Sick Bay

(I think that is a title Rachel has used before. heh.) It's been an awfully long week. I've been sick. (In Real Life it sounds more like "Ah'm siiiiiiiiiiiick." :( It started a sore throat on Monday which I thought was allergies cause of all the dusting I've been doing and the warm temps. (it was in the 50s) Monday night I wasn't feeling well at all with a vice around my ears. I was sneezing, congested, coughing, my ears hurt, and the headache not to mention the aforementioned sore throat. Tuesday morning I had had enough and wanted something strong to treat the symptoms. I went to the doctor and told him, "I want something for symptoms and if I should need antibiotics I don't want them. I don't want to deal with thrush." To which he said, " you're getting to smart for your own good!" Anywho, the medicine has been helping a bit though the runny nose has gotten worse along with the cough, but the vice around my head is gone. Erich now has a sore throat so we've been dosing him up with some tylenol and Vitamin C. Magdalena has been doing great until the night before last when I noticed she was a bit congested. It seems better now, and she hasn't been fussy or acting like she is hurting. We had her two month checkup today, he said she looked a little extra mucousy but not anything to fuss about. She now weighs 10lbs and half an ounce and is 21 and a quarter inches long!!! So she caught up in height with her weight and is beautiful. He said she is obviously not a big (fat!) baby and is beautiful and well behaved. She "talked" to him the whole time he examined her and even opened her mouth and said "ah!" He said she certainly knows how to open her mouth wide! I am convinced that her first word is going to be "wider" because I say it to her almost every time we nurse! She got 3 shots. Erich talked to her, I held her legs, and two ladies gave the shots (two at once, then the third) I cried, M cried, and Erich looked sick. It took me a minute to calm her down enough to nurse her but she eventually nursed and fell asleep. I woke her about 1 to feed her and change her and she fell back to sleep until about 4:30 when I gave her tylenol, changed her and nursed. She nursed again at 630 and again at 830 when I gave her a little more tylenol. Her legs obviously hurt, cause she gives me a hurt cry when I change her diaper, and shes running a very low fever. She is now sleeping and I expect she'll be up before midnight to nurse again and then settle in for the evening. I'm still feeling sick and her feeling bad doesn't make me feel any better. It is so much harder to be sick and be a Mom. It seems there is no one to take care of me! And I can't just crawl into bed, cause she needs me! Anyways, Erich's home now from work so I should go. Have a great weekend.

Busy Little Bee

Things have been super busy around here but for the life of me I haven't a clue what we've been doing!!! Magdalena seems to be getting bigger by the day and sweeter too. She smiles more often and she is gaining control of her voice. She loves it when someone whistles to her and she responds with "oo"s and "ah"s. The other day she cooed in the car to the Dixie Chicks. Her eyelashes have been getting longer to, making her even more beautiful when she sleeps. She recognizes me and more importantly her Daddy. She has discovered the joy of a moving object and loves to lay in the crib and watch the mobile. And that is all she likes to do in the crib. If I lay her for a nap in the crib or the bassinet, she screams as if I've left her forever. Daddy also made a smart move in bringing out the play gym. It buys me time to eat a meal and today she was batting at the toys with her hands. She did it a couple of times with her feet too! She is still eating like a champ without any crutches (the shield) whatsoever. We have discovered the joy of the Maya sling too and she loves to be in there watching people around her, her Mommy, and taking naps on her favorite "pillows." We are very successfully cloth diapering too, which over joys me! I sometimes IM some family members who didn't think it would last. I say, " well I just finished washing a load of diapers! I love cloth diapering!!!" hehehe. I've also got one of Alicia's friends interested in it and I think they'll be coming over later this week to learn of the joys of cloth diapering. I'll be teaching her about the different types of diapers and so forth. I seem to be getting a bit more daring with how often I wash. I've been averaging about twice a week the past two weeks or so, washing on Sunday and Thursday. I washed Thursday the 11th and didn't wash again until this morning!!! We were down to about 7 diapers or so! Eeek! I'm constantly trying to stay on top of the house. The dogs have been spending a major part of the day outside when the weather is above freezing. It helps me accomplish things around here and keeps the "dog smell" at the door which I like. The neighbors may hate me but I do try and get the dogs in around 5 (I let them out around 9 or 10am) when everyone is getting home from work. I better eat soon though, before Miss Diva wakes from her nap. I'll try and stop in more often. :)

Gone Flying

A couple of things to post then I'll be away from the computer for the rest of the day. I have forgotten to mention that I've been hanging out with my cousin lately. She is really really becoming annoying though.

I will be spending the rest of the day doing emergency cleaning using Flyladys detailed cleaning list. My house is in CHAOS and I can't stand it anymore. So I'll be starting on the top floor and working my way down to the basement. Why on Earth did I want a house with three floors anyways? It seems sorta silly to start at the top since most people see the middle ground level floor, but it seems I spend a ton of time upstairs with Magdalena and that is where we all sleep. I want Erich to have a peaceful serene and clean(!) place to sleep since he is so busy.

Oh and by the way, I was just kidding about my cousin being annoying. She has recently started reading this blog (the only family member, and I'd like to keep it that way Alicia.) ;) And I just had to throw something in there that would catch her attention. So everyone leave a comment and say hi to Alicia! :) I'll have to get her to start her own blog...

Friends Are The Best

I called Rachel earlier because I was having a bit of an emotional breakdown. She helped SO much! Thank you so much Rachel. I get paid tomorrow so I'll definitely have to check out her wish list. After all, her birthday is in 19 days and a girl only turns 33 once, right? :)

6 weeks

Magdalena is still doing great. She seems longer to me these days. We are completely out of disposable diapers and we start cloth diapering during the night... tonight! She outgrew the newborn diapers this last weekend (at 5 1/2 weeks!) and we used up all of the samples of size 1 during the night. I'm excited to be done with disposables. She's smiling regularly and holding her head up. She's finding her hands pretty regularly now and is still a joy! Okay she's waking up.. time to eat!

Postpartum Checkup

So my checkup was last Thursday. Magdalena and I got all dressed up and headed out the door for my 9:50am appt. We arrived at 9:45am so we could get settled and be punctual young ladies. ;) At 10:20am, they called us back. By 10:22am I was naked sitting on the table. The whole time I was thinking, "Magdalena is going to wake up and want to be fed right.now. and here I am sitting on this table with the flimsy little paper sheet. I'll get up and as soon as my bare ass is exposed, the doctor is going to walk through the door. I just know it." Well that didn't happen. My little angel slept the whole time! And I was only naked sitting on the table by myself for FIFTEEN MINUTES! Anyways, the doctor came in, did a pap (last repetitive one since the abnormal one last year! woot!), declared me "back to normal" and told me not to get pregnant for at least 6 months. heh. She prescribed the minipill, which while I breastfeed exclusively, I'm not worried about goofing up. But seriously, when M starts eating solids, watch I'll get pregnant. How can you not take that pill the wrong way? Everything and anything seems to affect its "performance." Anyways, we talked about the next time, if I'd have a repeat section. And the answer is yes. M was a very normal size baby in a perfect presentation with a perfect labor and she just didn't fit. She kinda implied she just wouldn't try a normal labor with me because of the risks. But really, I'm okay with that. I suffered infertility. I conceived a child and carried her to full term. I am breastfeeding very successfully. If future babies can't get out the "normal" way, why should I complain? I can have babies right? That's all that matters. Okay, off to run some errands then come home and do some HEAVY DUTY CLEANING.

We're having a heat wave....

a tropical heat wave...

It's 60 degrees! It's gorgeous! A little on the windy side, but beggars can't be choosers, right? I just went out to buy a pound of ground beef and the town just seems alive! This is why I love this small town! Children are outside playing, riding bikes, and enjoying life. The "elders" of the community are all out walking. People have their windows down and sunglasses on and waving to each other again! I went to the cemetery to "check" on my dad (yes he's still there. bad joke.) and I noticed that the local ice cream shop is open! yay! Maybe I'll convince my mom to go get a coke with me at her break time and we can go to the dollar store. I took Magdalena out of the carseat on our errands and placed her in the Maya Sling and she LOVED it. She was able to look around more and study my face and others. People kinda looked at me odd though. oh well. We just got home. I opened up the big window in the living room to let a little of the stale air out. Magdalena is asleep in her carseat (bundled up a bit cause I turned off the heat to open the window). And life feels really good right now. I will have to tell you of our weekend of hell we just lived through, but I don't want to rain on my own parade! :)

5 weeks 2 days

Two entries in one day? Could this be? Maybe three, I have to write about my postpartum checkup. But this is about Magdalena! She's over five weeks old! I can't believe it. She is growing quickly. Pretty soon we'll have a toddler with dark brown pigtails toddling around in here. She is definitely smiling with meaning now. Today she let me put her in the Maya Sling facing me, tummy to tummy, and enjoyed it. She sleeps wonderfully, eats like a champ, and is still a joy. :) Erich comes home everyday and says he can see her getting bigger. I hear him talking to her when he holds her or changes her diaper saying, " I didn't say you could get bigger. Please stay small Magdalena!" Everyone is in love with her it seems. Erich and I have decided that since she turned out so well, that we owe it to the human population to produce an equally, overwhelmingly cute little baby. (Hopefully a boy for his sake!) So maybe next year, around Christmas time, we'll start working on that. **shrugs** It seems weird to talk about another one, and Christmas seems really soon, but Xmas will roll around and it may take a few months and by the time Baby #2 comes around Magdalena would be 2 years old! Isn't that wild? It also all depends on her nursing and my body and everything but wow. Anyways, she is an absolute joy! And we are definitely treasuring every single moment of this!

