Health update, and baby nicknames

My blood pressure is much better. The medication helped, but what really what seems to have made the biggest difference has been having my c-section incision cleaned and packed daily.

Hubby's theory is that my c-section wasn't draining properly, and that my blood pressure was high because my body was trying to get rid of the bad stuff by PUMPING it out.

For a while, had to go to ObGyn to get the wound packed daily. Was on call... meaning would get a phone call from the ObGyn sometime during the day asking us to come on down. No forewarning. Couldn't really plan our days ahead of time. Lovely.

[Before you think otherwise, I very much like my ObGyn. But so do 20 thousand other women! So it's a little hard to get in to see her in a scheduled fashion... especially when she's off doing emergency c-sections, etc.]

Then started having a nurse drop by daily. Received some forewarning ahead of time, which was good, because if they could at least give me an hour, I could take a shower before. And considering my attempts at keeping the wound dry while in the shower were failing miserably, the only intelligent options were to take a shower just before, pulling out the packing myself just before I hopped in the shower, or to STAY STINKY. Bleah.

Hubby was trained 2 days ago to clean and pack the wound. So now we can schedule things ourselves. Weee!!!

When he has to return to work, not sure if I should attempt to clean it myself or not. I keep flashing back to the movie Ronin, where Robert De Niro is looking at his gunshot wound with a mirror, and advising 2 other guys what to do to get the bullet out. You get the impression that De Niro's character has pulled the bullets out himself on occasion when he didn't have anyone else, and just had the tools and a mirror.

And really badly want to know when I can start driving again. My hubby having to take me to all these doctor appointments, and doing the grocery shopping, while he also has to go to work, is just not going to work well. He's already pretty damned wiped out. He's been on "vacation", but in spite of that, the last 2 days of very little sleep have made him nauseated. Consistently.

And it's not exactly been a wonderful vacation for him. He's been my slave. And I'm Logan's slave, of course!

Need to send hubby to Vegas with friends for a weekend. Badly.

I seem to be handling the sleeplessness a bit better. Maybe it's a motherhood thing, a switch getting thrown in my body to allow me to function. Not looking forward to when I have to go back to work on top of this no-sleep deal, LOL!!!

Sigh.

Baby has been given alot of nicknames thanks to our various experiences with him.

(1) "Little One"
(2) "Little Guy"
(3) "Logan Monster"
(4) "Ten-pound Tyrant"
(5) "Bottomless Pit"

1 and 2 are obvious. He's adorable. And he's little.

3... he can be a "monster". But we mean it affectionately. And it's mostly to accommodate the way we also talk to the dogs. Boss is "Boss Dog", or sometimes "B-Dog". Ellie is "Ellie Girl". Sometimes she's "Ellsibub", sorta like "Beelzebub", except there's nothing demonic about our Ellie Girl.

So Logan needs to be "Logan Monster". ;)

4... when he wants to be fed, he'd better be fed NOW. Even if he just wants another 5 minutes of food. It had better be now. "No, you may NOT take a bathroom break. No, you may not stop for a shower or to brush your teeth. What do you MEAN you need to eat and drink? NO, you must feed me NOW!!!!"

And when he pees, he wants that pee to leave his diaper NOW. But he also doesn't want his diaper changed. He wants the pee to miraculously leave his diaper. This whole changing thing is just way too inefficient for him.

Basically, it's pretty hard to please him!

5 has to do with how often he wants to be fed. And fed. And fed. Add to that the fact that he's not very, uhm, gentle with my nipples! And my hubby has started teasingly calling me a "moo cow".

Logan has made me realize that the perfect punishment for when he's old enough to do something wrong (and KNOW he's done something wrong) is to stick him in the corner and make him stand there... while wearing nipple-clamps. I keep threatening him with them whenever he makes me yip from pain.

He isn't getting anywhere near my poor nipples when his teeth start coming in. I am pumping WELL before we get there.

Thankfully, although he can be a tyrant, he's also really good at rewarding Mommy... even as he's making my poor nipples throb in pain. He makes this cooing noise that brings out emotions in me that I remember only having when holding and petting little puppies. Hubby calls it "mommy crack", i.e., crack-cocaine for mommies. It melts my heart. Which is good, because there are times that I've totally understood why someone might get frustrated enough to start shaking their baby!!!

