December 3, 2008

Upon the first birthday of my first baby, I thought that I would recap the glorious day one year ago when Mary came into my life! I'm sure that some of the details have been lost, but to the best of my ability, this is the story I can tell her (much to her annoyance probably) on her birthday every year!

In the final days of my pregnancy, I had only gained about 25 pounds and was still doing pretty well. I had bought a prenatal yoga DVD which was fabulous and I continued to do the exercises right up until the end. I was still working. I probably could have worked until the day she was born, but I decided to leave the week before I was due. Quite frankly, I was emotionally not up for dealing with working anymore; physically I was fine!

The funniest thing is that the day Mary was born I had an appointment with my other OB, oh and it was my due date, and she wasn't even going to do a cervical exam because I had no signs of labor. But I told her to do it anyway, because, hey, I was there and why not. 1 centimeter, mayyyyybe 2. and then..... the talk. Yes the dreaded induction talk. She may as well have been talking about decapitating puppies. This talk may have been the mental push I needed to get my hormones rocking, because about three hours later my contractions started (after a lovely lunch with John at Nick O'Neils).

I was laying on my couch at 2:00 drinking a peppermint mocha from Starbucks (yah I know it's espresso, but I was nine freaking months pregnant people! I treated myself), watching A Baby Story on TLC, which is a terrible show for pregnant women (or ANY woman really) to watch. Not only is it edited like crazy, but it puts all these thoughts in your head. Every woman is different. I mean, not three hours before I got the "talk" from my OB. And lo and behold, there they were. Cute little cramps. They start like little pains, and you think, awe man, are these Braxton-Hicks? But they were 12 minutes apart, then 10, then 6. So I got my hospital bag ready just in case. It was manageable. Plus it was my first baby, right, so obviously this will take an eternity. I called John at about 5ish to ask if he was on his way home because I "thought" I may be having contractions. He was picking up his suit. Ok, cool. I'll just chill until he gets home and then we'll take it from there. By 6:30, I was on the floor on all fours, because it was the only thing that helped. I called him again, "please tell me that you are on your way home." "I'm pulling into the driveway right now" he says. Thank god. The reason it took so long for him to get home is quite adorable, unless you are in labor, and then stopping at dsw to buy shoes is not as funny.

We got to the birth center at about 7, and I got checked in. I was 4-5 centimeters. I told them no epi's. One of the nurses came in to check the monitors and it turned out to be a friend of mine from high school! How funny is that? She asked me if I was ok with her being there, or if it was too weird, and honestly, I loved that she was there. It didn't feel as foreign, especially since neither of my OBs were on call that night, and it was nice to know somebody there! So knowing that I didn't want an epi, the other nurse recommended the shower. I wanted the birthing tub, but there was only one, and that room was taken. So I sat in the shower for 45 minutes in between monitorings. John stood there holding the shower on me; he was soaking wet from the knees down. At this point, since my water never broke, all I kept thinking was that the contractions were going to get worse... and that was unfathomable to me at that time. I didn't know how long I would last. So I told them, I'm probably going to need something... SOMETHING! I didn't know what. Crack? Meth? Ruffies? Whatever. But the nurses knew I didn't really want anything, and they did a great job of stalling (which I didn't realize at the time but now I am so grateful that they knew I could go longer. I read somewhere that it's really common for women in natural childbirth to do that, but the nurses or midwives can tell when we REALLY need something, and they held out.) Then bloodwork, then IV, which exploded in my left hand and they redid in my right. In the meantime, I was having mega-contractions. The kind that could kill a man and there were peaks on the monitor to prove it. Then, checked so that we could "talk" about pain relief. To the disbelief of my nurse, and confirmed by my other nurse, I was 9.5 cm and she was very low. Sooooo, no drugs, huh? Nope.

After a fairly short amount of pushing, Miss Mary came flying out into the world and onto my chest at 10:57 PM, a nine hour labor, not bad! She was the most perfect thing I'd ever seen. It was still unbelievable that she was in there the whole time... that we had made THAT. Amazing. 6.5 pounds and 21 inches of perfection.

