Fiona’s Birth Story

My due date was May 26^th but all along I had been hoping and praying our baby would come on May 27^th because that would have been Phil’s mom’s birthday. That day came and went and all day on the 28^th I felt like I was living in a time warp. I had no plans for this day. I had expected to have a baby by now. I was officially overdue so I had a midwife appointment in the morning to make sure everything was still fine. They told me I was 4cm dilated and optimistically said maybe they would see me later that night. I hoped so. It was odd having nothing to do and not being able to plan anything. We took the kids out for coffee in Mukilteo, walked around the yard at our new house, and then Josh & Renae came over for pizza. I drank raspberry leaf tea to try to get contractions going and bounced on the exercise ball to bring the baby into position. I went to bed wondering what Sunday would bring.

Around one ‘o’ clock in the morning a strong contraction woke me up. This had been happening for the past few nights so at first I didn’t get too excited. The next few got stronger and stronger so at 1:30 I decided to wake up Phil and ask him to start timing. To my surprise they were happening every 5-7 minutes and starting to feel more real. At 2am I excitedly called the midwife and told her I was still comfortable but they were getting closer. She told me to rest and call back when the were less than 5 minutes or I couldn’t talk through them. Soon I couldn’t stay in bed any longer. I got down on the floor in yoga positions and had Phil bring me the ball to lean and bounce on. I was so excited! This was finally happening! At 3am I got the feeling I wouldn’t be able to walk to the car if we waited much longer. We called the midwife back and started to get ready to leave. Contractions were about 3-5 minutes apart now and in between I was laughing at Phil as he shaved and put on nice pants and a belt. “What are you doing?” I asked him. He said he wanted his face to be smooth so he didn’t scratch the baby when he snuggled her. I was so happy to think that we would be snuggling her soon!

When we were ready to leave we woke up my mom and told her we would call as soon as we got to the birth center to let her know how far along I was before she woke up the kids. By this time I was needing to drop to my knees with every contraction and sway my hips. It was painful but exhilarating, like intense exercise. I could feel myself starting to shiver so I had Phil grab a blanket to cover myself in the car. As we pulled out of our driveway in the cool night air I kissed him and said, “This is happening just like we always wanted!” I always dreamed of the excitement of waking in the middle of the night and driving down the empty freeway in labor. As we drove I had to use the ceiling bar to lift myself with every contraction – now they were just 1-3 minutes apart.

We arrived at the birth center and met midwife Jessica and two birth assistants. The room was dimmed and there were candles lit. After she checked me out and told me I was almost 8 cm, I told Phil to call my mom and wake the kids up. The baby would be here soon! Phil helped me walk to the tub and the midwife said we looked like we knew what we were doing so they left us alone. The contractions were intense but the tub was amazing. Phil put a cold washcloth on my forehead and helped me drink ice water. I was so thrilled that this was happening just how I had hoped. We listened to the birth playlist I had prepared and I prayed silently between contractions.

Soon I could feel the baby’s head descend further and I knew it was almost time. For a brief moment I felt the slight panic I remembered from my past labors – the feeling that maybe I couldn’t do this. I had to tell myself that I had done this before, my body knew what it was doing. Peace washed over me and I felt so present in the moment. I told Phil I was ready to push and the midwife came in. I put myself in the corner of the tub and Phil held my shoulders as a braced myself against the walls of the tub. My exhales came with sound, which surprised me, but it wasn’t so much a sound of pain, just a sound of recognizing my breath. I could feel the baby’s head move through me as my body was becoming two bodies. The midwife quietly announced that her head was out and she had her hand in her mouth. One more push and I felt her whole body pass through me. “Baby!” I cried, and suddenly she was on my chest. I heard one little squeak of a cry and looked down to see my daughter, purple and squishy, laying under my chin just like I always dreamed of. At first I didn’t recognize her. She has so much hair and she was bigger than what she felt like. We guessed almost 8 lbs. Phil kissed me and kissed her and we stared in awe.

 

Moments later mom and the kids walked in. “Come meet your baby sister”, Phil told them. The first thing I noticed was that they were fully dressed – Vivian in her church dress and glittery princess shoes. Mom explained that they were so excited they wanted to get dressed up and pack bags of stuffed animals before they came, which is why it took so long. I had kind of wished they were there for the birth but it was ok because they were here now. They peered in the tub and touched her head. Vivian exclaimed how excited she was that the baby was purple because purple was her favorite color. Soon she opened her eyes and turned pink – Vivian said that was ok because she liked pink too. I was surprised how good I felt in comparison to my past deliveries. I felt strong enough to stand up so Phil held the baby as I got out of the tub and dried off. As I stood I noticed the sky brightening outside. She was born just before dawn at 4:49am.

