Labor and Delivery

Hi everyone! This is Tom.

Quick info:
Clark Joseph Greenwell was born at 9:35 pm on Saturday, March 7th, 2009. He weighed 9 lbs 6 ounces and is 21 1/4" in length. He came out vigorously and is strong and doing well. He is already suckling and crying and sleeping. We thank all of you for your support and love.


We are doing well, and i just want to update everyone with a brief recap of the last 24 hours or so.

On friday, as you could see from the last post, nothing really happened in the beginning of the day after some nice labor-like ccontractions on Thursday evening. WE napped all day, which was good. At about 4:30 pm, we decided to go see a movie (Watchmen) which was pretty good, but long. towards the end of the movie Veronica began to have some contractions again. The contractions really started up at about 8-9:30 pm that night. We decided we would try to sleep and see if this was the real thing. No sleep was had and at midnight called our care provider who told us to let them know if the contractions became closer and more regular. They did. At about 3 am we called the midwife and told her after another bout of unsuccessful sleep. The midwife came at about 4 am saturday morning.

Contractions continued and Veronica labored hard with my support. Our birth assistant was called by the midwife at about 6:30 am and she came over within 2 hours. We labored and labored. Walking helped. In the afternoon, Veronica's Mom arrived at the regularly scheduled time and was able to give me a break since Veronica only wanted to be with me during contractions. I napped and ate and felt re-energized. Things slowed down and slackened, but picked back up again. By about 2 or 3 in the afternoon, we knew the baby was going to come that day, but we didn't know when. We walked around our backyard, determined to keep the contractions going and the baby coming. During the whole time, our baby had a wonderfully strong heartbeat, even though some tough pushing. Finally, Veronica put forth a wonderful effort of pushing and our son was born at 9:35 pm. Everyone is fine now and resting. We are actually pretty exhausted from 1.5 days + of labor and birth. Veronica's mom has been such a blessing and my sister Andrea was also a big help. Thanks to everyone who helped and prayed for us!

I've posted a few pictures, taken from my phone. More to follow.


Thanks for everyone's support. We will call in you in the coming weeks, and update this blog as soon as we can. No need to call us if you can wait.

We love everyone!

Darn it

Hey. So, the contractions petered out. Happening now every 20-30 min. Same strength.

Midwives say that it probably will not happen today. The castor oil depletes what you've got, so I will need to rebuild my reserves before my body starts up again. Their advice was to rest and distract myself, and to not worry about going into labor again today.

Midwife said that maybe it would happen tomorrow. (My mom also comes tomorrow). Or we would try to use Cervadil to induce on Sunday. Thats the game plan.

I've had bloody show ever since 4:30 pm yesterday, so this is a strong sign of dilating. That means that my body and all of the labor and work of last night still counts and maybe when I start up again I'll skip to active labor or something...

God only knows.

mucho mucho love!!!!
V & Tom

Working on it

I'm working on having Gumbo now.

I did the castor oil thing yesterday morning and evening. I've been having contractions since 4:30 pm yesterday. Tom and I walked to a restaurant nearby, ate a nice, healthy dinner, and then walked back home. The contractions varied from 30-45 seconds every 4-13 minutes or so.

We went to lay down to rest at about 9:30-10 pm, but I couldn't lay down through the contractions to I abandoned the bed. I was in the tub for about an hour, then slept on the balance ball draped over the recliner for an hour or so. Then I slept in the guest bed for a few hours. Its 4:40 am now. Contractions are harder, but variable as to length and time between them. They yank me from sleep if I fall asleep between them. I've been able to fall asleep and rest a lot between them. Thats the good thing. I guess I'll go back to bed and see if I can sleep between them some more.

Its exciting that something is happening, but I'm trying to stay calm because I know I have a long road ahead of me. I planned on having a 72 hour labor - hopefully that does not really happen, but I prepped my brain for that long. So far its been 12 hours. It hasn't been horrible so far. It's very interesting to witness the body work.

Peace. Love, V

Not yet

Hey. I was really tired yesterday and didn't write. Sorry to get your hopes up that I might be giving birth. I didn't.

