Here's some pics my mom took (and some more recent ones) to tide you over.
Wednesday, July 18, 2007
Saturday, July 14, 2007
A's Birth Story (Finally!)
So, on Sunday (June 3rd, my lil' sis' b-day) I kept having this wierd feeling, umm, down there. Like I was leaking or something, but there was hardly any fluid at all and I had had so many false alarm feelings before. I didn't want to send the girls to the sitter and trek on down to the hospital for just a false alarm, so I figured it was better to take the wait and see approach. If the contractions started coming, I'd surely have enough time to get to the hospital! Anyway, this went on all day with no contractions, so I chalked it up to me just wanting it to happen versus anything actually be labor-icious about it. (I did call my mom just in case, and she changed her plane ticket to arrive on Monday instead of Tuesday, which was when I was supposed to be induced). So we went about our day and went to bed as usual. At about 2am I woke up to a terrible contraction, but I figured it was just a BH and tried to go back to sleep. But they just kept coming In fact I was starting to get a little pissed because I couldn't get back to sleep thanks to my contractions! Finally, I got the brilliant idea to just get up and start timing them. So I went downstairs (so as not to wake the Hubs) and got on the computer to do what any woman in my situation would do: Google for signs of active labor. Of course I didn't find anything particularly helpful, but it was comforting to think I was doing something rather than just sitting there. After about an hour of my contractions coming at very regular intervals of about 5min apart, I starting thinking that maybe this wasn't another false alarm. So I went upstairs to let Hubs know. Unfortunately, I may have cried wolf one too many times.
Me: I think I'm going into labor.
Hubs: (muttering sleepily) No you're not. Go back to sleep.
Me: (a little indignantly) Um, I'm pretty sure about this. My contractions are coming every five minutes apart.
Hubs: (sleepily) Mmm hmm. Just get back in bed.
Me: (getting angry) No, I'm serious. In fact I'm getting one right now. Ow, OW! Now get your ass out of bed and take me to the hospital!
Hubs: (yawns) Can't it wait until morning?
Me: Only if you want me to have this baby on our new bed.
Hubs: (springing out of bed) And off we go!
So, we woke the girls up and packed a quick overnight bag and took them over to BS's house. J seemed very confused and a little scared about the whole situation. She didn't even want to get out of the car when we got to BS's (and she loves it over there), but C was pretty nochalant. She is a heavy sleeper no matter what, so I don't think she cared about anything except going back to sleep. Then we headed off to the hospital. We arrived and parked in the emergency room parking lot (it was only about 3:30-4am so the front doors were locked). Immediately we were directed to Labor and Delivery on the 3rd floor. I, being the person in labor, was concentrating on being able to walk through the pain and neglected to listen to the directions from the front desk staff. My Hubs also neglected to listen for reasons I have yet to figure out. Luckily most of the doors around us were locked, so we were able to navigate ourselved to the right elevator by process of elimination.
Once we got into L&D, they hooked me up to the machines, measured my cervix (3cm) and started measuring my contractions. They were looking pretty wimpy on the monitor, but, by this time, I was absolutely sure I was in labor because they felt so strong. After about an hour, my nurse checked my cervix again and I was up to 4cm, so it was determined that I was, in fact, in labor. (Me to Hubs: "Told you so!") So I was transferred to a delivery & recovery room and given a permanent nurse (her name was Cam Cameron, no really!) who was really awesome. They asked me if I wanted my epidural now or if I wanted to wait. Having done the whole brave thing in the past (and not having one for C's birth), I immediately said yes. L&D apparently wasn't too busy that night b/c the anesthesiologist came in right away (yay!). The epidural was fairly easy, although I did get some pain in my right lower back, which kind of freaked me out. Then my blood pressure started to drop (this is a normal reaction to an epidural), which makes you feel very dizzy and faint and can actually be a little scary, but they put some shit in my IV which made it stabilize and pretty soon I was just sitting there, happily numb, waiting for my baby to come. After what seemed like a very short while, Cam checked my cervix again and announced that I was already at 8cm. Although they had paged my doc, he obviously wasn't going to get there in time, so the doc on call came over to deliver me. Hubs held my hand and I pushed for about 15 min (same as with C) and out popped A.
