Constant Beginnings

Perfection... Auntie Jessica and Claire taking a nap.

More gifts have arrived for Claire. Our friends, Nick and Heather, gave Claire the cute blanket, sheet, sundress and hat. Chris gave Claire the little purple blanket. Clint, Amber and Kendall gave Claire the two cute Disney dresses, and Chris' Mom and Dave gave Claire the onesie, socks, baby, and headbands. Claire is one lucky kid to have so many people who care about her.

Chris and I gave Claire her first bath on Thursday night. It went rather well for us, but not so well for Claire. She hated it.

Our first days at home have gone well, despite a stressful start. We arrived home on Monday, July 16. Chris and I quickly ate and then I tried to feed Claire. She decided to be finicky and not latch on, which raised my stress level ten-fold. She cried and couldn't be consoled. Chris tried, his Mom tried and I tried. We had to drive to Maine to bring Chris' Mom home, which added another degree of stress to the situation, although we truly appreciated her coming to dog sit for us. However, I must say I developed a rule that I will live by--NEVER AGAIN WILL I LET HER CRY HERSELF TO SLEEP (at least as a newborn). I feel new babies cry for a reason and it is our job to figure out what is wrong. Their whole world has changed in an instant, so I can only imagine the shock they must feel. Everyone seems to have their own opinion on this issue, but Chris and I agree that we need to develop our own rules for raising our child without the input of others. Anyway, we don't know what we...

Chris and I had a doctor's appointment Wednesday, July 11, 2007 where we learned the possibility of a 9 pound 3 oz baby. Our doctor discussed the option of scheduling a C-section right away or giving a vaginal delivery a try with the possibility of a C-section being the end result. We scheduled an induction for Friday, July 13, 2007. Good thing I am not superstitous, although, if we weren't expecting a houseful of family in a week, I may have re-thought that date. Anyway, on Friday, Chris and I arrived at the hospital at 7:00 am. Petocin was started around 8:00. I began to feel the contractions, but no pain. Contractions were close together, but since there was no pain, the nurse indicated dilation most likely wasn't taking place at a rapid rate. The doctor came in for an exam, only to find that I was still only 2 cm dilated. She attempted to rupture the membranes to speed up the labor process, but the attempt was not successful. Chris and I were awake at 4:15 am, ant...

Claire Isabella Boynton finally arrived on Friday, July 13, 2007 after a 13 hour labor that finally resulted in a C-section. She weighed 8 pounds, 3.9 oz. and was 20 inches in length. She is a good little baby, sleeping pretty well and eating well. She cries only when needing to eat or because she is tired. Chris was leary about having a girl, but he has quickly become the proud daddy. We are both thrilled with our gift. She is an absolute joy in our lives. I will write her birth story in a few days when I catch up on some sleep. We arrived home today--one day earlier than anticipated because we were both doing so well.

Approximately 2 weeks ago, Harvest decided to take on a much larger dog outside our home while we were getting ready to run an errand. Chris broke up the fight in which Harvest circled the dog and barked. Harvest jumped into our car and we were off. When we returned home, Harvest had developed a limp. His condition did not improve, so I took him to the vet the next day. The vet felt that he may have partially torn a ligament in his right hind leg, but wanted to try an anti-inflammatory medicine first. After no improvement, I called the vet again the following week. That visit confirmed informally an entire ACL tear. Harvest had surgery yesterday, July 10, 2007. The surgery went well, but he is not the same dog. His leg is tightly bound and he is nearly immobile. The poor guy looks like he is miserable. I gave him a hot dog for dinner, but he hasn't even touched it. Usually he gobbles them right up. Hopefully his condition improves. We do love our dog. This episode has cost near...

I am officially 40 weeks and 3 days. A far too lengthy pregnancy in my opinion. Chris and I went for my final ultrasound and nonstress test today. Everything looks good. The baby is doing well, fluid is good, and she seems to be looking like me or at least that is what Chris thinks. Every ultrasound tends to paint a different picture so one can never know for sure. The biggest news of the appointment was that our child is a giant. I called a few family members to take a poll on birth weights. The results are as follows: Chris--8 pounds, 0 oz.; Mom--8 pounds, 2 oz.; Dad--8 pounds, 10 oz.; & Lisa--8 pounds, 13 oz. When Chris told me his guess first, I about kicked him. Talk about pain!! Anyway, to our surprise or sadness (depending on who you are talking about), the doctor informed us that I am carrying a 9 pound, 3 oz. baby. Yay! I will be birthing a watermelon! He, of course, told us that the measurement isn't necessarily 100% accurate, but more or less an estimate based on hea...

Chris has been working like a mad man over the past few days trying to get the shower tiled. The top two pictures show the hardibacker board he installed. Our carpenter, John, completed the mudding. The installation was rather tricky as our bathroom is not so level and working around the window presented a huge challenge. It looked great. Thursday he began tiling. I am quite impressed. He is completing this project on his own with supervisory input from me. (I'm sure he'd rather do without that too, but he is taking it in stride.) He did finish putting up the whole tiles diagonally on the longest wall, but has many intricate cuts to make to finish it off. He is not looking forward to that. Hopefully he'll get the rest of the tiles up and move onto the floor. I love to see the progress. As far as my own progress....not as apparent. I am officially tired of being pregnant. I decided yesterday that she should be born 7/7/07. However, she apparently has a different idea ...

I had my 39th week appointment yesterday. I told Chris prior to going in that if I heard the words "your cervix is still closed," I would cry. I am not sure if the doctor sensed this feeling or if she was being honest, but she said I was dilated to 1 cm!! Wow!! Not enough progress to please me, but I guess it is a start. She stripped my membranes, but still no contractions. My cousin, who is a doula, informed my Mom earlier today that I could stay at 1 cm for 3 weeks or so. What a treat that would be!! She suggested that I try accupuncture or pumping (sorry for the descriptiveness). Although it would be special for our child to share my Grandpa's birthday (Happy 93rd birthday, Grandpa!!), I must say it would be more convenient for Chris and I if she waited until after Friday to be born. I heard on the news the other day that many ladies are asking to be induced on Saturday, 7-7-07. Supposedly, it is a lucky day! Maybe she'll be born then too. We can all use a little e...

We are in the process of renovating our attic. Chris tore down the pre-existing structures earlier this winter. The space used to include a lovely shag green carpet, eagle wallpaper and several divided rooms. Chris knocked these down, cut out the studs and opened the space to make one large room. He wants me to mention that he hauled all the debris down three flights of stairs by himself, which amounted to over 3 tons!! What a man I have!! Our carpenter, John, has been diligently working on framing a couple of closets, insulating, and the electricians came this week to put in the recessed lights. It is looking great. When my Mom was here, she and Chris hauled away some of the remaining debris from the framing process and cleaned up the space. They did a great job. The bottom two pictures show the (l) space as seen from the top of the stairs, and (r) the space that will overlook the stairs. We are going to place a bed in this area. We had a large closet built to the right, which ...

We finally picked up our newest purchase---a new 2007 Nissan Pathfinder LE. It is lovely. Neither Chris nor I have ever owned a brand new vehicle before, so this is a special treat. We had a DVD system installed that Claire is sure to enjoy!! Hopefully it will help make for some peaceful rides. This is also our first four door vehicle. I am sure our travelling companions will love that. So far so good. We love it. The second and third row of seats fold down, which allows us to have extra space for storage. We've already made a couple of trips to Home Depot and found this feature especially useful.