a few first's

will's first out-of-town visitors came last sat and leave tomorrow. we are all so loved.

thanks mom and dad...

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will's first walk with jed (further than just down the street that is, we went down the street and around the block :))

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will's first trip to the southern sun--our favorite brewery in town (too bad that they don't sell onesies that say "my mama loves stout" as it is a well known fact (ok...i dont have data, but it's published in the books i've referenced) that "stout" helps milk supply.

hey...i know you...

will at 1 day old...

labor of love...

will has been in our lives for a while, but he officially arrived at 11.57pm on jan 31.

Jan 30th (that nite was the nite it all started)
5pm …chad got on the bus to come home from boulder. typically a 20 min bus ride, but because of a snow storm traffic was backed up and at 6.00 he wasn’t even ½ way here. contractions were starting with me at home.
7pm…contractions getting stronger, chad…still on the bus.
8pm…chad walked home (4 miles, up hill, in the snow, on a sprained ankle… no joke)
9pm…we started calling dog sitters, knowing that tonite would in fact be the nite we’d go into the hospital. we couldn’t get a definite confirmation on morning dog walkers, so later we found out jed got not one, not two, but three morning visitors…lucky dog.
2am…contractions about 1 min long…5 min apart (they say to come in at 4-1-1 …4 min apart, 1 min long, for 1 hr)…we knew I had been 3cm dilated and 75% effaced the day before, so we were thinking things would go quick...chad wanted to be the coach not the deliverer)

Jan 31st

3.45 am…starting to leave for the hospital
4.15am…actual leave time…it looked like we were going on vacation for a week.
(times are estimates after this point J)
5am arrived at the hospital (after having to stop on the side of the road 3 times for me to walk around and contract on the side of the road…early morning commuters thought I was crazy)…met our doula jennieve there.
8am…still only 3 cm dilated (10 is complete)…what the heck!?
8-10 am…walked stairs, told jennieve stories (in between contractions) about how chad and I met, started to date, got married, and ended up in this wonderful predicament…used some of our breathing techniques, visualizations, and birthing ball.

10am…asked chad to remove the clock from our room. good riddens…I thought the sun over the mountains, would be plenty clock enough. Surely by sun set our little guy would be here.
~11am…contractions more and more intense…got in the birthing tub. candles lit. jets on. It felt like the most peaceful, yet most intense location in boulder…one of the nurses made that comment when she came in.

Noon…got checked in the tub (what a great dr.) by candle light (what a really great dr.)…and hoped for ‘birth by candle light’ 5-6cm dilated (getting closer)
4pm…out of the tub…that was the longest I’d ever been in a tub. things were getting more and more intense. (time was really standing still…I had no concept…just floating between contractions)…

~5-6pm…the sun set over the mountains…still no baby.
tried the birth bar and other contraptions to try to get comfortable (comfort was really relative…I kept imagining women birthing in all kinds of positions and locations, as had been shown in some of my books …chad was letting me hang on him, had sat by me in the tub coaching me, talking to me, breathing with me (which was great except for the onions on his sandwich…not a good choice for birth coaches)…and not complaining either.
Somewhere between 6 and 7 …10 cm dilated, 100% effaced (in our birth class this was what we learned of as ‘transition labor’ being over and ‘push labor’ (the quickest, but most intense) as starting. the nurse and doula were telling us, ‘you’re almost there!’
~7 pm…our dr. came back in and they brought in the bassinet for the baby. i started feeling as if i couldn’t go on…that I needed to leave, and that I couldn’t do it. our nurse said this is what all women have been saying for years in every language possible and what women will continue to say for years…..she said that when women start to say “I can’t” this means the baby is almost here.
11.56pm …after many hrs of ‘pushing’ and so many great coaches, leg holders and the sort...my dr. offered an episiotomy… our ‘birth intention’ was clear that this wasn’t what i wanted, but our little guy had been stuck for a while. his heart rate remained good, so they were all patient. the threat of the episiotomy was evidently what I needed…
11.57…will was born.

