Harrison Glen, born Wednesday 2/25/09 at 2:56pm. Weight is 6lbs 4oz, length is 19 inches.
And yeah, ya know how they say second labors are soooo much easier than the first? Not so much with this one. Brutal. Will post birth story and pics when I've had a chance to recover.
I am being induced today. Holy shit.
BP was 161/100 and Dr. Fab said that since I am a few days shy of 37 weeks, the risks of keeping Tater inside outweigh the benefits. We're packing now and heading to the hospital in a few minutes.
We'll keep you posted. Send us all good thoughts please.
Is it just me, or does the new Illinois governor look a lot like George Washington?
At least it doesn't look like he has wooden teeth.
Don't mind me...just trying to occupy my mind while I have these weird Braxton Hicks contractions every 10 minutes or so.
...here is the latest quote from the Palin family, this time from Bristol, the new mommy:
""I'd love to [be] an advocate to prevent teen pregnancy because it's not, like, a situation that you would want to strive for, I guess," Bristol said.
Speaks for itself. Geez.
I know I have been relatively quiet as of late, and that's just because not much is happening right now...other than waiting. I'm 35 weeks and 2 days today, so I am settling into that end-of-pregnancy lethargy and zombie-ness. I make my way through my days as best I can, then at night, when the work is done and Grace is in bed, I flop down on the couch and inevitably fall asleep just so Aaron can wake me up so I can drag myself to bed. I am asleep before my head hits the pillow and then I am woken up several times in the middle of the night, usually by the stray charley horse in my legs or by all of the fluid that needs to be dealt with in my compressed bladder. I thank God everyday that my husband is nesting, because I certainly don't have the energy for all that noise. Thanks to him, the house is cleaner and more organized than it has been since I moved in, and it is ready for the baby.
The birthing class is over, the crib is assembled, the Costco membership has been purchased, the chest freezer is installed and ready for breastmilk (thanks for the idea, LWWB), the baby clothes are washed, and Gracie's sibling class is coming up on Saturday. Really and truly, all that's left is the waiting.
I had my first of two weekly prenatal appointments today, and the BP is back up, but that's no surprise. Dr. Fab keeps saying, "37 weeks would be perfect," but we have yet to schedule an induction, mostly because she always wants to wait to see what the next appointment brings. All of my NST's have been perfect--they always show lots of little happy accelerations from Tater and the stray contractions, which are becoming a tad more frequent and noticeably more like period cramps than just plain belly hardening. Today I had the Group B strep test done and when Dr. Fab checked me, she indicated that baby has definitely dropped some in my pelvis and that I'm about 40% effaced, but no dilation as of yet. She sounded confident in telling us that she didn't think labor would start this week or this weekend.
I guess there's some more waiting in store...
Aaron and I decided to skip Valentine's Day this year. A few months back, we scheduled ourselves to attend an all-day birthing class on V-Day so it's not like we would have tons of time for a whirlwind of romantic activities that day anyway, but the whole idea of Valentine's Day is making me a little nauseous this year. And it's not just the hormones...
First off, these jewelry stores have some real balls advertising their diamond V-Day jewelry "sales" with the economy being the way it is. My daughter watches maybe an hour of TV every day, and she knows that stupid "he went to Jared" tag line by heart because of their ubiquitous commercials. They drive me crazy. Does the average American family have an extra $700 to spend on a diamond tennis bracelet for Mommy? If the average family is anything like ours, the answer is no. And if you do have some extra cash hanging around, my thought is that you'd be better off throwing it at your mortgage or paying down your other debt instead of buying a piece of jewelry that's going to sit on a dresser 90% of the time anyway. I just don't understand the extravagance that is still being encouraged in these troubled times. Know what I'm sayin'?