So, after my crazy experiences with C (extremely long and difficult labor) and J (scary labor worrying about her health), I finally got the "normal" experience I was hoping for. And, it was really quick! I woke up at about 2am with the start of my contractions, and A was born at 8:36am, so I was only in labor for about 6 hours. Not too shabby! The recovery this time around did seem harder, though. I had a lot of joint pain (horrible feeling like your joints are bing pulled apart), so it was difficult to even get in and out of bed. Plus, Hubs had to go back to work right away, so it was just me and the kids after my moms left (thank god she was there for the 1st two weeks and basically did everything!). I've posted before about A being a difficult baby, so I won't repeat all that here but that has definately added an extra level of stress to the whole experience. Luckily it seems like his constipation is clearing up and his stuffy nose has finally cleared up, so I can stop stressing out about his breathing. Also, we moved his bassinet downstairs and out of our room, which seems to have helped quite a bit with his sleeping (and mine!), so I get at least a couple of hours at a time.
So that is my story. I feel like it is so boring after all the excitement of C and J's births, but I am so happy to have had the whole experience of going into labor on my own (even though it wasn't nearly as exciting as I thought it would be!). Hope you all enjoyed it!
Me: I think I'm going into labor.
Hubs: (muttering sleepily) No you're not. Go back to sleep.
Me: (a little indignantly) Um, I'm pretty sure about this. My contractions are coming every five minutes apart.
Hubs: (sleepily) Mmm hmm. Just get back in bed.
Me: (getting angry) No, I'm serious. In fact I'm getting one right now. Ow, OW! Now get your ass out of bed and take me to the hospital!
Hubs: (yawns) Can't it wait until morning?
Me: Only if you want me to have this baby on our new bed.
Hubs: (springing out of bed) And off we go!
So, we woke the girls up and packed a quick overnight bag and took them over to BS's house. J seemed very confused and a little scared about the whole situation. She didn't even want to get out of the car when we got to BS's (and she loves it over there), but C was pretty nochalant. She is a heavy sleeper no matter what, so I don't think she cared about anything except going back to sleep. Then we headed off to the hospital. We arrived and parked in the emergency room parking lot (it was only about 3:30-4am so the front doors were locked). Immediately we were directed to Labor and Delivery on the 3rd floor. I, being the person in labor, was concentrating on being able to walk through the pain and neglected to listen to the directions from the front desk staff. My Hubs also neglected to listen for reasons I have yet to figure out. Luckily most of the doors around us were locked, so we were able to navigate ourselved to the right elevator by process of elimination.
Once we got into L&D, they hooked me up to the machines, measured my cervix (3cm) and started measuring my contractions. They were looking pretty wimpy on the monitor, but, by this time, I was absolutely sure I was in labor because they felt so strong. After about an hour, my nurse checked my cervix again and I was up to 4cm, so it was determined that I was, in fact, in labor. (Me to Hubs: "Told you so!") So I was transferred to a delivery & recovery room and given a permanent nurse (her name was Cam Cameron, no really!) who was really awesome. They asked me if I wanted my epidural now or if I wanted to wait. Having done the whole brave thing in the past (and not having one for C's birth), I immediately said yes. L&D apparently wasn't too busy that night b/c the anesthesiologist came in right away (yay!). The epidural was fairly easy, although I did get some pain in my right lower back, which kind of freaked me out. Then my blood pressure started to drop (this is a normal reaction to an epidural), which makes you feel very dizzy and faint and can actually be a little scary, but they put some shit in my IV which made it stabilize and pretty soon I was just sitting there, happily numb, waiting for my baby to come. After what seemed like a very short while, Cam checked my cervix again and announced that I was already at 8cm. Although they had paged my doc, he obviously wasn't going to get there in time, so the doc on call came over to deliver me. Hubs held my hand and I pushed for about 15 min (same as with C) and out popped A.
