Uxue's First Week

Uxue's first days went very well. Her first Christmas was uneventful, both pics are from x-mas. Gorka and I spent most of the time sleeping. Our wonderful midwife, Barbara, brought us some food.

Although Uxue was small, 2kg 850, she ate very well. There were a few breastfeeding problems to begin with... Why doesn't anyone ever tell you how truely difficult it is? But she got plenty to eat. At her lowest weight, Uxue only lost 150g. Not much at all!

Uxue had her first bath 4 days after birth. We were too tired before that. Barbara did the actual washing, Gorka filmed, and I ran around getting everything we forgot ;-)

The amazing support we received from our midwife made all the difference in the world. She came to visit twice the day my water broke, the morning of the birth, that evening to check on us, and the following five days. We even called her in panic at 6am one morning and she rushed over to help us! When a day got a bit hairy it was always nice to now she would be coming to help soon! When her last home visit came, we were quite sad. However, with all of her support and teaching the first days, we have done very well.


5 days after Uxue was born, we had to go to the town hall and register her and her birth. Here in Belgium a baby is registered where they are born, not where they live. Seeing as how there is no hospital with a delivery unit in our town, most people told us it couldn't be done. When we found the office to register her, we were told that in the entire year only 5 births had been registered in the town, 2 of those that same day! It was the talk of the town hall! In the pics, Gorka and I are taking her out for the first outing. We haven't bought a stroller (yet!) and are using a cloth sling. She's now too big for this cradle position and lays upright, facing our chest!

Uxue's Birth!!

Baby Uxue

December 23, 2009 9:50 am
2kg 850g (6lb 2oz) and 49.5cm (19.5in)

19 hours after my waters broke, I went into labor!

The night before, my midwife came over to the house and gave me a reflexology massage (if that's what you can call something that painful!) and a horrible spoonful of castor oil! We went to bed rather sad, thinking that we were going to the hospital for sure. After 24 hours with broken waters and no active labor I would have to go to the hospital to receive antibiotics and start induction.

But.... at 2am, labor started! I blame the castor oil, nasty stuff. After being thoroughly sick for an hour or two, things went much better. Around 7am the midwife arrived. I was 5cm dilated... OH NO, that's all!!! About an 1/2 hour later, I started pushing. I couldn't believe I was fully dilated so I resisted for about an hour. Gorka and the midwife tried to convince me to push, but I couldn't believe the last 5 cm would go by so quickly!

The pool was finally filled enough for me to get in. I somehow made it from the couch to the pool, which we placed in the dining room. There, the midwife confirmed that the I was fully dilated, so I finally decided to start pushing.

At 9:50, Uxue was born! She was born in our dining room in the Finding Nemo pool! She was 2kg 850g (6lb 2oz) and 49.5cm (19.5in) long. She was healthy and strong at birth and doing wonderfully, although a little on the small side!

Momma & Uxue very tired!

Daddies work hard and get tired too!

Uxue getting measured & dressed...

My Fabulous Midwives: Ann & Barbara

OOPS!

Well, this morning around 7am my water broke! I got up told Gorka what I thought happened and, of course, proceeded to google water breaking. It didn't seem all that common to break waters and not have contractions so we thought I should go back to bed and see if anything happens.

3 hours later I wake and think, "I guess it wasn't my water I'm pretty dry. Maybe I should catch a train and go to my favorite store to pick up a few things." While looking out the window to see if I could leave the house (We've had some bad snow storms and I haven't been able to leave the house in 3 days!), I feel the water running down my leg! Guess it is my water!

I call the midwife, just to make sure that's really what it is! And then think to myself, "oh no, I still haven't made a hospital bag."

So instead of making my hospital bag, cleaning the house, or doing anything else to make labor begin (I still don't have contractions!), I thought it would be best to write an entry and take pictures of my belly! Who knows how long it will be until I write another! These may be my last pics with a belly :-( So I thought I should take a couple quickly.

Uxue: oo-SHOO-eh

Quite a few people have asked about the name Uxue. So I thought it would be good to add a little post about it.

Basque pronunciation (every letter is pronounced):

U = oo
X = sh
U = oo
E = eh

Uxue = oo-SHOO-eh (intonation on the middle syllable, SHOO)

Uxue is a Basque name for a girl. Basque is very different from Spanish, so you probably won't hear the name often in the U.S. It's a very old Basque name that means dove. There is also a small village in Navarra that got it's name from the Virgin Mary.

