Black Friday/ shopping fun

Just got back from a trip to Tar-jay where I was clutching my "save $15 off purchase of $150 or more" coupon at the checkout lane wondering if I had bought enough. Let's just say I almost could have used 2 coupons... Anyhoo, we weren't even really Xmas shopping, just getting some necessities (humidifier for our dry climate + heater coming on, maxi pads, Dora sippy cups, frozen pizza, etc) for our daily life. We have been surprised this weekend how empty our town seems. The park, the restaurants, the shops...not even as busy as usual weekends. I know some of it is people going out of town and some may be the economy, but we were in one of those pockets of the country where the bad times have not hit just yet (they hit really bad about 25 years ago and people still remember those times). We did get some super deals on a few DVDs....Monty Python's Holy Grail, and Moulin Rouge (probably a stocking stuffer for my MIL, lover of all things movie musical.

I am still mostly an internet shopper for other stuff. So convenient and such fun to get boxes at the door. I recently discovered a great site for comfortable bras (I hate bras) called blue canoe. I ordered one for nursing and have a few more ordered to try. It has been kind of discouraging being postpartum shape, but I went through some of my closet yesterday and have managed to find some clothing that I can wear/ live with until the middle part of me becomes less prominent (hopefully). I may hop over to academy and get some clothes (they have great prices) to tide me over. I received a super comfy warm up set from there as a gift last week and it actually fits!

Bleeding nipples...great name for a punk/ metal band

OK, I put MSB to the boob every 3 hours in the hospital and ended up with bleeding, painful, scabbed nipples. I BF my 1st kid so I knew how to position/ latch on and had the nurses check me. MSB has this power suction and I think it got worse as she was HUNGRY and all she got were tiny bits of colostrum. After seeing her pull away with a mouthful of blood, I just cried and got out the bottles. My milk did come in 2 days, but by that time I didn't want to feed her (or pump) and had already been giving her formula. OK you can throw nursing pads at me now. Crazy thing...life is so much easier esp at night. Instead of endless nursing sessions in the bleak parts of the night, we heat, eat burp and sleep in about 20-30 minutes. I am such a happier mommy and MSB is content. That 1st bottle I gave her she just sucked it down burped like a trucker and was calm and sighed contentedly.

Preschool Stress

As I lift my head out of the fog of being pregnant, hormones, and general unwellness, I notice that my wee one and others are trying to tell me the new preschool ("the best in the city")isn't working out as we had planned. Various concerning things like how we are struggling to get her up, dressed, and there without being "tardy," how dirty she was when she came home several times, to our nanny's concerns about the teachers approach to talking to the kids, to how more structured the school is than I thought would be for 3 year olds, and etc.

So we are leaving and I am going to put her back into her little mother's day out where she can be painting, playing , and laughing, and we don't have to always be on time. Wee one is excited agreed to this change and got out her old hello kitty lunch box this morning...oh sweetie, we are going to have a holiday this week and we'll start Monday.

I had really agonized about this in the 1st place and understand that for her this will not be the right place. I hate to think she was ever unhappy, but didn't really know how to express it very well to me...oh the agony of parenting when you make a wrong decision. I should have known it from her school pictures...the old one she is sweetly smiling and the new one she looks dazed. Live and learn.

My Sweet Baby

MSB was born Friday at 12:15 pm weighing 6 lbs 6 oz and 19 1/4 " long. She came out after a little pitocin, a nice epidural, scalp monitor/rom (neat trick by L&D nurse) and 6 pushes from mom. In all it took about 3.5 hours. There were a few scary decels of the fetal heart rate (with contractions) but they resolved when I turned from lying on my left side to almost sitting up!

She was a hearty crier at birth and right away we noticed her beautiful full head of dark wavy hair and the loveliest set of fingers I have ever seen on a baby (long, tapered with oval nails).

We came home today and I'll add more when I get the chance...

Pick a birthday

Just got back from OB, I am dilated to 5-6 cm and I am going to be admitted to L&D tomorrow at 7am. He is worried I'll go into labor at home/ in the car/ etc and the baby will comer flying out so we are going to try to have a more controlled situation. He even jokingly told me not to cough, sneeze, etc...hard right now as I am getting over my cold, etc. I am like, WOW. I get to meet my new kid tomorrow.