I had an ultrasound this week. My big belly still has a baby in it, and that baby is still a boy. Whew, one thing I don't have to worry about anymore is backup girl names. =). I have enough amniotic fluid for him too. He is looking strong and healthy. NO, I did not find out his "weight" or size or anything. (They are notoriously bad a predicting that - plus I want to imagine him as a little earth worm as he glides out of my body).

Yesterday I had a non-stress test. Gumbo is really healthy, and really happy to hang out in there forever.

The good news is that I'm really good at being pregnant. With some hormone issues in the fam, and some hormone issues in my own body - I was afraid that I wouldn't get pregnant. I was afraid that I had a cancer or tumor in there. I had a biopsy in May - which may have opened my cervix enough to get a baby in there. (?). The biopsy was negative, and that was great news. I was worried that I wouldn't have enough hormone to maintain my pregnancy after we found out that I was preggo. The doc had me on progesterone for the first 3 months - just in case. I made it through those months successfully. The next 3 were a lot better. The three after that were ok, but the last month has been the hardest.

I don't mind waiting so much - its just tough for me cause I feel pressure to have the baby - but I have no control over it!!!!
I know that relatives and friends are well meaning when they call to ask "Where is the baby?", "When is he coming?" But I don't know, its hard enough for me to keep myself in line - in check and calm about when he is coming. ITs hard for me to answer that question day after day. They are excited and interested in what is going on. I've been in that spot before. I will never ask a preggo "When is the baby coming?" again. Now I know how it makes you feel. Especially in a day when TONS of people have artificial inductions and elective c-sections, there is so much pressure to just get the baby out. If he is in there, its cause he's not done doing whatever he is doing yet.

I'm not a procrastinator by nature, if there is a due date, I like to have things done before they are due - just so I can move on to other things. This baby is teaching me a different kind of patience. I will be waiting on him my whole life. I'll have to wait for him to go to sleep before I can take a bath, wait for him to wake up from his nap so I can go to the mall, wait for him to toddle around as I he learns to walk really slowly. I"ll have to wait for him to finish his dinner really, really slowly when he is a kid. I'll have to wait for him to finish practices, wait for him to come home at night when he is a teenager. I'll have to wait for him to figure things out on his own, to face hard decisions and hopefully make the right ones. I'll have to wait for him for my whole life. These weeks are just practice for what its like to love someone but not be in control of what happens to them.

After he is born we will have him for his entire life, so its fine to wait a little while longer to meet him and see his pretty face. Well, for sure, the last day I will be pregnant is MArch 11th, although I may be induced on March 10th. Those are the last dates that a doctor will induce me. I really hope it doesn't get that far, because an induction will have to happen in the hospital. =(

In the meantime, all of the possible old wives tales are being tried: sex, evening primrose oil, chinese food, hot foods, spicy foods, raspberry tea, nipple stimulation, breast pumping, cleaning, relaxing, resting, walking, hiking, dancing. Today I am trying castor oil, because I would rather try that than end up in the hospital. Yesterday I got my membranes stripped a little bit. The problem with all of these things is that none will work if your body isn't ready - and mine just hasn't been ready yet.

One thing that this pregnancy is definitely inspiring me to be is to not be obese. Its hard to get my shoes on now, its hard to reach the TP when I'm on the potty. It's hard to turn and to reach behind me. I can't imagine having these limitations and not having the baby in me. I'm excited about working out again when I've got my son. Tom and I are planning on doing a mini-triathlon in April. I did it last year, the goal is: to finish. Not a bad goal. its a little, bitty one. You swim for 10, bike for 30 and run for 20 minutes. You get points based on distance. Its done in a gym. Its not a bad way to motivate you to work out. The day I found out I was pregnant, I ran a 5K on the treadmill. I was practicing for a sprint triathlon. I hope I can get up to 5K ability soon and really do my sprint triathlon this time! =) I'm not sure how exercise interferes with breast feeding, so I'll have to make sure I will be ok.

I was going to post a video today, but my camera is not working for some reason, so you will have to just go to youtube and watch something else...

It snowed this week, its pretty.

Love, Veronica.

not today either

there you go.

no baby today

thats the update.

How to make Gumbo

So, since our little baby Gumbo is not making his appearance and everyone is anxious to see him, I thought I would provide a substitute Gumbo for your waiting pleasure.

