Don, You Really Let Me Down

On Wednesday, Bobby and I went to Wal-Mart to prepare ourselves for Houston's first coastal threat:  Tropical Storm Don who was slated to make landfall sometime on Friday night.  We bought copious amounts of emergency-ish items and spent an obscene amount of money all to secure a little peace of mind. 

For those who don't know:  Tropical depressions/storms in general aren't a huge threat:  rain and wind mostly.  But we needed to prepare since Bob works at the utility company and there was a chance he would have to be at work during/after the storm 24/7.  At his company, whenever there is a tropical threat, they make a decision whether or not to implement the emergency plan, which is:  all hands on deck.  What that means for me is that I'll have to brave any tropical storm or, heaven forbid, a hurricane BY MYSELF!  Yikes!  I wasn't looking forward to that at all especially with a newborn.  But I guess you do what you have to do.

Thankfully, Don looked like he was headed south of us and Houston would get some much needed rain (we've been in a drought since February).  This morning, I noticed the clouds were getting darker and the wind was picking up.  I was excited that a good, long rain was in our forecast. 

WRONG:  It rained this morning for about 15 minutes- enough to wet to my pinkie toe and it wasn't a result of the much anticipated Don (he wasn't making landfall until around 8pm).  After it rained, it was blue skies and abundant sunshine.  At least the temperature was a cool 90degrees. 

What a disappointment- rain wise.  Sanity and safety wise-  I'm glad the storm wasn't worse and I didn't have to brave it alone. 

Sleep...What's That?

I'm sure that for the first few months the only thing any new mom talks about is how tired she is.  It's unbelievable when I add up just how much sleep I get- which is about 4 hours not consecutively.  Baby B is on a wonky schedule.  She sleeps pretty good throughout the day, however, she and Pip are on opposite schedules.  So when Pip is awake B is asleep and vice versa.  Her longest stretch of sleep is from about 8-midnight (right now as I write this post I should be sleeping...right?).  But 8-12 is when I get my quiet time with Bobby and a chance to watch our shows together.  And, even if I did go to sleep at 8, I'd have the most difficult time because I'll be anticipating the wake-up.  At midnight B wakes up for a feeding and then drifts off to sleep for about 2 hours.  Between 3 and 4 is the next feeding and sometimes it's pretty short so I can go back to sleep for an hour or so until about 5:30 when she wakes up...for good.  Ugh.  She is literally bright eyed from about 5:30ish until 8.  It's horrible since Pip wakes up at 9.  So, if I can fall asleep I get about an hour until I have to get Pip.  Sometimes, I'll fall asleep while holding B or I'll put B in her Boppy so she can stare at the ceiling fan.   I'm glad she doesn't cry hysterically, though I might be eating my words soon enough on that one since Pip was colicky.  I do not wish colic on any parent.  I'd take no sleep over colic.

Sleep. We should get together sometime.

Sleep.  It's a distant memory.

The View From Here

L-O-V-E

For the past week and a half, I've been enjoying my sweet little girl.  Though there are quite a few sleepless nights, I love it when she looks at me with those big, gray newborn eyes as if she's studying every detail of my face.  The other day, Bobby was holding her and she lifted up her head to look at him.  I wish I could capture every image as I know this time will pass too quickly.  I don't want to hurry her milestones or wonder "at what age...?"  For now, I'll cherish my view. 

July 5th: The "REAL" Independence Day! (The Story)

After having no fireworks or baby on the 4th of July, I had all but given up and accepted my fate:  another week of waiting...that is until 2am rolled around. 

I woke up around 2 after having a strange dream that I was having contractions.  Turned out, it wasn't a dream.  I worked through a few good ones trying to find a pattern and level of intensity until about 3.  At that point, I was having my most intense contraction so I started slapping Bobby to wake up.  The way I was breathing and clutching the sheets let him know I was having a contraction.  He quickly got his phone and started timing them.  We discovered that my contractions were lasting about a minute-2 minutes and they were roughly 5-8 minutes apart.  He was anxious to call the doctor, but I told him to continue timing for another hour.  At 3:30, the contractions were coming on strong and fast.  At one point, there was only 40 seconds between them.  I took a nice hot shower, dressed, had about 5 rapid fire contractions, and told Bob it was time to call the doctor.  I woke up my mom and told her that we were going to the hospital and probably would have a baby very soon. 

The hospital is about a 10 minute drive from where we live, but the way we go is through a neighborhood with roads that are under construction:  contractions and road bumps...you form an opinion.  We parked the car with valet and before we were even in the doors, I had 2 more contractions and another as they were checking me in.  I think it was pretty clear to them I was in labor.  This was about 4:30ish.

The contractions were intense and machine gun like- I would recover from one and go right into another.  I asked for an epidural.  The nurses drained my blood- for the lab work for the epidural and for the cord blood banking- and placed a gigantic IV in my arm.  I swear the IV catheter hurts like heck.  For the next hour, I continued to have contractions.  Bob would count down for me and talk me through them.  He's a great labor partner.  Then the heavens parted...the Epidural Man arrived.  He deserved a standing ovation for his quick work, though I did nearly bite the nurse as I was having a contraction as the Epidural Man was inserting the needle in my back.  Poor nurse...I warned her.   This was at 6:35.  At this point, my whole attitude changed and I was able to smile and relax.

At 8, the nurses and a bunch of other people arrived.  I had 2 nurses-1 main one and 1 in training, 2 docs-1 main and 1 resident, a staff of baby nurses, and the cord blood guy.  One of my nurses reminded me of a friend in Bloomington, so it was like a breath of fresh air.  They prepped me and had me practice pushing just to see how good I was at pushing.  I guess I'm good because they stopped me and sent for the docs. 

