The Waiting Game

No further progress in the baby department. After seeing the doctor on Tuesday, he said I haven't progressed much at all, maybe another cm but nothing to write home about, per se. But, we did talk about the possiblity of inducing me if I haven't gone into labor by the middle of next week. I was happy he was so open to it. And thankfully I don't have to go straight to the Pitocin. He said he would try something else first, some sort of hormone. And if that didn't work within 24 hours, then he'd start Pitocin. Both Jeff & I would like to avoid the whole inducing thing all together, but I also don't want to wait too long, and end up needing a C-section because I've got a 10 pound baby on my hands.
I took Emma to gymnastics last night. Most of the people that I know there were surprised I was still there. Most expected that I would have already had the baby, me included. One women even said right before we left, well I hope to not see you next week. I said thanks.
It was a busy evening. Right after gymnastics, we came back home to pick up Jeff to go grocery shopping. Since he's had the car all week, I haven't been able to go. I told him that if I went into labor without going, he & Emma would probably not have any food or toilet paper while I was gone. Either that, or they'd go buy it & pay an extremely high price for it when I know where are all the sales are. I think it was the shortest shopping trip on record for us. We only spent roughly 45 minutes in the store, and that included check-out time. And I got almost everything we needed. The rest can wait, it's not that important. Of course, the one bad thing to having Jeff go with me grocery shopping, is he's just like a little kid, grabbing things off the shelves & putting them in the cart, half slyly, thinking I won't notice until it's too late. Something tells me he's been perfecting this art since he was a small child. And he grabs things he never tells me he wants when I go by myself, so I can never buy it when it's on sale. Instead we have to pay full price for his convenience. Sorry, that's my "Grandpa Schmechel frugal gene" talking.
Emma's going to miss school today because Jeff has the car & he's going to be in a meeting from 1-5pm. But, it'll be ok, this is only the first time she's missed school (well, actually the second, but that was because we were out of town). So, I think she'll live. We'll have fun around here, maybe walk around the block again. And she can help me put away laundry, that's always fun! I've got about 50 loads of clean laundry all folded up down here by the computer, that I just haven't put away yet. Something about sclepping all this stuff up a flight of stairs just doesn't appeal to me right now. I probably should have asked Jeff to go it for me, but I forgot. I had a pretty rough night last night, very little sleep, and lots of aches & pains, so by the time Jeff got up for work, I wasn't thinking about anything but just trying to get up for the day. I told him, I can handle the sleepless nights when there's a crying hungry baby involved, but this "not sleeping" thing just because I'm uncomfortable isn't cool anymore. I'd take the crying baby anyday.
I think Emma has decided that today she's going to be a kitty all day. She's crawling around the house, meowing at me, and I have to refer to her as "kitty". She definitely has a good imagination. She comes up with all sorts of interesting things.
I think I spoke too soon when I told people that I thought that I had escaped the worst of my cold that I had last week. It seems it maybe coming back with a vengence, and a sore throat, too. But the sore throat I can handle, as long as I can breathe through my nose. Having a sore throat during labor might be a good thing for Jeff, so I won't feel as apt to yell at him.

Counting the days

Every day it seems I get at least half a dozen calls, from Jeff, and other family members, asking me if I've gone into labor yet. Mostly from Jeff. He calls from work, asking me if it's time for a baby yet. I hate to disappoint him. I keep telling him, I'm trying my best to get things rolling, but I really have no control over this. Emma & I went for a walk around the block yesterday (I walked, she was on her skates). It was a slow process, to be sure, but she had fun. Then she played with a ball in the driveway, and on the swing set out in the backyard. It was still a little chilly, but she kept herself warm by running around. I took some pictures & put them on our family website.
Jeff is taking the car to work everyday now. He wants to make sure I don't have to drive myself over to get him, should I go into labor. It's very sweet. But now he has to leave work every time we need to do something. Like today, Emma has preschool & I have a doctor's appointment. Tomorrow evening, Emma has gymnastics. We normally pick him up on the way there, but now he'll have to leave work early to come pick us up. So, hopefully I'll go into labor soon so he doesn't have to keep doing this for another week and a half.
With all the worry about having the baby early, now that I'm less than a week away from my due date, I'm now beginning to worry that I'll go late. And I don't want to do that. My mom comes on the 23rd and is only here for a week. I'm going to try to convince my doctor to induce me if I haven't delivered by that date. I don't know how he's going to react to that, but we'll see. And I don't like the idea of getting Pitocin again, since I know what it does to me, but if the ends justify the means, then I'll do it. I get to find out if I've progressed anymore today. I sure hope so. This baby's getting too big for her current surroundings. Although I think she likes it in there, and may decide to stay for a little while longer. We gotta shake her up & get her moving so she can get out. As much as I'm going to miss being pregnant (the good parts of it, at least), I'll be glad when my body is my own again, and I'm not sharing it with another tiny human being who gives me heartburn when I drink water.
Emma decided last night, after telling me that she wants me to have the baby NOW, that she would like to go to sleep, and then come downstairs in the morning & VOILA! Find the baby down here, just waiting for her, like some present on Christmas morning. I thought that was too funny. Jeff overheard her and said, Yeah I'm sure mommy would like it to happen that way, too. Too true. That would be great, but it's not even conceivable. Unless I have to be put out & given a C-section. It's so funny how little kids come up with explainations to things they don't understand.

Easter fun

Emma had her first big easter egg hunt yesterday at her friend Morgan's house. Her mom decided yesterday would be the best time, since it looked like it was supposed to rain/snow today. Emma had a great time. Since this was the first time she's ever done this before, she had a little trouble getting started, and basically just followed Morgan around the yard. There were a few other kids there, Morgan's brother Bobbie, and Zoe & Zack, the kids of some colleagues of Morgan's mom. They all had fun running around the yard, looking for eggs. We did have to help them find a few that were hidden, but overall they found them all on their own. Or so we thought. About 30 minutes after they stopped searching, the dog in the yard behind theirs was scratching & digging at the cyclone fence that separates the yards. Sue, Morgan's mom, went over to see what he was digging at. He had found an egg that no one had remembered, hidden under a pile of leaves. It was too funny. The poor dog was just looking at her like, I found it, give it to me, don't I deserve it? But it had candy in it, so no such luck for the poor guy.
After searching for the eggs, the kids decided they wanted to play on the swing set, while the adults stood around in the backyard talking. It was nice. It was a little chilly, but I don't think the kids noticed, since they were running around. After a little while, we all went back inside. We didn't stay much longer after that, but Sue offered to have Emma stick around so she could decorate real eggs with Morgan. That sounded fine with us, so we went home. Sue brought her back over about an hour later. And she wasn't screaming her head off, like she was the LAST time she left Morgan's house. But we had discussed that with her prior to us leaving her there. Jeff answered the door when she came back & offered to have the kids come over here this afternoon. So, Emma's going to have a weekend full of Morgan. It's nice that they get along so well, especially since they'll be seeing a lot of each other once I go into labor. Emma's going to be spending the night at Morgan's house once we go to the hospital. And she'll be going to Morgan's babysitter's if it happens during the work week. Speaking of which, Emma & I went over to meet her babysitter on Friday. Her name is Sue, too. We were there for about 2 hours, and Emma was really excited to see that Morgan was there. They played nicely together for the most part, except that Emma accidently hit Morgan in the face with some sort of toy. I know it wasn't on purpose, but I felt so bad for the kid. And I knew that probably wasn't the best impression to give to the lady who might be watching Emma all day in the very near future. But she didn't seem to think it was that big of a deal. She's very patient with the kids, but she doesn't take any crap, which is a good thing. Even while we were there (and probably BECAUSE Emma was there, and was causing a ruckus) the kids had to come into the living room & have some quiet time, where they just sat on the couch. Emma couldn't quite understand why she had to do it, too, but she didn't give much resistance.
When I had first told Emma yesterday morning that we were going over to Morgan's house, she thought that meant she was staying the night. We made an overnight bag for her, for when I go into labor. But she grabbed that & thought she was going to stay the night there. It was too cute. So at least I know there won't be any need to worry about separation anxiety with her when we leave her there for a day or so. And once I have the baby, she can come back home with Jeff.
So, now I'm a week away from my due date. It could happen at any time, Jeff's hoping that it'll happen soon (he really wants to have 2 weeks off of work) and now I have no idea when it's going to happen. It's kind of a dose of reality, after planning & waiting all this time and trying to get everything prepared, that you still have no control over when it finally happens. Unless you're having a scheduled C-section. It kinda makes you feel helpless knowing that you really can't do anything but sit & wait. But, since I probably should be doing more of that (the sitting, preferably with my feet up), I guess I can handle it.

