Sydney's Birth

 It’s only taken me 2.5 months to post about this, but better late than never!

So as a first time mom I’d read a million articles and taken all the classes, but nothing can really prepare you for childbirth. I’m a planner and I like to know what’s coming, so the unreliability of pregnancy and labor was a challenge for me.

My pregnancy went pretty smoothly. I was exhausted, but didn’t have any extreme side effects. As my due date approached we were ready, but I wasn’t miserable. I had been having Braxton Hicks contractions for a month, but I figured I’d probably be late. 

On my actual due date, Jan. 13, I went to work. At 1 pm I met my husband at the OBGYN for our regular appointment. We did a no stress test for the first time and the baby was moving like crazy and everything went well. Then we met with the doctor for my examination. She took one look and checked my cervix and said, “Well, you need to head to the hospital.” 

Our very punctual baby decided I needed to go into labor on my actual due date! We were beyond shocked. She said I was already 6 cm dilated and about 80% effaced. She said I had been progressing slowly for weeks. Instead of going through the early stage of labor in a few hours, I’d been doing it for weeks because our baby was turned a bit and wasn’t pushing on the cervix. So the early stage of labor was pretty much done! I called my work and let them know I wasn’t going to be back after my appointment… or anytime in the next 10 weeks. 

We left the doctor and I headed home and my husband headed back to work to pick up a couple things. I put our bags in the car and started calling a few people and headed to the hospital.

We got there and I was still my clothes from work and a hoodie I’d thrown on. We went up the special elevator for women in labor and when we walked up to the nurses’ station they looked at us like we were lost. I think they thought we must be visiting someone, because I definitely didn’t look like a woman in labor.

Our doctor had called ahead, so I was immediately checked in. The rooms were so nice and huge! My doctor really wanted me to start on Pitocin immediately. I was actually kind of bummed because my doctor wasn’t on call that night. Another doctor at the practice was the one making recommendations and I wasn’t a huge fan. My nurses supported my decision not to start Pitocin yet and they broke my water instead.

 

For the first few hours I walked around the halls with my husband, tried the birthing tub for a while, and was able to move freely in the room. I really wanted to be able to do that and so I was definitely glad it worked out that way. 

My best friend got there around 8 pm. She’s got three kids, so she knew what to expect. She brought snacks for my husband and rubbed my feet when I was in the hospital bed. She was amazing! My sister, a professional photographer, got there a bit later and took some photos of the early stages for us. It was nice to be able to chat with people to get your mind off the contractions. They were definitely getting more intense. At one point I started puking, which is fun. I also couldnt stop shivering. They kept bringing me warmed blankets. I had serious heartburn through the labor too, which I thought was weird. Labor stalled out around 10 pm. I was stuck at 8 cm and we decided to start Pitocin around 11 pm. I got an epidural at that point. 

 

After getting the epidural tube put in and leaning me back on the hospital bed, the anesthesiologist leaned over my shoulder to check the tubing and asked what I felt. I said I felt a rush of cold and smelled mint. He looked a little alarmed and confused and then laughed and said, “Oh! The mint is just my gum.”

 

After that we had about 3 more hours of labor. The pain was gone, woo hoo! We could track the contractions, but it was weird not to feel every bit of them. Our daughter’s heart rate was dropping whenever we had a contraction, so we were trying different positions to fix it. After an hour of pushing our daughter was born at 3:11 am.  Her head came out and we realized the umbilical cord was wrapped around her neck. I stopped pushing while they cut it and then delivered her the rest of the way. That was the reason her heart rate had been dropping during labor. 

She was 6 lbs and 9 ounces and 20.75 inches long. She was just gorgeous and so alert from the very first second! There were no other issues and so we got to hold her almost immediately. Even from the first minutes she loved sticking her feet straight up in the air. After about an hour we invited my sister and best friend to come back and meet her.

 All around it was a pretty great experience. I know there’s so much you can’t control when you have a baby and I’m beyond grateful that our delivery was a smooth one. 

All photos are private and cannot be used by any other source.

Wordless Wed: Twilight Opera House

Twilight at the Sydney Opera House

More Wordless Wednesday here.
Photo by moi.