I had a pretty good recovery. I mean, mostly I was just tired. Lack of sleep will do that to you. I know I'm supposed to talk about how excruciating it all was, but it was so fast and I would do it over again in a heartbeat. At a year old, I still love her more every day.

Happy birthday to my muffin!

December 1

Can you freakin' believe it's December already? Oh my god, I can't. Lately I have been really nostalgic about the last year. I have been remembering being pregnant at this time a year ago. Most of the the fear was gone by this time, the room was ready, and I was hopelessly trying to find clothes that fit (yah right!). All in all I was still feeling really good, walking, and doing pre-natal yoga. On this day last year, I had an appointment with my acupuncturist, the infamous god-send Terri Tangredi. She did the usual treatment for my sciatica, and also did an induction procedure. If it is going to work she said, it usually will in about 48 hours and labor will start. Well, guess what? It DID. I will be posting a recap of December 3rd, 2009, when I became a mom to the sweetest baby this side of the Mississippi. Don't worry, I will only mention my cervix a couple times, hehehe.

In the meantime, I love this article, and the title is hilarious.

http://www.midwiferytoday.com/articles/pelvis.asp

Chickens & Parties

Sorry that I haven’t written much lately, but I’m sure you all understand, I’m a pretty busy momma. So here’s an update on the family lately.
I am sorry to update that my step-grandmother passed away last month at 96. She was so sweet and will be sorely missed by all of her family! I will definitely think of her every time that I attempt the Sunday crossword, which she completed, usually in its entirety and in a couple of hours flat.
Halloween was unseasonably warm this year. We bought Mary a cute chicken costume with the assumption that it would keep her nice and toasty, but instead she just sweat like a little Italian baby. Oh well! We took her around to some of our family and then got home just in time to give out candy to, like, five kids. Since then we have been eating the leftover candy ourselves. This hasn’t helped much in my desire to trim my midsection so I guess that will have to wait until after the holidays.

Miss Mary is getting so big, and I am totally in denial that she’s going to be a year old. I can’t even believe how fast time flies; it seems like only yesterday I was holding her for the first time, aaaand she was screaming like a banshee. Good times!
Lately, we have been working on walking. She took a few steps on her own last weekend. She stands on her own too, but then as soon as she wants to move plops down and crawls. I think it’s just a confidence issue, and any day now she’s just going to decide that she wants to walk everywhere instead. We will be very tired after that day, running around after her!
I am currently trying to figure out details for her party although it’s still a couple weeks away. I know the time will fly though so I want to plan as much as I can now. I much prefer going to parties than planning them. I’m sure I’ll be adding pictures somewhere for the big event!

Parenthood? Oh now I get it....

I think I may have figured out this whole parenting thing. Basically, as parents, we are in charge of our kids heads and brains from being damaged. Let me break it down for you....
When they are still in the womb, we worry about their head facing in the right direction when they are ready to be born.
When they are newborns until 3 months, we make sure their heads don't flop around when they can't hold them up themselves.
When they are old enough to crawl, we try to keep them from bumping their heads into walls, furniture, the coffee table.
And then, of course, when they started to stand and walk, we need to keep them from head-butting things, falling down the stairs, falling head-first off the couch....

I need a nap just thinking about this....

It's Fun To Say Rear

So as many of you may know, I have been trying to figure out what car seat to get my darling, ever-growing, child. I didn't really expect that I would spend so much goddamn time researching this. I should have done this last year when I registered but I spent so much time reading up on natural childbirthing that I really didn't have time for much else! (Thank goodness for downtime at work). So lately I have been looking at ratings and reviews like mad, trying to pick one that fits our needs. It's one of those things that I figured were all the same, but little did I know how many features and standards I would be running into.

I figured that I would just buy whatever, but then I have that paranoia that we are going to get into an accident. So I start thinking that I should get a good one... just in case.