One Crisis Averted

Last night at Emma's gymnastics class, we got the best news I think we've heard in awhile. Our neighbor's daycare provider will watch Emma if I go into labor during the work week. Plus, my neighbor is cool with taking her & picking her up from there (since her kids go there, too) and watching her overnight. I think both Jeff & I were ready to kiss my neighbor when she told us. I am so relieved & happy. I know Emma will have a great time with Morgan, and at the sitter's, should that become necessary. So I'm going to call the sitter today & try to set up a time to meet her, and so she can meet Emma. Apparently, she's relatively inexpensive, too, so we might be able to use her for other times when we need a part-time sitter as well. Sue also said she's very flexible with times, so she sounds great.
Now all we're doing is playing the waiting game. The baby could theoretically come at any time, which is nice, because I'm very ready for her to come now & stop playing "trampoline" on my lower abdomen. But I'm still hoping that she'll hold out until my mom gets here. But that's not for another 2 weeks. So the chances of that happening are very slim. Well, whatever happens, happens. I'm not going to stress about it because that's just going to push my blood pressure up & that's not a good thing.
We got a package yesterday from my Aunt Rhonda & Uncle Brian. It had some nice clothes in it for Sarah & also some new gymnastics/dance clothes for Emma. She was really excited. She got a new pink leotard, a black chiffon dance skirt, pink shimmery tights & black ballet slippers. She immediately wanted to put them on & dance around the house. It was too cute. I had to tell her that if she insisted on wearing all of her new clothes (mostly just the tights, skirt & shoes, I had no problem with her wearing the leotard) to gymnastics, she might get them messed up. That horrified her, so she took everything off, and wore an older leotard that she has.
She was still having a little problem understanding that the baby is going to be using all of the stuff that we've been accumulating and not be using any of Emma's things. I think she's already being a little territorial. Claiming her property before Sarah can snatch it away from her. We had a little talk yesterday about how Sarah's not going to be taking any of Emma's toys or other things (at least not for the first year or so) and how Emma's things are for big girls & all the stuff in Sarah's room is for babies. I think she got the idea. So, that was one of her big worries lately, that Sarah was going to swipe her stuff. Poor kid, this must be hard for her to understand. But I think she's dealing with it well. I know we'll have some instances where Emma's not going to be happy that Sarah's here, but hopefully those times will be outnumbered by the times that she actually likes having Sarah around.
Andrea, the girl who watched Emma a couple months ago, said she had a dream that I had the baby tonight at 8:08 pm. Jeff said I better get going if I'm going to meet the deadline. I asked him what he wanted me to do, jump up & down, go up & down a few hundred flights of stairs, or maybe get someone to scare me to kick start the labor? Plus, Survivor's on tonight & I doubt even contractions would get Jeff & I to miss it.

No news is good news?

I had my 38 week check-up yesterday afternoon. I was so excited because I really & truly thought that I was going to have progressed since my last check-up 2 weeks ago. Apparently my body had other ideas because I haven't changed a bit. Bummer. Now this doesn't mean that I couldn't go into labor at any money, because I could. But it also means that I still might have another 2 full weeks before this baby's born. I don't know whether to be happy or sad. Happy, because then my mom might be here, or sad because I'm really starting to get sick of being pregnant.
The only thing that changed since the last time was my blood pressure. It was up a little bit, which is what started happening with Emma. That forced me to not be able to get up & walk around my whole labor, which I believe stalled it, forcing me to be given Pitocin, which inevitably means an epidural. I'm not a Pioneer woman by any stretch of the imagination. I would like to avoid pain at all costs, but I want to TRY to have a natural drug-free delivery. I'm going to go as far as my pain receptors will allow me. And since I had NO breathing techniques to fall back on last time, I'm really glad that Jeff & I have been watching this childbirth video. We watched the 5th installment last night. It was all about the medical stuff that is entailed with a delivery. The different forms of pain management, Pitocin, also forceps & vacuum deliveries, and both external & internal monitoring of the baby. Jeff feels like he got a "Get out of jail free" card when the instructor told her class that most doctors will ask the husband to leave the room when they give their wife an epidural. Mostly because most men will wind up on the floor, needing a hospital bed themselves, if they saw how big the needle was that was going to be in her back. And if they don't end up fainting, the husbands could end up knocking the poor anesthesiologist upside his head for the same reason. "You're going to stick that gigantic needle WHERE? I don't think so, how about I stick it somewhere?" Jeff feels he's more inclined to smack the doctor for that reason, rather than fainting. I pointed out to him that the one time he's seen me in a hospital setting where I had an IV in my hand, I had to cover it up with a blanket because he can't stand needles. I told him that I wasn't going to be so discreet about it this time. I reminded him that this whole thing isn't about him, it's about me. He's going to have to somehow get over the fear & realize that it's helping me, not hurting me. And I don't care, stick me anywhere, I have no fear of needles. It's a good thing, too. I think it goes back to when I was in the hospital for 2 weeks after I got hit by a car at age 8. I had IV's stuck everywhere, so much so that I have scars on my arms from them. Little tiny pin prick holes in the crook of my elbow. They were concentrated on my right arm because I think my left arm is defective. You can't get a needle into any vein in that arm. Maybe it's because I'm left-handed, I have no idea. But it's always been that way.
I was really surprised when the instructor on the video told her class that she got an epidural. I had been thinking to myself that she probably is going to be the typical Lamaze instructor, advocating no drugs, you can do this, it's completely natural, you don't need help. But even she conceded that when you get Pitocin, as she did (and as I did, too) that it's almost impossible to get through the labor & delivery without an epidural. It's because it makes your contractions 10 times worse than what Mother Nature would do to you. It's forcing your body to do things in half the time, thus making everything stronger. I can attest to that. Pitocin sucks the big one. Don't get me wrong, I'm sure that if I hadn't gotten it, I most likely would have had to get a C-Section with Emma, because I was going nowhere fast with her. But I would really like to avoid all that stuff this time around. But, it was really nice to hear a Lamaze instructor not be all "mafia-like" about using drugs during labor. And although I'm not opposed to using some sort of pain management therapy, I'm also not going to walk in the door & schedule my epidural right then & there.
One thing that is so frustrating about going into labor is not knowing the actual time that it'll start. It makes it really hard to plan things. I'm sure that's not the #1 complaint of pregnant women, but it's one of mine. I know I have things I should be doing, to make sure they're finished by the time I go into labor. But at the same time, I'm afraid if I do them too soon, then I'll end up having to re-do them many times before the actual time comes. Like laundry. I had all our clothes ready, in the bags, raring to go. Then Jeff gts sick & we have to use some of his clothes from the hospital bag. So now I have to wash them again. It's little stuff like that that gets me a little tired. I know that's not anything big, but when you're 9 months pregnant, already feeling like you're carrying more than one little person inside your body, carrying a basket full of laundry up a flight of stairs, trying not to knock anything off the wall in the process can be a feat. By the time I get up to our room, I'm winded, my heart is racing, and I feel like I've just ran a marathon. So you can see how I would like to avoid these things as much as possible. I do utilize Jeff & Emma during these bouts of cleaning. I ask Emma to run around the house looking for dirty dishes & she trails after me, picking up clean laundry off the floor should it fall out of the basket on my way upstairs. And I don't think I've carried the vacuum cleaner up or down any stairs in the past month or so. If a floor needs cleaning, it can wait until Jeff gets home to move the vacuum to that particular level. If he's not here, the level the vacuum cleaner is on is the only one that gets cleaned. And don't even think about asking me to vacuum the stairs, it's not happening. That requires way too much energy to even think about.
Jeff came home sick today. Apparently his "super-human" immune system may be taking a vacation. I don't think I've ever seen him this sick for this long. And he actually sounds worse today than he did yesterday. I picked him up before picking Emma up from school and he went with me. She came out of her class, saw Jeff & was so excited! I'm sure that made his day a little brighter knowing his daughter was so happy to see him. And even though he was so sick, he helped me clean up the house before the realtor showed it this afternoon. Good thing, too because I think I would have been too tired to finish on my own everything we did together. Plus, like I said before, he's the one who schleps the vacuum up & down the stairs. So between the two of us, the house looks pretty nice. So, if I can just keep it up like this until the baby's born, then I won't have to come back from the hospital to a mess. Oh wait, Jeff's going to be here alone with Emma for 2 days. That perfect scenario just flew out the window. I can't expect him to keep the house clean AND watch Emma, right? That would be way too much pressure. Hehe
Emma had a really good time at school today. She was so happy to be going back after having a break last week. And her little friend Lillie was also happy to see her. She's so funny, everytime she sees Emma, she runs over to her & gives her a big hug. I feel bad for her, though, because Emma keeps calling her Brandon, don't ask me why. I keep reminding her that her name is Lillie, but Emma's not too good with remembering names sometimes. She kept calling her friend Matthew in San Diego Ryan, and she kept calling Ryan, Matthew. It's all so confusing for a little 4 year old. But at least she's remembering Sarah's name. I keep quizzing her.
Emma got the new movie "Brother Bear" today. We really liked it when we saw it in the theater. It's such a cute movie. The moose are my favorite characters. Canadian moose, no less. They end every sentence, question, or statement with "eh?" "Beauty, eh?" I think it's funny because people around here talk like that sometimes, too. It must be because we're so close to Canada. Even when we saw the Barenaked Ladies in February, they said stuff like that, too. So much for trying to not stereotype people. It's hard to give people the benefit of the doubt when they do the things that are stereotypical.
And to be fair, Jeff also got a movie. "Matrix Revolutions". So, now they're both happy. Something tells me I won't be able to watch anything I want for awhile.