And I'm tired of the notion that one specific day needs to be designated in order to express your undying love and devotion to your partner/spouse/significant other. It's like the fiancee preparing for her wedding day instead of preparing herself for her marriage. Yes, the day itself is nice, but what about the rest of your relationship? Why should we reserve the nice date nights and the chocolates and the "I love you's" for Valentine's Day? Aren't those things even MORE appreciated when they come for no reason at all, when it's not all forced and syrupy? Frankly, I'd rather have my husband bring me a bouquet of flowers he picked himself in the middle of summer instead of feeling forced to buy me a dozen overpriced roses on V-Day.
So, this year I proposed a skip on the whole V-Day noise--no flowers, no gifts, no fancy schmancy dinner out-- and Aaron seemed just fine with that. After all, we'll be spending the day preparing for the arrival of our son, and I really can't think of anything more romantic than that.
Today is February 10th, and here is a shot of my backyard...here in Milwaukee, WI, which is generally a frozen wasteland during this time of year:
That one little patch of snow that's remaining is all like, "You're not taking me down! I'm staying here!! I don't care that it's almost 60 degrees!" And wow, our lawn will need some work come Spring.
Yes, I said 60 degrees. In Milwaukee, in February. It's unbelievable. And it's not going to last. Today is our one day of warm weather before temperatures plunge back into the 30's and you can be sure the snow and related unpleasantness won't be far behind. That Mother Nature is one mean tease.
This feels like the calm before the storm. Today, all is peaceful and cheery...the birds are singing, the sun is shining, the windows are open and a nice warm(ish) breeze is floating around the house. What is lurking around the corner? Are we about to be walloped with a foot of snow and temps below zero?
Sorta feels like that in my life right now. I had a doctor's appointment today, and my doctor called me "boringly normal". My BP was good (for once). My weight is good. Baby looked great during the NST. And although Dr. Fab mentioned she'd like to see me deliver around 37 or 38 weeks, she did bring up the possibility of going into labor naturally (provided it's before 40 weeks). Is this the calm before the storm? Is this our chance to breathe and relax and step back a little before our own little storm comes blowing in?
So I totally stole this off another blog, but there is this website out there called Wordle and if you type your blog's URL into the website, it spits out a little word picture of what your blog is all about. I went for it, and here is what it came up with:
I find it interesting that "bed" is the biggest word on here. Hmmm...
Yeah, I know this story is weeks old, but today I was surfing around on my news sites and came across this link on cnn.com:
http://www.cnn.com/2009/US/02/05/1549.voice.recorder.tape/index.html
It is the audio of what happened in the last three minutes or so of that US Airways flight that ended up in the Hudson River a few weeks back. I listened to the audio three times and it still amazes me how CALM everyone on the recording sounds, including and especially the pilot, Captain Sullenberger. The last thing he says on the recording is "We're gonna be in the Hudson," and he says it like he's saying, "I'm gonna be at the store. We need milk and eggs." There is no indication of fear or anxiety in his voice, and that just blows my mind. Here's how the recording would sound if I, the Queen of the Fear of Flying, happened to be piloting the plane:
"OH MY GOD, WE'RE ALL GOING TO DIE!!!!!!!!!!!! I'M TOO YOUNG TO DIE!!!!!!!!!! I THINK I JUST POOPED!!!!!!!!! OH, THERE'S THE HUDSON RIVER...OH MY GOD, WE'RE ALL GOING TO DIE!!!!!!!!!!!"
If THAT recording showed up on cnn.com, I would be totally embarrased. So let's all be glad I'm not a pilot. And even if I was piloting the plane and the outcome was the same and everyone survived, I'm pretty sure President Obama wouldn't call me and invite me to his inauguration. I'm pretty sure he would call me and tell me to watch some footage of him in the debates so I could learn about grace under pressure. And then he would probably sign some sort of proclamation stating that I could never fly a plane again, and I think that would be ok with me. I definitely wouldn't have gotten invited to hang out on the sidelines at the Super Bowl.
Moral of this story: If Sully ain't piloting the plane, I ain't flying. Also, birds aren't taking me out, so good luck getting me back on a plane anytime soon.
P.S. Does typing "President Obama" give anyone else happy shivers, or is it just me??
