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** Images For Use By Upgraded+ Only ** This is my family updates blog. I'm sorry to say that it's moved to Facebook. If you would like to continue to read about my life, you need to be my Facebook friend.  |
| So we decided to just express all the breast milk. It is much easier I think with all the difficulties we were having breastfeeding. It took nearly 45 mins for Jack to really get anything out of that, and with pumping all the milk it takes a lot less time. 15 mins to pump, and 15-20 mins to feed him. Plus Chris can feed Jack if I'm in the middle of something. And on top of all that there's no stress. The pump knows what to do and it takes the worry of whether he's getting enough milk out of the whole deal. Part of the problem is that Jack is so impatient. The bottle is definitely faster - fast enough for him - although sometimes a bit too fast. If we don't take breaks, he sometimes chokes on his food or spits it all back up. He hates when he has to stop, but in the end it saves him baby heartburn. Friday he had his two-week well-baby check-up, and everything is looking great. Not only did he get back to his birth weight, but he surpassed it by half a pound. So this feeding method must be working just fine. |
| Breastfeeding is hard. We had a little bit of a scare in Jack's first week. He was really really fussy when we first took him home. He was inconsolable, and he didn't seem to be eating enough. I know a lot of people worry about how much their children eat and whether they're gaining enough weight. Chris and I didn't take much stock in it until of course it happens to us and we run to the doctor asking to please please check out son. It turns out that our concerns were well-founded. On Wednesday Jack weighed 6 lbs, 4 oz, meaning he lost 16% of his birth weight. Apparently, my attempts at breastfeeding were not working because his mouth and my breast were not fitting together quite right. The lactation consultant that we saw gave us some new-fangled tools to use. One was a nipple shield which fits over your nipple and makes it easier for him to latch. And then because his weight was so low we have to finger feed him an extra .5 oz of expressed breast milk with a special kind of dropper. All of this sounds tedious, but now that we have been doing it for two or three days, we haven't gotten it down pretty good. The results were shown immediately. Wednesday afternoon, after three really good feedings, Jack was a thousand times better. He hasn't been fussy since then. Thursday his weight was rechecked and he had already gained 4 oz. Of course, now we are wondering if it wouldn't just be easier to ditch these fancy techniques and express all of the breastmilk and use the bottle. Even with the nipple shield it can take him a bit to get a good hold and this can make him really frustrated. He's very much into instant gratification. So we'll see about that. |
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| So the day finally came...believe it or not! Which means I should probably find a new name for this journal. I went into labor around 10 pm on the 25th - Thursday night. It was a no-count day really. I was expecting to have those cramps all day right before I went into labor, but none at all. I felt great Thursday. Then right at 10 pm it started 10 mins apart the real contractions. And now I understand why people say you will know when you're going into labor. It was definitely the worst pain I have ever felt, although not intolerable. I haven't experienced that much hard-core pain in my life. We went to the hospital around 1am after I started having the contractions 5 mins apart. As soon as we got there and got checked in they put me on an epidural. And it was nice and easy after that. Those first four hours were pretty unbearable without the pain killer, but as soon as my legs were numb I was able to actually take a nap. Of course, when I woke up I could feel the contractions again because by that time they had gotten strong and it felt like immense pressure. Still not too bad. Around 0700 they had me start pushing, and 54 minutes later Jack was born. They were afraid they would have to use forceps because there were a couple times when his heart rate dipped, but it turns out we both made it through perfectly fine. They did have to do an episiotomy, but that was the worst of my wear and tear. Jack was crying as soon as he came out. Chris got to cut the embilical cord. He weighed 7 lbs, 7 oz, and was 21 inches long. The whole experience went much smoother than I expected, and Jack was perfectly healthy. Our stay in the hospital was nice in that the hospital and staff were great. I was still eager to get home and make myself more comfortable without every intern and nurse coming in every hour to check our vitals. |
| Actually, it's not that I'm lazy; it's just that if I start something, surely I'll go into labor. Hehehe... Waiting around makes for a very quiet weekend. I'm finally putting the finishing touches on my shelf. I just have to brush the stain onto the last three shelves. Chris asked how much I would sell it for. It would definitely have to be in the thousands because it was so much work. I would estimate it took about 30 hours to burn the pattern into each piece. I love how it turned out though! Definitely worth it. I'm addicted to HGTV. Especially the do-it-for-less shows. I can't stand the ones where they invite a decorator in and all they talk about is how they ordered a sofa custom-made. But then there are the really cool shows where they're like, "Hey, make this shelf from scratch and all that." Every now and then, when I'm at work and just checking email and making phone calls all day, I feel like it would be awesome to have a job making furniture or reupholstering chairs - something crafty, using my hands. |