The Last Anniversary and Three Wishes

The Last Anniversary 
by Liane Moriarty 
★★★★

Moriatry crafts novels that suck you in immediately. The timeline and family tree in this one are a little trickier to follow than her others, but I read it in one weekend and that helped me keep everything straight. 

The Gordon family has lived on a small island in Australia for years. A mystery involving a vanished family and abandoned baby has haunted the shores for decades. When Connie, one of the eldest members of the family passes away, she unexpectedly leaves her home to her grandson’s ex-girlfriend Sophie. The odd choice baffles the family, but soon Sophie steps into her ready-made life on the island. She meets Connie’s whimsical sister Rose, Enigma, the mystery baby and her adult daughters: Margie and Laura. The grandkids, Grace, Thomas, and Veronica are all adults as well. Each one adds a unique twist to the story. 

Grace’s story was powerful because it gave such an intimate look at post-partum depression, something so few people understand. I also loved seeing Margie’s transformation. Standing up for yourself after years of being put down is incredibly difficult. The big twist/reveals weren’t as shocking as some of her other novels, like Big Little Lies (link), but that didn’t matter. I just enjoy the worlds she creates too much to care. 

BOTTOM LINE: The magic of the island is infectious. You want to visit it and be swept away by the mystery of it all. It’s not my favorite Moriarty novel. It definitely feels like an earlier work, but that just means she’s getting better with each book and I have even more great novels to look forward to.

Three Wishes

by Liane Moriarty 

★★★☆ 

Gemma, Cat, and Lyn are triplets. In the opening pages they are celebrating their birthdays at a posh Sydney restaurant and we see the meal unfold through the eyes of other patrons. Gemma is a wild spirit, the dreamy, untethered sister. Cat is the strong, brash one. Lyn is the organized, uptight one. The three are so close, yet so wildly different. The trio makes up a pretty exclusive club, yet they don’t tell each other some of the biggest secrets in their lives.

Starting with the opening scene, there are short chapters sprinkled in from the random points of view of people whose paths crossed with the girls in some fleeting way. It was an interesting chance to see them from the point of view of an outsider. The style reminded me a bit of the way Moriarty used the police interviews to break up the story in Big Little Lies (though I think the technique worked better in that novel).

  

One of the things I love about Moriarty's books is the way she portrays women. They are complicated. They can be jealous, selfless, kind, furious, and more without being labels a "good" or "bad" character. In other words, they are like real women. Her men tend to be a little more one-dimensional, either they are bad guys or they are long-suffering supportive husbands. That's not always true, but it seems like more often than not they fall into one group or the other. The women though don't have nearly the same defined motivations and I love that. Each of the sisters comes across as flawed and vulnerable in different ways.

BOTTOM LINE: I love Moriarty's books. This is my least favorite so far though and I would recommend picking it up after you've already read The Husband's Secret and Big Little Lies.

Wordless Wednesday: Sydney Window Washers

Window washers at the Sydney Opera House.
More Wordless Wednesday here.
Photo by moi.

Big Little Lies

 

Big Little Lies

by Liane Moriarty

★★★★★

 

I’m officially a huge fan of Moriarty. She has an incredible skill for introducing friendly, women who seem like people you know, building up their lives and then taking a sharp turn into the unexpected. Despite the sweet friendships that sit at the core of the story, the book deals with some very serious and real problems, yet it reads like a mystery you can’t put down.

 

From the first pages we know that the police are trying to solve a murder case. Then we skip back in time to months before the fateful night of the crime. Sprinkled throughout are interviews with witnesses and suspects, adding layers of depth to the plot. We touch on topics as diverse as bullying, financial status, blended families, domestic violence, and more. The book explores the social dynamics and pitfalls of elementary schools’ hierarchy and the personal lives of some of the mothers of students.

 

Madeline, Celeste, and Jane are all mothers of children in the same kindergarten class. Jane is new to town, a quiet single mother who is overwhelmed by it all. Madeline is the brash center-of-attention who, though well-meaning, tends to stir up trouble wherever she goes. Celeste is the gorgeous wife of a wealthy financier. Each woman has a much more complicated life than what first appears to be happening on the surface.