To properly make Gumbo, first you start with a Roux.
I put: 1/2 c margarine and 1/2 c flour together in a pan.
You have to heat it on super low and stir it for about an hour.
If you burn it, then you have to start over.
Heat it until its the color of caramel and smells like popcorn.

Cook separately:
1 large onion minced
1 bell pepper minced
4 large close of garlic
1 piece of meaty bacon chopped up.

When it looks good and cooked (the onions are clear or almost clear) mix in the roux and cook a little bit more. Make sure all of the flavors have time to infuse themselves in each other.

Then add some stock. Its best to make stock well ahead of time and not use the kind that you can buy in the store, but its a labor of love in itself.

How to make Stock:
Save a carcass anytime you have it (post Thanksgiving, Christmas, Crawfish boil, Rotisserie Chicken), freeze it and then use it when you are ready to make stock.
take a chicken carcass, turkey carcass, or crawfish carcasses ( I think I used the tails only), and put them in a huge pot with a whole onion cut in half and maybe some other stuff (celery, garlic, carrots). fill the huge pot with water and boil it with no lid for about a million hours, until the water is at least half gone, has a nice color, and looks like stock. Towards the end, you can taste the stock and see how you like the flavor. It may need salt or some other flavors at this point (bay leaf, basil, whatever). But always wait until the end, cause then the flavor of the Carcass will have totally infused itself into the water and you will know how to enhance it and not make it worse (or too salty)
Let it cool. Take the bones out of it, saving any meat that has fallen off of the bones. I throw out the veg, but you can do what you want with that.
You can let it cool in the fridge and then skim the fat off of the top, but I find it makes a nice flavor to keep it in there, plus I've never had a bunch of fat from a bird or crawfish stock, maybe if you were boiling cow bones it would be really fatty...
Then I typically freeze it until I want to make Gumbo or some other soup. The best Gumbo I made was with Crawfish stock, yum yum yum. =)

Ok, now you have your Roux with Veg, and you need to add the stock, add almost as much as the pot allows, but leave room for....

Lagniappe (Lousiaianian for "a little something extra")
a bunch of chopped up: Chicken and/or Turkey
a bunch of chopped up: Andouille sausage.
a bunch of chopped up Veg: whatever you want or have lying around, whatever would be good in a soup (not lettuce).

The only thing to watch is to make sure that you chop the pieces small enough so they fit in the spoon. (it can be a big spoon)

Then you have to add Okra. Chop this up too.

For Gumbo to be Gumbo, the only thing it really needs is Okra. Okra is how Gumbo got its name, cause the vegetable that we call okra was called "gumbo" in Africa and whenever the bad guys stole all of the Africans and brought them to the Americas as slaves, the Africans brought along their delicious cooking and okra aka Gumbo. Then they started cooking with it and all of the leftover goodies in the house therefore inventing the dish we call Gumbo today.

So at this point, you should taste what you've been cooking. It could be perfectly delicious or it could be really bland. Never serve a bland Gumbo, ick.

Add Zateran's or Tony C's to the pot, add some salt, add some other delicious flavoring things.

Then taste it and see if you think its awesomely delicious, if it is, then eat up, if not, then keep adding.

Things to watch for that could ruin your gumbo (and almost any other dish with similar ingredients)
1. burning the roux and not starting over, you CANNOT burn the roux and still use it, you HAVE to start over, totally wash the pot and start from new ingredients.
2. mixing the roux into the stock (it will clump and become a pain).
3. over salting the pot before the end
4. over spicing the whole thing, only spice things at the very beginning when you are cooking the first batch of veg and then again at the very end after everything is added.
5. chopping the pieces too big so they don't fit on a spoon
6. not cooking the veg enough at the beginning, you've got to cook them good then, cause thats where the flavor comes from.


The best thing about Gumbo is that besides burning the roux and over salting the pot, its hard to do wrong. You can put almost anything you want in it. People have! Its a wonderful place for leftovers and whatever you've got laying around.

We call our baby Gumbo, because we knew that we had a good stock pot and some good ingredients to start with, but weren't really sure what the outcome would be, but were pretty sure it would be good. That's how Gumbo is. You add what you've got and what you end up with is wonderful no matter what you add. We're pretty sure our baby Gumbo will be the same way.