Eating

I love this picture. I did not place Joey's hands at all, this was the way he positioned them. Not that he's got much of any control over his movements, or knows what his posture looks like, but it amuses me nonetheless. He doesn't always manage to keep his eyes open while he's nursing, as if he needs all his energy just to eat. About 90% of the time he falls asleep before he's actually full, which means once he finally wakes up, he's still hungry and ready to go some more. Normally that's not a problem, it's just annoying at night when I would like to get back to sleep. Usually he doesn't stay asleep very long if he's still hungry, 10 minutes tops, and if he goes longer than that, I know I can put him back in his bassinet and get another couple hours of sleep.

I had pulled some milk out of the freezer and put it in the cooler to take to my parents' because I intended on enjoying some Strongbow. Turns out, since Joey slept the whole time we were there, including the two-hour waiting period of the alcohol coming out of my system/milk, we didn't actually end up needing it there. Once milk has been frozen and thawed, it can't go back in the freezer, making it a use-it-or-lose-it situation. So, we pulled out the Breastflow bottles (by First Years) and Dan got to feed Joey. This was only the third time he's gotten to feed Joey, and this time went much better than the last time he fed Joey with this bottle. We're not sure if the difference was because Joey was hungrier or if he was more awake or just more practiced, but no matter what the reason, we're happy that this feeding went well. We've nursed since the bottle and had no (more than usual) latch issues.

Memorial Day Cookout

Joey slept amazing last night! He went down at 11pm, woke up to eat and be changed at 3am, was ok being put back in his bassinet around 3:30am (as opposed to a full hour later last other nights), and then slept all the way until 7am! We had Cheryl and Momma Marlene stop by and visit today which was awesome! Momma Marlene brought a book for me called How Do You Tuck In A Superhero?. It's about raising boys and I've started flipping through it during nursing sessions, it looks pretty awesome. The woman who wrote it has 5 boys and a sense of humor that I can absolutely identify with, I can't wait to continue reading this book!

Later, we went over to my parents for the traditional Memorial Day cookout and pool opening celebration. My dad opens the pool Memorial Day Weekend, and it's usually way too cold to swim in, but my brother and sister have always gotten in anyway. This year, both my parents floated around in the big green inner tube. I'm still not allowed to get submerged, not that I wanted to with water that cold anyway. I did stand on the steps up to my knees and it felt good because even at 6pm it was 98 degrees outside and my parents' AC wasn't working :-P

We're back home now, in the comfort of our single AC window unit (we're hopefully getting another one soon) and I will definitely be taking a cool shower to get rid of all this sweat.

My mom is awesome

My mom and sister came over to visit and see Joey and my mom dropped off a copy of The Womanly Art of Breastfeeding for me! It's the latest edition of La Leche League's comprehensive book and I look forward to reading through it :) I've just glanced through it so far and already picked up several things I like.

I'm so incredibly lucky to have such strong breastfeeding support on both sides of the family. I've read horror stories about what other women have to put up with from their families, including immediate families (mom, brother, etc.). So far, I haven't been met with any real opposition or nasty comments about breastfeeding. I've had people I barely know ask if I'm using formula or breastfeeding, but I'll proudly let anybody who asks know that we're breastfeeding.

I'll write more another time, right now I'm tired and ready for bed. Joey was awake a lot today, I'm hoping it means that he'll take his super long nap at night finally!

Typical New Parents

So we're officially THOSE new parents who are easily freaked out and take their baby to the pediatrician for what is actually nothing. In our defense, it was breathing-related and I'd rather be safe than sorry with anything related to Joey's breathing.

He woke me up this morning with his normal minimal fussing and when I looked over he had a huge gob of mucus hanging out of his nose. I picked him up and took him to the living room with the baby snot sucker (technically called a bulb syringe). I took care of that gob but he started fussing and crying even more (this is a kid who hasn't cried more than a few seconds at a time in his life and even then it was only when in pain from being stuck at the hospital). He appeared to have a hard time breathing, like he forgot he could breath through his mouth. Using the snot sucker I got an adult-sized amount of mucus out of his nose and mouth, but he was still having a hard time breathing and still fussing and crying. He wasn't turning blue, he stayed a healthy pink, which is the only reason that I didn't call 911, but I think the only reason he was getting air was because he was crying. When he was crying, he was gurgling in mucus that was too far back for me to get with the syringe. He kept throwing his head back and arching his back, trying to lie back.

