Saturday, August 13, 2011

Bathroom antics and privacy

Okay so I know you don't want to hear about my personal bathroom habits so I won't disgust you with those. :-)

What I will say is that privacy is an issue around here. Think studio apartment, but smaller. Upstairs is a one room bedroom with a bathroom. Downstairs is accessed by the outside deck and is a kitchen, bathroom, laundry room. Obviously, we live upstairs. So, bathroom use is, since we had the baby, always done with the door open (to be able to hear her cry, so she can see us, etc.) The only time I'm able to have privacy is if she's sleeping and D is gone. Otherwise, no privacy. It wears on a person.

So, that's all for the subject post. As an update, we took Bucket in for her 9 month checkup. She only had to get one shot thankfully. Unfortunately, she was very sleepy and had only been able to nap for about 5min. before the nurse came in with the shot. Although, after the appt., her grandmother (Giggy) and I went to IHOP for lunch and she did awesome. She did sleep for two hours after we got home, though.

BTW, her stats at her appointment were: Length - 26in. Weight - 17lb. 7oz. Head Circumference - 18 in.

They said she was a bit underweight for her age/size, but she's been a lot more active lately so they weren't too surprised. She's not technically crawling yet, but she scoots backwards on her belly. She does crawl some on the bed, but she also pulls herself into a standing position (using her daddy and I) on the bed.

I still can't believe she's almost a year old. Just three more months. It seems only yesterday that I was cradling her in my arms to put her to sleep. Now, I've got to lay down with her in our bed. Yes, she co-sleeps with us and I know a lot of people have issues with that, but screw it. I love it. I love being able to cuddle my baby while I sleep. I love waking up to her head in the crook of my elbow and her legs thrown over my arm. When she fusses, all I've got to do is roll over, plop her paci in her mouth, and cuddle her...as opposed to getting out of bed (to walk across the room to her crib [yes she has one]) and stay there until she falls back asleep, hopefully.

In other news...she's eating very well. While, like I said, she was a bit underweight, she loves all her foods that she's tried. Peas, green beans, squash, sweet potatoes, carrots, peaches, apple sauce, pears, and bananas. Obviously, she likes the fruits the best, but she still likes the veggies, which is awesome as we're a heavy veggie eating family. We just recently started her on veggie/meat mixtures and, while she's not sure about them, she still likes to eat them.\

As far as a sippy cup goes...she's not quite ready for it yet. We're trying, but she seems to like and do better with an actual cup...kinda like she tries to crawl, but likes standing and us helping her walk around better. I think she might be a bit advanced for her age. :-)

Well...that's about it on her. She's a healthy happy baby...the pediatrician said so (like I needed her to tell me that).

Anywho...I think, most days, I love being a mom! :-)

Wednesday, January 12, 2011

Has it really only been two months?

I've started calling the little critter "Bucket" for whatever reason. Y'know, like bucket 'o' cute...bucket 'o' love...bucket 'o' chub, etc. It just stuck.

So, Bucket is now two months old. Maybe it's the lack of sleep, but it seems like it's been a whole helluva lot longer. Unfortunately, Bucket is going through a phase of sleeping most of the day and being awake most of the night. From about 3am until 7 or 8am she's quite bright eyed and bushy tailed. It could always be worse, though. At least for the most part she's in a good mood and rarely does anything beyond mild fussing.

She's been grabbing at things for a while now, although she's still quite uncoordinated. She's also babbling up a storm. It's fun talking to her and she tries so hard to answer back...I swear she understands what's being said to her and that she's supposed to respond. No laughing as of yet, but I have a feeling we're getting close. I tell you, the best feeling in the world is when she lays eyes on either D or I and gives us her wide, gummy grin. :-))

There was a while, th0ugh, when that wasn't the case. Early on, say within the first month, she would get aweful, painful gas. She would wail for at least an hour straight almost every night and sometimes during the day. When we took her for her one month well visit, the doctor told us about Mylicon drops. I tell you, they have been our saviour. What it does is break up the big gas bubbles into smaller, easier to expel bubbles. TMI? It's rare now that she cries due to gas build up.

In other news, thanks to some lovely medication, my post partum crap is under much better control. D hasn't had a crying conversation with me in over two weeks and I've been able to handle the stress a lot better. It also has helped that I'm more accepting of help from other people. I went into this whole parenting thing feeling like I should be able to take care of her and everything else (dishes, cleaning, laundry...), but all that on top of not getting much sleep was so extremely draining. Then, D got a contract position back at one of the companies he used to work for so, not only is he gone most of the day during the week, but I've had to completely take over the night shift. I was, I think, literally losing my mind. But, like I said, being on medication and accepting help from D's mom and letting her take Bucket while I catch a nap and get some other things done has been a lifesaver. I'm also able to enjoy her more.

So, all in all a slightly stressful, but great two months so far.

Sunday, November 21, 2010

A lot has happened...

since I last posted. Obviously, we had the baby shower back in September and got a lot of awesome things that we desperately needed. Bibs, more clothes, changing pad and covers, bottles, a bottle sterilizer, diaper bag, etc. The sterilizer and diaper bag were easily the most expensive thing on the list so we were thrilled to get them.