A Baby Story

We checked into the hospital at 5pm on Tuesday, January 20th. They immediately hooked me up to the monitors, took my BP (still high), and checked my cervix. I was 1cm 90% effaced. They inserted the P-Gel and we waited one hour, then got up and walked for an hour. By 6pm I started having contractions. Came back at 7pm and they inserted more P-Gel which made the little girl jump around (cold gel being shot at your head would make you jump too!). I took off walking and was having more and more contractions. At 9pm, they hit me with one last shot of P-Gel. We walked around the room, but at this point I wasn't really in the mood for walking. The contractions were making me stop and think. We got on the birthing ball at about 10pm and I was geared up to watch Charmed on TV since I had missed the new episode on Sunday (they rerun them on Tuesday nights!). By 10:30 the contractions were starting to really hurt. They declared me in "true" labor because I couldn't concentrate on my favorite TV show. Soon after that, I got into a really hot shower. Oh sweet relief. My mom and Erich were yelling for me to get out because the shower was flooding the room! ha! I got out around 11pm or 11:15. They checked me and I was 2-3cm, completely effaced. Yay! I gladly took the sleeper they offered me and my mom said goodnight. She headed to my house to spend the night and take care of the dogs. She said she didn't sleep a wink though. About 45 minutes after the sleeper, I wasn't asleep, nor did I feel sleepy and I didn't think it was going to work. I had Erich help me off of the bed and on to the birthing ball so I could at least be more comfy. As soon as my hips relaxed a bit on the birthing ball, the sleeper seemed to kick in full gear and I almost fell off! Erich helped me back into the bed and we went to sleep. I don't feel like I really slept though, just in and out of consciousness. I was still contracting, though they seemed to space out a bit.

Wednesday morning they came at 7am and traded nurses. She started my IV in anticipation of my OB to get there. When my OB arrived, she greeted me and gave the go ahead to start Pitocin. She told me I had her blessing for whenever I wanted an epidural, though she knew I didn't want one. By 8:30 the Pitocin was going and I was contracting a lot. Since I was on pitocin, they had to monitor me at all times so no walking and no shower. :( I did stay on the birthing ball for most of the morning and caught "Primetime in the Daytime" on TNT (an episode of Charmed and two ERs). I wasn't really able to fully concentrate though. My mom had made Beef Noodles and brought some to Erich (and left some in the car for me when I could eat again). I was SO hungry and couldn't have anything, it was torture. And my ctx were really picking up intensity. At 11am they switched nurses again. Elaine was the replacement and also the lady I had seen the previous Sunday for a NST. (This is the exact same nurse who I told Erich I hoped would not be my labor nurse.) I was disappointed for her to be there, but oh well. I asked her to check me, she checked and I was 4cm, completely effaced and 0 station. As she checked my water broke. I felt the gush of warm fluid and told them "my water broke" and both her and my mother said "oh, you probably just lost control of your bladder." She tested the fluid and sure enough my water did break. Erich had been out of the room when she was checking me, making some phone calls. When my water broke, I started to cry. I'm not really sure. Part of me was scared for her since she was no longer swimming in her warm home, part of me was scared that this really was happening. And another part was just completely overwhelmed. When Erich came back in, he didn't know why I was crying. They got me up onto the birthing ball and that is when the real "fun" started. Since they started the pitocin, they had been increasing it every 20 minutes. By the time I got on the birthing ball, the ctx were hitting hard with really no relief. They were having trouble with the external monitors and couldn't see the pattern of the ctx. They also had a hard time keeping track of her heartbeat since she was so low in my pelvis. At one point they suggested I get on all fours on the bed and see if I had some relief that way. Erich was getting sick to his stomach watching me because he said he had no control, and couldn't help me. I asked for some IV meds but they prefer to give Nubain, which I'm allergic too. So we had to wait for my OB to get there and suggest something (she was in surgery). By the time she got there it was 2:30 or 3pm. I couldn't sit still, they were getting basically no monitoring, and she didn't want to give something other than Nubain. They couldn't get me to lay still to check to see where I was and they all pushed for the epidural. I didn't want it, but didn't see an end. They were also having trouble monitoring the baby and that worried me. I okayed the epidural and they went looking for the nurse anesthetist. Erich was great, while they were paging, he asked me over and over again if this is what I wanted. He assured me that he wouldn't be disappointed at all if I took the epidural and wouldn't think any less of me.

He left the room for the epidural to be placed and my mom stayed with me. (Erich doesn't like to watch stuff like that.) It was awful. I had to sit still which took great strength. I was crying I hurt I wanted her out and my mom was yelling at me to sit still and listen. But I couldn't. They finally had me lay down on the bed and curl up in a ball. Elaine (who ended up being WONDERFUL) spoke sharply to my mom and said something along the lines of "You aren't helping her. Just hold her hand and be quiet." Way to go Elaine. Elaine then spoke softly to me in my face trying to get me to visualize it. Placing the epidural probably wouldn't have been so hard had I not been in full blown out of control labor. But I was. We finally got the epidural in. I wanted to make sure that I felt NOTHING since I hadn't wanted the stupid thing in the first place. My OB came in and she placed an internal monitor (not the one that screws into the top of the head) and checked me. I was still the same, 4cm, completely effaced, 0 station. She said she'd be back in an hour. At this point I looked at Elaine and she was pushing IV fluid in really fast. I know that this isn't a good thing and asked her what my pressure was. 100/60. She said it was okay, I just needed more fluid. She hung another bag and continued pushing it in. The next pressure was 95/58. She said she was going to go page the nurse anesthetist and she'd be right back. When she came back they moved me onto my left side and she continued pushing the fluid in. My pressure took again. I asked her what it was and she told me not to worry. She was going to go personally find the CRNA and bring her in. I asked my family to look at the monitor, my pressure was 80/48. My first catostrophic thought was, I'm going to die because of this damn epidural and I didn't even want it. The CRNA got there and she gave me medicine to help my blood pressure. They left me to get some rest. At 5pm, Elaine checked me again and I was still the same. They tried turning the pitocin down to see if that would help and said they'd check again at 6pm. If I was the same, we'd have to discuss things again. At 6pm, I was still the same and there was edema on the babys head from where she was pushing into my pelvis. They decided that the best thing was a C-section. Erich was at dinner with his parents and Elaine told someone to run and get him. The called for an anesthesiologist but found out she was stuck doing an appy. They said they would give me until she was done to make some progress, and if not I'd go for the section. Elaine went ahead and prepped me for the surgery, anchored and catheter and so on. She said sometimes as soon as they get you ready, something happens and your body just kicks in. At 7:30 I had made no progress and anesthesia was ready so they transferred me onto another bed. They had been giving me more lidocaine through the epidural and I was almost numb to the nipple line. They transferred me onto the bed and wheeled me into the OR. I passed all of my family on the way out of my room.

It was really weird to be in the OR on the table. I'm so used to being on the other side. It was really hot in there ready at almost 80 degrees because the thermostat was broken. The prepped my belly and draped me. My OB came in and I remember who touching my belly saying, "the u/s said this baby was only 7lbs, but she feels A LOT bigger!" Oh, when she came in she said, "there is one really nervous dad out there!" I think Erich was more terrified then myself. He didn't know what to expect and he passes out at the sight of bloody stuff. When they brought him in he sat next to me and I smiled at him, told him I wasn't scared and he said, " I'm breathing, I'm breathing, I'm breathing..." all while taking big deep breathes. The OB said she had just pinched and twisted with a clamp and hadn't said a thing so we were ready to go. The first part of the section wasn't bad. It felt like someone was trying to tickle me but couldn't. I could tell which layer they were on by the talk going on in the OR. When they got to her, they did the whole pressure that felt like an elephant is sitting on your chest. I could hear the tech ask, " is the baby just really big?" and the OB say, " no, this baby is WEDGED." After what seemed like an eternity, they got her head out of my pelvis and she started to cry. I could hear them say, "She is cute!" and I just started to cry. They pulled the rest of her out of me and the OB said, "wow she is TINY!" :) I could hear Erich yelling out, " oh my God, Oh my God, she's mine! She's ours! oh my God!" (probalby the most excited I've ever seen Erich by the way.) I just couldn't stop crying. The last half of the section was the worst. Erich was at the warmer taking pictures. They said that some people start to feel nauseous when they massage the fundus to get it to clamp down. And I did feel nauseous. I asked over and over, "please give me something for the nausea, please please please." Then I started to dry heave. This was the worst dry heaving experience ever because I'm laying flat on my back, dry heaving, while someones hands were inside of me pushing the opposite direction of my diaphragm. Yuck. She gave me something and the relief was awesome. But then they started to irrigate and it it sorta hurt. Kinda like sharp gas pains. Anesthesia gave me duramorph through my epidural. (Morphine through the epidural) and the relief was very instant. I suddenly felt extremely tired, as the whole day caught up to me. Erich got scared because I literally fell into a sleep within 5 seconds of the duramorph. Duramorph is great because it lasts 24hrs. :) They brought the baby to me to see and then Erich went with them to the nursery. Magdalena Eusevia was born at 8:14pm. She weighed 6lbs, 10 oz, and was 19" long.

yeah

I had my postpartum checkup today. Details to follow tomorrow. Magdalena slept last night from about 11pm to 4:45am. At first I thought it was 1:45 and thought to myself , WHY? But then I realized it was 4:45 and I fell in love with her all over. And it's a good thing she woke up because my boobs were about to explode! I did have to keep her awake from like 630 to 11pm but that's OKAY. So we are doing that now. Oh, and she gets a bath every night now. It seems to relax her and get her ready for bed. Not that she needs a routine, but she enjoys it and I love a good smelling baby. I also seem to like it because of the cloth diapers. I wipe her really well when I change her diaper, but it makes me feel better that she gets a nice soak at night. I always lather her way up with that soothing bedtime lotion and you can see her get drunk with that feeling of sleep. Then we all go lay down, nurse, and fall asleep. It really is a lovely routine. And I love to see her so happy in the tub. The only part she doesn't like is that first moment when you get out. Erich and I always run the hairdryer in the bathroom when we take baths so that we have extra warmth. So we've been putting her towel a bit in front of the hairdryer so that it is nice and toasty, and I can pick her up and put her in a warm towel in her Daddy's arms. It's probably an awesome feeling! And with Erich leaving in the mornings to go to school at 8am then to work directly afterwards and not coming home until 9 or 10pm, it is really nice to have that half hour of family time before bed. :) Okay ER is coming on soon, Erich will be home soon, and I got "clearance" at the OB's office. It's going to be a good night... ;)

Ebay commericals....

drive me nuts. They always get the stupid song stuck in my head.