I never realized babies could make positive noises. Thought it was all about screaming to high heaven at an ear-splitting frequency. But no, they actually make good noises, too. Oh, thank the Lord!!! :)

Anyway, in answer to my Sister-in-law's question from a few weeks ago, "no, we haven't killed him yet." :)

He's driving us crazy, but I still think Logan's a keeper. ;)

Don't break the baby...

We had our Sister and her boyfriend over at our house for Christmas. Logan isn't sleeping in his bedroom yet, so we shoved things around, and inflated a queen-sized blow-up bed in there. Infinitely more comfortable than the alternative: sleeping one person on my parent's ancient couch in the living room, the other on the floor. No door to close for privacy. No way to block out the light from the kitchen or the family room. Mom sleeping on the couch in the family room with a light on and the TV on, so...

Thought we were also sparing them the lovely beeping noises of the smoke detector that kept me up the 2 nights I slept on their couch in January, during the lovely termite-tenting of our house. But either the battery in the wall or in the smoke detector got replaced, or thankfully finally died. No beeping to be heard on Christmas Eve when we went over, LOL!

Anyway, my Sister and her boyfriend were arriving Sunday December 23rd, late in the evening. We took a look our baby, who hadn't had a bath yet. Who we had even been bad about just using a wet washcloth on his face. [His face was breaking out...] We'd been postponing a real bath until his umbilical cord fell off, but we'd even postponed just the "wash and dry a section at a time" version of baby bathing that we could have done in spite of the umbilical cord.

So, realizing we have a "welfare baby" appearance going on with our child, and knowing my Sister was on her way, we realized we needed to do more than just "feed the baby, change the baby, burp the baby, rock the baby". Needed to do more than just the bare minimum that appears to be sufficient to STOP THE CRYING.

We unpacked the baby bath kit. Hubby got the shower-attachment setup. [It's a battery-powered shower pump thingy that you dip one end into a water-holder. The water-holder has a temperature indicator so you know you're not about to freeze or boil the baby.]

The great hunt for the Johnson's Baby Shampoo failed miserably. [I had "hidden" it in the master-bath's shower.] So hair washing was to be done with the Johnson's Baby soap.

I put the baby bath kit into the guest bathroom tub. Filled the water reservoir. Watched the temperature indicator go up through "too cold" to "ideal", then crawl into "too hot". [Not the actual words on the indicator, but you get the idea.] Tossed some cold water in. There we go.

Removed baby clothing and diaper in other room, and brought baby in. Wiped Logan's face and ears and hands off with a wet washcloth first. Then wet his hair, washed that. Then wet rest of body and washed with a soapy washcloth. Then rinsed off. Wow. Baby is shivering. Wow. Really badly. Shit.

Hubby was watching, and we both realized that, as we'd been told, yes, babies have a hard time regulating body temperature! And washing/drying one section at a time was INDEED a better idea!

I picked Logan up and put him in a towel while hubby was taking care of something in the other room. Was in a hurry to dry baby. Baby is squirming like mad. While trying to get every part dry, realized his head was at a weird angle... shit, his head is hanging off the bathroom counter-top! Ack! Picked his head up and just grabbed him and the towel and headed for a better surface to finish drying him on.

Hubby meanwhile was hunting for onsies and socks, etc. We got him all suited up, covering every surface except his face. Hubby handed Logan to me, and I lay down and gave him all kinds of body-warmth, trying to counteract the hypothermia.

Phew!

We were wiped out. Apparently, so was Logan! He passed out and slept for HOURS after that trauma!!!

Eventually got him woken up to feed him. Then needed to change him. Hubby strapped him into his changing table as he's been getting more and more squirmy. I went over, took off the old diaper. Cleaned him. And then tried to lift him to put the new diaper under him. Hmmm... why can't I lift him higher? Shit! He's strapped down... I'm BENDING THE BABY IN HALF!!!!

Aigh!!!!!

Unstrapped the baby, finished putting the new diaper on him, and crawled back into bed with him.

I tried to break the baby. 3 times in one day. SHUDDER.

The next day, I was exhausted. Hubby had been telling me I wasn't resting enough. Mother-in-law was also like, "you're not resting enough." Sometime in the afternoon, I gave up, feeling guilty for apparently not taking good enough care of myself and feeling like I was getting punished for not feeling well, LOL. And crawled back into bed.

