More Pictures.

Since Lorena and I don't really get to to anything right now (okay, I have played soccer a few times), here are more pictures of the kid...


Lorena and Michael asleep at the hospital "hotel"


Michael's first bath. And the only bath he didn't cry for.



Sleeping baby...



Yes, Lorena does exist,



The face he makes way to often



The face we like him making

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Sleeping Babies are the Best!



















This is how he always sleeps (if sleeping...which he is getting better at, we hope...). We swaddle him, but he always manages to work a hand out and then sleep on it. It's kinda funny. I usually sleep the same way, but with a pillow between my face and my hand. Like father like son, I guess.

I don't have a picture yet of the frowny, crying face he makes, but it's pretty cute too.

I just wanted to thank everyone here is Sweden (although I doubt any of them read this) for helping us out so much by bringing by meals and offering encouragement. Everyone has been more then generous. I think it is painfully obvious to those that already have kids that we are next-to-clueless as to what to do.

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Who is this handsome fellow?



Pictures?

I think it is obligatory, if you have a blog and then you have a kid, then you have to post a bunch of pictures of the kid. I think that is a blog rule or something. Sorry that Lorena isn't in any of them because for some reason, when she is holding Michael, she can't seem to keep her shirt on.

"what up world"

"I just peed on my dad while wearing a hat. This is how I roll."


"Yeah, that's right. I'm in a lexus."

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Michael Robert Candrian

He's HERE! Born 9/12/09 at about 8:20 p.m. Lorena's water broke on Thursday at 1:00 a.m. so you do that math as to how long she was in labor! Both Mother and son are doing well. Dad has no idea what is going on. Pics to come. (the movers are here right now with all of our stuff too! Did we predict this was going to happen, or what?)

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Ramblings of a Woman Awaiting Birth
My water broke Wednesday night around 1 am. I was in that I've-been-laying-here-for-an-hour-but-not-really-sleeping-because-I'm-too-achy state. Suddenly I felt a pop of fluid gush out, a little wave of nausea, and my body started trembling. There was no mistaking what was happening. I leaked a trail into the bathroom and started cleaning up, feeling some nervousness and excitement over the reality of the oncoming labor. I smiled to myself thinking that my membranes just ruptured all over the government's stupid loaner pillow that I'd been sleeping with in-between my knees for the last couple weeks. It felt vindicating to do that on their property after all the problems they've caused us with this move. I actually let out a devilish little cackle.

In the morning, I realized it was actually my own pillow after all. There goes that fun.

Well, it is a day and a half later and I am STILL waiting for labor to start! I've had just enough contractions to kill my sleep for the past two nights, but not enough to go into real labor. Two dreamless nights and the fun hasn't even begun!
My mom said her water broke before labor when she had my sister. Her water broke at 11pm, and my sister popped out three hours later. I was expecting to be more like my mom.
I read that only about 10% of women have their water break before labor starts. And of those women, 85% are in labor within 24 hrs. Stats don't help much, do they?

I am nervous because if my body doesn't decide to go into labor soon, I will have to get induced. I really want a drug-free, IV-free labor. I supposed if this whole child-bearing thing has taught me anything, it would be that I have no control over most of the decision-making going on in my body. A couple months ago I was pretty pumped about a water birth, but then I found out they won't do those in Sweden. But they would let you sit in a tub until push time. Unless your water breaks early. So there goes that plan too!

Research schmesearch: In the US, if your water breaks, you have at most 24 hrs before they induce labor on you because they say there is too high a risk for infection after that. In Sweden, they think it's not quite as imminent a risk and let you go 2 - 3 days before inducing labor.
However, in Sweden they won't allow water births because they say there is a higher risk for infection. But in the US, current research says that isn't true and water births are a growing trend.
I recently read something else (on baby sleep) where the U.S. findings and Swedish findings were exactly opposite as well. Gotta love "scientific" research!

Here is something that sounds even more hippy that wanting a water birth. As I was out walking along the water last night, I was thinking how perfect it would be if I could have birth outside with the birds and trees and grass near the water, and a midwife just set up her little station of things for delivery under a tent there or something. I would summon the strength of the wolves that would be howling in the distance, the grace of the birds floating by, the calmness of the still water, perfectly in tune with mother-nature, and bear my son. Haha. Kidding. Kind of.
But really, I felt good, strong, graceful, calm and in tune with myself out there on my nature walk. Like I could handle labor. When I was in the hospital this morning for my check up after my membranes ruptured, I ended up feeling stressed, frustrated, tense, awkward, and out of my element. I hope the experience is a little less frustrating when I finally go in for the actual birth.

In case you were wondering, skipping during a walk (first checking both ways that no one is watching) will not induce labor.
Laughing really hard also doesn't induce labor. But it can give you contractions. Rob has done that to me a few times now. On our way to the hospital yesterday morning, Rob drove our Lexus the way a sports car is meant to be driven, crying out frantically "She's having a baby! She's having a baby!!!" Even though there was obviously no rush whatsoever. It cracked me up so hard I started contracting.

The nesting instinct is real. I'm not sure if I have ever gone into such an emotional upheaval as I did all day on Tuesday after finding out that our housing items that were supposed to FINALLY arrive the next day were delayed yet another week. I was Angry. I was ready to make the house perfect for the arrival of Biggie Smalls and now I can't do anything. The neighbors may have wondered what sort of wild animal was making those roars in our house. I fantasied about punching my fist through the walls and breaking all sorts of things. I settled for throwing a pill bottle, a highlighter, and Rob's old i-phone that is already broken. I threw them so hard that I broke the cap to the pill bottle, the cap popped off the highlighter, and Rob's phone is broken a little better now. Pretty wild mama, huh? Then I picked up it all up so as not to make a mess nor alert Rob of my insanity (although I think he may already be on to that). Rob helped me work through my nesting issues later that night (apparently Biggie Smalls won't do a quality control check on our house when we bring him home) and I think I am back into my good ole' peaceful hippie/Buddha mindset that it's all just material possessions which I am totally fine, maybe sometimes even better off, without.

I am SO excited to meet our son. My body has about 17 hours left to figure out how to go into labor or I get induced, and if that doesn't work, c-section. I know the end goal is just to have a healthy baby. But I am actually looking forward to the birth and hope the experience isn't taken away from me. Like I'm in the last mile of a race and and the sweep wagon is hot on my heels, trying to make me get in and take a ride to the finish. I hope I can make it on my own before I'm forced into the sweep wagon.
Tick-tock, tick-tock...

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The Joys of Moving to a New Country!

Good: Public transportation, food, people, outdoors, nice house, fun job, new culture, interesting museums, beautiful scenery, nice weather (so far!)

Bad: Crib getting shipped to Taiwan, being told that your stuff will be here on the 9th - when they really mean the 14th (day before Biggie Smalls is due) and that is slightly mind-boggling, since they have had our stuff since JUNE FREAKING 30TH!!! what has our stuff been doing all summer? HELLO!!!, trying to order things online in Swedish (and not being able to because your billing address is in the US).

Summary: I think that if State Dept. hadn't totally screwed up the shipping of our stuff, we wouldn't have anything to complain about. Although it is interesting to see, when you don't have much of your stuff, how much stuff you don't really need. Maybe there is a moral to this story?

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