I haven't been avoiding you. Just sincerely busy. I do spend a ton of time nursing, and it seems as soon as I lay her down and start something (a project, a meal) she wants me again. It is sometimes annoying, but she doesn't scream bloody murder so I can handle it. She is the sweetest baby ever I'm just starting to feel tons better and have motivation. I am really tired now though, and I think that could partly be because of the surgery. I should start taking naps with her in the afternoons again. Just think, when the next one comes, I won't be able to enjoy the extended napping because I'll have a toddler to deal with! How sad.

I'm also feeling a bit off lately. Not depressed. Weird. Like something isn't quite right. Everyone keeps asking if I'm pregnant. I think if I were I'd crawl in a hole. Erich says it would be "a blessing in disguise." Postpartum checkup on Thursday. Anyways, I should get going. I'm working on the birth story. Slowly. Happy Fat Tuesday!

30 days

I have about two minutes before the Princess wakes up. Shes been asleep since we got home at 1130 from the doctors office. She got a shot and it was a spectacle. She cried, I cried. and the nurse almost cried too. (probably at the sight of me!) We nursed right after and all is well. I told her it probably hurt me more and cringed at hearing myself say the load of bologna my mom always told me that I hated. But, **sigh**, it's true. She probably doesn't remember it now and I remember it VERY clearly. Anywho, she now weighs... drum roll... 8lbs 5.5oz!!!! Thats 22oz in two weeks, or 1.5oz a day! Way to go Mommy! :) And she is an inch longer. She really is growing. **tear** Shes a very cool little girl. She has put herself on a loose schedule but tends to eat all morning, take a long afternoon nap, and eat and look around in the evenings. At night, she takes a bath (which she loves) and then we nurse and she sleeps between 3-5 hours. After that she goes back to waking every 2-3 for meals. She is really on the verge of smiling with meaning and always wakes up with a smile on her face. She really is the bright light of our lives and we feel truly blessed. :) Okay, 1 minute left to finish eating my pototaes and get to her!

I suck

I really suck at blogging lately. I think about something I should blog about literally twice a day, but never come around to do it. :( Magdalena, her daddy, and I are doing great. Erich and I are loving parenthood and finding it quite easy, actually. Everyone said how rough it would be and how we would be so frustrated and tired, but really that isn't happening. Magdalena is a very happy content baby and rarely cries. When she does cry, it starts out as little grunts and frowns and generally revolves around her diaper or eating. We are now starting to transition more into cloth diapers. We were just using the fitted diapers that Rachel sent us because they were the only ones that fit her. We are now using up the disposables at night, and using cloth during the day. The prefolds are still a bit big on her, but we are trying to use them. I just have to be super careful and listen for poo! Erich gave me "permission" (I don't have to ask permission, we just discussed it) to buy more fitted diapers. His reasoning was he would like to not have to wash diapers every1-2 days, but every 3-4 to cut down on energy use and water. We are hoping to put a utility sink next to the washer this summer so I theoretically could just use a "wet pail" method down there. We would collect diapers upstairs and at the end of the day I'd go down and throw the days worth in the sink and soak them. :) I bought kissaluvs from the outlet store size 1. The size one is supposed to be for 10lbs to 25 lbs and we figured that would be a better buy for us then size 0 which goes to 15lbs. She really is probably only about 7.5lbs at this point, but we figure that with the cover, we'd be better off with size 1. :) So I have some questions to answer.

Emily asked:

now that you have the baby, is there anything that is not what you expected about parenting? Something that you thought you had figured out before Magdalena was born but her arrival blew out of the water for you?

I didn't realize just how fascinated I would be by her. I'm still blown away by the fact that my body MADE her. She came out of me. I still get teary eyed hearing her cry because I can still hear that first cry when only her head was out and her little body still inside of me. Erich and I talked about how things affect us differently. Our thinking process has changed. When we hear about kids being killed, we aren't only sad, it makes us literally sick. We think of how it could affect our lives. She has fit in perfectly. I thought that I may be a little sad when it was three because I may miss the times Erich and I had alone (not that I wouldn't be thrilled that she was here!) but I don't. We have some alone time and we have family time. My favorites are in the morning when he comes and kisses us good bye or on the weekends when all three of us lay in bed and nurse and watch TV. I love seeing them together. I'm excited to watch her grow, and a little sad that she won't be tiny forever. :) I'm excited for the next one, knowing how much joy she brings us, but we are focused on enjoying her and being a family of three. :) I'm also blown away by how easily this has all come to us. How perfectly she fits and how I'm not exhausted, frustrated, and at the end of my rope. Is that wrong?

Rachel asked:

I guess my questions are pretty dull, but how are nursing and slinging going?

We really haven't been using the Maya sling. She is so tiny that she gets swallowed up in it and it literally just pisses her off. But we have been using a Nojo sling, sorta like a bjorn. She seems to like that. She can look at me and lay her head on my chest and that pleases her. I am looking forward to the Maya sling this summer when she has good head control and we can position her so she can look out. I'm thinking it will be much easier for us then. (which reminds me I have something for you Rachel!)

The nursing is going great. She eats like a champ. I'm amazed by how my girls just stepped up to the job. We are using the shield mainly at night because shes tired and I'm tired and we are sorta working on the latch still. Not really working, just sometimes it takes a couple of shots. When we get better at it, I'll remove the shield at night. Really that is the only time she will take it. During the day she seems to have more trouble with the shield then just latching right on without. :) I have an overabundance of milk, (anyone need any. ha! just kidding). It seems to be trying to even out but no such luck yet. We tend to only nurse on one side at each feeding because she gets to much otherwise. I don't want to shorten the time at each breast, because I've already had a run in with Mastitis (that b*tch) and really need to empty each time. I'm amazed that she is thriving and it is all because of me. Everything she is, is because of Erich and myself and that is a great feeling. I've really only had one bad night, in the hospital, when the latch was horrible, and I was blistered. That is the only time I've ever thought, just give her a bottle. But we got over it, did NOT give her a bottle, and life is great. I'm proud that she has never had formula. (THIS IS NOT LOOKING DOWN ON FORMULA USERS!!!) I just had issues before with myself that I may not be able to do this, but I am doing it, without supplements, and that does wonders for my self esteem.

She goes to the doctor tomorrow and I go next week. I can now upload on fotolog during the day so head on over there. I'll update about the appt tomorrow and her weight. Promise! Any other questions? Did I answer the questions you had? Oh, I hear her waking up. The princess calls...

Yee haw!

Fotolog.net has lifted the posting restrictions. So head on over and see a picture!

Question #1

Chuck asked me:

What is the air speed of an unladen Swallow?

First off, Chuck do you realize that you need to know which type of unladen Swallow to know the true correct answer? There are African and European unladen swallows.

The answer for a European unladen Swallow is roughly 11 meters per second, or 24 miles an hour. :)

Many thanks to Jonathan Corum.

I'll answer Emilys question tomorrow.

More questions please!

Lili asked...

if we were going to shorten Magdalenas name. The answer is no. It's such a beautiful name and we worked so hard on it. If she wants to be called Maggie when she is older that is fine, but we prefer Magdalena. When my dad was alive, he hated people calling me Sue, Suzy, Suzy Q, etc. He would always say, " If I had wanted her to be called Suzy, I would have named her Suzy. Her name is Suzanne." And that stuck with me, because now I can't stand it if people call me anything besides Suzanne. (well there are some high school nick names but thats a different story!)

I like answering questions. It makes it easier to blog. So hit me with another question!

It's All In A Name...

Andrea Q asked me where we came up with Magdalena. Before we got pregnant, we knew that if we had a boy we would name him after my father who died when I was 9. And since everyone kinda thought we were having a boy, we didn't really start to debate girl names until right before the first u/s when I got scared it may be a girl, and we wouldn't have a name for her! So anywho... I liked the names Madeline and Madelyn, which Erich hated. And then I discovered that they were really high up in popularity as published by the Social Security Administration. So, that sent those names out the window. When we were in Missouri visiting family, we looked through Erichs family tree and found the name Magdalena. It was Erichs great grandmas name and occurs a couple of other places in the tree. Magdalena means tower of greatness. So we decided on the trip back to Indiana on Magdalena. So we needed a middle name right?

Everything I liked he hated (isn't that how it always goes?). I liked Ruth and Jane and such. He didn't. He said he wanted something that ended in an A (don't ask me why). My mom wrote down a list of names on our side of the family and Eusevia is my grandmas name. (pronounced ae-oh-seh-vee-ah) I told Erich that night and he seemed to like it and thats how we came up with it. Magdalena Eusevia. A very unique and very Spanish name for a very unique little girl.

Any other questions?

How Much Does It Cost...

to have a baby? So far, $18,000. :) Thank God for Blue Cross Blue Shield. I'm alive. I would post at Fotolog.net but it seems only gold members can upload from 8am to 11pm. So sometime when I'm at the computer from 11pm to 8am, I'll put up a picture. I'm working on fixing up another website with new pictures.

Cordless

I think the remaining part of her cord just fell off. **sniffle** It's still a bit oozy so we'll wait on the tub bath for now. Not an exciting day here. Did some laundry and dishes and wifey stuff. Now just waiting for Daddy to come home so we can go to sleep. Well, so I can go to sleep. Magdalena is already asleep, but she'll want another snack before bedtime I'm sure.

Remember Me?

I'm alive. Sorry for the lack of updates, but Andrea Q told me to go back to bed. ;) We are trudging along out here. We survived the snow dump we had towards the middle of the week and have just been nestled in together. I've spent the last few days not venturing far from bed because I've started bleeding new blood and passing clots so I had been doing to much. Things are better now.