I also meant to post about our shower project that D undertook. We decided, one major thing that needed to happen in preparation for the Little Critter was to get rid of the leak from the shower, which included totally replacing the shower, the floor, and the piping that ran underneath it. It put our upstairs shower out of commission for a week and a couple days, but thankfully we had another shower in the downstairs that we could use. But anyways, that got done...new shower, re-tiled floor, more shelving...it's awesome!!

And, other than that, it was just waiting for L.C. to show up ( I was due Nov. 9th). My folks and my older sister came down on Nov. 8th. The morning of the 9th, my mom went with D and I to the doctor to see if there was any change that might signal oncoming labor, but there wasn't a whole lot to indicate that. My mom got to hear L.C.'s heartbeat, which thrilled her to no end, I believe. :-) So, the doctor said I could either wait another week or go in that night to prepare for induction the next morning. I chose the latter. I really wanted my folks to be able to see the baby and, since there was no real danger by induction, we decided to go ahead with it.

That was the longest evening/next day of my life. The evening was cool other than the nurses had trouble keeping LC on the heart monitors she was was moving around so much. That was a pain while trying to sleep and nurses coming in every half an hour to adjust monitors. Also, the first nurse majorly screwed up trying to put my IV in and gave me a baseball sized bruise on my right arm (which is only now starting to go away).

Wednesday started out just fine. They started Pitocin at around 7:30am. By 9:30 I was ready for my epidural. D was absolutely great; very supportive and I could see how much it bothered him that I was in pain, but knowing there was nothing he could do about it other than offer his hand to squeeze. I know everyone has heard horror stories about how women in labor can act almost demonic to the men that got them pregnant, but I was just glad he was there. My folks showed up at the hospital later that afternoon and I was quite glad to have my mom there. D's mom showed up later and then his dad came that evening. It was weird in that, I felt like I had to "entertain" everyone since they were there to support me (at least until LC was born and then I'd be chopped liver), but I was so tired I ended up falling asleep a few times. No one seemed to mind, though.

The worst part was when the nurses let my epidural run out. The two nurses assigned to me got called to the ER and their replacement only checked on me once. One of the machines had been kind of beeping for a while, but I hadn't a clue what it meant. When the occasional beep turned constant, my mom figured out it was the epidural bag. We called the nurse (replacement) in and she's all, "Oh, you're epidural bag is empty. Let me call the anesthesiologist." By the time he got there, I was in agony. My legs were no longer numb and I was feeling every single contraction. Sometimes, they didn't really stop, just lessened some and then would roll right into the next one. Derin had stepped out of the room before that, but came back just as the contractions got really intense. I swear, he was ready to go yell at somebody for allowing that all to happen.

So, I got my epidural refilled and, another anesthesiologist came to check on me to make sure things were getting better. And, lo and behold, he told me about the "pain button" on the epidural bag. The button I could press when I could feel my contractions stronger, which meant I needed a slight increase in the epidural dose. No one mentioned that before. That really pissed D off, I think...pissed me and my mom off, too.

But, anyway, by the time 9pm rolled around, I'd fully effaced, but was only 3 centimeters dilated. It was decided that a C-Section was the only option at that point. Things after that are still kinda blurry. They pumped me full of more anesthesia and anti-nausea meds and wheeled me into the OR. It was one of the strangest experiences of my life. Feeling them pushing and pulling, knowing they were wrist deep inside my guts... yeah. But D and Mark (the anesthesiologist) kept me well distracted. And I tell ya, when I heard that first wail, I lost it. Crying...trying not to move because I knew they were stitching me up...wanting to see my baby...overflowing with love for D and that new little person who I couldn't see except for her tiny feet...it was intense.

The hospital stay was mostly uneventful and I've talked about it to so many people that I'm really sick of thinking about it. Let me just say that nursery nurses aren't some of my favorite people and I was glad to be out of the hospital when they discharged me.

My folks stayed the rest of that first week, which was awesome. I loved having them here and it was really hard when we had to say goodbye. But, they're hoping my next November to be moved down here. We're also working towards being able to communicate by webcam between now and then to make the time away a little easier.

LC has had good check-ups at the doctor. She's surpassed her birth weight finally. We're still having a little trouble with breastfeeding, but hopefully we'll get that remedied over the next week or so.

Well, she's waking up so I guess it's ciao for now.

Tuesday, August 17, 2010

The garden

Our table garden is doing fairly well. The herbs, not so much except for the basil we planted. We've also used a little bit of the chives, but they still haven't grown as much as we'd like them to. The pepper plants are a fairly good size. We've got about 8-10 anaheim peppers growing, 7 or so cayenne peppers, and a few blooms on the bell peppers, but no actual peppers. The tomatoes have done pretty well. We've pulled 4 ripe ones and 4 green ones (those we used for fried green tomatoes). We've still got a ripe tomato and nerly 12 more at various stages of growth.