Our pediatrician's office has Saturday hours, thankfully, and I called asking if I could come in right away. Initially they asked if I could bring him in an hour later, but I said I'd prefer to come in immediately and I think hearing the baby crying in the background helped my case. At this point, Dan was up and holding Joey vertically against his chest. That position seemed to be helping a lot--even though Joey was still struggling and trying to lie back, because his breathing got easier and he even stopped crying. We still went to the pediatrician's, and he said that even though it was scarey, Joey was fine and can get runny noses without the presence of a cold. Because he's a baby, and can't blow his own nose, the mucus accumulates which is why it's important for us to flush out his nasal passageways with saline drops when he sounds congested.

So we officially freaked out over nothing, typical first time parents. I'd still rather be safe than sorry.

Moo

I've started to build up my freezer stash. Pumping is interesting. Currently I'm using the freezer bags that are the same brand as my pump, but I also have a second brand that I'll be trying eventually. I haven't been pumping much, usually just one side after Joey has eaten and fallen asleep with a full tummy. I still haven't decided if I'm weirded out by storing my milk in the freezer. I feel like I should be, but on the other hand, I shouldn't be. Breastfeeding is the most natural thing in the world, but our society is only just recently bringing it back into the mainstream. People my age are being bombarded with mixed messages about formula and breastfeeding, it's difficult to discern the good information from the bad.

Atta Boy

Pediatrician appointment today, the follow up to his post-hospital checkup. We have another appointment in two weeks because that will be his one month checkup. He weighed in at 8lbs. 5oz. which is awesome, it means he's not only gaining weight but he's gaining really well. Despite our persistent need to constantly re-latch when feeding (more on that another time), his weight gain means that he is getting what he needs.

I haven't got cabin fever, yet. I still enjoy staying home, although I do miss my students and the people I work with. Every couple of days we run an errand or two and so far that's been enough for me to not feel "stuck" at the house. After the appointment today, we stopped by Target again (we needed a new cable for the printer), and any reason to be out of the house helps. Once my parents open their pool, we'll be hanging out over there a lot--even though it will be several more weeks before I can actually get in the pool.

Softball and Cookout

Today was our youth ministry's softball reunion cookout. It was pretty awesome because lots of people who haven't been around because of college or work came. It was the perfect way to catch up, see everyone, and show off Joey :) He was the hit of the gathering and was passed around among the girls which gave me the chance to eat.

Eating, sleeping, diapering

Those are the things my days consist of now. Well, those and watching TV. So far, I'd like to think I'm handling it pretty well. I'm enjoying the fact that I have lots of time off of work, I love waking up knowing that it will be a while before I have to officially get up early and be away from Joey. If things go well next month, I will only have to go back to work part time and stay home with Joey most of the week. We're keeping our fingers crossed and sending up prayers because I really would like to stay home as much as possible.

I'm currently fighting a cold or allergies. We're not sure which one. Cold medicine doesn't seem to be helping but my cough and congestion doesn't get worse when I've been outside. I'm on antibiotics because we found out that I developed a UTI (which is not uncommon in people who have recently had catheters) so if it's a sinus infection the antibiotics will kill it. It's hard because I'll go from being perfectly fine to having a coughing fit for ten minutes, especially at night when I'm trying to sleep. I'm glad that Joey is a champion sleeper because my coughing doesn't seem to bother him at all, except when he's trying to eat, lol.

Dan has been absolutely phenomenal since bringing Joey home. He'll get me whatever I need while I'm sitting on the couch nursing Joey, he offers to do things without being asked, he's great about getting up in the middle of the night to hand me something or help change diapers, I don't know how single parents do it! Dan feels bad that I'm not feeling so hot right now and does whatever he can to help make me feel better--including late night runs to the pharmacy for cough medicine.

I love, love, love being a mommy and I love being able to stay home. Since Joey was born, I live each day to hold him, cuddle him, kiss him, wait for that elusive smile, and just watch him make silly faces while he sleeps. I still can't believe he's here, I feel like last week was when I found out I was pregnant--not to mention the entire pregnancy I couldn't believe I was finally pregnant. We're so incredibly blessed and thankful to have had a (mostly) easy pregnancy and healthy baby.

Doctor's Office and Sonic

Today was my trip to the OB to discuss what would happen about my cyst. I was worried because we lose our health insurance completely on June 20th and while I'm working on finding a replacement we can afford (I'm looking at State-funded programs currently), I can't guarantee that I'll have something in place for me at all much less cover something to remove the cyst. So we're kind of working on a deadline, which sucks.