Nursing is going great. The lactation consultant/visiting nurse that came on Tuesday said not to worry about the nipple shield. That most babies would "outgrow" it. So I stopped worrying about it. I figured that if I had to wear the shield the rest of the time I nursed that it was a small sacrifice to make, right? Well, Thursday or Friday I popped her on and after a few minutes pulled her off, pulled the shield off, and popped her back on and she went to town without the shield! She nursed on the other side without the shield too. Every other time or so she'll need the shield, but most times she just looks put off that I didn't offer her the "real" thing first! She's amazing.

Part of her cord fell off. They thought the outside part would fall off first because it was so big and the inside cord part was so tiny. It did and now we are just waiting for a very small piece inside to fall out. :)

We are in transition between sposies and cloth diapers. She is too small for my prefolds at this point. The kissaluvs and other fitted diapers that Rachel sent are the only ones that fit her. And some of those are bit on the big side. So my mom bought another pack of sposies and we are using cloth during the day, and sposies at night ( so I can wash the cloth). Hopefully she'll be growing into the prefolds soon.

She is gaining weight too. When she left the hospital she was down to 5lbs 15oz. When the visiting nurse came she was 6lbs 11/2 oz and at the doctors on Wednesday she was 6lbs 51/2oz. (different scales/different weights) But she is gaining which makes me feel so much better! :)

Well, I have the meat for dinner in the fridge marinating, now we're just waiting for Daddy to come home. Keep checking fotolog.net cause I try and put up a picture everyday. :) Gotta go lie down and nurse, the princess calls...

I'm here

I know you are all waiting for a birth story, I'm thinking it will be towards the end of the week. I will tell you that we gave a vaginal delivery our best efforts, 26 hours of true labor to be exact. Though she was tiny, she was lodged in my pelvis and there was really no way she was going to come out. She was trying her best though and ended up with a bit of a conehead because of it. :)

The nursing is coming along beautifully. My milk is completely in and she is sleeping SO much better now. She is peeing and pooping like a champ, something that worried me in the beginning. The visiting nurse comes tomorrow (the hospital always sends one about 48 hours after you've gone home) and we'll see how much she weighs. I think they will probably draw another billi on her to make sure it's coming down, but I think it is now that she is actually eating some sustanance. I think her complexion is a bit misleading too. Since she is part Mexican and a bit of Indian in there and Irish and everything else (poor kid!) she has a bit of a reddier color to her. She is still evening out too.

Last night was much better on the sleep. The first few days she had been marathon nursing from about 1am until about 4am. She would fall asleep but as soon as I went to take her off, she would glare at me and scream "that's my boob! Give it BAAAACCCKKK!" So I would be awake dozing but never really falling asleep since I have to still watch her closely so she won't chew me up. Last night she slept two hours, ate forty minutes, slept two, ate forty, yada yada yada it was sheer heaven. We are working ditching the nipple shield and things are great. One breast still has some blisters but they are healing too.

I'm feeling really great, I'm in pain, but not so much that I can't function. As soon as they took the catheter out Thursday morning, I was out of bed and on the go. They couldn't really believe how great I was walking and getting about. I know though that had I laid in bed, I would be paying for it now. I still look at her and can't believe she was inside of me. It really boggles my mind! Erich and I both agree that she is the best thing we have ever made. Erich is absolutely in love (I've been replaced!) and it's awesome to see them together.

Be sure to keep checking fotolog for pictures as I'll try and post a pic everyday cause she is so stinking beautiful! :) I'm trying to catch up on everyones blogs but it is difficult to sit here and not do other things if she is sleeping. I also sleep a lot when she is sleeping because its a rare thing. We really appreciate everyones well wishes and thoughts and it makes us feel very blessed to be surrounded by such great people. I look at her and think to myself, if I had known that I would be in labor for 26 hours and then have a c-section would I do it again? The answer is yes... every single painful minute of it.

Home Sweet Home

I'm home! Magdalena and I just got here. We wanted to beat the storm that is supposed to blow in tonight and I feel great. We were having some latch issues but she is doing wonderfully now (except for some small blood blisters. Ouch!) My milk is coming in and she seems to be eating like every 45 minutes right now. She is down to 5 pounds 15 ounces which they said is okay. She is a little yellow looking but still completely gorgeous. We are going to work on taking naps in the sun (for the jaundice) and eating eating eating! :) More later... gotta go love on her. And we'll post some more pics tonight too. Thanks for everyones well wishes, I'll post a birth story later.

Parting is such sweet sorrow...

I'm almost ready to leave. Need to vacuum the LR and wash the dishes and we're ready. My mom should be here in an hour or so and I hope to hit up Subway on my way up there. I would like a quick nap, but we'll see. She's here! My mom is here!

We are starting the induction tonight at 5pm. Erich will be home tomorrow evening and will post. I'm terrified. Wish me luck!

Another...

picture.

Better late...

than never. Here is a picture for you! And the ring is still there. Just didn't get the right angle.

I hate that!

I've been putting off cleaning the house all day. Nana (one of my grandmas, I have three) is in town and wanted to come over and see the nursery. She said to just call her. Well I was going to clean and then call her up but my head hurts and my crotch hurts so I've just been sitting around doing basically NOTHING. Well, I came down after my nap and started making mac n cheese and someone knocks on the door. Shit shit shit! Yup, it was Nana. I kept saying "sorry I just haven't been feeling well." But ya know, that won't make up for it. Damn.

Oops

Did I leave you hanging in suspense? My blood pressure is coming back down so she is keeping me on bedrest. Baby sounds good, I've lost a pound but baby continues to grow. So on Monday we have the ultrasound and appt. Tuesday I go in at 5pm to start p-gel and labor through the night and hopefully come up with a baby Wednesday early. I feel like someone beat me in the crotch with a bat right now. Ouch. It hurts. Bad. And I'm beginning to wonder if I'll be able to handle doing this without drugs if it hurts this much now. I need to eat. More later. And that pic I've been promising you. Promise.

Blah Blah Blah

That's how I feel. I still have a headache. And I'm worried about my output. LOL Of all the crazy things to worry about but really. I drank about 6 glasses (8 ounces each) of water last night around 5pm and by 9pm I had only gone to the potty once and I would safely say it was no more then a specimen cups worth (around 4 ounces). So to pump myself with 48 ounces of water with only a 4 ounce return bothers me. I only got up to the batheroom once last night with just a couple of drops and so far this morning I've drank a glass of milk with no return. Did I mention that this week I've been dealing with daily nosebleeds? Sooo, I started packing my bag but haven't finished. I need to do that now before I go to the doctor. Erich and I had a fight last night which upset me but I think I am just way to emotional. I need to go to the grocery store too. I really would like to do this prior to my appt (appt is at 3pm). I want to make a pot of baked spaghetti for Erich and then have enough stuff for my Mom and Erichs mom and Erich and myself to make do with next week. (I'm hoping they'll cook some stuff for us. I wonder if I can talk my mom into making me some beef noodles. Yumm.) I'm wondering if she will come take my blood pressure, hear about my peeing issues, and headache and say okay lets see if they have room for you tonight. Then I believe I will sincerely FREAK. Maybe I should sign up for that one free audio blog post trial so that I can call and let you know what's happening. I should be doing a lot mroe then sitting here let me tell you! So off to finish my stuff...

Headache

I have a raging headache. I'm hoping this headache has nothing to do with my blood pressure. **sigh** I'm going to eat some lunch, drink a bit of caffeine, shower, run my errands, come back and "relax" and if it is still raging I should probably call the doctor, eh? Oh and I have been having a lot more ctx. Painful painful ctx. And I owe you a picture. How can one relax when there is so much to do? I haven't packed my bag yet, buuttt I made out the list. :) That's progress, right?

Comments 2

Okay, I added a comment script that I used to use but hated. Hopefully blogspeak will be back up this weekend and I can go back to that. So comment away!

Comments

I didn't intentionally take comments off of the website. The comments are down for everyone who uses blogspeak unfortunately. I'll try and put a substitute up for the time being. :)

I'm here, feeling a bit better, and generally just taking it easy. I go back to the doctor tomorrow and we'll see what happens then. Maybe more later and a pic too...

A Housewife

That's officially what I am... a housewife. I went to the doctor today. All fine and dandy in the waiting room, did my share of waiting, got the confirmation that my new improved better insurance pays 100% of EVERYTHING without hassles of precerts and crap that comes with HMO's. (We now have an EPO-exclusive provider organization- that pays like an HMO but works like a PPO. Erich officially can't change jobs unless they have that insurance plan. heh.) Anywho. I went back and my blood pressure was sky high for me. Technicially it's on the high side of "normal" (whatever normal is) but super high for myself. The bad part was that I wasn't at work or doing anything before I went to the doctor. Just got up, ate breakfast, showered, watched some TV, blogged and left for the appt. So... she took me off of work. And I started to cry. Why was I crying? I haven't the slightest idea. I felt like an idiot sitting on the table in only my bra and shirt, hanging on to the paper sheet (and what good is a see through paper sheet anyways?), crying like a baby. Thoughts of always having worked and now suddenly not working came rushing into my head. Thoughts of stressing my husband out and making him the sole provider swam in my head. She went on to say that she wanted to see me on Thursday to check my blood pressure. I was put on modified bed rest, i.e. take it easy and finish up the things I need to get done before Baby Girl gets here. She said that if my blood pressure is the same and not higher, we'll stay with the course of an u/s on Monday to see exactly how big baby girl is now (side note: I'm 37 weeks 2 days pregnant and baby now measures 40 weeks!) and on Tuesday she is going to bring me in to start P-gel and then hopefully have a baby sometime Wednesday. This also brought on more tears. I know that a lot of people didn't think an induction was the greatest idea, but as I told Rachel in an email, there were certain reasons we were leaning towards the induction. I work in the medical profession and I know all of the pros and cons of induction. The pros being that with my specific situation that an induction may be safer and I would have comfort in a more controlled environment. But with the reasons for the induction changing, I'm more scared. Maybe I'm scared because now it is actually scheduled, in the books, and the maternity center will be expecting me on Tuesday evening. The fact that I will be holding my baby in my arms next weekend also brought on a whole load of emotions ranging from fear to joy and excitement. I'm not spilling protein in my urine, so I'm not too worried about toxemia. She says high bp at the end of pregnancy is normal, but mine went way up. She says it's my body telling her that it is time to move on and get baby out before any harm comes to me or her. I'm feeling the need for a bit of encouragement and hoping that I don't get comments about not having an induction. I value the opinions of everyone who reads this blog and I know they are leaving the comments in caring for my health, but right now I think I need more of a pat on the back and a hug. So with all of this bustle I should pack my bag. Heh.