The Sick House...Again

I know that I've been seriously lackadaisical in my updating of this journal, and for that, I apologize. This past week has probably been one of the worst for my pregnant self. This week I was almost pleading with my body to go into labor, despite Jeff trying to reason with the baby to wait for a little while. I was tired & achy and generally just not feeling well. Of course, when both Jeff & I woke up on Friday morning with what seemed like a cold, I figured that was why I had been feeling so icky all week. Then I was pleading with my body to wait a couple more weeks so I don't have to try to do breathing exercises through a half-stuffed up nose. It would make it very difficult.
So, this is the 3rd cold I've had since November, yay. So, far it hasn't progressed into bronchitis symptoms like it did in January. Just the usual stuffed/runny nose, a few sneezes, and a couple coughs. I've been able to prop my head up at night using pillows, so I'm able to breathe through my nose during most of the night, which has helped avoid the massively sore throat I've had the previous 2 times. And I don't sound like a frog when I talk, which is almost a good sign. And I've decided I'm taking drugs (with my doctor's ok) this time. I'm not going to sit idly by & be sick like this for 2 weeks. I'm attacking it while I can. Because once I go into labor, there's no turning back, and I do not want to be like this when I have the baby. And hopfully this won't last 2 weeks like the other ones have.
On top of feeling icky, Emma not having preschool or gymnastics at all this last week, having to keep the house spotless for realtors coming over to show it, and the baby pounsing on my lower abdomen like a trampoline, Jeff's illness took a dramatic turn last night. He amazes me with his immune system. He'd been feeling just slighty bad, with only a small runny nose, and then all of a sudden last night around 7pm, he comes in from playing on the computer, wrapped in a blanket, shivering like he's been outside in below freezing weather for 2 hours. He was shaking like a leaf. When he gets sick, it's BAD. It hits him fast & hard, but fortunately, it doesn't last all that long. I took his temp, it was about 101.7. I made him some chicken noodle soup and some orange juice. He then wanted to take a shower to make himself feel better. After his shower, I wrapped him up in about 4 blankets & put him to bed. I took his temp again (this was only about 45 minutes after I'd taken it the first time) and it was up to 102.1. So, I gave him an Advil to try & break his fever. An hour later, his temp was up to 102.7. But, within about 30 more minutes, he said he was no longer cold, instead sweating & threw off all his covers. This morning, his fever's completely gone, but he still has symptoms of a cold. It's crazy how his body works. His immune system must be amazing. What would take a regular person about 24 hours to start getting symptoms of, take medicine for, and get over, his body did in 4 hours. But he's always been like this. He doesn't get sick very often, but when he does, it's bad. He was complaining about why he couldn't just get sick like normal people, instead of having to get this accelerated version of illness that knocks him out. I told him I think most people would rather have what he gets, and just get it over with rather than have it drag out for weeks. And the poor guy not only has to go to work today, but it's his college orientation all day. So he has to be sick, around all these incoming freshman, and deal with paperwork & getting his classes for the summer semesters. But, at least he's feeling a little better about the possibility of the baby coming sooner that my due date. For the past few weeks he's been telling the baby to wait & not come yet. But this morning he gave her the OK to come if she wants now, as long as it's after 5pm today. I found that quite funny. Everything's ok, as long as it's on his schedule. I tried to remind him that baby's don't generally listen to what their parents want, and this starts in the womb. He wonders why Emma doesn't obey all the time (or ever, as it sometimes feels like) and I think we're getting the idea of where that comes from. From the beginning of their lives, everything has been on their timetable, and I guess they figure after they're born, that trend should continue.
So, we think we might have come up with a solution for childcare for Emma should I go into labor during the week. My neighbor across the street has already volunteered to watch Emma overnight, and I thought about the possibility of her going to Morgan's (my neighbor's daughter) daycare during the day. Sue (my neighbor) is going to ask the daycare provider today about that and see if she would be willing to take her in, as a drop in, if need be. Hopefully she'll be up to it. That way, Emma could be around other kids, still see Morgan and also have a place to sleep at night. The best case scenario would be that I go into labor around 4-5pm and have her by the next morning, so Jeff could go & pick her up before she goes to the daycare & bring her to the hospital. But since I don't have a crystal ball, these scenarios aren't worth the brain matter they're thought up in.
I have a doctor's appointment this afternoon, so I'll know if I'm progressing anymore than I was 2 weeks ago. I have a feeling I am, but I don't have any other labor symptoms to go along with it. I actually don't want to wonder if I'm in labor or not, I want my water to break (very obviously, too) so I'll know when to go to the hospital. That's what happened with Emma & it was very convenient. No guessing, no timing contractions for hours, no being told to wait until the contractions got bad enough to where I couldn't talk through them. Nope, water broke, went directly to hospital. That would be the best way.
Emma has been very helpful the past week. I received 2 boxes full of baby stuff, from my friend Deanna. One was full of used clothes of various sizes, from newborn to 4T, and the other one was from my baby shower. So, Emma & I had fun washing everything & putting everything away. Of course, she still tries to take things that she likes & use them for HER babies, but she's very easily deterred from that, which is a good thing.
Well Emma's acting like she's in desperate need of some attention so I'll end this, but I'll write more once I know more.

Shopping Spree

On Saturday Jeff, Emma & I decided enough time had been wasted & we went to a couple stores to buy some "necessary" stuff for the baby. You know, stuff a mother with a newborn can't live without. Stuff like a bouncer chair & a swing. Because as much as I know I'm going to love Sarah, I'm going to need time to get things done without having to constantly hold her, and things like this were vital when Emma was a baby. We also bought a diaper bag that Jeff says he would be willing to carry around. That was my main goal, to find something that wasn't too froo-froo so he'd carry it around. It's denim with stripes, so hopefully he won't feel too feminine toting it around. And if he does, well he can just stuff it into the basket in the stroller.
The only problem we've found with getting all this new stuff for the baby is that Emma has, again, wanted everything for HER babies. I put together the bouncer & the swing and as soon as she woke up from her nap, she immediately put her baby into it & starting pushing it so it would swing. It's the cool Fisher-Price Ocean Wonders swing, and the seat can switch positions, from a cradle-like side-to-side swing to a more common front-to-back swing. It's really neat. Jeff & I cleaned out the baby's room & put the swing and bouncer in there. Emma had gone to the bathroom or something while we were doing this & just about had a heart attack when she noticed that they were gone from the living room. She didn't believe Jeff when he told her that they were in Sarah's room. She thought someone had come in and taken them. It was too cute.
Now that her room is all cleaned out, it's kinda empty. We've got the changing table, and the bassinette in there (for now, but when she's born that will go into our room for the first couple of months), and the swing & bouncer chair. But when my mom comes out to visit, we're going to paint the crib, so that's not set up. I have my glider chair downstairs in the living room (which might end up in the baby's room, I haven't quite decided), and there's really nothing else. We might get a bookshelf for all the baby's books that Emma has outgrown. And if we bring the glider in there, it would be a nice place for Emma, Sarah & I to sit and read together. Of course, now that I think about it, I'm sure that room will fill up with stuff once she's born. Babies always somehow accumulate more stuff than you can ever imagine. It's amazing what those little people need, or what we THINK they need.
Jeff & I watched another part of our childbirth video on Friday night. It was about the 3 stages of labor, pushing & delivery. It was very comical. Jeff got a kick out of it. The one part Jeff found extremely funny (and I can't imagine why) was the part about how once the pregnant woman hits the second stage of labor, she will turn into a whiny mess. Apparently, that wasn't the funniest part to him. The instructor said, if your wife isn't a whiny person, this change in demeanor might shock you, but if whining is something your wife does all the time, then this will be nothing new. He was laughing at THAT. I turned & looked at him, well glared was more like it. I personally don't think I whine all that much. I'm not a complaining person in that way. If I'm upset at something, I will tell you in another way, not with whining. I'll either tell you straight out, or make you figure it out yourself. The typical things that women do. "I'm mad, but I'm not telling you why, you should be able to read my mind." In fact, this morning was the first time I've actually made any unreasonable requests of my husband this entire pregnancy. I haven't made him go out in the middle of the night for pickles & ice cream (I don't eat or drink at night anyways), and I don't think asking him to rub my feet or my back is unreasonable in any sense of the word. I AM carrying his child, right? So, I don't know where he got this idea that I whine all the time. I think he's got me confused with the other female in this house, who's only way of communicating lately is whining.
Well Jeff has his EKG tomorrow. At his doctor's appointment a couple weeks ago, she recommended he get one done. I've had one before & they're not bad. Since Emma's been around me getting all these medical procedures done, it should be interesting how she reacts to Jeff getting one done on him.