Well, this Christmas Eve, about 5 or 6 hours before we were going over to my parent's to celebrate. And of course, since it's Southern California, it was nice and cool in the bedroom this winter afternoon. NOT.

The afternoon sun hit. The room got up to mid to high 70's. And my post-partum body was having hot flashes. I'm trying to sleep, am keeping Logan close to myself so that he will sleep. Would wake up, and check his feet... his hands... his forehead. Was worrying now about heatstroke.

My Sister-in-law claims baby's are easier than dogs.

She's got to be on drugs. And she should be sharing.

Oatmeal the wrong way

Hubby makes me some oatmeal. Claims he makes it the wrong way.

Me: "You can't make oatmeal the wrong way... it's foolproof."

Him: "Yeah, well, you'll see."

Last time he made it for me, I had problems finishing it. But I think that was because I was either in the middle of the headache of death from Friday, or was dead tired, or something.

He brings it in to me. I start eating...

It's.... it's... kindof a little too chewy. Oh, it's not quite cooked all the way!

Me: "Uhm, how did you make this oatmeal?"

Him: "It's wrong, isn't it? Told you I make it the wrong way. I poured boiling water over it."

"Oh. I usually just poor water over it and slap both into the microwave for 1 minute."

"Yeah, the instructions say to cook it and the water at the same time, but..."

"Wow. You DO make oatmeal the wrong way!!!!"

A bird in the bathroom is worth... huh?

So, Saturday 12/15/2007, in the morning, I've just put Logan back into his bassinet after feeding and/or changing. I stop to read a little bit before closing my eyes for more sleep. I see movement out of the corner of my eyes.

It's small. And fast. And too high up for dogs. And it's in the bathroom.

A bird has found it's way into the bathroom through the hole in the screen. And it's bouncing back and forth in a panic between our bathroom mirrors and the bathroom window... but unfortunately, not the screen part of the window. Rather the bright, lighted frosted glass to no-where part, that birdy doesn't understand is a solid object.

I head into the bathroom, and close the door. I don't want the bird escaping into the bedroom and pooping all over everything, especially Logan!!!

I grab a plastic bag on the floor and put it over my hand inside-out, and proceed to chase the poor thing all over. And I'm barefoot, which I didn't think of in time before I went in there.

The bird hides between all our crap on the counter, occasionally leaving it's own crap there as well. And flies behind the toilet. And flies into the trash can on top of the toilet.(1) And flies up onto the shelves above the toilet. And towards the door, where it sees a crack under the door that it might squeeze through. And as I try to corner it by the door, it flies between my legs. I can feel it's feathers brush my legs as it swoops past, and mentally tick off something else I'll need to wash once I'm done, LOL!

Finally, it flies towards the trash can on top of the toilet a 2nd time. I check, but that's not where it is. Oh, it's somewhere under the toilet. In the toilet brush holder!!!

I snag that, and make sure the lid is secure, and walk out with my trapped birdy. Hubby is passed out, having taken "smelly hippie"(2) to ensure a good night's sleep.

I wake him briefly, to show him that I've captured a bird, explaining that it was flying back and forth between the window and the mirror, slowly bashing itself to death. I explain there's probably bird doo on the floor, and the counter next to the sink, so to be careful until I get it cleaned up. Then I take it outside and release it. Hubby passes back out.

I come back in, and rinse off feet and legs. I know I should have used soap, but was so tired by that time, I gave up. I crawled back into bed.

Tired hubby gets up a few hours later and wanders into the kitchen. Looking for bird doo there, LOL! And seeing none, assumes I've already cleaned it up. But is at a loss to understand why the bird was banging from the mirror near thew front door, all the way to the sliding glass door in the living room. :) [The sliding glass door also has a screen door with a big hole in it.]

We're both so tired, neither of us has made sense or understood each other for a couple of weeks, LOL!!!


(1) If you have dogs, you probably understand the necessity of keeping bathroom trash cans on top of the toilet. :) If you don't... nevermind...

(2) Smelly Hippie is what we call Unisom. There's an episode of Futurama where Lur of Omicron Persei 8 eats a hippie that's got some pot or something in his system. At one point, Lur says something to the effect of, "Whoa... this hippie's starting to kick in!!!!" :)

Doctor, Doctor, give me the news...