Oh and if my blood pressure continues to go up Thursday, she said we'd re-evaluate our plan of action. She can't technically induce until I'm 38 weeks unless my blood pressure goes up more. So we'll "wait and see", a phrase I absolutely loathe.

Progress

I made some progress this weekend which is why I've been a bit quiet. As you saw from the last post, Erich is now post-capable. I also worked a lot in the nursery. I decluttered the catch all dresser and put in baby girls clothes. I also organized the changing table. All of her clothes and diapers are washed and ready to go. The video monitor is set up for the day we may use it. Her diaper bag is packed and ready to go to the hospital. We also put the carseat in the car so it's ready to roll in case I go into spontaneous labor. I finished making the curtains for her room, and Erich hung the rod and we hung the curtains. It looks very nice and it excited both of us to see it complete. It's looked sorta complete for a while with extra stuff just thrown in there. Now it looks ready for a tiny occupant. (She'll sleep in our bedroom for a while, but this makes us feel closer to being ready to have her here!)

Erich also started school today. He's taking four classes this semester and then he only needs two more and he will be done!!! YAY! (Then I can start up again. oy.) Anyways, he had some free time and sent me this link to an article that sounds like our life. heh. Who's life doesn't it sound like?

I gotta go to the OB now. Hope for some major cervical progress people. I don't think I can handle much more of this!

If everyone jumped off the Brooklyn Bridge...

What Classic Movie Are You?

Who wants to make some $$?

I'll pay someone... anyone... $25 to come wash my dishes (there aren't that many actually) and pack my bag for the hospital. I really need to get that damn bag packed, but I'm soooo tired. So any takers?

Conclusions

Okay I really don't know how to approach that "big" entry I did a few days ago. I don't usually like to open cans of worms but I know that was a mighty big can. I don't want anyone to get their feelings hurt because I was CERTAINLY NOT lecturing or intentionally trying to hurt someones feelings. I was NOT bad mouthing formula. I was stating that I personally would never use formula unless God forbid something awful happened when she born, unforeseen circumstances, yada yada yada yada. In addition to the many benefits of bf'ing, a major reason we are doing it is because formula is so costly. Sometimes I am amazed we are able to feed ourselves yet alone add formula to the mix, our grocery bill would sky rocket. Being able to breastfeed for a while exclusively, allows us to have this bundle of joy and save for when we do have to put table food into her mouth.

But anywho, as I was cruising through blogs, I came across some writing from Anathea and she pretty much summed up what I was thinking. So I'm going to copy and paste and I'm GIVING HER CREDIT FOR HER WORDS!!!!! :)

" Breastfeeding. Now, we know that it's 'best'. I'm a big strong advocate of the breastfeed. I'm not however a breastfeeding nazi, so if you're not breastfeeding, that's alright with me. I understand that there are countless situations, be it choice or necessity, that cause a woman not to breastfeed." -Anathea

I would classify myself as a Breastfeeding Nazi in my mind because I think it's so awesome BUT I won't lecture, because I HATE being lectured and spoken to like a child.

I'm completely wiped out. SO tired. I'm getting ready to add Erich as a qualified "poster" so you will know when Baby Girl makes her debut in this world. If he'll actually come home and post it, that's beyond me. I probably won't give him a the password and username until we have her though. ;) I'll make sure to give myself a note to remind him though. After that I'm hitting the couch with my book and waiting for my Prince Charming --- then straight to bed. It's exhausting making babies.

Go see

a picture! :)

I'm here.

And still pregnant. I have a feeling that will be a major part of my posts this month. I'm working on an entry to sum up some comments to comments left from the previous entry. Be patient.

Had an appt yesterday with the OB. She took me off full time work, I now work six hours a day. She said that it did not mean that I had an extra two hours every day to get stuff done. hmph.

Keeping Quiet

I tend to keep quiet about the choices Erich and I have made mutually for our upcoming arrival and what we want to see done with our family in general. For instance we will be cloth diapering and practicing extended breastfeeding. These choices are both for medical, mental, and financial reasons. There are other things we tend to talk about but that is not the point of this post.

My point was headed towards the fact that I tend to keep quiet at work about these choices. My co-workers find me a bit crazy about the cloth diapering issue. My boss said, " oh yeah, my sister decided to do that and she only does 450 loads of laundry a day." My other boss said, "are you one of those nazi breastfeeding freaks?" after I pointed out that breastfed baby poop is much easier to clean in diapers. A question that I had to answer yes to. She wanted to get into a heated debate with me, about how she had to use formula because her son wouldn't have eaten. She tried to breastfeed, but because of the breast reduction she had done, she couldn't keep up an adequate supply. A conversation which I just nodded and offered my condolenses. No, it isn't something I would agree with doing, I don't want to use formula period. (I try very hard to get rid of all of those samples of formula they keep sending me just in case we do have some issues at the beginning, I won't be tempted to just give up.) Back to the point, I wouldn't argue with her. I didn't really feel like she should have been so defensive because I wasn't accusing her of anything . I told her that as long as she felt she made the best decisions for her and her family (something of which she said she had) then I applauded her. That's all we can do as parents, right? Hope that we make the best decision for our situations and our families. Now, I don't agree with using formula, but it wasn't my family nor was it my decision. End of discussion.

So last week I'm at lunch with two co-workers. We are talking about choices and in laws and what not but somehow we get to the conversation of breastfeeding. I say that I intend to breastfeed, they ask how long, I say exclusively until she's 6 months, and I'll give her table food when she starts to show me she wants to eat some. They ask, "well when do you plan to wean?" I say, "not until about 2yrs, and only then if shes ready and shows me she wants to wean." So they ask, " well what do you mean by 'when she wants to wean'? it's your decision, it's your body, and you can't do it forever." I say that I believe it will be more of a mutual decision between all of us (Erich, myself, and baby) and we believe she will let us know when she is ready. So this NURSE ( I capitalize this because I couldn't believe the words I heard come out of this woman who is a registered nurse!), tells the other chick we're with that it is only medically beneficial to an infant to breastfeed for 6 weeks. And then she goes on to say that she was watching on a TV show about how women who breastfed beyond one year were getting some sort of sexual pleasure from it. I have to wonder silently to myself if she was watching Jerry Springer or some other very educational show but I didn't say it out loud. This woman and I have aleady had issues about racial comments she has made but that is a different story. Needless to say, I looked like a freak and a pedifile for saying that yes I did plan to nurse beyond one year of age. They didn't want to know about my educated research, articles, and opinions from leading health experts. They didn't want to hear about the anesthesiologist who breastfed her last baby until she was 2 because of the benefits her daughter reaps because of the bf'ing. Oh no, they chose to believe the uneducated, racist nurse who watched a Jerry Springer like show and chose to open her stupid mouth.

So this is why I'm so quiet on these topics. I'm tired of looking like a freak. If you so choose, please discuss in the comments.

Mad Cow

Jennifer provided a very interesting link to an article on Mad Cow disease this morning. Very good/scary article on beef. Kinda makes my stomach turn. The most unsettling part (to me at this point in my pregnancy) of this article was the following:

"And while people in a panic return unopened packs of hot dogs to Safeway, and various nations ban imports of American beef, we might want to pause and consider that only about 150 people worldwide have died of variant Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease, or vCJD, the human transmissible spongiform encephalopathy (the human prion disease). You have a better chance of dying in childbirth. "

No really, I'm feeling great about this giving birth stuff. You've all done it right? You're all alive, right? **sigh** We tour the birth center of the hospital tonight. We are getting really close to having this baby.

Summing It All Up

I'm finished washing baby clothes. Yay. Tomorrow I'm going to work on getting everything in drawers and then on a bag for the hospital. I'm not sure if Erich is still going for the job interview, but I think we mutually agree that this is not "the job" for him for a plethera of reasons and it just wouldn't be good for our family right now. Such a sensible boy. Love him SO much. I bought some groceries but the kitchen still feels barren. I think it is just me though. I am working on laundry today and I washed the dishes. I'm tired and exhausted and all of that jazz. Gracy, the older dog, decided that at 4am she needed to go to the batheroom. Damn dog. I couldn't get back to sleep after that until about 6am. Our new insurance which started yesterday throughly rocks my world. It is AWESOME!

I'll try and be good about updating, but I am going to work the next two weeks five days a week. I HAVE TO WORK and I know it's going to kill me, but I think that's it. If I can get one last great check, I'll feel better. Tons better. My head is raging so I'll leave you with that. Not much going on this weekend. We are touring the birthing center on Sunday (mental note: MUST NOT FORGET THIS TIME!) so I'll let you know how that goes. And I'll let you know how my cleaning goes tomorrow. I have a bunch of old flannel pj's from my mom that I'm going to cut into squares and hem the edges for baby wipes and she brought me material to make curtains so I hope to do that tomorrow too. We'll see how ambitious I feel in the morning.

Neglect

Sorry, I've been seriously neglecting my blogging responsibilities. I have no time to post at this moment, but I promise to post before I go to bed. This is just in case someone comes by and wonders. **sigh**

Happy New Year Charlie Brown!