They managed to fit me in the afternoon at the OB's office. My OB is currently out this week which means the other two are picking up the slack and that makes them even busier than normal. Dan came with me because technically I'm not supposed to drive on the pain medication and to help hold Joey. When I finally got called back, the nurse who's been working with me the whole pregnancy asked what in the world I was doing back so soon (after she was done cooing over the baby) and I told her about the cyst and being in the ER over the weekend. The doctor who saw me was, thankfully, the same doctor who had been on call last weekend and already had an idea of what was going on with me. I brought in all the paperwork that the ER had given me to give to him. He had to do an internal exam, which I dreaded because of my stitches, but wasn't too bad (although that could have also been due to my being on the pain meds). We then talked in his office about what should happen.

Ideally, because my uterus is still large and I'm still recovering from birth, they'd wait 6 weeks, do an ultrasound, and then determine what action to take. The risk of torsion is low currently because there's pretty much no room in my abdomen for the cyst to go, but obviously as my uterus shrinks that risk goes up. There's also still the risk of rupture. I told him about my health insurance situation and that we couldn't afford to Cobra the insurance after it stops (I'm not even sure if Cobra is an option when the job simply isn't there anymore...). Much as I could tell he disliked it, he did agree that we could probably remove the cyst before my insurance ran out. By not waiting for my uterus to get smaller (although I'm working on praying that down), it means that they would potentially have to make a much, much bigger incision to get the cyst out and that means a much longer recovery time.

The doc ordered another ultrasound, a more detailed one than what was done in the ER (they could have done a more detailed one, but they wanted to do it trans-vaginally and with me only being a week postpartum and stitches on top of that, I didn't think they should go in that way and the ER doc agreed), and I was able to schedule it for tomorrow. My doc did say that a trans-vaginal would be fine (and since I wasn't in pain during the internal exam I was less worried about it) and it was the only way to determine blood flow around the cyst. They have to determine blood flow to see how serious the situation is, to see if the cyst has cut off any blood flow to the ovary (which kills the ovary), etc. The potential is there that I could lose the ovary, either because the cyst killed it or because the cyst is simply too big and envelopes the whole organ. We're praying that doesn't happen, but even if it does, it's like losing a kidney, you can still function normally with just one. We can still have kids with just one ovary and the chances of getting pregnant with just one are almost exactly the same as with having two.

We stopped at Sonic on the way home because after all of this, we needed some ice cream. We both got a Reese's Ice Cream Blast which were amazing! Amanda came over to visit and finally meet Joey. Our friend Jenny was supposed to come too but she got stuck at work, Amanda wasn't disappointed about the fact that she could have Joey to herself for the visit ;)

(Jump to Part V of The Mega Cyst Saga - Warning: graphic picture of the cyst at the bottom of the post)

God Parents :)

Today Joey's god parents came over for a visit to finally meet him. They brought their adorable almost-two-year-old who loves babies and was fascinated with Joey. At one point, he even asked me to change Joey's diaper again because he liked watching the process from the other side of the diaper ;)

They brought us food to re-heat later for dinner, which is always awesome, but what was especially awesome was it was Korean food! They brought us Bulgogi, rice, lettuce leaves (if we wanted to do wraps), spicy sauce, and some delicious mashed potatoes. I haven't had Bulgogi in a very long time and I rarely have some that isn't my Dad's. This style was good, different, but good. They had larger chunks of beef than I'm used to, but there was much less fat and since I can't stand fat and am an expert at removing it, I ate this with very little problem. It does make me miss my Dad's Bulgogi though. I need to get him to write down the recipe for me so I can make it for my kids...
After Diana and Brandon left, Dan's parents came over to see Joey. Pretty much the entire day he'd been sleeping and their visit was no exception. Finally, before they left, we told Dan's mom to go ahead and hold him because he sure wasn't going to wake up until long after they left and we knew that's the whole reason they came anyway ;) He didn't even wake up while she was holding him, and he definitely didn't wake up until much closer to bed time.

ER

Today was no fun. Around 3 o'clock this morning, I got a sharp pain in my side. I took some Tylenol and applied a hot pack, but nothing helped. The pain got worse very quickly and since it was on the same side as the cyst they found on my ovary, I knew not to wait around. I woke Dan up and we headed to the ER with Joey in tow.