...and OMG. This is the best lineup that I think I have ever seen for Bonnaroo. You can check it out at Bonnaroo's site, but here are the highlights (in my opinion):
Phish
The Decemberists
Ben Harper
Beastie Boys
Nine Inch Nails
Rodrigo y Gabriela
Of Montreal
MGMT
And oh yeah...the headliner for the weekend? Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band. I don't even care about them. I mean, c'mon!! THE DECEMBERISTS?!?!? NIN?!?! BEN HARPER!?!? The only notable acts missing from this year's lineup are Ben Folds and Death Cab for Cutie, but they were both there last year and we got to see them then, so I suppose it's all good.
Seeing the lineup today made me clutch my chest and gasp for air. Why? Because Aaron and I had agreed NOT to go to Bonnaroo this year. Tater will only be a couple of months old when the 'Roo rolls around, and I put my foot down and said that I won't leave him for a long weekend when he is that little, especially since I plan to nurse him. Aaron put his foot down and said no, we can't take him with us because Tennessee in June is too hot (even though I offered up the idea of renting an RV with AIR CONDITIONING). I could bend and tell Aaron to just go and have a good time but then again, um, no. I know myself and I know I would be pissed off the whole time he would be gone. Clearly, we are out of options. Ugh.
Whaddya think the chances are that all of these fabulous bands are making the festival circuit this year and will also be playing Lollapalooza, which is coming up in Ausgust in Chicago? Really, Lollapalooza would be much more feasible for us this year than Bonnaroo. C'mon, throw me a bone, here...
What is it about Ikea that makes the (relatively) frugal abandon all frugality and spend like the credit card is expiring, like, tomorrow? Is it the Swedish meatballs? Is it the fun Swedish product names? Is it the awe-inspiring shopping cart escalators??
We headed down to Ikea on Saturday for our annual "Aaron just got his bonus, yippee, let's go to Ikea!!" shopping trip, and we had the best intentions. Really, we did---we had a list! And a plan!! We had planned to just get the essentials--some storage boxes that would fit in our living room coffee table, a table large enough to accommodate our mail and a small shredder (since handling and organizing mail seems to be an issue in our household), and a small toy box for the toys that migrate from Grace's room to the living room (new rule--all toys that are kept in living room must fit in toy box or they must go back to bedroom). Oh, and we did end up buying all of those things. We also bought this:
Yep, we bought Grace a new bed. And a shell-shaped light. And a frilly, castle-like curtain thing for above her bed.
We hadn't even intended on visiting the children's section at Ikea this weekend, but we were drawn in somehow. It all started when we were attempting to scuttle Grace AWAY from the children's section but the sounds of kids playing on the little tables and chairs and crawling around in the little tents soon drew Grace in, and before we knew it, Aaron and I were both eyeing the furniture and the bedding and considering how this stuff might look in our house. And then I saw this pretty little bed and thought, "Really, how practical IS it that Grace has a queen-sized bed? She's four! Surely a twin bed would be a much better option for her! Perhaps her recent sleep issues are all because she's in such a BIG bed all by herself and she feels lost in it! This could be the answer to our prayers! And it looks like a princess bed! I could sell this to her as a princess bed, and surely she will want to spend all night in it!!" And then I showed the bed to Aaron, and he was all like, "Huh, think of the space we would save with having a smaller bed in her room! We would ACTUALLY have room for all of her toys here in her room, and we wouldn't have to keep some in the living room! You are truly wise, wife of mine!!"
We showed the bed to Grace who immediately saw the princess-ness of it, and oh! What about the pretty castle-like curtain for around the bed?!? Look at those shell lights! They most definitely fit with the Little Mermaid motif that we already have going in her room! And, Grace assured us that she would absolutely, positively spend the entire night sleeping in her bedroom if she could have this bed. Problem solved!!