Just wanted to tell you all to have a happy New Year! I'm off to work as sucky as that is and after work I'm going to babysit for some extra $$$ so my New Year won't be to exciting. I'll try and get on during my lunch break to tell you about the stuff I left hanging in the last post. If not, I'll tell you next year. ;) heh. :)

Quickly

I'm here. Had a doctors appt. yesterday. We did group strep B and a NST. The NST was to see how she is doing in there since she hasn't been moving as much, and I had that spotting. She is fine. The little booger started jumping around like a Mexican Jumping Bean soon after we left the office. Since I've been having all of those nasty contractions, she did do an internal check. The "door" is closed, but I'm very soft and very thin. She said her head is RIGHT there so whatever we are "doing" is working. I think we'll need to "do" some more! heh. **blush** She did schedule another u/s for Jan 19. I asked if I needed to schedule an appt for the following Monday and she told me no. :) That kinda makes me happy.

I did mop floors yesterday, did the dishes, and started washing baby clothes. Erich is going to interview for a new job tomorrow so I need to write and tell you all about that. I should also tell about how Operation Clean Out the Kitchen is still on going, mainly because we are frantic to pay off some bills, and keep neglecting the whole "we must eat" situation. I am going to the store tonight though for a few things. A local grocery has milk 3 gallons for $5, so Erich bought some last night. In the last week, the two of us went through 4 gallons! Simply amazing. I really don't care for milk, but bambino must because I've been drinking it like crazy! I know there is probably more but I'm on my lunch break and really need to get back to work. More later.

Adjustments and Changes

As I finished up my 35th week of pregnancy yesterday and am charging into my 36th week lots of things are occuring. For one, my somewhat under control hormones have blown into full swing again. I watched Lucy get married on Seventh Heaven yesterday and I was a mess. In the show, her parents kept having flashbacks and seeing her as a baby and a toddler and a little girl. I was bawling thinking that I too would be there someday (hopefully in like 40, heh). Sheesh.

Also, I've told Erich that I am completely filled with awe, joy and extreme anticipation yet at the same time, I am completely scared shitless. Never in my life have I ever felt this way before. I'm sure he feels the same way. He says that if he were me he would just be scared of the way this baby has to exit my body. That isn't so much what is scaring me. The fact that I am forever responsible for this tiny perfect creature and that my flaws could rub on to her terrifies me. I'm sure this is normal and everyone feels this way, right?

In addition to Erich and I feeling the pressure of change and the very close arrival of our first born daughter, we realize this is a huge change for the rest of our family... mainly the dogs. It's funny how these dogs become such an intricate and important part of our families. Gracy, the older brown dog, will have no problem with this baby. I know that Gracy is very good with babies/kids and is just not interested in having our undivided attention anymore. She is old, set in her ways, and quite content just napping by our side. :) Ella, who thinks that she is our first born daughter, is going to have a bit more adjusting to do. And just like Gracy had to learn to be with kids, Ella now has to learn. I have no fear that Ella will be great with this baby and that they will be life long friends. I just want to make sure we do this right.

My mom and stepdad bought us the 4 in 1 play yard and also the boppy for Christmas. She also got us another sleep sack which I think will be great at night. The play yard has a bassinet and that is what we will be using in our room. Erich set it up in the nursery the other day, and today we moved it into our bedroom. We figured it would give us time to adjust to having it in there and moving around at night. It will also serve to help the dogs adjust and prepare. We took out a baby doll that looks "life like" and let Ella smell her while we held her and talked to both of them. Hopefully this will get Ella used to having a baby around, and we set the baby doll in the bassinet. We'll see what happens.

Other than that, not a lot going on around here. Just a lazy day. Yesterday we went down to Erichs brothers house and he helped him clean out the barn. MIL and I went to an outlet mall thirty minutes away. I bought Erich three pairs of pants. I also bought two baby outfits from the Carters Warehouse. MIL bought baby an outfit and a Christmas baby doll that was on clearance. (Now lets just see if she can find it next year!) She bought me a nursing shirt (yay my first one) and I bought myself a nursing bra (yay! also my first one!). Now I must go continue being lazy. :)

Is...

anybody in there?

What time is it?

I'm here and awake. It's 6:45am and I'm at work. **yawn** It must be a death wish. I'm sooo tired. Nothing really new here. After work, I have to stop at WalMart **shudder** and then I'm going to bed for a bit. Sooo tired, have I mentioned that? And I think baby is dropping into my pelvis or something. Strong shooting pains in my hips and cramping oh and some spotting. TMI? Okay to work...

Feliz Navidad!

I wanna wish you a Merry Christmas...

Here Comes Santa Claus

Track Santa on his journey December 24th! :)

A long needed update...

So I did update my blogroll as I mentioned I needed to the other day. If you find incorrect links and stuff, please let me know. I think I've fixed them but I'm not perfect.

Erich helped me set up a webpage this last weekend. We automatically get space from the cable company with our subscription to internet, so I figured I could post more pictures then one a day and be able to gush over my baby (not that I won't do that here too) for family. If you would like to see this webpage, please leave a comment with your email address and I'll send you a link. I'd like to know who is going there, since the url does contain our family name. :) Oh, and if you do go, please bear in mind that I am html stupid, so this is also a learning and growing process. :)

Let's see. We had Xmas with Erichs side of the family on Sunday. It was okay. One of my New Years Resolutions is to not be so hard on my MIL. So hold me to it, okay? The dinner was at my SIL house, and they are in the process of remodeling the kitchen. BIL and SIL were both very tired combined with SIL and MIL don't get along, it was interesting. There was no tree up so it made it a bit unfestive. Erich and I were joking later because SIL decorated excessively for Halloween/Fall. There were tons of decorations, yet nothing for Xmas. Just comical to us, considering we do nothing except pumpkins for Halloween. :) Since I did Thanksgiving this year, I want to do Xmas next year. I want to do it for a couple of reasons, I don't want to go through the unfestive, no tree thing with a toddler. I want Baby Girl to remember Xmas with his family as fun and festive. I know she won't remember this at 11 months old but **I** will and there will be pictures, yada yada yada. Secondly, I don't want to drag Baby Girl all over on Xmas. I'd like to have a Christmas Eve dinner for all of us and then Xmas Breakfast and open presents from Santa. My family always had Xmas Breakfast and I would like to keep that tradition going. My grandparents are coming Thursday but I'm not going all out seeing I'm so tired and so pregnant. :) I imagine that our parents (Baby girls grandparents) will want to come next Xmas morning for Santa and such. We'll see. Oh, so SIL doesn't want to flip holidays every year, so I said I wanted Xmas for the rest of eternity. Later Erich agreed with me that it wasn't very festive and he would have liked to see it be more personal and festive at our house. It made me feel good, because I got the impression that he thought I would have accomplished this better. I think Thanksgiving was a HUGE success. It was a lot of fun, but a lot of tough work. It was also smart of me to do that this year being 30 weeks pregnant and NOT doing Xmas this year, cause truthfully I don't think I would have been up to it.

Okay moving on...Oh! Friday I was given VTO (volume induced time off) so I worked around the house, cleaned, and MOPPED THE FLOORS! :) Notice the comment in this post from my wonderful husband. Of course, it is starting to look like I should redo it and the carpets need vaccuumed but that's the way it goes. I was give VTO tomorrow, Xmas Eve, so I will do it most likely then. I was sent home yesterday early and today early and tomorrow I have off and who knows what will happen Friday. There were only five cases scheduled tomorrow and 12 scheduled on Friday. My next check is going to look pitiful. I really wanted to work more too in case DR does induce in the middle of January. We'll see. I'm sure we'll be fine, I'm just going to miss those checks! I think I'll be much happier when Baby Girl is here and I'm holding her. I won't even think about the missed checks until I pay bills! hahaha!

Erich and I went to the library on Saturday. He rented "The Shining." If you knew E, this would be surprising because he is not one for scary movies, but he enjoys Stanley Kubrick. We watched in on Sunday and it was very scary! REDRUM! REDRUM! creepy... I borrowed Xmas cookie cookbook and Good Housekeeping Cookbook. I just finished flipping through the entire 700 pg Good Housekeeping book and jotted down 30 or so recipes I'd like to copy and keep. I'll put them on recipe cards tomorrow.

Yesterday after work I came home and cooked! I made salsa, spanish rice, chx rice "stuff", baked spaghetti, and a pizza. I want to make cornbread muffins tomorrow and some drop sugar cookies. I'd also like to try my hand at some basic muffins, we'll see. :)

So I'm in my 35th week of pregnancy, and I'm exhausted. Sleep continues to be a rough thing to get. Just not comfy. And I have to go to the batheroom so often. The worst is when I wake up and have to go really bad but I don't want to get up because I know as soon as I stand Baby Girl and all of her five and half pounds combined with gravity will come crashing down on my bladder making a very painful feeling. And I'm so stiff that it takes me a minute to get going. I look like a little old lady getting out of bed in the nursing homes! It makes me think of all those night shifts I worked where I made them get out of bed to go instead of using a bed pan! I realize now why they wanted a bedpan, cause they ache! But I still hold that was better for them to get out of bed because if you can get up you should. The more mobile you are, the longer it sticks around.

Anywho, baby is getting bigger. Everyone says so. She keeps her foot stuck up in my left side that it feels like she is poking my left boob. I don't think my mom thinks I will make it much longer. She keeps implying that I will go into labor soon after the New Year. And when I call her on the phone, the first thing she asks is if I am in labor.

Oh and a huge thank you to Allison. A card is in the works, but she made me a beautiful baby blanket. I'll post a pic soon. It is gorgeous and way considerate. Thank you so much!

I think that's about it right now. I'll post more tomorrow. :)

Sleeping Beauty

Some love sleeping baby pictures, I also love sleeping doggie pictures.

Last minute giver?

Give the gift of blog!