So, Tuesday 12/11/2007 I went to see my ObGyn for some various concerns.

My c-section incision was oozing quite a bit. No fever though.

My back was hurting, and I almost felt like maybe I had a UTI (Urinary Trace Infection).

And most importantly, my blood pressure was through through the roof.

So, the nurse practitioner looked at my incision. It wasn't infected, and it's designed to heal from the innermost incision to the outermost. And they leave room so that any fluids that need to ooze out can ooze out. So, instead of the flimsy 4x4 inch squares of gauze, we were advised to use a pad to catch the fluids. So now I'm wearing 2 pads per pair of painties, in a kind of t-square formation... one to catch the "lochia", and one to catch the ooze.

The nurse also re-taped the incision. But the tape lasted as long as the tape lasted last time: about 2 hours! Told hubby not to re-tape it a 3rd time. Waste of effort. :)

Using my pregger SI-belt to hold 2nd pad in place over the incision.

Peed in a cup for the UTI test. Came back negative. Wee! And noticed something really cool: I could aim alot better now, LOL! W/O baby in the way in my belly, I actually could almost see what I was doing. :)

Blood pressure was still bad. Was told that, at next visit Thursday of next week, if it was still bad, would be sent to someone to look into getting treatment for high blood pressure.

My blood pressure during the tail end of the pregnancy kept going up. I guess I managed to get gestational high blood pressure. Theoretically, it will hopefully clear itself up a month from delivery, unless it's decided to become a problem for me in my non-pregger state.

So, went back home. A couple of days go by, and I feel short of breath. Call my ObGyn. I figure the shortness of breath is because my ObGyn had to practically sit on my tummy to push Logan down towards the c-section incision. [He was still way too far up... hadn't dropped down hardly at all. 42 weeks, and the kid had NO intention of leaving, LOL!]

ObGyn says that I need to go to the ER.

No!!!!!! Not the hospital AGAIN!!!! Sigh.

She also says to pick up another pain prescription from her office on the way. She had given me 2 refills on her original prescription, on a special prescription pad that allows for the scary pain meds to be prescribed with refills, but the pharmacy had still decided to limit it to one filling per prescription on the medication due to some law. But again, the prescription pad my ObGyn used should have taken care of that law as far as refills were concerned.

BTW, if I've got typo's galore here, please forgive me. Although my hips are feeling better, and I haven't had any real water retention or any heart burn to speak of, I STILL CAN'T FEEL MOST OF MY FINGERS. It's worse in my right hand. Sigh.

So, Thursday, 12/13/2007, we pack Logan into his car seat (for his 3rd car ride since his birth), and head off to first my ObGyn's, then the ER.

At the ER, they check my blood pressure, draw a bunch of blood, take my temp, ask me a bunch of questions, etc. I try to regurgitate all of my symptoms. It's hard when you aren't allowed to eat or drink anything because results from tests might send you in for surgery, LOL! Blood sugar was tanking. Thankfully, Logan slept through everything, and so never needed feeding.

They gave me a CT scan to check for blood clots. Didn't find anything. Ended up very happily being sent home after being given a blood pressure med to take right then, then another for the morning. Told to see ObGyn next day so she could either prescribe the same med, or something else.

Felt better, but tired.

Next morning, got up early 'cause wasn't sure when would see ObGyn. Called ObGyn, explained ER wanted me to see her today. Took shower. Fed/changed baby, ate stuff.

Got into ObGyn just before noon. Splitting headache. Blood pressure still pretty high. Showed ObGyn results. She talked to another doctor. Ended up with another prescription. Told to go back to ER if headache got worse or didn't go away. And to stay in bed for the next 4 days, except for Logan's doc appointment Monday. And to come in again on Tuesday.

Hubby took me and Logan home, then went back out with grocery list I'd given him and prescriptions to fill.

I pretty much slept most of 12/14/2007 away, except for feeding/changing Logan. I was running from that headache. Around 7 or 9pm, woke up and the bloody thing was finally GONE. Thank you, Lord!!!

So, have been waited on hand and feet.

During the whole ER experience, was worried about what parents were going to think.

While I was in the hospital having 2 days of unsuccessful inducement, they flashed back to when I was a sick little kid, and they'd take me to the hospital once a year for a week at a time, to have the doctor's check on me and see how I was surviving. [Doc's thought I had a genetic disease that either God healed me of, or God decided I didn't have, LOL! I may in fact have just been sickly due to being born puny, 6 weeks premature, and never getting breast fed. Latter was not my Mom's fault, however.]