The pain got worse and didn't stop. I told Dan and several people in the ER that I preferred labor contractions to this pain, that's how bad it was. Thankfully, Dan knew some of the nurses who were working and because of that (and because we had the baby and they wanted to hold him) we got through triage and back to a room faster. Unfortunately, arrived during change of shift for the doctors and had to wait a while before our doc came back. At first, they gave me medication they knew was safe for breastfeeding and it did nothing for the pain. I hurt so much that I said I didn't care if I had to give him formula for a few hours, just please make the pain stop. The second medication they gave me worked much better and once the pain was under control, they sent me over to ultrasound to see if the cyst had ruptured.

The girl from ultrasound who came and got me was very nice and friendly. We talked about Joey and babies in general, I was in a much better mood since the pain was being managed. After we were done with the ultrasound she brought me back down and we waited for the radiologist to read the results and send them to the doctor. In the mean time, I needed another dose of medication and Joey had finally woken up and was hungry. The whole time he had been sleeping (which was awesome) so we knew when he woke up he'd be starving. I pushed the call button and asked for some formula and a bottle which someone brought along a few minutes later. While I disliked that we weren't prepared enough to have had bottled breastmilk to give him (I hadn't started pumping because we didn't anticipate needing a stash this soon), I was happy that he not only drank the formula but later had no problems latching on when I could feed him again. I was also happy that Dan got a chance to feed him.

The doc came back with the news that not only had my cyst not ruptured (I do not want to feel a rupture if that pain was a non-rupture) but it was also considerably larger than when it had last been measured. When they found it, the cyst measured 10cm, now it was measuring 17cm! They wanted to talk to my OB and discuss what to do about it, with cysts that large the biggest risk is torsion--or having the cyst twist on the ovary and cut off blood supply. At this point, it was later in the morning (around 7:30 or so) and we called my mom to come sit with us and possibly take Joey home if it looked like we'd be staying much longer or if they were going to admit me. It was also nice having her come sit with us to give Dan's arms a rest, we don't have a bucket car seat for Joey, so Dan had been holding him the entire time.

Finally, after talking with the on-call OB from my practice, and consulting with the OB from their department, the doc came back with a plan. They would release me under the instructions to be seen as soon as possible in my OB's office on Monday. I had been given prescriptions for pain meds after Joey's delivery and they said that I should go ahead and fill those and take them every four hours to keep the pain at bay. I got a dose before I left the ER to get it in my system in the meantime and we headed home. The day time nurse that we had was awesome because she was more up on medications and breastfeeding than the previous nurse and even the doctor had been. She even called up to their OB department to confirm what she knew. Turns out not only the medication they had given me in the ER was safe to breastfeed on, but also the medications they were sending me home with were also safe (they also found out I have a UTI and sent me home with antibiotics)

The medication that they had given me, both for pain in the hospital and the meds from the prescription, made me incredibly sleepy--although I'm sure being awake since 3am also had something to do with it. We got home and I crawled into bed. My mom was awesome and went to pick up the prescriptions and Dan sat on the couch with Joey until he got hungry. The only times I was awake/out of bed was to use the bathroom, take my next dose, or feed Joey. Other than that, my entire Saturday was spent in bed asleep.

(Jump to Part IV of The Mega Cyst Saga)

Trying to Keep Up

I'm going to attempt to keep up with updating daily (or almost daily) again. Dan's at work now and Joey's napping, so I'm taking advantage of the quiet time. Yesterday, the pediatrician's visit went really well. Joey is exactly where he should be, including back up to his birth weight (something that can be difficult for breastfed babies). We headed over to Five Guys for lunch afterwards and then to Target after that. While we were at Five Guys, Joey got hungry so we snagged a table in the back and after we were done eating, Joey got to eat too. As far as I could tell, nobody else in the restaurant even noticed.

Today we went to our local consignment shop to get some more pants for Joey, we got tons of onezise from people, but not many pants. We only have one or two things that are his size and appropriate for slightly chillier weather. After the consignment shop we went to Babies R Us and I picked up some nursing supplies and Dan picked out a front-pack carrier for him to use. Tomorrow we're going up to the mall to pick up some nursing bras for me (the ones I have are too small and not terribly comfortable because my milk came in and now I have pornstar boobs).