False Alarm

We had a small crisis at our house on Tuesday evening. I thought my water had broken. Freaked both Jeff & I out. It wasn't an obvious gush, which is why we were so freaked out. Jeff insisted I call the doctor and the nurse on-call told me to head on in to the ER to get checked out. Since it was 9pm, the main doctor's office was closed. So, we go in, and are sent up to labor & delivery, where I'm hooked up to monitors & checked out. No, my water hadn't broken, which we were both relieved to hear. But, just as a precaution, they wanted to keep me for an hour just to make sure I wasn't having any sizable contractions. So we were able to hear the baby's heartbeat for about an hour and Emma amused herself watching TV. If the room we're in when we actually go into labor is anything like the one we were in, I think Jeff will be very comfortable. The chair that I guess is designated the "father's chair" was really nice. A leather recliner. He looked pretty happy sitting in it while we were waiting to be discharged. I told him we better bring a pillow & a blanket when we come in case I have an overnight labor like I did with Emma.
Well, this false alarm has made us re-evaluate how much time we actually have before the baby's born. The next day I was in laundry mode, cleaning everything I could get my hands on. I'm making sure our hospital bags are packed by this weekend and I'm confirming the babysitting arrangements for Emma. And Jeff was told that he's able to take a week off to care for a sick relative & he's going to take another week of vacation, giving him 2 weeks home after the baby's born. That will be very nice.
The weather lately has been great, rainy mostly, but I can handle that. The temperatures have been between the low 50's & middle 60's. Emma's been loving it because she doesn't have to wear her big bulky coats anymore. The forecast says it's still supposed to rain a lot over the next couple of weeks, but that's fine with me, as long as it doesn't turn to snow. I think spring might actually be here now.
Emma finally had gymnastics this week, but only this week, due to Regionals or something next week. Plus, she doesn't have school all next week either. Poor kid is going to be so upset. We'll have to find some fun stuff for her to do. I forsee Easter projects & trips to the library and lots & lots of Barbies.

Nesting insomnia

I had my 36 week check-up today. Jeff went with m e because they had to do a "female examination". And do a Group B Strep test. Both of which are invasive & I didn't want Emma to have to sit through that alone. So daddy came along & after he heard the baby's heartbeat, he & Emma went into the waiting room. So, the doctor says I'm about 50% effaced & 1 cm dilated. Not bad for 36 weeks. He says this is normal & does NOT mean I'm going into labor tomorrow. But now Jeff's freaked because he's afraid that we won't have anyone to watch Emma while I'm in labor. Our neighbor across the street (Morgan's mom) said she'd watch Emma overnight if need be, but she works during the day & Morgan goes to preschool & daycare, so we'd have to find someone else to watch her during the day. We may be doing the neighbor "babysitter shuffle", as Emma goes from one person to the next. If things don't happen very quickly, and my mom is here when I go into labor, then I figured we'd just take Emma with us. I'm sure all hospitals have to have some sort of contingency plan for having siblings at the birth if there isn't anyone to watch them. I know we aren't the only people who have had this dilemma. But, then again, this could all just be preliminary stuff & I won't go into labor for another 4 weeks, but we have to be prepared for anything.
Speaking of being prepared, we're slowly starting to get things ready in the baby's room. We put together the changing table/dresser yesterday & I started doing her laundry, getting all her clothes cleaned & folded. Emma's liking this part, especially when she finds something that she thinks HER baby would look cute in, she confiscates it. She's also done this with all the stuffed animals I've set aside for Sarah. Emma doesn't want to share any of them, even though she doesn't play with anymore. Unfortunately, I think this is a side effect of being an only child for so long. She's not used to sharing anything with anyone & doesn't like it when she's in a situation where she has to.
Jeff & I watched another "episode" of our childbirth video. This one covered the 3 real signs of labor & 2 Lamaze breathing techniques. I never took any breathing classes (or any at all) when I was pregnant with Emma, so this was new to me, too. But, they seemed easy enough to utilize. Jeff & I both practiced the breathing because, as the instructor said, most women, when they're in the middle stage of labor, want their coach to breathe with them to help them concentrate. I could see how that would happen. So, that's why I told Jeff he needed to practice the breathing, too. He was a good sport about it. They did this exercise to show how the breathing takes your attention away from the intense pain (albeit not completely, this is breathing, not a miracle) because your brain can only get stimulation from one area at once. And, the idea is, if you're so attuned to the breathing, it's "said" you won't notice the pain as much. So, the instructor had all the men squeeze their wife's leg, kinda like a contraction would go, light at first and then getting more intense, peaking at about 30 seconds & then gently relaxing until a minute had gone by. All the while, the women are doing their breathing. I noticed that he was squeezing my leg, but it didn't bother me too much. She then had the guys squeeze our leg again, with the same amount of pressure they had while we were breathing & all the women jumped. It was amazing how much it hurt the second time & I had thought that he wasn't squeezing me that hard. But, since turn about is fair play, the women were then able to do the same to our husbands. So, we squeezed while they breathed. It turns out I can't squeeze all that good, because it apparently tickled & not hurt him. But he noticed it the second time, when he wasn't breathing. The instructor also said that if the men had any sense that this was the worst a contraction could be, then they were dreaming.
Although I started this particular blog yesterday afternoon, I got side-tracked & didn't finish it. But I woke up early this morning & decided to finish it. Like, 6:30am this morning. I had some serious insomnia today. I woke up to go pee at 6am, and couldn't go back to sleep. For the most part, if this happened in the past, I would just lay there until I fell asleep again, but I could tell that it wasn't going to happen this time. So I rolled out of bed & decided to do something. I balanced my checkbook, unloaded the dishwasher, loaded it back up again, made some blueberry muffins (from a mix, I'm not THAT industrious that early) and generally just cleaned up. Emma woke up around 7:45am & Jeff got up at 8. Now, it's 9:30am and I actually feel like I've already accomplished something today. And I normally don't have this feeling until around 5pm, when I actually get around to doing something productive. Today, I'm ahead of the game. You'd think this would make me even more industrious, wanting to get even more accomplished. You'd be wrong. Since I've pretty much finished all the goals I set out for today, with the exception of the never-ending, always present laundry, I'm going to take this opportunity to lounge. At least until Emma makes a mess of something. Then the cycle starts all over again.

It Could Be Sooner Than We Expect

I had my 36 week check-up today. Jeff went with m e because they had to do a "female examination". And do a Group B Strep test. Both of which are invasive & I didn't want Emma to have to sit through that alone. So daddy came along & after he heard the baby's heartbeat, he & Emma went into the waiting room. So, the doctor says I'm about 50% effaced & 1 cm dilated. Not bad for 36 weeks. He says this is normal & does NOT mean I'm going into labor tomorrow. But now Jeff's freaked because he's afraid that we won't have anyone to watch Emma while I'm in labor. Our neighbor across the street (Morgan's mom) said she'd watch Emma overnight if need be, but she works during the day & Morgan goes to preschool & daycare, so we'd have to find someone else to watch her during the day. We may be doing the neighbor "babysitter shuffle", as Emma goes from one person to the next. If things don't happen very quickly, and my mom is here when I go into labor, then I figured we'd just take Emma with us. I'm sure all hospitals have to have some sort of contingency plan for having siblings at the birth if there isn't anyone to watch them. I know we aren't the only people who have had this dilemma. But, then again, this could all just be preliminary stuff & I won't go into labor for another 4 weeks, but we have to be prepared for anything.
Speaking of being prepared, we're slowly starting to get things ready in the baby's room. We put together the changing table/dresser yesterday & I started doing her laundry, getting all her clothes cleaned & folded. Emma's liking this part, especially when she finds something that she thinks HER baby would look cute in, she confiscates it. She's also done this with all the stuffed animals I've set aside for Sarah. Emma doesn't want to share any of them, even though she doesn't play with anymore. Unfortunately, I think this is a side effect of being an only child for so long. She's not used to sharing anything with anyone & doesn't like it when she's in a situation where she has to.
Jeff & I watched another "episode" of our childbirth video. This one covered the 3 real signs of labor & 2 Lamaze breathing techniques. I never took any breathing classes (or any at all) when I was pregnant with Emma, so this was new to me, too. But, they seemed easy enough to utilize. Jeff & I both practiced the breathing because, as the instructor said, most women, when they're in the middle stage of labor, want their coach to breathe with them to help them concentrate. I could see how that would happen. So, that's why I told Jeff he needed to practice the breathing, too. He was a good sport about it. They did this exercise to show how the breathing takes your attention away from the intense pain (albeit not completely, this is breathing, not a miracle) because your brain can only get stimulation from one area at once. And, the idea is, if you're so attuned to the breathing, it's "said" you won't notice the pain as much. So, the instructor had all the men squeeze their wife's leg, kinda like a contraction would go, light at first and then getting more intense, peaking at about 30 seconds & then gently relaxing until a minute had gone by. All the while, the women are doing their breathing. I noticed that he was squeezing my leg, but it didn't bother me too much. She then had the guys squeeze our leg again, with the same amount of pressure they had while we were breathing & all the women jumped. It was amazing how much it hurt the second time & I had thought that he wasn't squeezing me that hard. But, since turn about is fair play, the women were then able to do the same to our husbands. So, we squeezed while they breathed. It turns out I can't squeeze all that good, because it apparently tickled & not hurt him. But he noticed it the second time, when he wasn't breathing. The instructor also said that if the men had any sense that this was the worst a contraction could be, then they were dreaming.