And so, we bought the bed and Aaron spent yesterday afternoon putting the bed together and then Grace and I got it all prettified with her new princess sheets and her other princess paraphenalia. Then each of us rolled around on the new bed for a while, marveling at how comfortable and cute it is!! Grace even went to bed so easily last night that I was sure that all of our sleep problems were behind us. This whole new bed idea was a stroke of genius!!
I'm sure those of you who are parents and who are clearly smarter than me can tell me what happened next...she was awake less than two hours after she fell asleep, wanting to come and sleep in our room. And instead of having a spacious queen-sized bed to soothe her in, I had to wedge my way into this twin-sized bed with her and try to find a comfortable position in which I could rub her back and stroke her hair and wait for her to fall back asleep. Two hours LATER, she was back in her little bed that we have stationed on our bedroom floor. Sigh.
At least we DO have more space in her room for her stuff, and the new toy box and mail table look pretty darn good in our living room. Anyone need a queen-sized bed?
Today as I was driving home from my weekly doctor appointment, I passed Miller Park and noticed that the marquee out front was displaying a countdown clock, counting down the days until the Brew Crew's pitchers and catchers report for training camp. (Is it called training camp for baseball?? I'm a football girl.) I couldn't help but smile to myself...when baseball season ended last year, I often thought to myself that come NEXT baseball season, we would have a new baby in the house. And now the pitchers and catchers are reporting for training in fourteen days. Sheesh.
Anyway, today was my first of many scheduled fetal non-stress tests and happily, Tater looks great. His heartbeat galloped along at around 140 bpm and there were plenty of little accelerations as he squirmed around. He is growing nicely, measuring in at around 34 weeks (still about two weeks big, but Dr. Fab is cool with that). He is definitely head down and his little back side is pointing upwards, so if he stays put, he's in the perfect position for delivery. Also, Dr. Fab did a cervical check today because I have been having some terrible back and pelvic pain lately, and fortunately, things are still thick and closed and tilted backwards, and Tater hasn't engaged yet. Tater gets an A+ for today.
I, however, seem to have boarded the blood pressure roller coaster and I just can't seem to get off. After having pretty darn good readings for a couple of weeks, my BP is inching back up again...not to levels that are terribly dangerous, but just enough for Dr. Fab to remind me that she doesn't want to have to lecture me about taking it easy. And, for the first time, today Dr. Fab brought up The "I" Word--induction. She wants to monitor things for a couple more weeks, but she thinks that we (she, Aaron, and I) will need to decide in the upcoming weeks if enough is enough and whether or not I should be induced at 37 or 38 weeks. That's less than six weeks away. And suddenly I am in a panic about my house and cribs and high chairs and layettes and pediatricians, etc. And let's not even bring up the circumcision question. Really. I'm done talking about it.
I had really hoped to avoid induction this time around, and maybe I still will if by some miracle my BP drops and stays there or if Tater decides to skedaddle early, but I guess the whole idea is not so bad. My induction with Grace went really well--I didn't need any Pitocin or anything--and hopefully (please, God) that will be the case this time around, too. Also, one plus of induction is that I have a better chance of having Dr. Fab around for at least part of labor and delivery, assuming she starts the induction. AND, since Tater is measuring a couple of weeks big anyway, he's not gonna be a small baby, so he might be the size of a full term baby at 37 weeks. Just tryin' to see the upside...
Really, shaving a couple of weeks off of this whole pregnancy thing wouldn't be bad at all, provided Tater is ready. I am way, way uncomfortable and I'm sure Aaron is tired of listening to me grunt and whine and sigh every time I walk, roll over in bed, get up off the couch, get out of a chair...well, basically when I move any part of my body at all.
One of my favorite blogs, finslippy, posted a link yesterday to a Momversation regarding The Big C--circumcision. I thought this was pretty fortuitous, as Aaron and I are wrangling with the circumcision question right now...to cut or not to cut? The post on finslippy as well as the Momversation were both very interesting and thought-provoking and soon both Aaron and I were reading and re-reading the post and all of the comments that the post generated. Seems as though we are not the only parents in the world who are struggling with this.
