M^indefinitely : Happy Birthday Mallory!

Today my littlest child, Mallory, is 3 years old!

3 years old!

She is with her father for her birthday today but yesterday we had lots of good snuggle time and cuddles.
I am going to collage right here (right now) all things that are Mal-gal related in response to her birthday. I cannot believe she is 3 years old already and she is such a wonderful child. She is thriving and growing and very smart. She's my all-natural, breastfed, cloth diapered. baby worn, co-sleeping, 100% attachment parenting child as well. :D

Mallory turning 1!

Mallory turning 2!

I am posting her birth story here (because I just dug this up from where I originally posted it on the internet) and now I have it in a spot I am not likely to lose it.


August 30, 2009- 39 weeks in

The view from above

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Monday (August 31) I went in for my 39 week appointment. Somehow over the past week I had gained 11 pounds. Needless to say my midwife was quite concerned. My blood pressure was just fine but she noticed I was starting to swell up a bit.

So she gave me the option of trying castor oil and I had to come back in on Wednesday. She told me to just rest in bed on my left side until then. I was a good 4 centimeters dilated and 80% effaced.

So I went home, pouted for a little bit, and then cleaned my carpet.

And that is when the contractions began.

I didn't think much of them (in fact I was expecting them to just go away like they had been). So after I cleaned my carpet I sewed a pair of training pants and then Mark and I began making plans to go out to dinner. About 6pm I started timing them, just in case they were really something. By 7 I was having to stop and kind of concentrate through them. But they weren't that bad really. But I decided that if they kept up for another hour (they were about 5 minutes apart) then I would call my midwife and let her know what was up. I packed a bag for Marilyn just in case and we dropped her off with my younger sister and we went to Swenson's. By that time my contractions were about every 4 minutes apart and I was having to count through them. (They lasted about a minute to a minute and fifteen secondsish). And of course I didn't have too much of an appetite for anything so I only ordered french fries and a lemonade (they fill their cups with the most deliciously crushed ice).

So about 8 I called and my midwife said to head in. We got to the hospital about 9ish and the contractions were then every 3 minutes and getting a little bit more intense. They checked me out and I was at 6 centimeters dilated and wasn't about to be heading anywhere. So they checked me in and got me hooked up to all that good stuff. (IV and monitors and whatnot). My midwife had given instruction for them to break my water if I was admitted but I refused.

So they called the midwife and had her come in because they were not anticipating a long labor whatsoever.

About 10:30 they offered to break my water again and I refused. I was doing just fine handling the contractions on my own and I knew that they would become super intense as soon as they broke my water. I also kind of wanted to let the baby pick her birthday (I figured that since she held out for a clean carpet, maybe she would hold out until the 1st and I could have 2 September babies ).

By then the contractions were getting a bit longer (they had been about a minute to a minute and a half long) and now they would peak but then kind of ride out for a minute or two. But then they would end and everything was great. I was doing a great job. We watched some sort of car show on the tv (well, by that time Mark was just watching, I was concentrating on getting through the contractions). At one point I had to go to the bathroom so I waited for my contraction to end. Had to stop midway to the bathroom for another contraction, had a contraction in the bathroom and then kind of hobbled/ran back to the bed (with the monitors draped around my neck and dragging along the IV pole) before the next contraction started again.

At 12 my midwife checked me again and I was 9 1/2 dilated. By then the contractions were getting a bit more icky and I was having to move my legs back and forth to help with the pressure and I did start to make some low moans. But it wasn't that bad. She told me I could push whenever I wanted to and she said if she broke my water the baby would be here soon. Like very soon. So at 12:10 she broke my water and it took a couple of contractions before I got the urge to really push. I pushed for 5 minutes and at 12:26am Mallory Dana was born.

She weighed 8 pounds, 2 ounces and is 21 inches long.

Immediately after giving birth- she's still covered in baby gunk

She's a pretty laid back baby (so far) and she is a great eater and a great sleeper!
I didn't have any rips or tears (well, one tiny itsy bitsy one that didn't need stitches) and for the most part I feel great.

We took the full two days at the hospital (thank goodness for that- they feed you and you get to lay around and do nothing all day- GLAD I took that advice!) and although our first day home was a bit hectic, things are going smoothly now!
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(Our first full day back home was Marilyn's 2nd birthday----which I kind of maybe forgot....)

But that's my story of Mallory and how she came to be. I felt so good after having her that I wanted to jump in the shower and run around. It was awesome and I would totally do it again. She is an awesome little kid too.

Here are a ton of pictures just so you can see how awesome she is