The lure of online gaming

Ok, I'll admit it, I have a new addiction. I am totally engrossed in Final Fantasy XI. For those of you who don't know, Final Fantasy is a string of games dating back to way before I ever played video games. They're role playing type games that have a plot, albeit a supernatural & sometimes really "out-there" plot. Basically you partner up with computer characters & have to fulfill some sort of quest that takes forever (the average amount of hours that it takes to complete one of these games is roughly 35-45). But this one is a little different. It's played online, and you create the character you want to play. Jeff & I are both doing this. He is a Warrior human & can beat up stuff really well. I am a little Tarutaru, this munchkin looking creature who toddles everywhere instead of actually walking. Jeff thinks it's funny that right now I do the same thing. And when she sits down, she sorts plops, and I'm pretty much doing the same thing at this point, so Jeff gets great humor out of the fact that I'm so similar to my character right now. I'm about 3 feet tall & my main strength is white magic, healing people. I do have this tiny little sword looking thing, but I have to be careful who I pick a fight with, otherwise I get slaughtered. My main job is to build up my magic skills & join a party with other real people and let them fight the bad guys while I sit back & heal them. It's a stressful & fun job, because while most of the time I'm never in harms way (unless the bad guy decides he's tired of fighting the other people & comes after me) I get the same experience they do & the same items that we find on the creatures we fight. But I've seen, watching Jeff play in groups of 6, that a white mage's job can be very stressful, trying to figure out who to heal first & also trying not to draw the attention of the bad guy. So, it's an addicting game. But it sometimes takes an hour or so to do the simplest of things, like find your way back from wherever you were last fighting. And when you're a small squishy white mage (Jeff's nickname for me), that can be devasting if you get attacked by something huge. But it's fun and entertaining. Emma thinks my little character is her friend Cece back in San Diego. Since it doesn't look anything like her, except for the fact that it's small, I'm not exactly sure how she got that idea. Maybe because Jeff's character looks somewhat like him, he's tall & blonde, she tried to figure out who my character looked most like & came up with Cece.
Jeff went to the doctor the other day, kicking & screaming. And I think it's a good thing he did, too. The doctor wants to run all sorts of tests on him, trying to figure out how the Navy screwed him up with all their experimental injections. He gets to have an EKG in a couple weeks & have blood drawn. I'm sure that'll be fun for him, considering how much he hates needles. I guess that can be a good thing, I can be guaranteed that he'll never be an intravenous drug user.
Emma has gotten into talking to the baby lately. She'll come up & start asking the baby questions, and answering for her. Like this morning, she told me that the baby had clothes, pj's & toys in my tummy. I told her, no wonder it feels so crowded in there. And then I have to talk to HER baby in her tummy. I'm glad that she's started to get a little more accepting of the idea of the baby. It's such an abstract concept for small children to understand. There's something in there, but you can't see it. But I think once we're able to put together the baby's room, it might be a little more concrete in her mind, that something's coming & it's going to sleep "here" and these are the clothes that she's going to wear, and all that stuff.
And since we're roughly 4 weeks away from having this baby, I guess now would be the best time to come to the realization that this baby is coming, regardless of whether or not we're "prepared" for it. We're as prepared as we can be. We got the changing table/dresser delivered this week, so Jeff & I (mostly Jeff, who am I kidding) are going to be putting it together this weekend. We also got my glider rocker, which is very comfortable. Emma keeps trying to commandeer it for herself, and she always wants to sit in my lap with a blanket when I'm sitting in it. I think she likes the motion it makes. And I think I'll be doing some baby laundry this weekend as well, to put into the dresser once it's assembled. Cleaning out closets & dusting everything will be next. Yay, what fun. I have the "nesting urge", but no "nesting urge energy". I need that to do the nesting. So, I will be using my husband's energy as a surrogate. I think my nesting instinct showed up a little late in this pregnancy. Isn't it supposed to happen at around 5 months? I don't know, I don't think I had it with Emma. I don't remember. But of course that could just be the "pregnancy brain" rearing it's ugly head again. So many things to blame my ineptitudes on, I'm going to miss that when I'm not pregnant anymore.

Well this weekend certainly was fun & interesting. We got our tax return (yay!) and we went to the mall to get some stuff for the baby. Not a bunch, since my baby shower's this Saturday, and I have no idea what's going to come from that. It should be fun though, considering the shower's in Sacramento, and I'm not. But, it's being held at my mother-in-law's house and she has a webcam, so we're all going to sit around the computer, eat popcorn & watch like it was a movie. Only with audience participation. Hey, it's like Rocky! Aw, Rocky, that brings back memories. None of which I could probably repeat here, but hey, they're in my brain.
Anyways, Emma got a new toy at the store. It's one of those travel MagnaDoodles, where you use a pen with a magnet at the end to draw pictures on a screen. Under the screen are tons of tiny flakes of metal bits that create the picture. Then, you use this magic swiper thingy to wipe it clean. She loves it & takes it everywhere. She's even taking it to preschool today for show-and-tell. She's always asking me to write people's names on it. So, I think it'll be good for her learning letters & numbers and stuff.
Also this weekend, Jeff has started his quest to resume being a beefcake. Not that he'd stopped being one from before, but he hasn't worked out since we moved here & wanted to start up again. So we went to GNC and bought those Met-RX meal supplements, and some more vitamins, and he's started to work-out. Makes me feel even worse, since I can't really work-out with him & I'm going to be in even worse shape once I have the baby. But Jeff has already promised that he'll take care of the kids in the evenings if I want to go work out somewhere. I'm making him keep this one.
It amazes me how much Emma is turning out like me. She has so many quirks & personality traits that I've been told I had when I was younger, and even traits that I see in myself today. Last night, she fell asleep in the car on the way to pick Jeff up from work. We put her on the couch, still asleep, when we got home. She slept for about an hour & a half and when she started to stir, we started talking to her to get her wake up. Instead of waking up happy, she started writhing all over the couch, stretching, whining & grunting, like we were really annoying her. I started laughing & so did Jeff. I said, she looks just like me when I wake up, doesn't she? And he was trying hard to cover up the fact that he had noticed that, too. I've always been told that when I was younger, it was no fun to try to wake me up. I was cranky & whiny and generally not a happy camper. And this has continued on into adulthood. Waking up in the morning, or whenever, is not something I like doing. I like my sleep. I don't know if I did this as well, but Emma can continue her crankiness well after she's actually woken up. She sometimes needs to be cuddled for about 20 minutes afterwards until she's a nice person again.
Well the weather has kinda leveled out a little bit. It's still cold, roughly in the 30's during the day. And we did get some snow over the weekend, but it melted by the next day. But, spring is definitely on it's way, it's just getting sidetracked to other places in the country, like Sacramento, where it's supposed to in the 80's today. Send some of that sun over our way, will ya? There are some cute spring maternity clothes I'd like to get a chance to wear before I have this baby. Next time, depending on where we live, definitely have to make a conscious decision on what time of the year I'll be pregnant. No more winter pregnancies. Unless I'm living in AZ or someplace just as hot all year round.
Since Jeff is starting college in May, he has to fill out all sorts of paperwork. One of which was a medical physical. We thought he had to go see a doctor & get a physical & have the doctor fill out all this medical stuff. So, I made the appointment & Jeff was all set to go. Well, come to find out that he doesn't need it because it's only for students who are using the school's student health insurance. Since we have our own insurance, we don't need it. But I'm still making him go to the doctor's anyways. He hasn't seen one since he got out of the military & it's always good to get a periodic check-up.
Emma has started saying the funniest things. I don't know where she got it, but she's started using the phrase "Oh dear" for everything. It sounds so cute coming from a 4 year old's mouth. Speaking of talking, I finally was able to get Emma an appointment for a speech evaluation. Since she was in speech for over a year in San Diego, I wanted to continue it here. But that was easier said than done, unfortunately. It was too expensive to go through the college, and since she was older than 3 she couldn't go through the hospital. So we had to go through thr public school system & they were backed up for months. The appointment I did get isn't until April, the 19th, actually, which is kinda funny, since that's my due date. We'll see if we're able to make that appointment or not. We may be bringing a newborn, I may be in the hospital or I could still be pregnant. We'll see what happens.