So...yeah...fried green tomatoes. We picked up the movie of the same name at a yard sale a couple months ago, but hadn't watched it until the other night. D hadn't ever seen it and I'm glad he liked it. It's a good story for being kind of a chick flick. Anyway, it also started him wanting to try making fried green tomatoes. So he looked up a basic recipe online and we tackled it. They turned out alright. I wasn't that crazy about 'em, but he liked them a lot. I'm sure after we tweak the recipe and add some more spices to the batter, I'll like them better. They just tasted a bit too bland to me.

BABY BABBLE SIDETRACK BELOW
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Things are coming together for the baby shower here. It's still almost a month away, but that'll be gone before we know it. D's mom has gotten a few little decorations, some really cute cute plates and napkins, and a pink tablecloth. We've also figured out the invitations so I've just got to put together mailing labels and she's got to print the invites out. Most of the people we're inviting live within a five minute drive so we'll save a bit on postage just being able to drop them in their mailboxes. I'm a bit anxious about the shower. I'm not one to be center of attention (guess I should've thought about that before I went and got knocked up, huh?) The Little Critter just needs to hurry up and be born so I can stop being the center of attention and she can start.

Anyways, there'll be a few people at the shower that I don't really know, but hopefully it'll be balanced by the people I do. It'll be mostly extended family... D's sister-in-law and her daughter, D's other nieces (if their psycho mother lets them come), a few cousins-in-law, and some wives of D's friends who I've become friends with. All in all, if everyone shows up, there should be 14 people. So, not a huge get together, but not small either.

I just need to relax and not stress about things that need to get done. Don't forget to breathe....in and out.

Sunday, August 08, 2010

I've been hiding

Well, not really hiding. I just really haven't felt like posting anything. There are some things I'm still trying to wrap my head around, but I'm sure it'll come in time.

Baby stuff is going along just fine. Just recently had an appointment to check for gestational diabetes and see how my hemoglobin checked out. Both numbers were spot on perfect. I was also surprised when they said I was on target for my weight gain. Either they lied or I haven't been stuffing my face as much as it feels like. About two weeks ago I made oatmeal cinnamon cookies with chocolate and peanut butter chips. Granted I did give a few to D's mom, but there are only two left in our fridge now. I won't list all the other goodies that have been slowly disappearing around here, but I guess it's not too much of a problem. Still, I'm doing my best to be responsible with the treats. Every one I eat now is one I have to work off after baby girl is born.

In other baby news, we've recently gotten the Chicco stroller/infant car seat travel system combo thingie. It's really, really nice. We also got a 3-in-1 car seat for as she gets older (thanks again, mom!)

The baby shower here looks like it's gonna be on the 12th of September. D's mother-in-law is kind of planning it, but I still feel anxious about it going right. We were originally doing it a week later, but I found out that one of D's cousins would be in town, but leaving the day before so we bumped it up so the cousin's wife could be here for the party. She's about the only other female in the family that I feel like I could be really close to. It sucks that they live outta state. I don't really get to spend any hang out time with her.

But, all in all, everything is calm on the baby front.

Unfortunately, it's all but guaranteed I won't be able to find a job until after the baby is born. No one wants to hire a pregnant girl who'll only be able to work for two months and then be on maternity leave for longer than she's worked. Hopefully, though, I'll be able to do some yard work with D's friend on the side after November until I'm able to find something else.

Things are also slowly but surely trickling in for the little critter. Hmmm...I think that's what I'll officially start calling her... Little Critter. Both grandparents have gotten some of the most adorable little clothes for her. Not to mention hats, stuffed animals, etc. We had a friend drop by a pink bunny that's about 3ft. tall. We've also gotten a little healthcare and grooming set. It had a comb and brush, baby nail clippers, medicine spoon and dropper, and a few other little things. It's kind of hard waiting for the baby shower and not shopping for some of the things I know we'll need, but aren't sure if it'll show up as a gift. But, my mother ingrained in me that you don't buy for yourself so close to a scheduled event where people are bringing gifts (birthday, christmas, baby shower, etc.)

Okay, must talk about something besides baby. We had a little shooting party here yesterday. D's aunt is considering getting some sort of pistol so it was mostly so she could get an idea of what's out there. D's brother was there and brought his pistols, D had his, and one of their cousins showed up with one. The aunt shot a few and then had to leave so then it was a free for all for the rest of us. It was a blast! I shot the brother's .357 revolver again, but this time it had actual .357 rounds in it instead of .38 calibers. Definitely more of a kick and oh did it feel good. I also shot the cousin's 9mm and it's a very smooth shooting gun without hardly any kick to it. I also shot two .45s and a .40. One of the .45s had a laser sight on it, which was pretty cool. It was hard for me to use it since I was wearing latex gloves (gotta keep from getting all that gun oil and powder absorbption into the skin) and they kept getting in the way of the laser. Still, it was an alright gun. I'd rather have either a .40 or a 9mm, though...oh and a .357 just for kicks. :-)

One day maybe.