| Went to the OB today. Only a week left...if Baby Jack comes on time. I love how people ask you when you are going to have the baby. As soon as possible IMO. The cervical exam was actually quite painful. I'm not sure what she was doing up in there, but it didn't feel good. Afterwards, she announced 2 centimeters, 50% effaced. She said we were getting close. After Monday I won't have to go to work anymore, which will be nice. Unfortunately, I have a lot of work to do or pass off to someone else to do. |
| I forget how big I am and routinely get stuck going around corners. I run into things because I don't think about my belly jutting out catching things. The idea of me bonking the poor baby because I'm so clumsy is sad, but I suppose he's okay. This last week went by really fast. I am on half-days now, which is SO nice. I mean, having a half-day any day is nice, but when you're so pregnant it is near essential. My exhaustion is amazing! I can be going on strong for a few hours, and then crash. It comes so suddenly, and all I can do is stare at the television or something. I won't even know what I'm watching, but it's all I can do. And then...I'll get up and get a second (or third or fourth) wind and go about my business again. It's like being a manic-depressive who has swings a few times a day. Hehehe... I feel the incredible need to clean things. I reorganized all of the closets - not an easy thing when you're so big. I refiled our important papers. I SCOURED the bathrooms. The patio is cleaner than it has been since moving in probably. Unfortunately, I'm running out of things to clean. I'm going to have to go back to cleaning stuff I have already cleaned. Hehehe... Kinda pathetic huh? Well, the baby will have a nice clean apartment...if I manage to keep cat hair off everything. |
| Every morning it seems like you wake up thinking "Could this be the day?" Because it could. Something could happen today that would send us racing to the hospital. I don't think it will be today. It's still too soon, but you never know. That feeling is kind of like holding your breath. Not like when you hold your breath in the pool. It is more like when you see something awesome or crazy or scary and you gasp and hold your breath. Like when the trapeze artist does like a quadruple somersault with no net. |
| I was rather miserable Thursday and Friday. I kept getting these fake contractions. They say Braxton-Hicks contractions don't really hurt. Well, these did! It felt like one long menstrual cramp with occassional sharp pain. Ugh! Not enough to send me to the hospital, but enough to make me miserable. I did call the doctor though, and he said just lie down and drink tons and tons of water. Sure enough, two hours later I was feeling much better. The weekend I spent most of my energy cleaning stuff. I don't know if it's nesting or Spring cleaning or my absurd abhorrence of clutter or a insane mix of all three. It was pretty dangerous to be in my line of fire if you were dirt or something we hadn't in two years and therefore trash. I even tried to take a bucket of soapy water to our patio, but I didn't have much success on the vinyl siding. It really needs a pressure hose, and the apartment complex hasn't really gone to those lengths yet...although according to me and at least a couple of my neighbors they totally should. The baby feels like he's sitting much lower now. He no longer kicks me in the ribs, but contents himself with occassional jabs at my pelvic bone. My next appointment is this Thursday, so we'll see how much longer the nurse practitioner thinks I have left. Still four week until the due date, but I'm really hoping he doesn't make us wait that long. Hehehe...*crosses fingers* |
| I took the day off yesterday and I really honestly did nothing. Okay, so I did the dishes, but other than that I really did nothing. It was FANTASTIC!! I sat in the morning sun and read my book, I played some video games, I made a pie. It was just so wonderful. I'm in such a good mood. It was even kind of nice not to have Chris around because it made me realize how much we do together and how important it is to take time to just sit and think for yourself. Plus it was the middle of the week, so it felt even more special than a weekend. Weekends get crowded with so many things that you try to do. They can be just as frantic as the weekdays sometimes. And on top of all that there was a sense of peace yesterday. The kind of exciting quietness that you get before a storm. It was the feeling that this was the last moment of true quiet peace I would get for a long time. This wasn't a bad feeling at all, just eye-opening. Everytime I say we're ready for this baby I believe it. And yet after you say it you do something else that makes you even more ready. Than you say, "OK, I'm really ready now." Hehehe...I suppose it's all relative. |
