into a zomby. Drank coffee several days in a row and that was a big help but now it's losing it's effect and i don't want to turn into a caffeine junky.

Squiggly-wiggly! We are going to call her Squiggly-Wiggly Hofford Roxendal. Or maybe Cuty-Beauty Hofford Roxendal.

I have Isis, our ethereal cat, in my lap... She is just so present. Even when it was most intense during the delivery, Isis was just sitting or lying down real close to all of us. Totally serene and unperturbed.

I am so tired.

It will probably be a while before we have the energy to post pics...

Sorry about the Swedish layout of the blog. And that you have to become a Google-devotee in order to write comments. I will change blogs again when i get the energy.

Mariel's father came by in the morning a short while and saw the baby.
BTW, she was 50 cm and 4180 g at birth - a big baby!

Mariel's body is pretty out of it. The uterus is pulling itself together and there is some periodic
pain and just general weakness. I'm doing my best to serve her with smoothies and carrots and apples and crackers...

Our little froggy!

Our little darling...
But i don't feel like a Daddy, i'm just me like i've always been, only now there is this baby that just appeared out of nowhere...

She sleeps alot and has now a firm grip on that nipple! When she lies on her back her bent legs stick flat out like a frog. Our little froggy!

We just figured out how to use a carrying scarf, really handy.

Didn't sleep well last night, every time she made sounds, i woke up. But... We Have Been Warned about that! (from time immemorial)
Time to hit the hay...

My first lullabye

Mimbani mio

Am G Am
Mimbani mio, silent stars are wandering
Am G Am
Mimbani mio, toward a distant land.
C Am G Am
Way-oway, toward a distant country,
C Am G Am
Way-oway, toward a distant shore.

Am G Am
Mimbani mio, Mother Moon is watching
Am G Am
Mimbani mio, o’er a silent sky.
C Am G Am
Way-oway, Mother Moon is smiling,
C Am G Am
Way-oway, her heart is at peace.

Am G Am
Mimbani mio, listen to the silence
Am G Am
Mimbani mio, listen to your heart.
C Am G Am
Way-oway, love is all around you,
C Am G Am
Way-oway, love is who you are.

Man, i'm really blown away. This little Buddha girl...

I was holding her in my arms for 30 minutes or so just now. She just looked into my eyes

in utter contentment, just this pure beingness and contentedness. The peace was so tangible, Mariel felt it when she came back into the room. Amazing. The experience was so strong it brought tears to my eyes...
Wow
Wow
Wow
Wow....

Will post pictures soon...!
Love and light,
Dana

A GIRL!

At 1.35 pm, Mariel gave birth after a heroic labor period. She is so pretty!
Some minor stitches were done. But Mariel is well and the baby is now nursing.

WHAT A DAY! THE EXPERIENCE OF A LIFETIME!

Our midwife Diane Sjögren was so much of a help, she has helped 400 to 500 babies into the world and gave us patiently all needed support, advice and practical help.

A new life begins for us now...
:-)

11.20
I was awoken by Tara about ½hr ago. Had to drink a cup of coffee and now feel MUCH more focused and alert.
Mariel has thrown up after eating a bad nut. But the contractions have changed their character, much more endurable. She's even been laughing several times! Midwife says she's open 9 cm! Just 1 cm left. We've moved into the birthing room.... She is doing SOOO well!
Love love love

i can't do it any more, am sooo tired. Tara is replacing me so i can get some sleep.

Ojojoj, i am sooooooo tired..... One hr of sleep, i almost feel like i am going to faint. Contractions don't seem to be getting longer lasting.

But she is able to breathe thru most of it.

Mariel was in the bathtub 2 hrs at least... The contractions are still often but still a bit short, around 35-40 min.
The midwife has just arrived! She listens to the baby's heartbeat. all is well.
She just checked and M is 5-6 cm open now. 10 is the goal.
It is very intense for her, the labour pains...

The hot tub really works well, she says! Woke up Tara 10 min ago to help out...
I'm going up and down the stairs bringing boiling water to the tub to keep it nice and piping!
She's doing this prophylactic breathing which is really helpful she says.

She's in our landlord's bathtub right now. But the hot water stopped so i am boiling water on the stove and water boiler and carrying it down to fill the tub.

Okay, everyboday! Now things are happening. Mariel woke me up 2.45 am (our time). The contractions have become regular. lasting 35 seconds each with a few minutes in between. I was so disoriented when she woke me that i didn't even recognize her!
Anyway, we called the midwife, she said to call back when the contractions have become close to a minute in length. Right now the intensity has diminished somewhat so i can write this.
Will try to keep you posted.
Love,
dana

We've taken it easy this evening... Going off to bed now. Mariel is really tired.

Mariel just came back from a visit to the sauna.
She just told me that the mucous plug just came out.
That is one of the first signs of impending delivery, though for some mothers, it can still take some days...

I'm glad things are moving slowly, i then have a chance to get catch up to what's happening!

Here is a picture of my darling during Christmas 2008 when we were visiting her folks upp in Dalarna, 2½ h NW of Stockholm.

A time of waiting...

Hi and welcome to our very very first blog!

This is dedicated to our first child who will be born any time now...

Mariel has completely exploded all ideas i have had about pregnant women.
She has taken the pregancy in stride and there has been such a flow in everything. No drama or complaining etc. She just radiates so much light and love and grace. I am amazed and floored...

But she eats like a horse! She eats loads and loads, probably 8-9 times a day. She is so cute when she comes over to my office every other hour, "Dana, are you hungry?" with a big grin... :-)

The expected due date was Jan 14th and we are now approaching two weeks over time. She has had mild contractions for a week and for the past few days, they have become more prominent.

Two nights ago, we both had difficulty sleeping, lots of tossing and turning. I started feeling angst about how life will be not getting enough sleep permanently... Just breathe and don't resist...

We went to our midwife yesterday and she said that the cervix is now gone and that the uterus was 2 cm open. For the child to be born the uterus must be around 10 cm (4") open.

Last night for the first time she experienced stronger more painful conctractions but they subsided when she went to bed and she got a good night's sleep. (Me, too!) :-)

Her sister Tara came here late last night in case. We want her to be present during the delivery as a doula ("A doula is an assistant who provides various forms of non-medical support (physical, emotional and informed choice) in the childbirth process." -Wikipedia)

Things are calm right now... Mariel went out for a walk and now she's resting.