So, after my crazy experiences with C (extremely long and difficult labor) and J (scary labor worrying about her health), I finally got the "normal" experience I was hoping for. And, it was really quick! I woke up at about 2am with the start of my contractions, and A was born at 8:36am, so I was only in labor for about 6 hours. Not too shabby! The recovery this time around did seem harder, though. I had a lot of joint pain (horrible feeling like your joints are bing pulled apart), so it was difficult to even get in and out of bed. Plus, Hubs had to go back to work right away, so it was just me and the kids after my moms left (thank god she was there for the 1st two weeks and basically did everything!). I've posted before about A being a difficult baby, so I won't repeat all that here but that has definately added an extra level of stress to the whole experience. Luckily it seems like his constipation is clearing up and his stuffy nose has finally cleared up, so I can stop stressing out about his breathing. Also, we moved his bassinet downstairs and out of our room, which seems to have helped quite a bit with his sleeping (and mine!), so I get at least a couple of hours at a time.
So that is my story. I feel like it is so boring after all the excitement of C and J's births, but I am so happy to have had the whole experience of going into labor on my own (even though it wasn't nearly as exciting as I thought it would be!). Hope you all enjoyed it!
Thursday, July 12, 2007
Each new generation born is in effect an invasion of civilization by little barbarians
So we're gearing up for the invasion. The step-kids arrive this weekend, and my MIL will be here on Tuesday. So, C and I are cleaning the house like mad since it will most likely not be clean again for another month!
Proud Mommy Moments
#1 Alex's 1st Smile
I was sitting on the couch holding Alex, cooing and smiling and tickling his cheeks. He looked deep into my eyes - clearly communing with me on a deep mother to child level - and gave me a big smile! My heart brimmed over with joy and motherly pride at my little boy's beautiful smile...and, then...he farted. *sigh*
#2 J's New Word
Hubs and I were sitting at the kitchen table playing Uno (we have such exciting lives), and J was sitting at the other end of the table coloring on a piece of paper. Hubs and I can be very competetive when it comes to games, i.e. we live to talk a lot of trash. Hubs isn't necessarily the best at, um, hiding his colorful language, so he was letting a few choice words fly as I kicked his ass. J was really getting into her coloring and at one point the pen flew off the paper in a particularly violent way. "Oh!" exclaimed J, forming a big "O" of surprise with her mouth and slapping her hands to her cheeks in comedic fashion (clearly she is taking after her big sis in the drama queen department! "Oh, fock!" she said.
Me: *mouth hanging open* What did you say?!
J: *not paying any attention to me* Fock...*in a sing-song voice* fock, fock, fock
Me: *to Hubs* This is all your fault
J: *nodding sagely* Fock.
#3 C the Comedian
C: Knock, knock
Me: *reading a magazine* Hmmm?
C: Mom, I'm telling a joke. I say 'knock, knock,' then you have to say, 'who's there?'
Me: I do, huh?
C: Moooom! Just say it!
Me: Okay, okay. Who's there?
C: No, you have to wait until I say 'Knock, knock."
Me: But you just said it.
C: No I didn't! I was telling you what to say!
Me: Whatever. Tell your joke, honey.
C: Okay, okay. Knock, knock.
Me: Who's there?
C: Boo. Now you say, 'Boo who?'
Me: You know, jokes are a lot more funny if you don't tell the audience what they're supposed to do.
C: Moooom! Just say it!
Me: Fine, fine. Boo who?
C: Ha ha ha ha ha!
Me: You didn't say the punchline.
C: No, you did! Ha ha ha ha ha!
Me: Wow. Remind me to make sure you don't pursue a career in comedy.
Other Random Tidbits
I am seriously contemplating buying this for Mom.
They've finally stopped playing that highly aggrevating K-Mart commercial every five seconds, only to replace it with that equally annoying Oreo commercial with the upside down faces of kids singing. You know, the one where they sing the Oreo theme song in cutesy, off-key voices with faces painted on their chins. Whoever thought up that ad campaign should be shot.