So, they are flashing back to when they were feeling helpless to help me. Mom's got congestive heart failure, and is nearly 80. Dad's nearly 86. If some stress takes Mom out, Dad is likely to follow from losing Mom.

Have been trying to keep them from seeing me in pain. Didn't think they could handle it. Didn't want the delivery to be the death of them!!!

So there I was, in the ER. Hoping that they weren't worrying too much about me.

I was stressed out. I wasn't doing "calm blue ocean" very well right then. But I've been trying to learn how to maintain the calm blue ocean thing.

Like, when I was in the hospital earlier for the inducement/c-section, I really didn't have the luxury to feel sorry for myself that I was getting poked with twelve billion needles. Remembering how I used to be terrified of needles, and how that was caused by being traumatized as a little kid, wasn't going to be productive towards my surviving delivery. Honestly, instead, I've been enjoying how I'm no LONGER terrified of needles.

I'm still a bit spooked by hospitals, but I was also enjoying the fact that I trusted that everyone there was on my side, and had no intention of hurting me, or allowing me to be in pain if they could help it.

I guess you could say that I was enjoying having a positive hospital experience rather than allowing self-pity to come into play about how I was justified in being scared or angry at having to suffer through the hospital again in my life.

I'd like to take credit for my more positive attitude, but I figure it's God, plus hubby's training, plus Zoloft and alot of kind people drawing my blood that have turned thing around for me, LOL! Ok, that and the birthing classes making me ready for what to expect. :)

Anyway, I've been trying to not react to crisis's with panic, but rather with calm blue ocean attitude. Whether the crisis is my own or someone else's. Not always doing it well. But have seen some improvement.

And ironically, I want my parents to do the same. Sigh. They understandably responded with, "well, now that you have your own child, you understand how we can still worry about you". They sorta missed the point, LOL! Because of their health, they can't really indulge that worry. They can be concerned, but it needs to be calm concern. 'Cause I want them to be around for a few more Christmases, damnit!!! :)

Anyway, things have been very weird. But thank God, Logan's health has appeared to be really good. Would rather I be the sickly one than him, anyday. :)

Now if me and hubby could just catch up on our REM sleep...

Communication Skills

So, my Sister called at 9:30am to make sure we wouldn't open some boxes she was sending for Logan until Xmas. Now, we're using the time from, uhm, sunrise to noon in order to catch up on our REM sleep due to feeding/changing Logan all night long. So the phone ringing in the bedroom meant we were scrambling to answer it before the ringing could wake Logan up.

After I talked to my Sister, hubby got up to turn the heat on as he thought it was too cold for Logan. Then he came back into the bedroom.

Me: "Love, could you turn the phone off?"

Hubby: "You want me to turn off the fan?"

"Yes, it's going to wake Logan."

"Ok......"

I put my head back on the pillow. Hubby turns off the FAN. I look up at the sudden lack of white noise.

Me: "Why did you turn the FAN off?"

Hubby: "You told me to..."

"No, the phone!!! The phone!" :)

We were both so tired, we both got the exhaustion giggles. :)

Home Safe

I'm behind several updates.

Logan was born December 5th at 3:10pm via C-section, after 2 days of unsuccessful induction attempts using 3 different medications.

Wee!!!

He was 8 pounds 3 ounces, 20 inches long. Due to the fact that they had given me morphine to help me cope with the long, unsuccessful inducement (went from 1 centimeter to a full 1.5 centimeters, whoo-hoo! :) ), he was born pretty danged sleepy.

Husband watched procedure. I was thankfully kept unaware via a blue sheet. When they broke my water through the incision, it reminded hubby of the water fountain at the Bellagio, LOL! He said first it squirted up 3 feet. He's since said it was 4. I think it's getting higher each time he tries to remember the scene.

He got to see my abdominal cavity. I'm glad I didn't see anything during the procedure, but I almost wish we'd recorded it so I could watch it once, then burn the evidence, LOL!

Several days in the hospital later, with lots of education and emotional / physical support from the nurses/doctors, they released us from the hospital on Sunday December 9th. That was way more of a production that I had thought it would be. And then, getting home, and letting the dogs sniff me and make sure I was ok (after I'd been gone since Monday morning almost a week ago) was also a production.