(the after effects included a bit of blood loss (ok...a liter and a half) since my uterus didn’t want to contract after pushing for so long, and my back being thrown out ….it’s amazing how much memory can fade in two weeks…william may not be an only child after all :)

happy valentines day

will is 2 weeks old...new pics have been added.


valentines day...chad got us tickets to see john prine and emmy lou harris at red rocks in june. can't wait. not sure yet if will will join us for his first show...but he does like music so far.


john prine is a favorite of ours and at one point we wanted him to be a namesake. prine pearson wouldn't really work as the initials "pp" would certainly be a bad thing...especially in second grade or so. low and behold john prines dad was named william, so that works. other namesakes include willie nelson- another country great

william strong (chad's great grandfather). mimi (chad's grandmother) was very dear to us. she passed away back in march. if we would have had a girl, mimi would have been somehow tied into our little guys name, but since he's a boy, her fathers name fit well.

william is also a good friend of ours from nc...who when he gets in trouble his name sounds like "weeum"...which im sure our little guy will get a little of.

good will. strong willed. happy valentines day dad.

motherly wisedom top 10 list

top 10 magical things i've learned in 11 days (it really does take a village...)

10. cabbage leaves applied to the breasts are magical for helping with engorgement (will my husband EVER look at me the same?!)

9. tank tops with holes in them are amazing for ease of breast feeding (my dr. likened them 'stripper bras' ...not only did she sit with me through 4 hrs of pushing, then she can make connections like that too :))

8. floridix (iron supplement) is as good as a blood transfusion...but just takes a week to work

7. the yoga ball...magic for a bouncing baby boy...chad is really the master of this...let me add the bathroom fan as well...magic last nite so chad discovered.

6. the miracle blanket is truely a miracle

5. karma does exist. we had such a hard time getting home from the hospital and arrived home to our neighbor randomly bringing us dinner (not knowing we'd just had the baby) another neighbor shoveling the drive, and a huge package from my bff's friend (we don't even know her) full of cloth diapers and clothes. (like 100--or something close). i've never seen chad gitty about clothes, let alone diapers. he'd get frustrated when will would poop in one b/c he'd say 'that was my favorite' (no laundry for 3 days :))

4. clogged tear ducts are normal (this isn't really magical, but we were worried newbie parents)

3. meals. pure magic. friends from work spoiled us rotten. it's amazing how that helps. since my blood was so low, i've even gotten steak dinners out of it. magic.

2. trameel. arnica. magic for healing the back.

1. motherhood/ parenthood and trusting ones instincts. magic.

will is 8 days old!

all is going well and we’re enjoying lil’ will’s first week of life. it's been the most amazing yet hardest week of my life for sure. since the labor and pushing took such a long time, my uterus had a hard time contracting and i lost 1 ½ liters of blood, and threw my back out to boot. it’s made the recovery feel long, but all-in-all one week later i’m doing so much better (there've been lots of good stories over the last week, but no energy to write about them...more to come). chad has been amazing. because i haven’t been able to be up and moving around much, chad has figured out diaper changing, swaddling, and even breast feeding (not with himself, :) but how to best position and adjust for me). not to mention he’s been at my beck and call for food, meds, and anything else I need day or nite. other than being so appreciative of his help, it's been amazing to watch him become a dad. the other morning i sat nursing and just cried tears of joy thinking of it all. chad woke up to me sobbing, and jumped up ready to help. all i could say was i was so happy and proud of us...and so in love.
anyway...all of his caretaking has ended up in some crazy dreams and midnite actions...from taking care of 10 babies crawling everywhere, to swaddling and shushing the cat (the cat was in disbelief).
we feel so spoiled by thoughts and calls, and yummy meals and lots of warmth from friends and family. this boy is already so well loved. we sure are in love with him. it really does take a village...

new pictures have been added!