The kids followed me to the bed and hovered over as I held her and began to breastfeed. Phil asked if they wanted to know her name and as they gathered around he announced, “This is Fiona Louise Blomberg.” We explained that her middle name was for their Grandma Kathy, who was in heaven, because their birthdays were close together. Then we rested and snuggled and everyone took turns holding her. Later, Mom took the kids to watch a show in the family room for a little while and Phil and I sat in the bed holding Fiona. Mom called dad and texted the rest of the family. After a while the midwife came back to weigh and measure her. “9lbs 2oz!?!” that couldn’t be right so they reset the scale and tried again. Sure enough, it was correct. I couldn’t believe she weighed nearly 3lbs more than Liam and 2lbs more than Vivian. And she was 22 ¼ inches long! She went through the checklist and Fiona checked out perfect on all categories. She checked me and I was doing good as well so I got up and dressed and we packed up to go home.

 

Around 7am we pulled out of the parking lot and Phil jokingly asked if I wanted to go to church. By now I was so happy and relaxed that I could hardly keep my eyes open. I was hungry so when we got home I asked mom to make us pancakes and I ate them in bed before falling asleep with Phil by my side. We woke up hours later and it was the best thing ever to realize that today was our daughter’s birthday and we were home with all three of our children. No NICU this time, no nurses telling me when I could feed her and waking us up for blood pressure checks. No plastic pillows. We were home and everything went exactly how we had hoped. What an amazing blessing.

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capturing mundane moments

I haven't sat down to write in six months. Six. Months. Nearly every day something comes to mind and I think, "I should write about that!" but the excuse is, I have so many things on my writing to-do list that I want to post in order because I am me and everything has to be in order. Well, today I break the blog block cycle. I am posting out of order. Yes many interesting things happened in the past six months, but I will get to that. Today I am posting about today. It wasn't anything special. Just a moment in time. A moment in my children's lives that I feel like writing about.

For the month of May I am participating in my friend Kristina's Instagram Project called 31 Days of Working Motherhood (#31DaysWM), where she has challenged herself and others to post a daily photo of what life as a working mom looks like. Desperate to get back in the habit of documenting, I joined in. You can follow me on Instagram to check it out (if I know you - if you have some cryptic screen name and no profile pic then sorry, I won't accept your request).

This was my post today:

I try to make meals from scratch as much as possible.
It doesn't always happen.
Some days it happens at 8pm.
#31DaysWM

I felt as though today's photo captured more that I was able to express in a caption so I wanted to expand on it. Today was basically a wash on the productivity scale. I kept the kids alive, the house in order, and squeezed in some work here and there. But Phil accidentally took both sets of car keys to work so I didn't get any errands done until after he came home this afternoon. So, dinner preparations began late. Like 7pm late. 

Nevertheless, I stuck to my plan to do a little Cinco de Mayo celebration with our kids. Everyone helped in the kitchen and as the sun set we enjoyed a meal of soft tacos on homemade tortillas with homemade guacamole and mojitos (kid-friendly of course) with fresh mint picked from our garden. We even gave the kids a little salsa dancing demonstration, much to their delight, bringing us back to our college days when we flirted while taking dance lessons at the local community center.

Every time I make homemade flour tortillas my mind goes back to the kitchen of Celia Determan, the mother of my childhood best friend, who taught us how to make them in her tiny little kitchen when we were kids. My friend, Sara, passed away several years ago and I haven't seen her mom in years but I'm sure she would appreciate knowing that I am teaching my kids to make them.

It's nice when mundane days end up hosting meaningful moments. It reminds me that some of the most memorable moments of my childhood likely occurred on seemingly mundane days to the adults involved. I try to pause and realize that this right now might be something that my children will carry with them.

rejoining the land of the living

No, I was not a zombie for halloween, but maybe I should have been. Per Liam's request, we were a family of super heros - which is perhaps equally as fitting. My husband in particular was pretty super the past couple of months.

I am finally coming out of the fall fog and feeling like a member of my own family again after working a crazy number of hours the past two months. I had three events in the month of October and was working full time or more - all after the kids went to bed. I not-so-jokingly posted that my “office hours” were 8pm-4am. Unfortunately, this was pretty much true most nights. It was rough on all of us but at the same time I really enjoyed the work I was doing and the people I got to work with.

where I sat at the airport for 3 days greeting incoming conference attendees

the conference set-up

I had a nice view from my room - which I hardly spent any time in

renting out the Seattle Aquarium for a dinner one night

after the conference was over I dove straight into my next event

Now I am back to my normal part-time work I feel like I have so much extra time in comparison. It seems like after being in the habit of functioning at such a high capacity I am now much more efficient when faced with just a “normal” amount of tasks each day. We have enjoyed some sweet low-key family dates and I am finally catching up on my personal to-do list, which got shoved to the side for several months.

In this season of Thanksgiving I am realizing a new appreciation for all the blessings we have and truly enjoying the “simple things”…like showering, sleeping, eating, and talking to my husband.

I am also thankful that she waited until I came home to to this...

Happy 4th Birthday Liam!

