Hello Everyone!
Greetings and Love from the Pew Family!
Welcome to our new Pew Family Blog! I have been planning on starting this blog for a while and for several reasons. As most of you know on December 15th, 2012 at 4:50 am Tora Josephine Pew came into our lives. Two months ago today, in fact, our life changed in the most dramatic, wonderful and all encompassing way possible. I desperately want to stay connected to our family and friends near and far and share this wonderful new little person with you. It is amazing how she changes so quickly and I'd like to record those changes here both for you and for us!
Above is a video from just a few days ago at Tora's 2 month check up at the pediatrician's office. It is so tempting to start in on how things are for us now- so here is a little sneak peak. But I feel like to do this properly I must start at the beginning!
David and I meet each other in the summer of 2001....
No no! that's too far back! I mean let's start with the day Tora was born! I realize that I haven't really been able to share the full story with most of you- and i've learned that no woman with a baby can resist an opportunity to share her birth story. Don't worry though, this is the queezy person's version with out too many details or words like placenta. see- that's the only place you'll see that word on this post. It's all done now- breathe easy :-)
Tora actually came early at 39 weeks- which i am so thankful for. Once you get to 37 weeks pregnant you are basically home free- technically your baby can come at any time and not be considered a premie- and after being pregnant for so long you begin secret bargaining with your big belly- trying to convince the baby that we really don't have to go to 40+ weeks... really now would be just fine!
On December 14th I woke up, got ready for work and headed off. I was exhausted all day but that was pretty much my general all time feeling at that point. At 400 I called it quits and headed home. I got home, ate a huge meal and promptly feel asleep on the couch. at 730 pm I woke up with labor pains. At 830 David got home and we called the doctor- still not sure if it was real labor or maybe just a false alarm. I spent the next few hours waiting to see how things progressed. By 1030 i was certain that this was for real and "oh good god, hospital now epidural please!" so we drove to the hospital. The picture below was in the triage unit of Swedish hospital- my last pregnant picture!
That really is me doing my best to smile.....
We arrived at the hospital just at the right time- I was 4-5 cm dilated and they admitted me right away. I got my epidural just after I was admitted which was a blessing. After that things calmed down for us considerably and both David and I were able to rest for a few hours while we waited for my labor to progress. We had an awesome labor nurse who was with us through the entire process- she was great at walking us through all the different stages of labor- and was also a Sufjan Stevens fan so extra credit in our book! For the majority of the labor it was just me, David and our nurse. By 330 am Tora had dropped sufficiently and it was time to start pushing in earnest.
At this point I have to stop and brag to you all about how amazing David is. If you know him well then you know that dealing with needles, blood or ANY type of medical stuff is not his forte. Leading up to the labor we were hoping at best that he would be able to remain in the room- with or without passing out or needing his own nurse. He was amazing during the labor though- focused, supportive and involved the whole time. He really came through for me, and I think surprised himself a little by discovering that he could handle this for his family. For the first hour of pushing David and the nurse coached me through contractions and helped me stay in position by supporting my legs the whole time.... it was a whole family work out!
At 420 the OB on call came in "just to check in on our progress" and realized- whoa- you're going to have this baby right now! The last half hour was intense- even with the epidural there is no avoiding the fact that your body is basically being stretched apart slowly... and that you must try to relax in between excruciating contractions. But all and all everything went well and I had a squirmy baby with dark dark eyes on my chest looking up at me- both of us trying to figure out what just happened. Here is new born Tora:
I'm very excited to continue to share her story with all of you- I'll be trying to post some fun stories and pictures from the last few months in the next week or so here- and then continue to use this site as a way to connect with all of you and record this changing growing baby and about our family news.
Love to you all and hope to hear from you soon!