 

BOTTOM LINE: A big book, but a fast engaging read. The author makes the characters come alive. She can deal with dark subject matter without making the whole book feel dark. She manages to hit a delicate balance between gravity and readability. I couldn’t put it down and I will be reading whatever she writes next.

 

 

*Read as part of the R.I.P. Challenge hosted by Stainless Steel Droppings.

 

Wordless Wednesday: Lincoln's Rock

 

Lincoln's Rock in the Blue Mountains in Australia.

More Wordless Wednesday here.

Photo by moi.

Meeting Brona!

I am back from vacation and fighting jet lag right now. I promise that in coming weeks there will be photos and more info about the trip (it was incredible!) but before all that I just wanted to take a minute to tell you about one highlight.

While the Huz and I were in Sydney, Australia we met up with Brona from Brona's Books. We had planned to meet for a quick drink so we could say hello. Instead, we ended up spending four hours chatting and laughing with our husbands. It was just so much fun!

Brona gave me the cutest fold-out book about Australia (see above) which I just love! The whole evening was this wonderful reminder of why I started blogging in the first place. For me, blogging is about discussing the books I've read and having a place to journal about them. That's enough right there, but then there's the huge bonus of meeting other book bloggers online. Brona and I had never met before that night, but we'd emailed and read each others blogs, so we instantly felt connected.

We sat there, 36 floors above the Sydney Harbor at a gorgeous hotel bar, drinking G&Ts and never once had a pause in our conversation. It didn't matter that we'd never met before. We shared a love of books and theatre and travel and so there was no need for awkward small talk. We lived on opposite sides of the globe, but we loved so many of the same books. It's just incredible.

Here's to blogging and Brona and our great husbands who made the whole evening even more fun. I hope we all get to meet up and do that again in the future!

p.s. Brona's posted about the night too!

Photos by moi and the Huz.

Off Seeing Hobbits & Kagaroos

The time has FINALLY come! The Huz and I are headed to New Zealand, Australia, and Fiji for a couple weeks. After years of saving and planning this crazy adventure is finally happening!!!

So I will be away from this blog (and everything else) with incredibly limited access to technology (yay!) for the next couple weeks. I'm guessing I will still be posting some fun pictures on Instagram when possible for any of you that follow me there (avidreader25). Have a great couple weeks and I will be sure to share photos when I return.

Photos from here and here.

In Certain Circles



In my quest to read books set in Australia and New Zealand before my trip there next month I have encountered some interesting books. When I was sent a copy of In Certain Circles I realized the story behind the novel is almost more fascinating than the book itself. Decades after it was written, this quiet novel is finally seeing the light of day.

In Certain Circles
by Elizabeth Harrower
★★★

Set in Sydney, we meet two sets of siblings, Zoe and Russell, a wealthy pair whose lives are brimming with possibility and then Stephen and Anna, who are from a lower class and recently orphaned. We follow the four characters through a few decades of their lives. Despite their best efforts their paths cross and crisscross again and again. Zoe and Russell both leave for Europe, but eventually find themselves back in Sydney. Anna and Stephen must work to make ends meet, their options much more limited because of their situations. 

The book has a distant feel that radiates from every page. Even when I was reading about what a character was thinking I still didn’t feel like I understood why they felt that way. It was also odd that all the major action of the book, falling in love, weddings, death, etc. seems to happen off screen. All we see as the reader is the aftermath and the quiet reflection of the decisions. That’s not always a bad thing, but in this case it just felt like you were missing crucial parts of the story.

BOTTOM LINE: Some of the writing was beautiful and profound, but the stiff nature of the novel left me feeling cold. I wished I’d had the chance to get to know the characters better. I felt like I was never welcome into their certain circles. 

“When you head anyone rave on about the problems of youth, you want to say: wait till they’re adults! As if “growing up” finished when you were twenty-one. Or forty.”
 
“Social behavior was just another way of telling lies.” 
 
“She wrote: I wish –  And crossed it out. She wrote: I hope –  And crossed it out. She wrote in very small letters, as though she meant to hide them even from herself: Goodbye.” 

**I received a review copy for an honest review.