Here's the thing...before I knew our baby was going to be a boy, I never gave this any thought. I have always thought that if I had a son, I would have him circumcised. I never really knew why...I just knew that this is what was done and as I said, I never gave it much thought. It wasn't until we found out that we are having a boy and Aaron expressed his reservations about circumcision to me that I actually sat down and asked myself, "Why do I think we should do this?" Turns out I didn't have any reason other than "This is what is done," and I decided to do some research on the topic.
Unfortunately the internet is fraught with propaganda, both for and against circumcision. I had no idea people felt so strongly about this, on both sides of the coin. In my research, I found myself getting more and more frustrated with the rhetoric and finger pointing and holier-than-thou-ness of it all and decided to check out what the experts have to say. The American Academy of Pediatrics doesn't really take a stance on the topic, stating that,
"Existing scientific evidence demonstrates potential medical benefits of newborn male circumcision; however, these data are not sufficient to recommend routine neonatal circumcision. In circumstances in which there are potential benefits and risks, yet the procedure is not essential to the child's current well-being, parents should determine what is in the best interest of the child."
Wow...that's maddingly ambiguous but at the same time tells me there isn't a compelling medical reason to circumcise our son. Dr. Sears' website underscores this fact and basically tells parents that they should use no reason other than religion or personal preference in making the decision on whether or not to circumcise their sons--the medical benefits alone aren't enough to justify the decision. Well, neither Aaron or I hold any religious beliefs that would prompt us to circumcise our son, and neither of us believes so strongly in the idea of circumcision that we feel absolutely compelled to have it done.
Then again, there is some evidence out there that suggests that circumcising baby boys can have medical benefits. Many experts suggest circumcising boys lowers the rate of UTI's. Also, it can help prevent the boy from spreading HPV or other STD's when he becomes sexually active. Some also say that circumcision lowers the chance of a male developing penile cancer later in life. These are all positives to be sure!! However, I haven't been able to find anything that has said that circumcision ABSOLUTELY does these things. One would think that teaching their son proper hygiene and how to make responsible sexual decisions would also help prevent these things.
Clearly, I am torn. This decision is weighing heavily on me and I am losing sleep over it. To me, we have three options:
Circumcise...In my mind, this is the easy choice, because it is what a majority of parents in this country decide to do with their son, and I know that if we make this decision, our son will be in the norm (although this might not be quite so true nowadays, as circumcision rates are on the decline). The procedure is very safe, and if we are going to do this, we should do it while we are still in the hospital to save our son from a more serious procedure later in life. And, let's face it, things would be easier to clean down there, both for us and for Tater and the procedure COULD prevent all the icky things listed above.
Don't circumcise...The tougher choice of the two, because it goes against the norm in our society. However, I am going to take pains (literally) to ensure my son has a violence-free and medication-free delivery, so why would I subject him to this painful procedure and recovery less than 48 hours after his birth? Also, should we do something just because it is what a majority of people do? Seems like faulty logic to me...it's the whole "If all your friends were jumping off a bridge, would you?" thing. And, I know myself. I had a hard enough time sending Grace to the nursery for a heel stick after delivering her. How will I feel if and when I turn my son over to the nurses to have this procedure done? Will I feel immense guilt and regret my decision? And AND, should this be our decision or our son's decision? I know men who wish the choice had been left up to them.
Leave this up to Aaron...In reading finslippy's post and the comments on the post last night, I was surprised to see the number of women who left this decision up to their husbands. But it makes some sense to me. After all, I have no idea what it's like to have a penis. I didn't have surgery on my genitals hours after birth, and so I don't have any idea what that would be like. Part of me is like, "This is my son too, dammit, and have as much say as my husband does," but then again, I trust Aaron and I know that he would take his research as well as his own personal experience into account. I trust and know that he would make the right decision for our son.
We have less than eight weeks to make this decision, and while that might seem like a lot to some, I am a planner and I need to know what we are going to do about this. I foresee many more sleepless nights ahead, and it's not just going to be because of leg cramps and having to pee every hour.