Another fun thing is that my face has broken out way worse than before I was pregnant. During my pregnancy, my skin just about completely cleared up and looked great. I noticed yesterday that my face and chest not only have acne coming back, it's coming back ten times as bad as it was before! From what I read, it has to do with the sudden change in my hormones after giving birth. Basically there's not a whole lot I can do for it until my hormones level themselves out again (which may or may not happen until I stop nursing...) and that's depressing. I can continue to cleanse my face, but because it's hormone-related, that's not going to do much. At least I have a cute baby to focus on...

Hospital to Now

Following a normal delivery, moms and babies stay at our hospital for 3 days and 2 nights. They counted the day I was admitted (technically Sunday) as one day and the day we were discharged didn't have to be a whole day. Monday was long because Joey didn't sleep much Sunday night. He was up almost every hour for different things, several times it was for a new diaper, several times because he was hungry, several times for burping, and even a couple times just to be held. We didn't have visitors until much later on Monday, but we were so glad that they came! First "Aunt" Cheryl came over, then my mom, then our friends Matt and Jenny. Jenny brought presents for us because she missed the shower and it turns out that was the best thing ever! Among other things, she got us a package of "swaddlers", which are these fabric pieces with velcro that allow you to easily swaddle your baby. We really stunk at swaddling with just blankets so we were excited to try the swaddlers. Holy. Crap. Joey loved them so much that I actually had to wake him up to feed him in the middle of the night! Even though I had to undo the swaddler to change his diaper, he slept through the whole diaper change and I had to coax him to wake up to feed. Despite me waking up every few minutes to make sure he's still breathing (something that is completely common for new moms I'm told), both Dan and I got much more sleep and were much happier when we woke up.

Tuesday went by quickly because Joey had several tests in the morning, and we spoke with the pediatrician and lactation consultant before we left the hospital. We were able to leave around 10:30 or so, tucked Joey into his car seat, and stopped by Chik-fil-a on the way home for lunch. We had Tess and Chris over to come visit the baby and that was super fun. Wednesday was long, but it was also our first venture out of the house with Joey! One of the families that attends our school owns a Greek restaurant and they do fundraiser nights, so we went with my parents and the school chaplain. It was great because lots of people from work came around the same time and we got to show off Joey.

Later this morning we're taking Joey to his first pediatrician's appointment and then Dan's going back to work. He could have had the whole week off, and he definitely would have like to take it, but we need the money. This will be the first time that Joey and I are left completely alone. In the hospital, there were doctors and nurses, and up until today, at home there has been Dan. After he leaves for work, it'll just be me and Joey.

Joseph Neil :)

I can finally stop saying "Orson"! Joey was born at 9:09am this morning, weighing in at 7lbs. 11oz. and measuring 21.5 inches. He came out wide awake and ready to greet the world, and didn't go to sleep until three hours later after our first feeding :)

Labor was no fun, but I knew it wouldn't be. I won't bore you with my whole labor story but contractions started 8pm Friday night and didn't go away after I went to sleep. In fact, I woke up several times because of the contractions (a sign of true labor and not false labor), and after calling my doctor's office to confirm, I called out of work since I'd rather labor at home and not in front of other people. Contractions were both regular and irregular for most of Saturday, there were times when they would come every 10 minutes and other times when I got maybe 3 in an hour. After not having slept much Friday night, I decided to go to bed around 10pm and try and get some rest. Rest was not in the cards apparently because literally, as soon as I got into bed and started watching Dexter to fall asleep, the contractions got regular and STRONG. They were between 5 and 7 minutes apart lasting 50 seconds to 1:20 each time. Once they had been like that for an hour (following the 5-1-1 rule of contractions: 5 minutes apart, 1 minute long, for 1 hour), I called my doctor's office and got the all-clear to head to the hospital.

That was the worst drive ever. The contractions did not slow down (thankfully) and it was miserable to be strapped to a car seat during a contraction and not able to get up and move through it. We finally got to the hospital (there was a lot of traffic for 11:30pm, there had to have been some event going on in the city), got checked in and were sent to triage. We were in triage from midnight to one-ish, where they monitored the baby's heart rate and my contractions, and it was decided that I was in active labor (yay!) and could be officially admitted. I was 3-4cm dilated in triage, and shortly after I got my epidural, I was 5cm. Thanks to the epidural, Dan and I could get some sleep while my body was given time to do it's thing. In three hours, I dilated two more centimeters (at 5am I was 7cm) and we decided to break my water to see if that would speed things along to the home stretch.