I pushed through 3 contractions-so that's 3 pushes per contraction for 10 seconds each for total of...what 90 seconds plus about a minute between each contraction...I could continue to do the math, but I just gave birth I can't be expected to do such high levels of thinking.

Brynn Noelani was born at 8:35am.  She weighed 7lbs, 5 oz and was 19 1/4 in. long- a full pound heavier and 2 inches longer than her big sis, Piper.

After 2 sleepless nights in the hospital, we were able to come home and enjoy our new daughter.

Brynn is BEAUTIFUL just like Piper.  Bob and I make some gorgeous babies who don't come out all wrinkly and old man like.  Brynn is very active and strong.  She's already starting to lift her head up and tries to push herself up on her legs.  She has the most delightful demeanor-  I just feel so much love coming from her, it feels like if she could talk she would say to me- "I love you mommy, I'm so glad I'm here."  I swear she smiles already and it's so cute. 

Piper is the best big sister EVER!  She helps change diapers and bottle feed (we supplemented with formula until my milk came in to ensure the billiruibin was excreted).  She gives kisses and has even shared some toys with Brynn.  When Brynn cries, Piper tries to comfort her and give her words of encouragement.  It's super cute listening to her give Brynn a pep talk. Every morning Pip comes in and tells Brynn good morning and then gets in my face and yells "Surprise!"  Poor thing doesn't know that I just barely closed my eyes, oh well-I won't squash her happiness and eagerness to be a big sister. 

I can't believe I have 2 kids and we're a family of 4 plus dog. 

pictures will be in the next post

July 5th: The "REAL " Independence Day! (The Pictures)



In the delivery room.  Obviously, I've had the epidural.



Getting all cleaned up and checked out



All clean!



Kisses from mommy

First Family Pic



My Girls

So tiny in daddy's arms

Big sis and grandma



Proud big sister



Just the 3 of us



Grandma



Sleeping Beauty



Patiently Waiting for the "Real" Work to Begin

No baby yet

I've been telling Baby B that she can't come until grandma is here to take care of Big Sister. My mom comes tomorrow at 8:30am. I just have to make it a few more hours. Then I'll tell Baby B it's okay to come out. Personally, I really want a 4th of July baby. How fun would that be?

We had a bit of a scare yesterday (Saturday). We were spending a generous gift card at Babies R Us when I suddenly felt some intense contractions-more so than the ones I've been feeling the past few weeks. Bob started timing them and we discovered that they were short, variable, and about 15 minutes apart, we were safe. However, it didn't stop us from packing a hospital/sleepover bag for Pip and Bobby having his timer ready. . . just in case.

Today (Sunday), I had a few contractions at church but none of them warranted an early departure (much to Bob's dismay, poor thing was so tired since I was up most of the night attending to bathroom needs and he kept waking up panicked that I was going into labor).

So far, we're having contractions- even as I write this post- but none of them are following a distinct pattern. With Pip, my water didn't break so I have no real way of knowing if labor is imminent. All I keep telling myself if that: "We have to make it to Monday, We have to make it to Monday".

In Grand Tradition of Showers that Never Were

I write this on the eve of a baby luncheon Bob's co-workers have planned for us. It's not a baby shower per se, but an excuse for Bob's co-workers to celebrate the impending arrival of the new baby and it's the 4th of July weekend, so it's an excuse to leave work early and eat good food and yummy cake. I can't complain on either front. However, when I received the invite to the "Baby Shower", I got a little itchy and nervous. Why, you might ask? Well,



Something ALWAYS goes wrong. I know there are plenty who worry no one will come to their party or the food won't be good or it'll rain or...What I mean is something completely inconceivable goes wrong. For example, my first wedding shower (my roommate took on the task of planning) was canceled due to the fact that the wedding had been canceled. Then when the wedding was called on again, my mother in law planned one. I didn't know anyone who was invited nor did I see them because only about 5 people were there. Now, it didn't hurt my feelings that my mom and sisters comprised most of the attendees. The real fact of the matter is that one of the ladies who "planned" it, had an unfortunate accident- her husband was shot...with a BB gun- though no one knew that until well after my shower had ended. So, the shower was...a total bust to say the least. I felt awkward tying to celebrate when everyone else was so concerned about the "shooting". I can laugh now, I mean really, who has this story?



Next experience, my own baby shower debacle. I didn't really want a baby shower. Well, I wanted one, but I wanted to do it myself. I know it's weird to plan your own party. Everyone should have friends to offer, right? Not in my case. I have friends who like me to plan their baby showers and attend their baby showers and buy them gifts, but they don't think to plan one for me. Not that I'm bitter or anything... So, a parent at my school decided to throw one for me. We decided on a date that was roughly 1 or 2 weeks before my due date. I felt pretty sure that it would be okay so close. I was wrong. The shower was on the 8th, I gave birth on the 7th. Not a lot of people showed up for 1. I already had the baby and 2. the invitations got destroyed in the mail. My cousin received her invite in February 2009, my shower was in November...2008.



So this brings me to tomorrow, if it actually happens without a hitch, this will be a first: A celebration in sort of my honor that actually panned out in less than dramatic fashion.



To make matters worse, I'm in a new church and still learning people. The compassionate service lady- in charge of getting meals lined up for new mommies and being, well, compassionate- called me and decided that she wanted to throw me a baby shower as a way of everyone getting to know me. I didn't' have the heart to tell her no, but I don't want one. I don't know anyone in my new church and I really don't need to have invitations printed on tiny slips of paper passed out to everyone in Relief Society in hopes that 1 of them will show up. Ugh, the pressure and humiliation. I really hope she'll decide that her plate is just too full to do anything.