What a weekend! As I mentioned in my previous post, we had planned to take a much-needed mini vacation this weekend, and we definitely did that but we also managed to cram some other fun and cool stuff into the weekend. As the weekend was winding down last night and as I was putting Grace to bed, I found myself wishing there was some way I could somehow trick time and squeeze in another day of R&R with the fam...but alas, it's Monday and we're back at it.
The bulk of our weekend was spent at Country Springs Water Park and Hotel, and if anyone is looking for a fun weekend away without spending too much dough, this is the place. Last year we took our winter mini vacation in Wisconsin Dells at Kalahari Water Park Resort, and while Kalahari was awesome and probably twice the size of Country Springs, I'd recommend Country Springs over Kalahari for a couple of reasons. First, Country Springs is MUCH more reasonably priced than some of the water park resorts in the Dells. I did some research, and if we had gone to the Dells this weekend, we would have spent at least twice what we ended up spending at Country Springs, both in gas and in actual room charges and other fees (for instance, Country Springs has a free continental breakfast each morning--many other water park resorts don't offer that).
Also, I feel like Country Springs was more geared toward Grace's age group than some of the bigger resorts. Sure, Kalahari and other larger resorts have tons of huge water slides and other attractions like wave pools and surfing simulators that are fun for adults, but the water park at Country Springs had smaller slides and more kid-friendly stuff to offer (as well as a lazy river and a couple larger slides). So, Grace was comfortable trying just about everything at least once and that made me feel good because we utilized the entire park instead of just part of it. And, even though Aaron didn't get to try surfing this year, I'm pretty sure he had a good time accompanying Grace (and my mom) on some of the bigger slides at the park.
The other thing that impressed me about Country Springs was the staff. The water park itself was stocked with lifeguards who were pretty darn vigilant about making sure everyone stayed safe. I liked the fact that they actually enforced the "no kids in the hot tub without parents" rule so that when I took a minute to dangle my legs in the hot tub, I wasn't getting splashed by a bunch of unsupervised kids. Also, when Grace happened to fall asleep in one of the lounge chairs, one of the lifeguards came up to me to make sure she was feeling ok (yep, just tuckered out). I don't remember that type of surveillance at Kalahari when we were there last year, and it was nice to see.
My parents were able to spend the weekend at Country Springs with us as well and that was great! Grace had a blast going on water slides and the lazy river with my mom (and honestly, it was pretty darn entertaining for me to watch as well), and she got some good snuggle time in with Grandpa as well. Even though we did have a couple of hairy stretches because Grace was still a little tired from her bout of strep throat, our mini vacation was great fun and I wish it could have been just a bit longer.
A couple of other cool things happened after we left Country Springs this weekend. The first thing is that Grace and I (finally) joined a church here in Milwaukee. I have been searching for the "perfect" church for Grace and I to attend ever since I moved down here and I finally found that place a couple of weeks ago. I was doing a search on ELCA Lutheran churches here in the city and came across one that sounded like it might be a good fit for us. I attended services there a couple of weeks ago and fell in love with the church immediately. It is a smaller, liberal congregation but the thing that struck me right away was the number of young people and young families in attendance. Children are not only welcomed at this church, but they are included in the service and they are truly treasured by the congregation and the staff. Also, I found the congregation as a whole and the pastors to be extremely welcoming and accepting. I was a little leery to talk to the pastors about joining because I was sure they would wonder why Grace and I would be joining and Aaron wouldn't be, but I was pleasantly surprised when they didn't seem to even think twice about the fact that my husband and I don't hold identical beliefs about everything. They didn't make me feel as though my family is "broken" because Aaron and I weren't going to be joining together and for that I am extremely thankful--I know many churches would not be quite so open and understanding.