Then Logan wanted to be fed, changed, etc. Dogs got kicked out, w/o getting to meet him for a while. They about went nuts.

And my blood pressure had been running high. And then I realized my pain meds were wearing off, which might account at that moment for the feeling that my blood pressure was through the roof. And since they'd removed the staples Saturday, my incision was bleeding. Weee... just alot of stress even at home.

Hubby called his parents in to babysit me and Logan while he went to get pain meds at the pharmacy, as well as gauze to put over my incision. Before he left, though, he fed me and called the hospital and various doctors.

Basically, he had to take care of an invalid AND a baby. Well, I was doing the breast feeding, LOL!

His parents came over and talked to me and kept me company while he picked up my meds.

His parents came over later that evening also for moral support, LOL!

Saturday night, in the hospital, I finally lost it. Too much stimulation/information, too little sleep. Nurses had to pull me off the walls. Had a good serious crying fit. And then I finally had gotten those damned post-partum hormones weeped out, and I was SO much better. Sigh.

Hubby has been awesome. He's taken over on scheduling doc appointments, on feeding me, on chores, etc. I think we're going to make it, but it is a pretty stressful experience, LOL!

Worth it, though. :)

Finally figured out how to wake Logan for his feeding sessions. Cold, wet feet. Diaper wipes work great for that. Now if we can figure out how to get him to calm down and go back to sleep! :)

And my milk finally came in. And with that, Logan has been voracious!!!

Ok, got to click submit before he starts crying again, LOL!

Oh, the dogs finally met him. They keep checking him when he cries. I can't help but think they want to give me advice: "what are you doing? No, do it like this!!!"

12/4/2007, 10:45pm. I. WANT. CHOCOLATE.

Ok, pain's getting worse, and kindof hanging on in a low-level way.

I want fentonal. And Reesus peanut-butter cups. And a Wendy's cheeseburger. And a LARGE order of salty, oily french fries.

Starting to get some slight cold sweats.

Chocolate ice cream would be good too. And chocolate milk shakes. And chocolate sodas. Oooooh... and about 3 coca colas. And some mac and cheese.

Why do I feel voracious???

12/4/2007 9pm Still being induced.

Well, 2 doses of something to soften the cervix have left it a little softer, but still at 1 cm. Or at least, at noon today, it was still 1cm.

Now on picotin (spelling?!?!?) to induce contractions and also open up the cervix. Started that around noon today. Have had some contractions... was almost getting repetitive, with ones every 6 minutes. But not quite happening right now.

They were ironically really low on the pain scale. Freaking me out. Was expecting to be pretty much speaking in blasphemous tongues, spinning my head 360 degrees around, and projectile vomiting green bile at this point, LOL! [And that's as much of the movie The Exorcist as I can even remotely stand to remember, LOL!] But they have been really nice and easy. It makes me feel like they are just making me a little too relaxed so they can jump me later! :)

But this is what IS hurting: the kid is trying to DIG his way out, I SWEAR!!! I keep looking down and going, "Ouch! Hey, cut it out! Let my cervix open up first!"

2 weeks being cooked extra... the little bugger has got nails, I know it. And he's definitely SCRATCHING. Yikes. OUCH.

They keep upping the picotin dosage every hour or so. And they will check my cervix at midnight, and if it's still closed, will give me some medication to open it up, while still keeping me on the picotin.

So, still preggers. And have a picotin drip and saline drip attached. And the baby monitor cables. Weeee.

Hubby setup an ad-hoc network that I can reach through his computer. His computer is hooked up to the internet via his phone. So as long as he's here, I have network access. Yea!!!! :) But don't count on it. Things may change.

It was funny, because he was asking me, "are you trying to access bleah"? Uh, no, I was trying to access something else... So then he password-protected his ad-hoc network, and we both started laughing as we realized the people out there who had briefly had Internet-Love, and were now DENIED, LOL!!!

Thank you all of you for all your words of encouragement. :) Can't believe all the VERY COOL friends I've made online. :) You guys ROCK. :)

12/3/2007 In the hospital

This morning, the doctor determined my water was a little low. So I was walked over to the hospital.