Once my water broke, it really was only a few hours until it was time to start pushing. I was checked again at 8:30am and was already to 10cm and 100% effaced, time to start pushing! I pushed for about 45 minutes and at 9:09am Joey greeted the world and daddy got to cut the cord. Sinai is big on rooming in and keeping baby with mommy as much as possible, so everything that needed to be done for Joey (cleaning him, running tests, etc.) was all done in my room from a warmer. While that was going on, I got stitched up from some completely minor tearing (Joey has a big head). Thankfully the stitches will dissolve and the epidural hadn't quite worn off yet so I didn't feel any of the stitching.

After the epidural completely wore off, the nurses made sure I could walk on my own and use the bathroom and we were moved over to the Postpartum section where we'll stay until Tuesday. Most of the morning and afternoon was spent just the three of us (plus the hospital staff), and that was great. Eventually, we knew we had to share our joy with our families, so we gave them the green light to come visit (but not before I'd had a shower and some lunch!). Tomorrow will be friends visiting and as much napping as can possibly be done!

We're progressing!

Today I had my weekly OB appointment, but first I had a meeting with our pediatrician. MD state law says that you have to have a pediatrician lined up before you leave the hospital with your baby and we went pretty late picking ours out. Through recommendations of friends and Angieslist.com, we found a really great doctor only 15 minutes from where we live. He was great because he knew that we were first time parents and gave me a tour of the office and went over everything I had questions about before I even asked!

My OB appointment was interesting. We did an internal exam and checked to see if I was any more dilated. Last time we checked (two weeks ago), I was 1cm, today I was 1.5cm. Not much progress, but I'm also 50% effaced (effacement happens before dilation in first time moms, then dilation before effacement in subsequent pregnancies), my cervix is really soft, and the baby is around 0 or -1 station which is fancy talk for he's very definitely "engaged" (his head is low in my pelvis). The doctor could even touch his head, which was uncomfortable for me, but explains a sensation I've been feeling for a while. I thought--almost jokingly--that the sensation was the baby "playing" with my cervix, but simply blew it off as probably my bladder. Turns out I was feeling the baby's head in my cervix as he moved, I don't feel it all the time but it is an odd feeling.

I asked my doctor about being Strep B positive and if that changed when I would need to come to the hospital during labor. Thankfully, the only thing that would change is if my water broke, I'd go in regardless of the contractions. If my water doesn't break, I can stay home until the contractions are regular and close together. I also talked to her about my crazy weight gain (up 10lbs. from last week!) and she's not worried, she's fairly sure it's just water because of how quickly and dramatic the changes are happening. I just had to look at how quickly my ankles swell up to agree with her ;)

After being out of the house for only a few hours, they were just as bad as they were last night before I went to bed. The only thing that makes them go down is a night in bed PLUS propping them up on the ottoman after I get up. I went to bed around 10pm last night, got up around 7am and my feet were almost back to normal size when I left the house at 11am this morning. By 1pm, they were back up to where they were last night and by 5pm they were so swollen I almost couldn't go down stairs.

Italian ice

I love, love, love Luigi's Italian Ice. It's been one of my favorite icy treats since I was a kid. Cherry has always been my favorite flavor and while I was at the grocery store after work (picking up a few things that we forgot on Sunday) I found an all-cherry box and had to get it. I've been surviving off of freezy-pops and while those are good, they never last long enough. Italian ice lasts longer and has a smoother flavor and texture.

Looooong Day

Today was super busy, as most Mondays are, but since this was my last Monday, it felt extra full. I had all my normal classes plus a meeting with the principal (regular, bi-weekly meeting), then my normal lunch and dismissal duties. I felt like I barely had a chance to sit down, but that's how I'd prefer my Mondays so that they don't seem to lag on and put a damper on the rest of the week. I came home, watched some TV, and decided "the heck with it" and went to bed early. What made my day was a baby present from one of the 7th grade girls. She gave us a really cute outfit that had puppies on it and some adorable bibs!

Before all that, I posted our old dinning room table and some chairs on Freecycle. I had several responses from people interested so I contacted the first person to get in touch with me and set up a time for them to come pick everything up (tomorrow evening). I do like Freecycle and hope to use it to also get things for the house, not just get rid of things (we really want a grill).