We chose the name thinking that it is pretty and fairly simple name to pronounce. It might be the spelling that throws people for a loop. Hope this helps! And don't worry if you forget, we realize now that it's not all that easy for most people!

Finding Nemo!

Here's the birth pool, more or less inflated. If baby Uxue is born here, I think she might make friends with little Nemo! How funny is this pool!!!

It's actually quite deeper than it appears in the picture. It reaches the underneath of the dining room table. The sides are strong enough for me to lean on or even sit on, maybe even for two to sit on. So pretty strong. The best part of the pool though is that it's very inexpensive, only 30€. It's also very easy to set up. I don't have to have someone else do it. When labor begins, we will refill any missing air and fill the tub with a hose connected to the tub.

The other picture is of the Bolle Buik homebirth goodie bag. It will make a great beach bag later too! I had to add a pic of it because I love their logo!

Leslie & Uxue in the Brussels Metro!

The Brussels Metro is one cutthroat place that I don't recommend for pregnant women! Even now at 36 weeks and with a VERY big belly, it's tough to get a seat! People are very polite everywhere else. This video was taken on a Sunday afternoon, so not a problem to find a seat!

Hospital Tour

We recently visited the hospital St. Elisabeth for a tour. This is where we could be transferred in case of complications or if I were to change my mind for any reason about giving birth at home. After the tour, I don't think I'll be changing my mind though!

It seemed nice enough. It's one of the few hospitals in Brussels with a water birthing pool. They also have a fully equipped natural birth room with all sorts of stuff. We had better hope it's not being used if we decide to go, there's only one! Most importantly the Bolle Buik midwives can continue to provide care to me if we went to the hospital.

The tour didn't change mind mind about going to the hospital because I got a bit nervous when the 20-some of us sat down in the natural birth room. It was question and answer time with the head midwife about what to expect during our stay. The woman in labor next door began screaming. Not one of those deep guttural moans or grunts like in the home birth movies, more of a high pitched scream like the Hollywood movies! The midwife smiled and kept talking... I guess that's one way labor could go! I'd prefer it didn't though!

Midwives Home Visit

This past Friday, we had our first home visit with one of the midwives from Bolle Buik (Big Belly in Dutch). The midwife brought the homebirth kit with sterile gauze, absorbent pads, umbilical cord clip, and other similar things. She also brought the birthing pool with all the gadgets we will need to get it filled and emptied. (I'll take a pic when we get it inflated - supposedly two days ago. It's pretty funny!) She took a quick look around and we discussed where I want to give birth... Uh, can I really decide something like that this far in advance?!?

This visit really got me excited about giving birth and having a baby. Up until then I have been thinking that I'm pretty happy with Uxue staying in my belly. It's really not tooo uncomfortable! I'm not sure if it's the home visit or my excellent midwives that have gotten me excited. But I think I might be ready for Uxue!

We were told that after reaching 37 weeks (that's Dec 19!), I'll be able to safely give birth at home! So anytime from this Saturday up until January 19 Baby Uxue could come along!

Leslie Growing Through the Months

15, 22, 28, & 34 weeks


Both photos: 35 weeks
(I'm now having trouble keeping my belly warm since I can't button my jacket more than this!)

Uxue on 11/23/2009 at 33wks

Here in Belgium they LOVE to do ultrasounds! Apparently it's normal to do a quick one at every doctor's appointment. Since we have midwives they don't do them routinely. Here the minimum number of ultrasounds is 4, the last one being between 30 and 34 weeks. So this is the last pic we will have of Uxue until she's born!

We happened to catch Uxue with her tongue out drinking some of the amniotic fluid! I wonder if she'll love to eat just like her parents?!?

The doctor estimated that she weighed about 2kg (4.4lbs) and would gain about 150g to 200g (5-7oz) per week. So she's still got a lot of growing to do!!!

Uxue on 9/9/2009 - 22 weeks

Little Uxue's legs were normal, not too short and not too long. You can see her legs up by her mouth!

Uxue on 8/14/2009 - 18 wks

This is when we found out she was a little girl. As you can see, she started to look more human at that time. We were also told that her femur was a little short for the stage that she was at. That got us very worried until we went back 3 weeks later for another ultrasound and found out....

Uxue on 6/22/2009 - 11 wks

This is the first ultrasound of Uxue. As you can see she looked like a tadpole back then :)