Pretty good week

Congradulations are in order to Jeff, who passed a very critical certification exam yesterday. Now, along with all the other titles that he has following his name, he can now add "Dell Storage Networking Professional" to it. Now, since I have no idea what that title means in respect to jobs, I'll just have to take his word for it that it's a good thing. It required another drive to Lansing to take the test, but that was fine. It was only an hour long & Emma and I were able to occupy ourselves just fine. Emma did really well on the trip so she was rewarded with a toy from Tuesday Morning. A "Cinderella" Barbie type doll that comes with about 15 different pieces of clothing that allows the doll to have about 200 different outfits. But the coolest thing is that there's this button on the doll's back that you push & her underskirt turns about a 1/3 turn & it's like she has a brand new dress on. Very high tech & nifty. Emma's been pushing that button since she got the doll. It goes from white to blue to pink. But, since it's obvious that this doll will not wear any other Barbie type clothes, I'm going to make sure we at least don't lose her shoes by gluing them to her feet. My father-in-law did that with another one of Emma's Barbies. Very good idea. Now, we've lost the dress that originally came with that doll, but not the shoes.
Emma's learning so many new things, and I know I'm not the one teaching her. She must be getting it from somewhere. This week she's been spouting off that her name begins with "E", which I'll admit I've been trying to teach her, along with getting her to write her name (which for the most part is good but her E's have about 5 lines across the one line, rather than just three, but hey, she's 4). But, she's started to recognize the letter "E" in street signs and other places when we're driving. She'll point it out everywhere we go. And she also can type her name by looking at her name on paper & finding the matching letters on the keyboard. She doesn't yet know the names of the other letters in her name, but she's getting there. She also came home from school on Thursday talking about dinosaurs. She had learned about them in class, and had made a very cute dinosaur for her craft. She proceeded to tell me that all the dinosaurs were dead (which she demonstrated by saying they ate (::pretending to eat::) and then died (::falls on the floor::). Very dramatic. She did have some confusion about WHAT the dinosaurs ate. She said all of them ate other dinosaurs, but I tried to explain that some just ate plants, but she wouldn't hear of it. I asked her if there were flying dinosaurs & she said yes, they were called "Tetri's". At first, I thought I hadn't heard that right. I asked again & she said that "Teetri" was a flying dinosaur. At last I remembered. PETRI was a pterodactyl from "The Land Before Time". This child has only seen ANY of those movies (not even the original, which is the best) once. And I was flabbergasted at the fact that she remembered the name of one particular character weeks after only seeing the movie once. It's crazy the things kids remember. This is particularly bad because I've been known, (as I'm sure all parents have been in the past) when your child is begging for something, and all you want to do is just get their mind off whatever it is they're pestering you for, so you offer something else, which isn't right there, hoping that they'll take the bait & by the time you get to wherever that other thing was, you're hoping that they've completely forgotten about it. I know this is bad parenting, but hey, whatever works in the situation. It's not like I do it all the time. But the problem now is, that Emma's memory has progressed so much (or maybe it's always been like this, but she's only now proving it to me) that this doesn't work anymore. She remembers everything. Which makes things doubly worse, because I can't remember squat right now. She'll politely (in preschool politeness) remind me that I forgot to do something, and sometimes I'll seriously argue with her, thinking that she's wrong, I DIDN'T say that, only to suddenly remember that I did, and I'll have to apologize. She's probably thinking I'm going nuts, which wouldn't be far off. If Jeff thought I was scatterbrained before I got pregnant, he's probably thinking that by the time this baby's born, I'll do something like forget to bring her in from the car or something. Which, as I'm sure all mothers will attest to, is a nightmare that you have. For example, last year when Jeff was out to sea, I had horrible thoughts that I would take Emma to the beach, fall asleep & she would wander into the ocean & drown. Crazy stuff like that. It really kept me from doing a lot of things without taking someone with me. Of course, I had those types of nightmares when I was pregnant with Emma, even after she was born. And now, when I go places without Jeff, I'm going to be outnumbered, which is going to make me even more nervous.

Emma's first playdate

Well after weeks of wondering if our schedules were going to coincide, Emma & the little girl across the street (who's also in her gymnastics class), Morgan, were finally able to get together on Sunday afternoon. Her mom, Sue, called in the morning and asked if Emma could come over & play that afternoon. Emma was very excited. She didn't even want to finish her lunch, she just wanted to get ready & go over there. As soon as we get over there, it becomes clear to me that Morgan & Emma are two peas in a pod. Morgan loves Barbies, dolls, dressing up, and horses. Emma just loved being there, she had so much fun. We ended up staying there for 4 hours. Finally, when it became clear that Sue was trying to get their dinner started, I told Emma it was time to go home. She was not happy about that. I knew she was tired when she started throwing a fit and falling in it like you wouldn't believe. She was kicking her feet when I tried to put on her boots, she was grasping onto chairs & walls when I was leading her towards the front door, anything to keep from leaving. I practically had to drag her across the street to go home. We had a nice talk when we got home about acting that way, and she relaxed on the couch where, 10 minutes later, she was fast asleep. She had worn herself out from the playing & the fit. But she had a great time, so I know we'll be doing that again soon.
I think this house is out to get us. At least Emma. First, she had 4 splinters in her fingers in the span of a week, and then Friday night she proceeded to rip her entire pinky nail off her left foot. I have no idea how she did it, but she came up to me on the couch & said she had an owie. She lifted up her foot for me to see & I saw that her nail was hanging on by a tiny piece of skin. She was surprisingly calm, I think she was still in shock & the pain hadn't hit her yet. Jeff was on the phone & I asked for his help. By the time I carried her to the bathroom to take care of it, she had realized she was really hurt & started crying. Talk about a delayed reaction. And it had started bleeding, so that wasn't helping the situation. But now that it's been a few days, she's decided she doesn't need to keep a band-aid on it anymore (and we finally tore off the hanging nail) and it doesn't seem to bother her, unless she accidently hits in on something. Then she'll be reminded, oh yeah, I have a boo-boo.
We also got the stroller & infact seat delivered on Friday. That night, Jeff put everything together & Emma immediately claimed it for her own babies. I knew this would happen. She insisted on having her baby strapped into the car seat & push it around the house in the stroller. Now, since she can't see over the stroller, it ended up being a game of "oops, I hit the wall, back up, oops, I hit it again". When we went to the mall on Saturday, she wanted the baby to go, too. So, we put in the car base & put in the car seat with the baby inside. But I drew the line at actually bringing the baby in the infant seat into the mall. But, I think after that trip that we've realized we desperately need a bigger car. Between Emma's booster seat & the infant seat, it takes up the whole backseat. Whenever anyone comes to visit us, they won't have room to sit, once the baby comes.
Emma's going to have a tough time this month. Not only is her gymnastics class cancelled for 3 out of the 4 Wednesday's this month (spring break & CMU tournaments), but her preschool is also out the last week of this month (public school spring break). So, now that the weather's getting better, I think we need to find some other extracurricular activities. I'm also thinking of signing Emma up for a summer sport, but I'm not sure which one. They have tee-ball & soccer, and I'm leaning towards soccer, only because I don't think tee-ball would hold Emma's attention long enough to be worthwhile. I remember little kids with soccer, they all run around in a herd, up & down the field. Very cute. And that gives them a lot of exercise. No, I have to re-phrase that. It makes them use a lot of energy, which Emma has in abundance, and therefore are more likely to sleep & not run around the house, causing havoc. Yeah, I definitely think soccer is the way to go.

Preschooler speak

It's so funny sometimes how small children can take things you've said & twist them around into a hilarious game of "what did she say?". Even things I didn't realize Emma knew about, like the concept that the baby is growing inside me. The other day Emma was trying to remember the baby's name, and she was pointing to my belly & asking what the baby's name in mommy's tummy was. Jeff asked her, "Baby in mommy's tummy? Did she eat it?" Emma looked at him like he'd just said the funniest thing & goes, "No, mommy didn't eat the baby, she's still making it!" Now this kid hasn't had any sex ed, so just exactly how she deduced that the baby was being "made" and not already finished or just placed in there complete, I'll never know, but it was an insight to her mind I hadn't had before.
Then this afternoon, we go to Jeff's work to have lunch in the dining commons. I had noticed that Emma had some gunk in the corner of her eye & I told her to hold still while I got the "sleep" out of her eye. A few minutes later, she needed to use the bathroom and while we were there she said she wanted to look in the mirror at her eyes, presumably to see this "sleep" that I was talking about. She looked at her reflection, gasped & said,"My eyes are sleepy!" She then proceeded to walk down the hallway with her eyes closed, repeating, my eyes are sleepy. Too funny. Not exactly what I said, but close enough.
So the snow piles has slowly been melting away for the past week. We had another big rain last night & it's continued into today. I am so happy that it'a rain & not snow. Even though we're expecting to get snow scattered snow showers over the next week or so, somehow I don't think it's going to stick around very long, if at all. The temperatures are forcasted to be well above freezing for the most part, mostly in the upper 30's & 40's, so I think we're finally out of the frozon tundra stage of winter. This gives me hope that the weather will be relatively nice by the time the baby's born. I made a promise to Emma that when all the snow on the ground was gone, she could wear her light purple windbreaker, instead of her huge, Stay-Puff marshmallow man snow parka she's been forced to wear since October. But, even though there's still some piles of snow on the ground, the weather has been nice enough to allow her to wear the windbreaker. And since it's been raining, we've broken out the umbrellas, too. It almost makes me wish I were going to be pregnant longer, so I could wear some of the cute spring time maternity clothes I've been seeing.
We got our car seat/stroller system delivered this afternoon. Now we get to wait until Jeff gets home so he can put it together. Emma has already started to want to use the car seat for her own "babies". I can foresee the problems now. But once we actually start putting together the baby's room & putting everything in it's place, maybe she'll realize that she needs to share these things with her little sister. But, I'm not counting on it.