This is for AinA and her uni memories! :)
TLC has a new show coming out called A Model Life. It's a reality program about teaching wannabe models how to make it in the biz. Sound familiar? What a total ripoff of Top Model! I can't believe tv has sunk so low that copycat reality programs are being greenlit. What a sad world we live in...You know I'll totally be watching it... I'm so ashamed
Proud Mommy Moments
#1 Alex's 1st Smile
I was sitting on the couch holding Alex, cooing and smiling and tickling his cheeks. He looked deep into my eyes - clearly communing with me on a deep mother to child level - and gave me a big smile! My heart brimmed over with joy and motherly pride at my little boy's beautiful smile...and, then...he farted. *sigh*
#2 J's New Word
Hubs and I were sitting at the kitchen table playing Uno (we have such exciting lives), and J was sitting at the other end of the table coloring on a piece of paper. Hubs and I can be very competetive when it comes to games, i.e. we live to talk a lot of trash. Hubs isn't necessarily the best at, um, hiding his colorful language, so he was letting a few choice words fly as I kicked his ass. J was really getting into her coloring and at one point the pen flew off the paper in a particularly violent way. "Oh!" exclaimed J, forming a big "O" of surprise with her mouth and slapping her hands to her cheeks in comedic fashion (clearly she is taking after her big sis in the drama queen department! "Oh, fock!" she said.
Me: *mouth hanging open* What did you say?!
J: *not paying any attention to me* Fock...*in a sing-song voice* fock, fock, fock
Me: *to Hubs* This is all your fault
J: *nodding sagely* Fock.
#3 C the Comedian
C: Knock, knock
Me: *reading a magazine* Hmmm?
C: Mom, I'm telling a joke. I say 'knock, knock,' then you have to say, 'who's there?'
Me: I do, huh?
C: Moooom! Just say it!
Me: Okay, okay. Who's there?
C: No, you have to wait until I say 'Knock, knock."
Me: But you just said it.
C: No I didn't! I was telling you what to say!
Me: Whatever. Tell your joke, honey.
C: Okay, okay. Knock, knock.
Me: Who's there?
C: Boo. Now you say, 'Boo who?'
Me: You know, jokes are a lot more funny if you don't tell the audience what they're supposed to do.
C: Moooom! Just say it!
Me: Fine, fine. Boo who?
C: Ha ha ha ha ha!
Me: You didn't say the punchline.
C: No, you did! Ha ha ha ha ha!
Me: Wow. Remind me to make sure you don't pursue a career in comedy.
Other Random Tidbits
I am seriously contemplating buying this for Mom.
They've finally stopped playing that highly aggrevating K-Mart commercial every five seconds, only to replace it with that equally annoying Oreo commercial with the upside down faces of kids singing. You know, the one where they sing the Oreo theme song in cutesy, off-key voices with faces painted on their chins. Whoever thought up that ad campaign should be shot.
This is for AinA and her uni memories! :)
TLC has a new show coming out called A Model Life. It's a reality program about teaching wannabe models how to make it in the biz. Sound familiar? What a total ripoff of Top Model! I can't believe tv has sunk so low that copycat reality programs are being greenlit. What a sad world we live in...You know I'll totally be watching it... I'm so ashamed
Tuesday, July 10, 2007
Moms the Word
I haven't had much time to post all the crazy bloggy ideas I've had lately (remind me to write about C's recent foray into being a comedian - let's just say that an 8 year olds sense of humor is quite different and leave it at that ;), but, after rereading some of my more recent posts, I realized I never paid proper homage to my moms. She came out here when A was born to help us out, and let me just say that I have no idea how I would have made it without her. My mom is so awesome! She took care of the girls, helped me with A, cooked for us, drove me and the girls around. Basically she did everything! She's done so many wonderful things for me over the years. Everything from helping me during my move from Texas to Japan to watching C when I was at ASBC for 6 weeks to coming to Japan to help out with J (not to mention all the financial and emotional support for everything from scraped knees to college to divorce). My mom is truly the greatest, and I don't thank her enough for everything she does for me. I feel so blessed that after everything we've been through (and everything I put her through), she still loves me unconditionally and we have such a great friendship. I love you, Mom!
Thursday, July 05, 2007
How Was Your 4th?