So, Grace and I joined the congregation yesterday and it feels really, really good to have a spiritual home. And as if I needed any more affirmation that I had made the right choice, during yesterday's sermon, the pastor jokingly reminded the congregation that Barack Obama is not Jesus Christ...his words were, "...I've seen the look in some of your eyes (when talking about Barack)..." and I thought to myself, "Yep, these are my homeys." And then, the pastor concluded his sermon with moving, tearful words about how he felt about the closing of Guantanamo Bay and how it is SO good to finally see us do the right thing. Amen.
One big other thing from this weekend...we made our first major baby-related purchase. We bought an infant car seat yesterday. Both Aaron and I were feeling some hesitation about the purchase, but together we mustered up the courage to let ourselves believe that this baby is coming and that he is going to be fine, and we took that leap. And just to kick some dust in fear's face, we picked up a sleeper for the baby, too.
My due date is two months from today--March 22nd. If my little occupant decides to hang out till then, I could very well be in the throes of labor in exactly two months, since I won't be allowed to go past my due date. *shudder* Can I just order up the pain medication cocktail now?
Had my weekly appointment with Dr. Fab today, and happily, the BP seems to be holding steady for now. Tater is still measuring big but he's not growing at quite the clip he was a few weeks ago, when he was measuring almost four weeks big. Baby's heart rate was excellent today, and he even kicked hard enough to shake Dr. Fab's hand as she held the doppler on my belly. Also, I lost three pounds this week, which was a bit of a concern to Dr. Fab until I explained to her that I have been busy taking care of a four-year-old with strep throat all week and I haven't slept or eaten well in that time. Then, she just gave me the same kind of look my mother would give me if I had just told her that same thing and said, "You look tired. Take it easy."
Fortunately, that is exactly what I have planned. Grace has off of school tomorrow for the end of the semester, so we thought this would be a good opportunity for the three of us to take a little mini-vacation before Tater makes his debut. Aaron and I both have off work tomorrow and we are taking Grace to Country Springs, which is a hotel/water park that is located about 20 miles west of our house, for the weekend. (Last week Dr. Fab gave me the green light to go as long as I promised her that I wouldn't go on any water slides and that I would keep my feet up and relax all weekend.) We're all super excited to get away for the weekend, even though we're not going far away. It'll be nice to get out of the house for a couple of days and get away from the household chores that are staring me in the face. It'll also be nice to have a long weekend away with just Gracie, as I know the opportunity to do that is quickly slipping away.
Anyhoo, next week we start the weekly fetal non-stress tests just to make sure all is still well in Tater's uterine home and that he is still thriving despite the gestational hypertension and the low levels of PAPP-A (I'll go to two tests weekly at 34 weeks). In the meantime, I'll be relaxing at the pool and pondering the circumcision question--to cut, or not to cut??
Yeeeeeehaaaaaaaaaaaw!!!! If I could without worrying about launching myself into preterm labor, I would be jumping up and down in jubilance. Thanks so much for your service, W, but good riddance. Today is a new day.
My poor little Gracie-poo, making the best of her situation, curled up under her blankies and smiling even though she told me today that she is "SOOO sick!!!"
It's probably a good thing that MPS is closed today for MLK Jr. Day, because there is no way this little girl would have been able to go to school today. And, I am no longer feeling like our trip to the Urgent Care clinic on Saturday was a waste of time, because even though the quick strep test they did at the clinic came back negative on Saturday, strep grew over the weekend and so Gracie has strep throat. I wouldn't have known that had I not taken her in and she would have stayed sick, so it was worth it after all. Grace had her first dose of Zithromax earlier today (she's allergic to almost every other antibiotic out there) so I am *hoping* that another full day of R&R and some TLC along with the medicine will help her improve enough to head back to school tomorrow.
In the meantime, I am washing all of our bedding in hot water and scrubbing all sorts of surfaces in my home and praying fervently that Aaron and/or I don't end up with this...
Less than twenty-four hours after watching Gracie dance wildly around the living room to her favorite ABBA songs, I am looking at a very sick little girl. Poor Grace is laying prone on our living room couch, half-heartedly watching the end of Pee Wee's Big Adventure, with her little mouth gaping open because she can't breathe through her nose, tears streaming down her face occasionally because she "is never gonna feel better!!" and her cheeks a rosy red color as a result of her fever which has been hovering between 102 and 104 all day long.