Pee pee jug on ice

Came back today from high risk OB visit with a brown jug in my hand for a 24 hour urine collection. I dipped protein on the urinalysis the last visit and this one. Super fun. yay. My blood pressures have been fine and I don't have any swelling anywhere (except my belly) so they are not too worried. So I am keeping my jug on ice in a trash can in my bathroom so I don't contaminate my refrigerator (actually non infected urine is actually sterile, but I can't deal with food and waste products in the same place). So various members of my household (my parents are visiting) have been asking me why I am carrying bowls of ice into my room. I tell them they don't really want to know but I tell them why. Everyone then goes, ewww...oh. Fun times, fun times.

Sick again

Woke up at 3 am last night having shaking chills and a mother of a sinus headache, swollen neck glands and a sore throat. Woke dh up to get me some tylenol as temp showed fever. Probably payback for being a harda-- and not letting wee one watch tv after 8:30pm...we fought for at least 1/2 hour about this ( me and wee one). A bit better today, my mom has made some soup for me and the tylenol helps. Wee one went off to school and dh told the teacher she still had a bit of runny nose (no fever) and they said, oh, so does everyone else! She really needed to go as she was having cabin fever pretty bad this weekend because I wouldn't let her go anywhere.

Bored, bored, bored

I know, I know, soon I will not be bored anymore. But I have run out of things to do. I did a little bit of work yesterday...brief meeting and signed some paperwork and I felt like myself again for just a few moments. Last night, I was resting and didn't feel like doing anything...internet, eating, watching movie, etc. Finally I forced myself to read a book, "Little Earthquakes" by Jennifer Weiner and read all the parts about food and the labor and delivery scenes. Today I feel good and wee one (who was struggling with a a drippy eye virus last night) is better today. Life is good.

Warm up labor

Have been having irregular contractions since 4 am this morning. Nothing in a pattern yet, just the tightening and sometimes back pain. In the haziness of being half asleep, I wonder, hey, is this for real or is it gas or am I dreaming? You'd think since I've done this before I would have a clue, but I have never made it this far. So I am somewhere between 36.5 and 37.5 weeks along, but as the doctor (who believes I am more 37.5 by my LMP) said the other day, the baby should be all baked by now more or less (I had this sudden image of a biscuit when he said that.) Is is time to get the honey and butter out yet?

He even offered the option of induction next week if I wanted. That kind of blew my mind (as I have been fixated on keeping the baby INSIDE because of the preterm history), but I told him I would just continue along and see if it would happen naturally unless he thought there was a reason to do anything.

Date night

DH and I got a really nice date night yesterday. My whole day was great compared to many days in the past few weeks actually. We went to see the movie with the controversial title, "Zack & Miri Make a Porno." I wanted to see either comedy (my fav) or action because any kind of drama or chick flick makes me sob and cry, cry, cry. This movie was hilarious...I told dh I hoped he wasn't embarassed that I was one of the people who laughed the most/ loudest in the theater. However, the man knows my favorite movie include Tommy Boy, Old School, and the 40 year old virgin.

The 1st 1/2 of the movie was wonderfully comedic. SPOILER ALERT...Then the 2nd 1/2 turned into a sweet, romantic comedy and I started shedding a few tears and wanted to hold hands with dh....oh well.

That sucked

Well, I figured out why I felt so bad....I had a throat/ sinus infection. Fever, swollen glands, body aches and the "I feel like a pile of crap" sensation. I am so much better today and even went out to lunch/ shopping a bit with my MIL, so all is well again. I can't blame it all on the pregnancy.

Crib is now set up and bedding has been located and cleaned. It was so hard to do the 1st time around. This time it was a breeze. Now I've got to get the infant seat down and find the boppy pillow.
Nest, nest, nest...

Pregnant, tired, tired, pregnant

Kind of icky today....nothing specific just not feeling great. I may have stayed up too late last night thinking about things. Dh set up the crib and it was way bigger than I remembered. I guess that is reflecting the daunting task that looms ahead of caring for a 2nd child.

I have been spending time looking at clothes on the internet, fantasizing about wearing stuff that has belts again! But last night I ended up buying some nursing tops and bras and hoping my boobs don't get too out of control once the milk starts flowing.

Wee one has been really clingy lately...mommy this and mommy that. I guess she knows something is changing ahead.

Calm

Today begins a new week and I feel so much better. Dh is recovered and I have parents here to help. Oh and also had a bm for the 1st time in 5 days. Life is good. So now I am just gestating and am going to look at all the cute things I got from my baby shower last week. I have read its tacky to have a shower for #2, but my friends said, No, it isn't and we wanted an excuse to throw a party any way. They gave a great party and we had wonderful food...chicken spaghetti and salad and one of the girls made a beautiful cake. Mmmm....I am hungry now.