| The last few days I have had such a problem with headaches. It's ridiculous. Not even sure what it is. They come and make me all dizzy and then they go away. I haven't really been eating anything different. I drink tons of water and get exercise. The only thing I could think of was stress...that and maybe allergies. Today I had no headache at all and the only thing I can think of that I did differently was use some nasal spray to help clear my sinuses up and practiced my relaxation techniques before getting ready for work this morning. I didn't feel nearly as stressed out as I have been, so maybe that yoga and breathing stuff really works. *shrug* Chris has a new project - getting the cats ready for our move across America. We aren't really planning on moving for another year and a half actually, but the pre-planning with the cats will probably take that long. He is working every day to get the two older ones used to the leash. The youngest one is still very timid of humans, so just getting her to approach and let him pet her is a good step. Eventually he has to work up to getting them used to walking on the leash outside, as well as being in the cat carriers on long drives. Obviously, this will take quite a bit of time. I'm kind of glad I'll have the toddler in my car instead of the three cats. But you never know, he may end up having the easier time of it. |
| I just haven't written anything lately. I don't know why. I mean, I have been busy, and just as distracted. I continue to get fed up with my job. Motherhood almost seems a refuge from that. Whether that will turn out to be the case will remain to be seen. The pregnancy continues to be normal. I have no dramatic horror stories to report...other than the occassional leg cramp that wakes me up at night. Actually, I sprained my ankle, but it wasn't really bad. I just had to wear a brace. The up-side was getting a sneaker chit for the rest of my pregnancy. Despite thinking it really wouldn't make a difference, it has been nice not to have to wear those leather oxfords. Today Chris and I went to a childbirth class. It was actually quite interesting. I wasn't all that nervous about labor to begin with. I mean, after all, people have been doing it forever. Now I'm even less concerned. It will probably be like most of my hospital visits - the hardest part is getting past the IV. Not a big fan of needles that's all. I don't mind pain, it's just the needles. Go figure! What's nice about the epidural is I'm turned the other way while they do that one. Hehehe... One of the things I definitely have found out today is that it's virtually impossible to practice breathing/relaxation techniques when there is someone kicking and squirming around among your insides. I think Chris and I have both been dealing with the nesting instinct. We redid our computer room and have been scrubbing the whole place down. It's like Spring Cleaning on crack. It definitely feels much better now. I hope Baby Jack appreciates it. Goodness, I'm tired! Week 34...less than two months away from the due date... |
| This week went by fast. It was a short week due to President's Day and not nearly as hectic as it has been this month. Work has been interesting. The job the Navy has placed me in was nothing more than a placement when I got to my office last May. I have turned it into an actual job, so that my billet has come to be associated with my responsibilities. These responsibilities I have taken from other people who were so busy or so incompetent that they could not do them properly. So yesterday my boss gives me this long lecture about how I am supposed to be developing processes that outlast all of us - that will be so sound anyone can pick the projects up and run with them. I don't think he is considering that I will be gone in three more months. Even if I manage to set up these unbreakable processes, there will be no one to manage them. I have been desperately trying to get my office to single out someone - anyone - to relieve me while I'm on maternity leave, which will pretty much be the whole summer. They have offerred no solution except to let it go back to the way it was before - a mishmash of incompetency - pretty much a breakdown of all the processes that my boss seems to hold so dear. I believe in what my boss says, and I don't want to see what I worked for fall apart. I know I don't have to care, but I do because I don't want to come back in August and have to redo 75% of the work I did the year before. SO I turned to the Navy. I told them that I want to move to a different office, and they need to backfill my space by April so I can train them before I go on leave. This is the solution that I am giving them. All other people I have offerred to train, my boss has shot them down because he didn't trust them. Now they're going to have to take their chances with whoever the Navy gives them. And since I'll be in a different office and since I have done my part in ensuring I have a successor, I really won't care in August. |