Cause mine pretty much sucked. I know I've been sort of incognito since A's birth, and I appologize for that. I thought I would have all this time to take care of projects and catch up on my correspondence while I stayed home. But it turns out that every time you add another child to your family things get just a little bit harder. Who knew?! Additionally, it appears that my difficult pregnancy was just a prelude of things to come. A is a difficult baby. I think it's too early to say he's colicky, but he does cry an awful lot. We ended up missing the fireworks yesterday because I was too exhausted to do anyting (I was up from about 2:30 the night before with A). I thought it was just constipation (we have started supplementing with formula because I don't make enough milk to satisfy him - this is an issue I've had with all my kids but usually not so soon), but we took care of that (I was scared to do it, but a rectal thermometer is a god send for mom's with constipated babies) and he is still fussy! He is just very needy. He needs to be held all the time, that seems to be the only thing that calms him down. That's not to say that he cries constantly. He also sleeps ;) No, he does have a few waking periods where I lay him under him jungle gym or put him in the swing, but those times usually last for about 10-15 mintues and then its back to fussing. I don't think I will be nearly as depressed to return to work this time around!
J has hit the terrible twos like a hurricane (which is pretty much how she does everything). She has become slightly more needy and definately has more tantrums than before A arrived. I totally love this age, too, because she's talking and communiating with me and can play real games (we got her a play kitchen and a Barbie play house - yay Craigslist), but it is difficult to balance a needy toddler and a needy baby. And, poor C is just getting shafted at this point. She's mommy's little helper. The only problem is she tends to live in her own little world (I told you she took after AinA!). So if I send her up to get a diaper for A or J she will most likely make a detour to pretend the diaper is a magical talisman which can change her into a princess. While extremely cute, this is also incredibly irritating when I have baby shit on my hands.
To top it all off, we found out on Monday that Hubs is going to have to get surgery in a couple of weeks. He's got a hernia, so now he's in the position of not being able to lift anything (especially a wriggly toddler or baby), so now I get to know he felt all these last few months. All I can say is thank god this happened now when I am sufficiently healed to handle the kids and not a few weeks ago! Luckily my MIL will be here when Hubs goes in for surgery (not so luckily we'll also have my step-kids, so it will be 5 kids and 2 able bodied adults), so I'll have some help with the kids while he's recovering.
Anyway, sorry for all the whining. But if I didn't whine to you all, then Hubs would have to deal with it, and I just don't think he can take any more stress! ;) We'll be okay (have I mentioned recently how happy I am to not be pregnant anymore?), we just have to make it through these next couple of months and pray that A learns to sleep through the night sometime soon!
J has hit the terrible twos like a hurricane (which is pretty much how she does everything). She has become slightly more needy and definately has more tantrums than before A arrived. I totally love this age, too, because she's talking and communiating with me and can play real games (we got her a play kitchen and a Barbie play house - yay Craigslist), but it is difficult to balance a needy toddler and a needy baby. And, poor C is just getting shafted at this point. She's mommy's little helper. The only problem is she tends to live in her own little world (I told you she took after AinA!). So if I send her up to get a diaper for A or J she will most likely make a detour to pretend the diaper is a magical talisman which can change her into a princess. While extremely cute, this is also incredibly irritating when I have baby shit on my hands.
To top it all off, we found out on Monday that Hubs is going to have to get surgery in a couple of weeks. He's got a hernia, so now he's in the position of not being able to lift anything (especially a wriggly toddler or baby), so now I get to know he felt all these last few months. All I can say is thank god this happened now when I am sufficiently healed to handle the kids and not a few weeks ago! Luckily my MIL will be here when Hubs goes in for surgery (not so luckily we'll also have my step-kids, so it will be 5 kids and 2 able bodied adults), so I'll have some help with the kids while he's recovering.
Anyway, sorry for all the whining. But if I didn't whine to you all, then Hubs would have to deal with it, and I just don't think he can take any more stress! ;) We'll be okay (have I mentioned recently how happy I am to not be pregnant anymore?), we just have to make it through these next couple of months and pray that A learns to sleep through the night sometime soon!
Tuesday, July 03, 2007
While I'm Up...
It's 4am and I'm up with Alex (again). I'm too tired to put together a coherent post (still working on that birth story, I swear!), so I'll just follow my sister's lead and post you a link in the spirit of sharing. It's summertime and there's no better time for a foodie (in my opinion). If you're interested in learning about how to eat more local foods check out this site. Or if you want to put your kids to work so you can have strawberries year round (and make them think its fun) why not look for a place to pick your own produce? Or if you're too lazy for that (or live too far away), just look for a farmer's market in your area. Happy eating, everyone!
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