MIA

Sorry I got away from my every other day posting. I meant to post last night then became way to busy and forgot. Just dropping in to say that I'll have a real post of what I've been up to tonight. I'm off to work now, tired, after a "full" nights rest. ( I say "full" because anyone who has ever been 35 weeks pregnant knows that sleeping a full night is a gigantic joke.) But ya know, another day, another dollar, and all that other jazzy crap. Have a good day, more tonight...

Buddha

I know this isn't a real post or anything, but thought you may want to see me naked. Not completely you pervert, just my belly! 34 weeks. Inducing in 38 (hopefully!). Anyone else ready to meet her?

PS If I'm in a favorites list on your fotolog, this picture looks way funny and distorted! :)

IOU...

a real post. I'm tired, achy, sore and just plain not wanting to think. Sorry. I'll get you that post soon. Just so you don't have to leave empty handed, how about a picture? This is a picture of the triplets over Thankgiving weekend.

Blog Roll

I really must must must must MUST edit/fix my blogroll. It's pathetic.

Growth Spurts

Very interesting appointment today. So let's get down to it. Here is where Babycenter says baby should be at this point:

This week your baby weighs about 4 1/4 pounds and measures 17 inches long. By now, she's probably head-down in your uterus — most babies are at this point — although she may continue to change positions. Her skull bones are still pliable and aren't completely joined, to ease her exit through the birth canal.


That's not exactly where our baby is. The ultrasound was tons of fun though, it is definitely a GIRL! She is head down and has lots of hair! You could see it on her neck. Those are knees that keep pushing into everything, and like I suspected she has her feet hooked in my ribs. Here is where it gets interesting. Baby girl weighs.... five pounds two ounces!!! She is measuring 35 weeks 4 days. (I'm technically 33 weeks 2 days.) Go take a look at her beautiful face. I know it's just me, but she is the most gorgeous baby I've ever seen. So with that we went on to see the doctor...

Fundal (uterus) height is up. Usually you grow two centimeters in two weeks which is what I have been doing. This week though revealed that I grew 3 centimeters in 2 weeks! Dr. says we will do another ultrasound at 37/38 weeks. If baby is still big, and my cervix is favorable, she will induce. So we are looking at having a baby around January 17thish. So we'll see. That was my exciting morning... now back to your regularly scheduled programming.

Snow

It's snowing. It dropped at least two inches on the ground between last night and this morning. Tomorrow is our ultrasound! yay! I really don't know why I'm that excited, but I am. I want to know how much she weighs and to know that she definitely is a she. I had a dream the other day that it was a boy instead. In the dream I had gone in for the ultrasound and ended up actually having the baby then. Which would be fine by me. :) (As long as shes healthy of course.)

I bought her snowsuit yesterday. It's very cute, not exactly what I wanted, but it will work. My mom called to tell me that for xmas her and my stepdad decided to buy us the playpen/bassinet. That is what I'll be using in our room. She said she also through the boppy on to the order but didn't tell my stepdad. heh. She said he may be a bit "surprised" when he gets the bill. Things seem to be coming together, maybe because I had an absolute meltdown with my mom the other day about the stuff that I still need and such. I guess she'll always be my mom and take care of me, huh?

We're going to their house now, so I'll update tomorrow after the ultrasound. :)

Jury Duty

I just received a letter stating that I am a "prospective" juror for the fourth quarter of 2004. Couldn't they have picked me for first quarter? Then I could say that I was pregnant/in labor/caring for a newborn. Bah. It's inevitable that I will have to be on a jury at some point. And why didn't Erich get a letter? Oh and it says please fill out the application and return it to the court within 14 days or we will hold your ass in contempt of court (those are the exact words! I swear!). Anywho, this letter is dated... November 1st. Sweet. At least they sent me an envelope with a stamp on it. Heaven forbid they try to pry 37 cents out of my fist for their jury duty. heh. I'm going to bed.

Wanna cookie?

I posted a picture over at fotolog. I thought I would share. :)

**insert clever title**

Okay so I never mopped the floors like I wanted to. And there is a sink full of dishes at home. I'm at work, and the fact that there are things that need to be done at home is driving me bonkers. I did however get to wash a load of my laundry last night, so I now have clean underwear, which makes me extremely happy! If you knew me, you'd know that I tend to wash Erichs laundry first, mainly because he is seen in public in his clothes. I just come into work and change into scrubs, so why should I look nice? heh. So I have clean underwear. yay!

Jeromy, my friend, is doing ten million times BETTER! Thank goodness. I went and saw him twice yesterday and he was up walking around, talking to me, and laughing. He agrees that I am all belly and very cute still which makes me glad because he is back to old self. They are talking about letting him go him in a couple of days. He'll be off of work at least a month, and when they feel his body is better recovered, they are most likely going to remove his spleen. (Which will put him off even longer.) I promised to keep him company and told him he could start taking me to lunch again. heh. ;) To explain that I'm not an evil wench, we used to have lunch about twice a month. He would pay one time, I would pay the next. Well, I was always so broke that I generally convinced him that it was in fact his turn to pay... every single time. hehe. We always laugh about it now. And we almost always went to Olive Garden to get alfredo dipping sauce for our breadsticks, something we call heartattack in a bowl. :)

I still have a box to mail, emails to return, yada yada yada yada. Today is Must See TV though. Maybe I'll go home early and GET THINGS DONE! Oh and I need like oh $250 dollars to buy some baby stuff that I seem to think I need RIGHT NOW. Like the little snowsuit. And the diaper bag. I'd like to start packing my bag also with stuff everyone keeps telling me not to forget, like hairties, and tooth paste and a toothbrush. I think I may go to the dentist office and ask if I can have a toothbrush to pack in my bag. :) I'm sure they'd give me one too. Oh and I must must must remember to pack Erichs swim trunks. (So if I decide to labor in the shower or tub he can be there with me and help me stand and such.) So hey why don't you guys help me out. In the comments, leave me notes telling me things that I should remember to take or things you forgot and wish you had, yada yada yada. If you'd do that I'd love you all more then I already do.

Dangit I have to go back to work...

Progress

The laundry is started, the floors upstairs have been swept. I need to mop the master bedroom but I'll do that when I mop all the floors downstairs. I can't do that currently because I'm having ctx and it's raining outside. ( I like to put the dogs outside when I mop so they don't track.) I'm getting hungry so I should eat something. Really all I have left to do is the mopping. Oh! And I finished washing diapers so they are ready to go! I changed the password on fotolog so that Erich could post a picture from the hospital whenever she decides to arrive. :) Now I just have to create a user account on my blog for Erich so he can post "progress and news" from the hospital. I'm feeling ready for this baby. I am missing a few things. I'd like some liners for the diapers. I need the boppy. And I need to buy a snowsuit, but I'll buy that this weekend. The u/s is on Monday so maybe I'll just do it on Monday after the u/s. I am hoping my mom would want to shop after the u/s and buy us some things. :) I can wish, right? Erich is done with school, his finals are on Friday, so he gets to come to the u/s! I'm excited and I think he is too. The last u/s he saw (besides the taped one at 20 weeks) was at 7 weeks! So I'm pretty sure he'll think it's cool. Just about 7 weeks left. yay!

Buddha

I posted a picture for you viewing pleasure. You can compare this picture to one taken a while back on August 6. I'm home today from work so I'll try to post again later. I've got more laundry to do and floors to mop, dishes to wash, the list never nnds it seems. First I'm going to try my hand at Monopoly Tycoon on the computer. I can't seem to beat the current level I'm on (to be worth $40,000 first) and it's seriously driving me mad.

Goodbyes

No don't panic, I'm not going to stop writing. I would have updated yesterday, but I helped a friend type a paper over my lunchtime. Then after work I was feeling a bit bummed and blogger was apparently feeling stupidly slow so I gave up. One of my greatest friends in the world is very very very sick. Apparently they called in his family Friday night thinking that he wouldn't make it to see Saturday morning. He is such a bubbly upbeat person when he isn't sick that seeing him like this and knowing full well that there is a great chance that he could die is practically ripping my heart out. To think that I may never see the bubbly Jeromy that used to want to date me or tease me or hang out, it hurts. He's such a good guy, and hasn't really had time to live his life. He's young, under thirty. He works with me at the hospital but on a different floor. It's hard to get up to see him when he was at work and it makes me mad at myself right now for not going and seeing him more when I really could have. He is in the hospital where we work so at least I'll be able to visit him everyday and check in on him. I had to call my cousin last night who also worked with him years ago, at the same place I met him, to tell him that he is really sick. I figured she should know that before I had to call her and tell her that he died. Maybe he will get better. I'm praying that he is. I lit a candle for him. I feel so helpless. I want him to see my baby. I want him to hold her before he goes. It dawned on me last night that they could be the two passing links in my life. He could die at the time that my baby is born. One person leaves and and another one comes. I'm sorry I can't type anymore.

I know!

I know I should have posted on Saturday but time got away from me. Sunday blogger was being a booger. Right now I'm headed to work, but I'll plan to post on my lunch break. :) I promise!

Aunt Jemima

I made the pancakes this morning from scratch. They were a bit too sweet so I’ll either try a different recipe or cut down on the sugar this other recipe called for. We have batter left so we’ll being having sweet cakes in the morning. Heh. We also fried some potatoes. I had Erich cut the potatoes while I was making pancakes and he only cut up one potato. I am longing for another fried potato. I think that is what I will make for dinner when I get home tonight. Yum. Other than that, I’m very proud of myself of not buying a mix to make pancakes. Erich says he wants buttermilk pancakes so maybe when I do grocery shopping this weekend I’ll pick up some buttermilk. My mom left here last night saying I was crazy for getting up before work to make a big breakfast. I really enjoy it though. I enjoy making things from scratch. I enjoy the money we are saving, hehe. It makes me feel as though we are starting our morning off “on the right foot.” And if we can keep it up, I’ll enjoy making breakfast for our babies in the mornings and sending them to school with a full meal in their stomachs, not just cold cereal. Since my mom always worked evenings, she was too tired in the mornings to do that for me. She’s an excellent cook but getting up at the crack of dawn to make huge meals isn’t her forte. Though I don’t hold it against her because when my dad died she was forced to work three jobs. She was tired. I just want something different for our children. I think I’ll enjoy staying home and being there when they come home from school. I’ll enjoy sitting down as a family to eat dinner. It’s the small things that I’m looking forward to. Okay I have to shower and get to work now. I realized that I have no more than 8 weeks left working. Wow.