First Mother's Day

Since Dan took me to dinner last week to avoid the crowds--and so we could have some "just us" time--and I went and got pedicures with Mom and Sarah yesterday, we were able to go have lunch with Dan's family. All the moms got celebrated and there was no overlap :)

After lunch, Dan and I went grocery shopped but first we stopped off at Best Buy for my Mother's Day present. Instead of flowers, Dan will take me to Best Buy and let me pick out a DVD, it's quite and awesome arrangement (although, every once in a great while, I would like flowers). I was super excited to find Duck Tales on DVD and got part of the first season. It's an awesome show from when I was a kid and I can't wait to share it with my son, when he's old enough.

Mother's Day Pedis

Today, my mom took me and my sister out for pedicures (paid for by dad as his present) and then Sarah and I went to lunch and hung out afterward. It was a long day, but pretty awesome overall. While we were at the nail place waiting for our nails to dry and the three of us to be finished (they only had 4 nail techs and other people in the salon), I walked two doors down to an ice cream place and got some delicious ice cream to hold me over until lunch. It was pretty good, but expensive, if I'm gonna pay $3 for ice cream, it's gonna be for at least a pint of it!

"Divids"

I got the DVDs I ordered today in addition to the next Netflix DVD and I am now watching "Baby Mama" :)

Cinco de Mayo

I didn't forget to mention that I had a doctor's appointment yesterday. With everything that happened in the evening, I was too tired and emotionally drained to write very much, plus I simply wanted that post to be about my Luke.

The appointment went well, I finally met the third OB in the practice, so now I've met everyone, just in case. I actually LOST weight, yay! I went from 225 to 218, so almost all the weight I put on from the previous appointment is gone. I definitely think part of that was fluid retention, part was me actually losing the weight, and part was I had a daytime appointment as opposed to an evening appointment. Either way, I'm happy with the weight loss, and my stomach still measured fine so it wasn't the baby losing fluids/weight. I did test positive for Group B Strep, which about 25% of pregnant woman do, and all that means is an extra medication in my IV during delivery. Other than that and my poor hips, we are doing just fine. I didn't have an internal exam, but I didn't want one every week anyway, the baby will come when he's supposed to come and if I keep checking on things, I'll get even more impatient.


Today after work I put together the swing we got at the baby shower and opened the stroller. They are super cute and I think this means I'm officially nesting...

RIP Luke, 1997-2011

We put down our dog of 13 years (we got him when he was just a year old) today. We named him Luke, after Luke Skywalker, so I think it's completely appropriate that he left us on Star Wars Day.

He had been getting weaker in his hind legs and today those legs became paralyzed. The vet didn't think that he was in any pain at all and X-rays didn't show anything conclusive for what was wrong. We did get to say goodbye and I was thankful for that. I also got to see him on Sunday at my shower, so I'm glad that I had seen him as his normal-self recently.

Couch and Car Seat

Not only did the rest of our couch come today, but so did the dinette set (pictures coming later). The table is going to have to go back because the Lazy Susan in the middle doesn't spin at all, but until we get that fixed the table is in the dinning room and I love the space that it's saving us instead of our bigger table. I also love the height, the table and chairs are not bar height but counter height (which is in between normal table height and super tall bar height), so I'm not bending over to get things, everything is right at the level I like it.

Our couch, well, that had another whoops along with it. This time, it was our whoops. What we thought we were getting as a sectional was a sofa-love seat combo. It was actually a sofa-sofa combo. Thankfully everything still fits in our living room, it just required some rearranging of the TV stand and DVD shelves (which we now no longer have room for, so we'll have to get wall shelves or somthing). The couch is still super soft and comfy so no complaints there. The baby's room is now more crowded with stuff that we'll be figuring out what to do with tomorrow after my doctor's appointment.

I installed the car seat for my car today, all by myself (pictures later)! I'm a little worried that it was "too easy" to install because it was basic logic after reading the instructions, but I followed everything to the letter and it seems ok. I guess bucket car seats with bases are more difficult to install than the convertibles. The seat fit just fine in the middle of the back seat, which is technically the safest place possible, but it also is so big that Dan probably won't be able to drive my car comfortable because I don't think the front seats will move back as well (or safely for the baby).

Cloth Diapers

I am definitely not a granola, au naturale, tree-hugging, earth-loving mama by any means. I recycle (most of the time), I have my BPA-free water bottle that I refill constantly (see CamelBak Groove), and I don't drive a gas-guzzler, but other than that I'd say I'm like most American consumers. I'm not planning a home birth where I'll be consuming my placenta (which is a real thing and completely disgusts me, even in pill form), I'm planning on using pain killing drugs during labor, and I don't think I own anything that can be considered "organic".