I can't even remember the last time Grace was sick. I know around this time last year, we had to take her in to Urgent Care on a Sunday afternoon because she was complaining of an earache (turns out she had a raging ear infection) but other than that, Grace is generally very healthy. I had a rough road with her from about the time she was six months old until she turned two--she had cold after cold and the colds always lead to ear infections and she had rotavirus two springs in a row. But then suddenly around age two, she stopped getting sick so often--in fact, she's only been sick a handful of times since then. She managed to build up a pretty tough immune system and thanks to that, she hasn't suffered from a lot of the illnesses her classmates at school have had to deal with because she was exposed to many of them in day care already.
And so, I'm feeling that unmistakable sense of panic that a parent feels when her child is sick and I had forgotten how terrible that feeling is. As soon as we got up this morning, I felt the compelling need to get Grace into the doctor ASAP, and when he told us that Grace doesn't have strep or any other infection and then dismissed us, I wanted to wrap myself around his leg as he walked out the door and beg him to DO SOMETHING TO HELP HER FEEL BETTER!!
Turns out, all she really wants is her mama. When we got home from the doctor, she just wanted to lay down next to me (or on top of me) and she pleaded with me to stay next to her all day. And that's just fine, because there's no way I'd let my little sickie out of my sight today anyway.
Due to the subzero temperatures and even colder wind chills that we have been subjected to here in Milwaukee over the past 48 hours or so, all of the schools in the area have been cancelled for the past two days. Thus, while I am glad that Grace doesn't have to venture outside in this weather and risk frostbite, I have been less-than-thrilled about the whole working and parenting simultaneously thing. My job requires me to be on the computer or on the phone constantly, and although Grace generally does a pretty good job of entertaining herself with coloring projects or with reading books or putting together puzzles, her patience wears thin after a while and starts demanding that I "stop working THIS MINUTE!" and devote my undivided attention to her. And then the guilt kicks in...guilt because I have always told myself that I wouldn't be one of those parents who forces her child to compete with the computer for her attention.
This afternoon, Grace's patience was wearing ever thinner, and as I was trying to run some reporting that I HAD to get done for work and find something fun for Grace to do at the same time, I reached for a last resort: the ABBA Gold CD. A couple of weekends ago, my parents came to our house for a visit and my mom brought her new fav movie, Mamma Mia, with her. Grace stayed up late watching the movie with us (I know, it's PG-13, tsk-tsk, whatever...but seriously, it's a cute movie and I managed to direct Grace's attention away during the one "PG-13ish" part of the movie) and she fell in love with all of the music and dancing that's in the movie and was really sad when Grandma took the movie home with her the next day. Last weekend when Grace spent a day with my parents, they bought her the ABBA Gold CD, which contains a majority of the songs from Mamma Mia, and the CD has been Grace's most treasured possession ever since and she listens to it whenever she gets the chance. She even chooses to listen to ABBA before listening to Laurie Berkner or her new Medeski, Martin, and Wood kid's CD.
So, today, in the midst of my desperation to get my work done but NOT plunk my kid down in front of the TV for hours on end in order to accomplish it, I reached out to ABBA and they delivered. As soon as I put the CD in, Grace was a dancing queen, strutting her stuff around the living room and lip-synching as best as she could to all of the songs. And, I was able to get a bunch of work done uninterrupted. Man, those Swedes are awesome.
Check out these pics...they just blew me away...
Huge wake-up call for me...there is an ACTUAL baby in there, a beautiful, healthy baby, so TAKE CARE OF YOURSELF!! And, I feel like this ultrasound happened in the nick of time. Just as I was starting to feel drained and a little depressed about this whole bedrest thing, I get to see our son as I have never seen him before, and suddenly, I feel rejuvenated and ready for the rest of my pregnancy.