Car woes, Part Deux.

Well, after 2 days of waiting & wondering if my car was going to act up at the dealers so they could see what I was talking about, it didn't happen. It's like the vehicle had stage fright. Very sad. The service people said that if the "Service Engine" light came on, they would be able to figure out what was causing all the electrical problems. But, I can't guarantee that will happen before my warranty runs out, so we're pretty much just having to sit & wait for it to happen. I was hoping it would do it on the way home from the dealer (since it's a 45 mile drive) but no such luck. I guess the only good thing that came out of this was we finally got our alarm fixed. Well, I fixed it, but I had needed the service manual for the alarm system to do that, and we somehow misplaced it. Every Honda dealer we'd been to didn't have one either. But, this one did & boy am I happy. It was a huge headache having to unlock the car door every time I opened it, otherwise the alarm would go off. Big pain in the neck. But we have our car back, with my keys & the garage door opener.
Tonight it gymnastics night for Emma. She's been looking forward to it all week. When we left this morning to go to the car dealer, she thought we were going to gymnastics. Poor kid thinks every time we leave the house, we're either going to school or gymnastics. She really loves being with other kids.
As I'm only about 6 1/2 weeks away from having this little baby, I must say I'm starting to get nervous. Not about the actual delivery, cause I've been there, done that. And since Emma's birth was kinda difficult, I think I could probably handle anything that came up. But poor Jeff hasn't been through this before. And since we aren't able to go to any childbirth classes (it's too difficult to find a sitter for 4 weeks in a row for 3 hours on a school night) we've been forced to consider just buying a video that will refresh my memory & give Jeff a little peek into what he's about to go through. Anyone who knows my husband for longer than a day will find out how much he hates any sort of medical/hospital procedure. He detests having to have blood taken or be examined in any way. I think it runs in the family because his brother's the same way. So, this whole birth process thing is going to be interesting. I can only hope to avoid him having to be revived by a nurse after passing out on the floor. And if he does, he wouldn't be the first husband to do that. Men are so funny when it comes to this kind of stuff. They can go through wars, car accidents, money issues, job issues, or other traumatic experiences, but when it comes to labor & delivery, something happens in their brains & they can't take it. Thus, the preparing. I feel bad having to throw all this womanly stuff at him in such a short period of time, but we're running outta weeks here. Hopefully I can "desensitize" him a little bit so it's not as such a shock as if he was walking in there with no knowledge at all. And I think that's going to be the key, knowledge. The more he knows going into it, the less likely he'll be to freak out. At least I hope so.

Car woes.

Ok, I seriously think today was the most stressful/trying day I've had in a long time. First of all, let me preface this by saying that, once again, I'm sick. This is the 3rd time in 3 1/2 months that I've had a cold/bronchitis. Ok, now to the stressful day. Our car has been having a serious malfunction for about the past 2 months. It all started when I noticed that the "drive" light on the front console (where the odometer, speedometer, and all that other junk is) was flickering in & out. It did it in all the other gears, too. Also, the odometer would all of a sudden decide not to show me how many miles I'd driven, instead just show me a panel full of zeros. And to top it all off, the gas gauge would show me an incorrect gas level. All of this at once, not very fun. But it didn't happen all the time & would eventually go back to normal. But Jeff thought it might be a safety hazard, so I eventually made an appointment at our local dealer. "Local" being a relative term, since the nearest Honda dealer is an hour's drive away. ::Have I mentioned how far out in the boonies we are?:: Anyways, so my appointment was for 10:30am this morning. Monday morning, what was I thinking. Not only did I have to make sure that I dropped Jeff off at work on time & then make the not so fun drive out to Bay City, but I also had to make sure that both Emma & I were decently dressed & presentable for it. I didn't know how long I was going to be there & I didn't relish the idea of being stuck in a dealership service waiting area for hours at a time, knowing I forgot to put deoderant on and Emma's hair hadn't been brushed. To make matters worse, it was raining. Normally this is a good thing, since combined with the warmer temperatures lately, it melted a lot of the snow that had been piled on the ground for months. But, apparently, people in Michigan decide that when the weather's terrible, that's the perfect time to speed & drive erratically. Our drive out there was relatively uneventful, with the one exception of Emma telling me 10 minutes after we'd left that she needed to go pee. She's got a good bladder that can hold a lot for hours after she wakes up, so when it finally sets off the "empty me" warning in her head, you need to listen to it quickly, or we'd be having a yellow river in our backseat.
So, we get there, roughly 30 minutes early, I might add, and we check in. I tell them the problem, give them my keys & prepare to wait until at least noon. Emma's watching a video in the little children's area they have, and I'm reading a magazine. An easy hour goes by & they come to tell me they can't figure out the problem, can't duplicate it & the internal computer has no record of anything like that happening. Uh-huh. Typical. This is the exact same thing that happens whenever the baby's doing cartwheels in my abdomen, and I try to get Jeff's attention, only to have it stop. He's starting to think I'm nuts. And I'm sure that's what the service people thought, too. They had a suggestion, after I'd told them that this mostly happens in the morning, when I go out to warm up the car. They suggested that I leave the car there & they would try in the morning to get the car to do this crazy thing. I was ok with that, but how was I supposed to get home. They said they'd give me a loaner car, for free (with the exception that I pay sales tax, a whopping $1.20) and they'd give me a call in the morning. So, that's what I decided to do. We got what I consider a crappy loaner car. A '98 Honda Accord that smells, part of the driver's side running board has fallen off & is on the back floorboard, the arm rest in between the driver & passenger seats is practically falling off, and it had almost no gas in it. Plus, I realized as I was driving 60 MPH down the highway trying to get home in the now pouring rain, that I think the tires are going bald. Every time I hit a patch of standing water (something you occasionally do when it's raining) I felt like the car was going to slide off the road. Not very comforting. So, we make it back to our street & as I'm about to turn into the driveway, I reach up to click the garage door opener, and realize I forgot it in my car, back at the dealer. Not only that, but I didn't get my house keys off the ring that I gave to the service people. So, I was locked out of the house. I felt like such an idiot. I knew that I was having pregnancy brain, but I think I've outdone myself. So, I drive over to the college, hoping & praying that Jeff has his keys with him. He doesn't. So, I was faced with the prospect of driving the crappy car with the now almost empty gas tank, back to the dealer 45 miles away. But then, my wonderful, intelligent, non-pregnancy brain husband had a brilliant idea. Call the realtor. She has to get into our house to show it when we're not there, she has a key. But first, I had to find a phone. I had left Jeff's office by this time, and I don't have a cell, so I had to find a payphone. Ok, when did the LOCAL charge for a pay phone go up to $1.00? That's ridiculous. Plus, it seemed every payphone I tried to use was malfunctioning. The first one said that I didn't have to dial a "1" before dialing this number. But I didn't dial a "1", you crazy phone. The next one ate my 4 quarters. I was at my wits ends. I finally decide to try my neighbors & see if I could use their phone. The first one I tried wasn't home, the next one I tried wasn't home, the THIRD one I tried wasn't home. Come on, these are retired people, aren't they supposed to be at home?! As I was leaving to go back to the college to use his phone, I saw that one of my neighbors was pulling into her driveway. Ok, perfect, I'll go ask her. She was very nice & let Emma & I come to use the phone. This realtor is one of the most difficult people to get ahold of. I called her cell, no answer, I called her office, she was out. So, I ended up leaving a message on her voicemail at work, telling her to call me at my neighbors house because I needed to be let into my house. My neighbor set Emma up with a movie, a pretzel & some milk and we waited. About 15 minutes late, the realtor calls back & says she'll be right there. So, we were finally able to go home. Only to remember that I needed to take some paperwork to the tax people so we could file our income taxes. Emma was about ready to throw a full blown fit. I felt so bad having to drag her out again. But, it needed to be done. So, after only being home for about an hour, out we went again in our jalopy loaner. While we waited at the tax place for our paperwork to be printed (which we would later have to bring back with Jeff's signatures on it) Emma decided she didn't want to listen, obey or any of those nice things that I so desperately wanted her to do. She had found some toys & incessantly asked me if she could take these two tiny Barbies home. I think the kid has some serious wax buildup in her ears because she apparently didn't hear me say no, or hear the very nice, polite & very precise explanation that I gave her as to why she couldn't take them home. I finally bribed her into submission (in order to preserve some of my sanity). I offered her ice cream if she would give it up with the Barbies. She took it, and happily put the Barbies back. I know I probably broke about 5 parenting rules with that, but I so beyond caring at the point. By this time, it was after 3pm, I'd been on the road or at the dealership or somewhere other than where I wanted to be for 7 hours, and I was at the breaking point. I had needed to call Jeff at work to get his drivers license number at the tax place, and he had said to come pick him up at 4pm. I had 45 minutes to kill & I was in no mood to go back home (a 15 minute drive) only to have to pack Emma back into the car 15 minutes later & drive back to about the same place to pick up Jeff. We went to Wendy's, got some frosty dairy desserts & sat there in the parking lot for 30 minutes. I made a list of stuff I needed to do, Emma got chocolate everywhere and I tried to relax & enjoy the rain that I've been waiting 4 months for. Rain is good, it melts snow. We can almost see our entire front lawn now. And I think the inches of ice have melted off our roof. Yay!
When we finally got home after picking Jeff up, I collapsed. The house was a mess, people were hungry, but I didn't care. They could fend for themselves and there was no way I was cleaning anything tonight. Tonight is all about vegging and watching CSI: Miami. Tomorrow I'll deal with reality. And reality will have to be dealt with because I still need to drive the clunker loaner back to the dealer & get my own piece of junk back, preferably fixed.