Everyone that had a Britax seat couldn't stop raving about them. All the ratings were great, but I kept looking at others. In the meantime until I buy my favorite, I purchased an Alpha-Omega from BJs. John and I spent some time wrestling with it. I can't get it to be stable in my car without removing the base. This is NOT good. So finally John got it somewhat stable using the LATCHes in a rear-facing set-up. She's still under a year, so we are keeping her rear-facing. Plus it's fun to say rear.

I drove to my parents' house on Sunday, with her in the new seat. It was actually surprisingly easy to belt her in BUT.... both ways all she did was the "whine cry." I figured that maybe on the way there she was just cranky but she did it ALL the way back too. So, really, what was I going to do? I couldn't take her out of it, and I tried adjusting it. No dice. Whhhhhhine.

My conclusion was that she really doesn't feel comfortable in it. So this will not work for me because I can't have her miserable in the car all the time.

But the big FAIL of this seat is that it rattles ALL THE EFFING TIME. Right next to my ear. Rattle. Clank. Rattle. Clank. I even tried turning up the radio. That didn't really work. Soooo I am fairly certain that this is either going back or being used as a backup for when she is over my in-laws and she's old enough to put it front-facing. They have a Volvo which, like my Jetta, doesn't offer much in the way of backseat space, but I think it will be fine as a front-facer.

After much research I think I have decided to try out a Sunshine Kids Radian car seat. This, for all you TLC nerds, is the carseat of the Gosselins. Not that that fact alone swayed me, but at least I know that it won't be overwhelming in a small car. They are only 17 inches in width! They are heavy but sturdy and they fold up! So I am pretty excited to try one out. I will be heading to Impish in Northampton to check them out in person. If I decide to get it, I'll definitely give an update. At this point if it's quiet, I'm sold. Oh, and it's really safe too. Yah, and hopefully quiet.

Fall Update 2009

As of the third of this month, our dear child is a whole ten months old. How the hell did THAT happen. She is successfully standing everywhere and a master of the crawling arts! A few weeks ago her bottom two teeth started to make their way out. She was off her usual schedule, and had two white bumps on her gums. We were wondering when those beauties were going to come out! They are still not all the way out, but getting there. Just as a warning, don't let her chew on your fingers because those puppies are SHARP.
Now that fall is upon us, I'm wondering how much will actually get done on my bigass-will-probably-take-forever-to-do-list. I would absolutely love to take down the panelling in our third bedroom. Of course, I have no idea what the walls look like underneath!
John and I went to the Ben Folds show on Saturday which was AWESOME. I have been a huge fan for a while and I finally got to see him live. It was really refreshing to see a performer so pure. All he had onstage with him was a piano, no other artists, no light show, no backup singers! And he was great. Not many singers can do that and get away with it! He sang a couple songs from when he was Ben Folds Five; one of them was Alice Childress. Fantastic. And while they were fixing the grand piano pedal that broke, he busted out an a capella version of Bitches Aint Shit, with some audience participation of course. He played for a couple hours and then we went to pick up Mary and be told that we have the best baby EVER. But I already knew that! It's nice to hear, though!
This holiday weekend should be fantastic! I have my cousin's shower to go to; she is pregnant with twins, which so exciting! And then later on, we are going to a Maken brothers' concert at the Wherehouse in Holyoke. I wish that Mary were old enough to go, but maybe next year she will be able to stay awake through some of it. Our friends from NJ will be coming up too with their baby. We haven't seen them since August, so I can't wait to see them!
Cheers!!!

F Bombs!!! Yaaaay!

My big plan was to put the clip up of SNL on Saturday where one of the new girls drops the F-bomb on air. She was supposed to say fricken repeatedly and messes up, classic! But... hmmm.... the clip seems to be the only thing NOT on the fricken episode recap on nbc.com. Interesting.