Isn't it January yet?

I’m so tired. I’m not sleeping well at all these days. It really isn’t baby moving, though she does move an awful lot. It’s more my back. I want to go to the chiropractor but when it comes time, or the cash becomes readily available I just don’t go. I justify it by buying something else that we “need” or doing something that should be done. Really if I could just pop my back on my own I would be so happy. When I twist myself to do this though, my huge fat honking uterus gets in the way of my “twist” so I’m never fully able to go far enough around achieving the pop I so desperately desire. **sigh** It’s very frustrating to wake up in the middle of the night to a husband who is sound asleep along with both dogs.

I’m going to make a conscious effort this month to blog every other day. While Jennifer has pointed out that some are vowing to blog everyday, I find this vow an unrealistic commitment for myself. Maybe next month I’ll try for everyday. Won’t you all be in suspense if I start missing days in January? :) I’ll post a picture for you all on Saturday when I get all dressed up for Erich’s Christmas party.

Have you ever felt like there is so much to do, yet can’t think of a darn thing that needs to be done? I’m feeling like that right now. I find that I get all of this energy and I do so much around the house and such, but then I lose my energy and feel only like laying down for a couple of years. Then everything I have done during my energy spurts goes unattended and I spend the next energy spurt trying to make up for my lacking days of energy. It’s a viscous cycle I tell you!

Okay I’m going to go eat some ice cream and put a pizza in the oven for Erich. He should be home soon, and when he’s finished eating, we’re going to bed! I hate going to bed before he gets home. I feel like I miss out on time we could have spent together and I’m sure it’s frustrating to come home and find me in bed. Tomorrow morning I am going to make pancakes from scratch and probably some fried potatoes. I realize that this is a lot of carbohydrates, but doesn’t fried potatoes sound delightful? Plus my mom got potatoes at the grocery store – buy one bag, get one free. So she gave me a bag. It’s really rough having that many potatoes with just two of us. I feel the pressure to eat the 10lbs of potatoes before they start “growing.” Last night I cut some up in tiny pieces, put them on a cookie sheet with some veggie oil, and sprinkled them with salt, pepper, and garlic powder. They were very yummy. :) Okay now on to that ice cream and bed…

32 Weeks or something...

Well, there was a doctors appointment this morning. Two centimeters in two weeks, still measuring two weeks ahead. I'm officially 31 weeks and 2 days so I measure 33 weeks. Baby is head down (yay!) and I gained 1 pound. :) That's all baby is what the doctor said, considering baby gains about 1/2 a pound each week. :) I've gained 12 pounds total. Blood pressure is fine and I'm not spilling sugar or protein. :) Next appointment is December 15 with u/s!!! And the appointment after that is December 29! Did you hear me? DECEMBER 29!! Then we start weekly visits. This baby is going to be here NEXT MONTH! I'm starting to kinda freak out.

I have lots of 3-6, 6-9 clothes, but not a ton of sleepers for newborn through three to six months. We have an old house, it's going to be freaking January in Indiana so I feel like we do need just warm warm sleepers. I need to buy the snowsuit but I saw that Babies R Expensive have them 40% off right now. I want one with the little holes in them for the carseat.

I picked up the pre registration stuff for the hospital today and signed us up for a tour on Sunday at 6pm. :) I need to get my list started of things to pack for baby and things to get done for baby. Not to mention print off my registry and see what things I absolutely need for baby and what things I can do without. I also need to get a list of names for birth announcements. If the u/s in two weeks confirms little girl, then I'll go ahead and purchase them. If not, I'll get unisex ones. I'm feeling a bit like things need to get done in the next couple of weeks for a couple of reasons. 1) It's the holiday season. Things are going to get crazy and I just don't want to deal with it after. 2) I'm going to be so big, so tired, and so umcomfortable in a few weeks and I'll still be working so I don't think I'll want to do this stuff next month. And who wants to worry about it at the end? 3) If I tell everyone what I still need maybe they'll send me an xmas present. heh. (that was meant towards family ya know.) ;) 4) It's going to be snowy, icy, and frigid in the next couple of weeks. I don't want to be shopping in that nor do I want to be out of the house in that. It's going to be bad enough coming to work!

On another note, I worked Thanksgiving. We did three cases and had time to goof around afterwards. So guess what we did? Ultrasound of course! :) Big fat Erich feet in my right ribs (Erich wears size 14 shoes! Of course, he is 6'4". Dr. says that babys like that space under your ribs cause they like to push against something hard and there is a bit more room under there) And she had her legs open, but not being u/s techs we didn't know how to look from the front. From below and up though we saw no evidence of a penis floating around in there. In fact it looked a lot like a hamburger bun. heh. So I'm still saying girl.

Erich bought me my Christmas gift. Actually it's Xmas, Anniversary (from Aug. 10th), Happy Baby, and Happy Birthday all in one. It is my anniversary band that completes my set. It's a band with a row of diamonds (1/2 carat!). My wedding band is just a plain platinum band and my engagement ring is a platinum band with a princess cut diamond with princess cut side stones. The anniversary band now sandwiches my engagement ring and it is absolutely beautiful. It made me so happy and it sparkles so much. I really haven't gotten gifts this year, and I haven't really bought clothes because of my buddha so it's nice to know that I'm appreciated and loved. :) My ring and Erichs planer that I bought for him for his xmas is really the last major things we'll get to buy ourselves before we hit the "baby crunch." Erich is going to start looking for a better job in January. He fulfills his contract then and they are "making changes" at his work. He is afraid they may just eliminate his position or knock him down to part time which we can't do with me leaving work and becoming a SAHM. So he is looking for something closer to home with the same pay or something with better pay at the same distance. Wish him luck! That reminds me I need to take his suit to the dry cleaners. :)

Well, that was a hideously long entry. I have to get back to work. I'll write more some other time! :) Take care!

Happy Thanksgiving!

I'm off to work now. :( Isn't it wrong that I have to work? All those people stuffing themselves full with belly aches and then realizing, oh somethings wrong maybe I should go to the hospital. What? My appendix needs taken out. Bah. Have a good one, I'll think of you all while I'm working. ;)

It's the most wonderful time...

of the year! It's snowing! The first snowfall in Indiana! :) And you know what that means, right? IT'S COMING YOUR WAY RACHEL! And it also means the time for baby to arrive is getting very very close! We are all bundled up now and I have to pack some sandwiches in my purse then we are off to the Saturn dealership (without an appointment) to wait all day in hopes of them fixing the mysterious squeak. I figure while I'm paying the fee for them to look around, I'll have them plug the antenna back to the radio (it falls off all of the time leaving you with static) and have them check the brakes. Not that I'm made of money, I'm sure capital one will enjoy the business though. It's better to get this fixed now while I can pay for it with that check I make every two weeks then say, oh Feb. 1 when I no longer have a job.

PS How do you like this two entries in two days thing? :) Belly picture tonight, when I find the camera. As I was staring in the mirror this morning, before my shower, I've noticed I'm really starting to point out! Funny.
'

On to Christmas.

Well, with that we bid Thanksgiving goodbye. We had Thanksgiving dinner today. I actually work Thanksgiving day from 7am to 2:50 or so. The shower was yesterday, and I'm completely exhausted.

The shower was great, we received tons of gifts including an IU onsie from my best friend Phoebe. I hung it in our high chair, heh, for my stepdad to look at over dinner today. :) He is a Purdue alum so I expect to see something from Purdue coming soon! Phoebe got to feel the baby move. She is absolutely amazed that I am pregnant. :) So after the shower I came home and kept working on the house in preparation for today. We also went to Kokomo to get the oil changed in the Saturn (which by the way is making a funny noise, so I must take tomorrow off and haul it to the dealership in hopes of a small small minute repair that requires little to no money. heh) Erich got his xmas present. He is using it right now. heh. I'll wrap the box and stick it under the tree which I hope to put up tomorrow or something.

I was up until 1am last night baking bread. We ended up with 32 pounds of it. Some in 1 pound containers, others in 2lb loaves, and in my desperation last night at 12:00 with batter still left to be cooked, I made muffins with it. heh. It's amish friendship bread so its sweet and we can eat it in the mornings and such. The menu today was:

Spiral Glazed Ham
Stuffing with chx (made by my mother)
Sour Cream Potatoes
Green Bean Casserole (you've seen the TV commercials, right? I felt like a hostess failure not to provide this "tradition")
Corn Casserole
Wheat Rolls
Pumpkin Pie
Dutch Apple Pie
Ice Cream

They troops rolled in around 1230ish and we ate around 1ish with desert around 3ish. My MIL and FIL , who own a gardening business, brought 400 bulbs to be planted. (yes you read that right 400.) They planted those after desert. (yes all 400 of them) All 'those people" left at around 4:30 and Erich and I climbed into bed at 5! We are up now after a two hour nap. Erich is downstairs "playing" with his xmas present. (oh, it's a planer) I'm about to sit down for Charmed and enjoy the first leftover ham sandwich with other leftovers.

I'm feeling incredibly pregnant and can't believe that I actually did all of this baking and cooking today. Baby is creeping farther and farther into my ribs and my breathe is leaving me. When I layed down after dinner, I was actually having ctx. I really over did myself. They had to be braxton hicks, but I was at the point where I almost called the doctor since they hurt so bad. I waited until after the nap though, and as I thought, they have left. I really should take it easy, huh? She is welcome in 7 weeks when I will be term. I'm telling her punctiality is overated, that being early is the best kind of person to be! :) Okay picture later. Charmed now. :)