| This week has been like murder week. I mean, work was crazy every day except yesterday. Yesterday I went to a luncheon for a friend of mine who just got out of the air force. Then we went to see the Harrison Ford movie "Firewall." It was fun. I mean, not the most stellar movie in the world and definitely some unrealistic hollywood elements, but it did it's job. I just have been so busy with my job I haven't had time to think. There is a lot of stuff I have been meaning to do I think, but can't remember what any of it is. One of our cats keeps jumping into the crib. It drives me nuts! I try spraying her with water but this stupid cat actually likes water. She totally knows it's bad because when I look at her she gets out or rethinks going in there. But she does it anyway. There's nothing in it. I don't know what the deal is. The other cats think she's nuts (because of course they tried and got sprayed and never tried again). Of course, this is the cat who gets into everything. I think she just has uncontrollable urges to do whatever she wants. Uber curious! I keep thinking that maybe she'll stop or maybe she'll stop when the baby is born. I like this cat for the most part, but she's not going to last long if she jumps into the crib with my baby.  It's a depressing thought to think about getting rid of her. |
| Of course, we're rooting for the Seahawks. Chris and I are going to be celebrating SuperBowl XL by sitting in our pajamas and eating ultimate nachos. Booyah! Yesterday, we got Jack the "ultimate travel system." (In layman's terms that is a stroller/carseat combo) We have practiced unfolding and folding the stroller and we're pretty satisfied that we got it down. Next step - actually installing the carseat in the car. We were going to get another of the same kind of carseat for Chris's car, but it started raining yesterday and we were ready to go home. I have started making big building blocks out of milk cartons. It's actually pretty cool. You simply cut two of them in half and fit one inside the other. Easy block. And we go through plenty of those half-gallons to make quite a few by the time Jack is old enough to be really into them. I plan to glue pictures and words to the sides and then covering them with clear contact paper. |
| This week was pretty awful at work. I just had so much crap going on. I really messed up this huge project thanks to my inability to do simple math, a result of the pregnancy I'm sure. So I had to do that over again and everyone was kinda upset about it. I felt bad. Needless to say, I was glad when Friday night came at last. I drowned out the frantic buzzing the week has left in my brain last night by immersing myself in video games. Ah...no thinking required! Today is shopping day. We have been trying to use up gift cards because we still have a whole stack of them. We have about $150 to spend at ToysRUs and so we're going to check out the baby stuff they have there. Maybe get one of those essential things like a car seat or a stroller. I also want to get a rocking chair I saw that Ikea had, which I think will be really nice next to the crib. A lot of people have told me a rocking chair is an essential baby item. I like shopping days especially when you aren't really spending your own money.  |
| Thank god you're fat too! I'm not the only one! |
| We have an awesome plan: Step 1: Take week off before due date and have baby. (That last bit goes without saying, huh?) Step 2: I take maternity leave. This is six weeks of free "convalescent" leave for the military. They give it to you and you don't have to spend regluar annual leave. Yea! Step 3: Six weeks later, Chris and I switch off taking a week of leave from work. According to how much leave we will have accumulated this May, Baby Jack will not need child care until he is almost 4 months old. Booyah! Now we just have to sell this to our respective offices. Yea! |
| We got a crib today. It's second-hand. I have read in a couple places that you should never buy a second-hand crib because safety standards change. But the bars are the right length apart and it's pretty sturdy. Our friend used it for two of her kids, and they're obviously alive and well. I just don't see what the big deal is. Neither did my mom. When I told her my concerns, she told me not to worry. Apparently, her and my dad considered briefly just emptying out a drawer in the dresser for me to sleep in. Hehehe...awesome! The crib matches our other bedroom furniture and fits perfectly in the master bedroom. We're doing it that way instead of moving all the computers and junk out of the second bedroom, which we use as an office. I have heard this will make for less walking around in the middle of the night. |
| Baby Jack appears to have a schedule of activity. Most active: 0400-0600 (depending on when I get up) 1000-1100 (pre-lunch squirming) 1300-1500 (extensive post-lunch exercises) 1700-1800 (pre-dinner kicking) 2000-2200 (rolling and other fun after-dinner activities) I shared this with Chris and he was like, "Sweet, there's like a big gap between 11pm and 4am. We'll get plenty of sleep." Hehehe... To which I replied, "I don't feel him kicking then because I'm asleep, but he'll probably be moving a bit at some point during that time." Sure enough, a couple times when I have woken up at 0200 to go to the bathroom, I have felt him moving about. I assume around that time is our missing activity period. |
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But I am happy about those Cardinals! The same Cardinals that I'd written off as possibly the worst playoff contestant in history just three weeks ago. Now look at 'em! I'll be pulling for them in the Big Game!
Stupid Ravens.