As easy as I know it is to slip up, especially when you are fricken new, I think that SNL needs to evaluate. It's not the first time this has happened. Look at the show itself, it's fricken sketch comedy, it's fricken live, and it's on at 11:30 on a fricken Saturday. I mean, unless you've DVRed it and watch it later, your fricken kids should not be up at that hour. So who knows what they will fricken do.

Sorry about the lack of awesome clip. Booo NBC.

Where does the time go? Seriously!

So this weekend we went to a THIRD birthday party for Owen. I can't get over how time flies. I still remember going to Baystate three hours after he was born. I walked in slowly, and was handed a cute little bundled football. That was HOW long ago?

But of course, now that I have my own kid, I see how fast it all goes first-hand. The trees have started to change and I can't believe that it's fall already. I can't wait until Mary can play in the leaves with Teddy!

On my list for this fall, is, as usual, baking and cooking. I always love to make homemade applesauce (which is so easy to make it's redonkulous!) All you need is a food mill like this one...

And voila! Applesauce! I usually freeze a bunch of it too. It makes a great quick housewarming present. And it's great for babies and kids because there's no sugar added, or anything added really.

Also on my list is an apple pie, pumpkin seeds, zucchini bread, and this recipe of Giada's.

http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/giada-de-laurentiis/sweet-potato-gnocchi-with-maple-cinnamon-sage-brown-butter-recipe/index.html

My step-mom made it one time and I can't wait to make it myself. Plus I have lovely sage growing in my herb garden!

I'm a Fly Lady

A friend of mine turned me onto this site...

http://www.flylady.net/

They have tips and advice about decluttering and de-chaosing your life! Boy do I need this. Next on my list is a pile of clothes that I need to sort through. There is so much that I never wear anymore, and probably never will again! Somehow I have managed to keep up with Mary's stuff; she has quickly grown out of so many clothes. I feel bad that some of them she was never able to wear all that much. I guess if we have a girl for #2, she'll be all set!





Speaking of organizing our lives, here's John's iPhone with a Post-It on it. It's kind of like old school meets new school...

Nobody Puts Swayze in a Corner

RIP Patrick Swayze: whether you liked it or not, you were part of my childhood.

Test

Here's a few tidbits from me just to see who may be reading this crap...

- John, I regret to inform you that all of the fantasy football leagues, like, everywhere, have been cancelled, forever. Bummer.

- Neil, sorry that your girlfriend moved to Mumbai. bummer dude.

- Kelly, you have been globally banned from playing Wii. Way harsh.

- Mike, Paper City beer is made from puppies. ewe.

- Tim, there's a huge bag of goat weiners on your front porch. No idea how they got there.

- Martha, I really think that Vulture Willets is an awesome name. Go for it!

- Maggie, lets get together and eat cheese.

- Jen, there's a creampuff with our name on it at the Big E. I will wear stretchy pants.

On a good note, the premier of Always Sunny is this week!!! Suh-weeeeet!

Oh will I actually have time for this?

So why, you ask did I actually start a blog? I rarely have time to harvest my Farmville crops. I just started going back to work full time (although I had two four-day work weeks to start that off). I really need to go grocery shopping, desperately. There are a rediculous number of reasons not to. But in all honestly,
I have A LOT of wonderful opinions and I REALLY think that all of you should hear. Seriously.
Plus I have really good grammar skilz, check it outs.
Now you are wondering, what wonderful things will I be exposed to on this blog. Here's a preview. Occasionally I have meltdowns (usually this occurs while I am driving, but, alas, blogging-whilst-driving is strongly discouraged). You will listen to me rant, and LIKE IT. Occasionally, I come across an article or tidbit that I think everyone else needs to read. You will read it, and LIKE IT. Occasionally, I come across a good deal or pearl of wisdom that I want to share with y'all. And most of all, the state seems to do a phenomenal job of wasting our money, so I will do my part and occasionally blog at work. If you have a problem with that, please contact the AFSCME union.
So yah. We'll see how this goes.

Please stay away from our piggys.....
http://www.masslive.com/news/index.ssf/2009/09/big_e_to_keep_people_away_from.html