Dear Liam,

Happy 4^th birthday little man! I say it every year but I really can’t believe how big you are and how fast you are growing! We have actually been celebrating all week. The night before your birthday you were so excited you couldn’t get to sleep. You kept saying, “When I wake up I will be four!” When you woke up you were thrilled to see the streamers and balloons your dad and I had put up. I love that you appreciate the little things so much.

I thought it would be fun to take you out to breakfast because you love going to restaurants. Daddy had to work so it was just you, Vivian and me. You put on your cape, crown, and birthday pin and we went to Denny’s to get your free “grand slam” breakfast – two eggs, two sausages, two pancakes, and hash browns – and you ate the whole thing! (Well, Vivian helped a little).

After that we went to the park and played for a long time. I planned not to work that day so we could just spend the whole day together. Later, when your dad got home, we let you open your presents. You were most excited about your new bike helmet and pads and also your “new phone.” It is just your dad’s old iphone and the phone part is broken but you love that you can use it to take pictures and play games. You admired the shiny green case we put on it and said sincerely, “Thank you so much for giving this to me.”

After presents we dropped Vivian off at John & Tash’s house and took you out to dinner all by yourself. We went to Red Robin and you loved it when the staff came to sing to you and bring you ice cream. Then we took you to see the movie “Planes”. You were a little bit scared at some parts (you usually are at movies) so I held you in my lap and whispered, “Look! It’s going to be ok!” I’m glad that in some ways you are still my little boy.

The next day we had a party to celebrate all the family July/August birthdays. You had fun playing with your cousins Isla and Emma and Canon. Then on Sunday afternoon we had your own party with all of your friends. You have been talking for months about how you wanted a “Fire Rescue Party” and you had very specific ideas of how the cake should look and what we should do.  Your dad did a great job with the cake and piñata. We also made a firefighter training obstacle course that everyone enjoyed.

You are becoming such a fun kid. Every day you surprise me with your new ideas and your sense of humor. You love to perform and make people laugh. You are a good leader and a hard worker. It is so much fun watching the person you are becoming. We love you so much Liam!

Happy Birthday!

Love,

Mama

Happy 1st Birthday Vivian!

July 20, 2013

Dear Vivian,

Hello Sweets! Look at you…one year old! I just can’t comprehend how a whole year has gone by already. And, at the same time, I can hardly remember my life without you. You are my girl. My miracle girl. The little girl I never thought I would have, and then for a moment feared I wouldn’t get to keep. But here you are, my wonderful joyful spunky hilarious tough-as-nails girl. It’s been a pleasure getting to know you this past year. I can’t wait to see what your future holds.

You are doing a lot these days. You have 6 teeth (4 top, 2 bottom). You eat any and every food we will give you. You crawl fast and can even get up and down the step, although sometimes you land on your face (sorry!). You love music and you like to bounce and clap when you hear it. You love your brother and when the two of you see each other you both start squawking and get right in each other’s faces until you are both giggling with delight. He carries you around when I’m not paying attention and sometimes you don’t even mind. He wants you to do everything with him, and mostly you comply. You love your dad too, when he comes home from work you greet him with a joyful “hi dada!” You like to talk and babble a lot, you always want to be part of our conversations. You repeat a lot of words but the words I have heard you say on your own so far are: “Dada”, “Mama”, “Bubba” or almost “Brother”, “Hi”, “Nana” (for banana) and “Doggy”. I can already tell you will be quite a talker!

You then...

...You now!

For your first birthday we spent the weekend in Shelton at Grandma & Grandpa’s house. On Saturday, your actual birthday, we went out on Grandpa’s boat on Puget Sound and kayaked around between the islands. It was a beautiful warm day. Uncle Tim had to work so he and Auntie Anne got there around dinnertime with Ari and Kaia. We had turkey burgers for dinner and then had a campfire.

on the boat with Grandma

Sunday morning we went to their church and then you took a nap while we all got things ready for your party. Weeks ago I asked Liam what kind of birthday party he though you would like and he decided you should have a “purple party.” So, that’s what we did. We went all out. The menu was: Blackberry glazed salmon, purple potato salad, roasted beets & carrots, purple sesame coleslaw, purple fruit salad, purple (blue) corn chips and berry lemonade.

Daddy did the decorations for you

with Great Uncle Bruce 

with Great Aunt Michelle

Just for fun I re-created the birthday cake Grandma had made for me when I turned one. It was shaped like a bunny. For you I made the cake inside purple, it was blueberry-coconut flavored. You loved it. You ate the entire tail, which was made from an extra-large cupcake covered in coconut.

You got lots of nice presents, but mostly you cared about the tissue paper. It was a great party and you wore yourself out. We drove home late that night and you and Liam slept the whole way. Neither of you like to sleep in the car so this was completely amazing. At home we carried you both inside and tucked you into bed without even waking you up (again, something that has never ever happened before). 

Birthday dresses made for you by Grandma Patty (left)
and Auntie Anne (right)

I know you won’t remember you first birthday but I always will. I love you baby girl. Don’t grow up too fast ok. Take this next year a little slower?

Love always,

Mama