But I will be breastfeeding and finally got Dan to agree to try cloth diapers. I have been on a CD research kick (thus the abbreviation) and have been pleasantly surprised at what I found. Both my memories and Dan's about cloth diapers are of what is now called "pre-fold"--a single white piece of cloth that you safety-pin onto the child. That's what jumps into both our minds when someone says the words "cloth diapers". Fortunately, after doing lots of research and "window shopping" online, I have been re-educated on the new world of cloth diapering that has changed since the last time either one of us has touched a CD (which was over a decade ago for both of us). Using CDs has become almost as convenient as disposables (or "sposies" in the CD community) and while a lot of the good quality brands are pretty expensive for one diaper ($20 per diaper, where you can get a box of around 90 Pampers at Wal Mart for $19.95), the money you save over time makes them completely worth it. Especially considering if you're planning on having multiple children, you can save your "stash" and have very little initial cost up front getting ready to diaper #2 or #3.

Several things I've gathered from my research that I like:

• AIO = All In One, or AIT = All In Two: rather than needing pins, your plain white, square diaper that doesn't actually look like a diaper, and a water-proof cover, several companies have included everything all together in one (or two) convenient package. These are most like disposable in that you just put the whole thing on the baby and take it off when it's dirty, the only difference being you toss it in the laundry not the trash.
  
• Pocket Diapers: these are like AITs I think. You get the diaper and then get liners (usually cloth that you can wash) to put inside. They make different sized liners (newborn vs. infant) as well as different sized pocket diapers in a huge variety of colors and patterns.
  
• Snaps vs. Velcro: you can have your choice of closures and from what I've read, I'll be going mostly with snaps but Velcro won't be awful while he's little and can't take it off himself.
• One Size (OS) or Perfect Fit: a lot of the different brands offer OS or perfect fit, which have multiple closure options (usually in the form of snaps) giving you the ability to customize the sizing of the diaper for your baby. This also allows you to use the diaper all the way up to potty training if you'd like, as opposed to having a whole bunch of different sizes.

What we've decided to do, and this could change one way or the other depending on how we like using CDs, is use CDs almost entirely at home and have disposables on hand for when we're out or go visiting. We may also use the disposables at night because I've read a variety of reviews and comments saying either the CDs work just fine at night or they leak like crazy because you have to change the baby way more often than with disposables. One thing we will definitely be doing is not starting the CDs until after the baby's umbilical cord stump has fallen off. Several of the things I read mentioned that a lot of the CDs come up really high on newborns and end up covering the stump (which you're not supposed to do). So we will definitely be using disposables while we get used to having a baby around and by the time his stump does fall off, we'll be mostly ready to attempt CDs in earnest.

Baby Shower!

I had a post written about cloth diapers, so I'll be posting that another day because today was my shower!

My mom made it a surprise shower at their house and Dan dropped me off. A whole bunch of friends from church and work (both jobs) and people we've known for years came, it was so wonderful! These were the favors that everybody got, cute little duckies and blue, baby-feet candies :)

I couldn't believe how many gifts we got, our friends are so generous! Here are just a few of the things we got:

Lara MADE this awesome dragon, everyone in the room was in awe at how good it was! I know the baby will love it when he gets old enough to appreciate it :)

We got an awesome little rocker that converts from infant to toddler, so it will get used for several years to come!

We also got two convertible car seats, diapers, wipes, toys, and lots of clothes. We are definitely ready for the baby now (aside from having to put the car seats in the cars)!

My car was stuff full after the shower was over, Dan had a hard time seeing out the back!

We are so blessed to have the friends and family that we do, everyone was so wonderful to us! I love you guys!
We loved this little t-shirt, so cute!

It's hard to see, but I'm holding up a pirate bear bib, awesome! Cheryl was gracious enough to write down who gave us what for thank-you notes and Sarah helped hand me presents so I wouldn't have to keep bending over.

I had such a great time talking with everyone and visiting with people I haven't seen in such a long time! That was the best present of all, seeing everybody and catching up (what I could with the few minutes I had with the different groups of people). Tomorrow, we're going to work on cleaning out the baby's room so that we can put the baby's things away. We're also going to clean out our cars because we can just get the car seats in place and leave them there until we turn them to forward-facing :)