Who's afraid of a little fog?

Ok, sometimes I think these Michigan people are the strangest group on the planet. They have weird, horrible weather that apparently everyone just deals with, rather than move away. But, evidently, fog really gets them. We had some fog this morning, nothing terrible, the visibility was still very good. But, it sent the people who determine when the schools get cancelled or delayed into a panic. They have a local television station around here that tells about all the local events, including things happening at the schools. It's just a plain blue background with white letters and cheesy music playing. But, when schools are either delayed or cancelled, the background turns red. I turned it on this morning, and saw that it was red. I couldn't understand why, since we hadn't had any new snow, the temperatures weren't below zero, and as far as I could tell, it was only a little foggy. They had issued a "fog advisory warning" and delayed school for 2 hours. Now, I had been told that if the public schools were delayed 2 hours, not even cancelled, that Emma's preschool would be cancelled. So I was preparing to have be at home all day. But at noon rolled around closer, I decided check the channel again. And it was back to being blue. So I called the school, and sure enough, school was still on. Now I don't mind the fact that they changed their minds in the middle of the day, Emma likes school & I like having 2 hours to myself. But the fact that they had to issue a fog advisory warning is what got me. Now, I grew up in Sacramento, where we get some nasty fog in the winter & spring. There were times when you couldn't see the front enf of your car, let alone anything else in front of you. But, I don't ever recall ever having school delayed or cancelled because of a fog advisory. These people can handle feet of snow, bone chilling temperatures, and blizzard-like conditions, but they can't handle fog. It makes no sense to me.
Anyhow, so Emma went to school & had a great time as always. She's still wanting to be the leader every day, but I think that's just her Type-A personality that she gets from her father. But, she came home with more than just March's calendar of snack duties and some arts & crafts projects. This is it, Emma's first fund raiser. I didn't think it started this young, but apparently I was wrong. It's a Little Caesars Pizza Kit fund raiser. Apparently, Little Caesars puts together these unmade pizza kits to sell to people, so they can assemble the pizza at home and not have to pay a delivery driver. They are also selling cookie dough kits, gourmet spice kits, pizza cutters & serving paddles, and Crazy Bread. For some reason, I thought this pandering didn't start until Girl Scouts. So I guess it's time for Emma to put on her cutest smile & go door to door, selling stuff she won't even eat (the pizza, that is, the cookies are a different story). But, I think this is one of those "benefits" of having a husband who works at a college, where there are people whose main diet consists of pizza & sweets. So, I think Emma will do fairly nicely in this fund raiser.
Emma had gymnastics last night. She did so much better than last week. She listened to her teacher, she didn't cut in line (as much), and she didn't push her classmates around. She still seemed to be the instigator when it came to goofing off when it wasn't her turn to do something, but at least it was mostly harmless. She wasn't having the other girls jumping off the 4 foot high balance beam or anything.
I met one of the other mothers who's daughter is in Emma's gymnastics class, who is a labor & delivery nurse at the hospital where I'm going to have the baby. She only works the weekends, so it's unlikely she'll be there when I deliver, but she was able to give me some information about L & D. They only have 3 labor & delivery rooms. But, she assures me that in her ten years at that hospital, she's only seen once instance, where they had more patients than rooms. It's hard for me to imagine. But, then again, I've never lived in a town as small as this. But, I'm seeing an awful lot of pregnant women around here, so I'm thinking I better go into labor early in the day, to ensure I don't end up delivering in the waiting room.

More snow?

Ok, I thought that Mother Nature had been really nice to us lately. It had been relatively warm, upper 30's, there was no snow on the roads, and it was starting to melt the feet of snow we have on our yard. Then, yesterday, we got hit with about 5-7 inches of snow. At first, it was still really warm, so most of it was melting on contact with the road or cars, but sticking to the snow already on the ground. Then, it started getting heavier & started sticking to everything. By the end of the day, we had good quarter size clumps of snow falling from the sky and we were once again in the midst of a winter wonderland. But the weather took a dramatic change for the better today. It's sunny & again, relatively warm. It's even supposed to get up to around 48 degrees by this coming Sunday. Whoo hoo! We might actually see most of this snow start to melt.
I had a doctor's appointment yesterday. I asked him if he was able to tell how big the baby was (by the information from my ultrasound) & if everything looked fine. He said that at this time, the baby was about 4 1/2 lbs. which is about 10 days farther along than it's gestational age. I asked him if that meant I would go into labor early. He said probably not, since trying to weigh a fetus in the womb is kinda tricky. He said the baby was most likely normal size, and would be born on time.
I think Emma has started to get used to the idea of the baby. Yesterday, when I was getting out of the shower & before she went to bed, she kissed my belly. When she was going to bed, she also patted my belly and said, "Night night, baby." It was too cute. So, it'll be a slow process of getting her used to the idea that a new baby will be with us in a couple months, but I think she'll be ready for it.

Weekend Bliss

Well, here it is, another weekend almost over. They should really make these things a day longer or something. These are the most relaxing days, where we can sleep in (until Emma wakes us up), go out to breakfast, lunch or dinner, play games, watch movies, or, in our case, drop Emma off at the casino child care center so Jeff & I could eat a nice relaxing lunch. Not that she minds. We asked her specifically which she would like to do: go eat with us, or go play at the child care center. She CHOSE not to eat with us. It was her decision. Don't call CPS on us. She was not neglected in any way. She had a great time, and she even left willingly with us this time. Of course, she had just gotten a slushie & some Cheetos for the road, but somehow I know she would have gone with us even without those...I hope. We came home, all happy & in a good mood, only to have poor Emma get a giant splinter in her finger. You should have seen this child, you'd think we were trying to rip off her nail the way she was catterwalling & throwing a fit over this splinter. She didn't want us to touch it in any way, all she wanted was a bandaid, and she thought it would be fine. We tried to explain that it wasn't going to go away on it's own, and Jeff had to hold her still while I gently yanked the thing out. It was a good size splinter, probably about 1/8 inch long. I was surprised this hasn't happened sooner, what with our lower basement-type room being completely covered in wood paneling. And not the smooth paneling, either. This is the rough stuff, the kind you'd use for roof shingles. The whole incident just took too much out of her & she fell asleep in daddy's lap not more than 10 minutes later. She took a good long nap in the bean bag chair. She needed it, and I think maybe we should have taken a clue from her & napped ourselves. It's amazing how much energy it takes to try to calm down a 4 year old. It was hilarious the way she was acting, we couldn't help but laugh. She just kept saying,"I want a ban-bam (bandaid)", "I have a boo-boo" (like it wasn't obvious), and "Don't touch me!" I don't think I've ever seen her react quite like that before. It was too funny.
Well, after a couple of days (and a little shopping trip to JCPenney) I think we've gotten used to the idea that we're having a girl. I had forgotten about all the cute little girl clothes they have out. But, I can already tell, like with Emma, that I'm not much into pink. I like pink, don't get me wrong, but I like clothing my child in the other colors of the rainbow, as well. So, this new little one has plenty of pink, purple, yellow, blue & green. And it was all on sale, so that makes it all look cuter. I think Emma has also gotten the idea that she's going to have a sister and is ok with it. She even helped pick out an outfit for the baby. But, of course, HER baby doll had to try it on first, just to make sure it worked ok.
We've almost decided on a name, but are having a little trouble with the middle name. I went to Babycenter.com & started a poll to help give me an idea of how these 3 choices sound to others. I sent the link to most of you, but if I missed anyone (because I don't have your email address), then here's the link. You'll have to copy & paste it into your browser since I don't think this page supports hyperlinks. It's
http://click.babycenter.com/b/?le=6kQF&cn=emailafriend&en=20040216&ce=0&t=0. Jeff says he doesn't care which one we go with, but I like them all, so I'd like your opinion.