I looked at the nurse pathetically and asked if I could go home first and grab my bags, etc., LOL! Nope. Husband had to rescue my car. And bring my bags. I think there's a part of me that wanted to just go home and hide, and maybe they wouldn't drag me to the hospital until the original induction date of December 5th, LOL!

They've given me stuff to dilate my cervix. I'm here until Logan comes out. Been here since 10am-ish. Seen both sets of grandparents.

I won't often have internet access. There is no wi-fi... using husband's laptop to type this, and his laptop is using his cell phone for internet access. So my laptop is just going to be for playing movies.

I feel weirdly disconnected, LOL! I need my internet fix, damnit!

Anyway, whenever I'm able, will keep you guys informed. :)

I may be here a LONG while. Sigh.

Still preggers 12/2/2007 1:30pm, plus spooked myself

I am now officially... uhm... 11 days late. And I recently (within the last week) learned that mortality rates for babies suddenly go up past 42 weeks. [I'm being induced at the 42 week mark if he hasn't come out before then.]

So, I sleep in all kinds of weird patterns. I slept from 8:30pm to midnight, got up, was up until 5am, came to bed. Around 5:30am Logan stopped running laps. I was lying on my right side, which sometimes feels a little funny, like maybe that was where the cord is hooked up. Sometimes I've felt my heart start working harder, like maybe Logan is squishing the cord on that side.

So, Logan was running laps. Then suddenly he just stops. Like he's done, he can sleep now. But my first thought was "he ran out of oxygen, he's going to be stillborn!"

I started patting my belly. Then kindof moving my belly around. Then moved to my left side to get him "off the cord", assuming he was on it. Then majorly thumping my belly, poking my belly, shaking my belly around. Kid wouldn't move.

Logan was probably in there, lying there quietly, going, "WTF??? I'm trying to sleep here... what the hell is she doing?!?" Husband woke up to me patting belly and then stopping and waiting quietly to feel something. I sent him out to the garage for the stethoscope*. He came back once w/o finding it, went back out when I told him where I thought it was. By that time, Logan had started squirming, because I'd given up on poking and prodding, and now Logan was all like giving me his thoughts on waking him up, LOL!

Tried to find the heartbeat using the stethoscope. But couldn't find his heartbeat. And learned that getting frustrated and slapping the stethoscope onto the next location of my stomach (in my search pattern) was kindof jarring on my ears, LOL!

But he was moving around, and all peeved at me for waking him up. So it was all good. Went to sleep. ;)

* The stethoscope was in the garage because, of course, that's where everyone stores it, right??!? :)

So, a friend gave us her gun safe several months ago, and we stored the huge thing in the garage. She couldn't remember the combination, but was pretty sure she knew the first and last numbers. We tried to break into it, and had no luck after a LONG time of trying. We wanted to (a) be able to use it, and (b) return her guns!!! The gun safe was never registered when it was purchased, so there was no-one to call for the combo!!! Friend eventually came to stay for a few days, and tried to break into it herself. We also tried to get someone to come out and break into it for us, but w/o proof of ownership, for some reason (LOL), they balked!

There was a little ID code on a piece of metalic paper that was stuck to the safe, but the metalic paper got majorly munged when the safe was moved, so couldn't even use that to ID the safe!!!!

Safe was moved to our friend's house on Friday. She can now sit there in her garage, trying to crack it open in her copious free time, LOL!

This whole event made my husband post something on his blog about how a free safe is never free, LOL!!! I think I did the same... have to find the links, but whatever... :)

Anyway, Logan is fine. I've been pretty good about not having pregger panic, but I guess the whole idea that I really COULD over-bake Logan is starting to work on my brain. :)

Still preggers 12/1/2007 7am, plus Vader PEZ Dispensers

My friend Radioactive Jam found the scavenger item I suggested, a Darth Vader PEZ Dispenser. I honestly wasn't sure one existed, but I figured if Snoopy PEZ dispensers existed (they do... I own one... uhm... somewhere around here... guess I should post a picture), then surely a Vader PEZ dispenser also exists. ;)

I'm embarrassed to say that I only just realized he'd found my suggested item. I.E., he found it almost a week ago, but thanks to this whole pregnancy thing, I've been rather oblivious, LOL!

I'm currently up right now, having risen a little after 4:30am after a bout of pregger heartburn, followed by the ever-present pregger need-to-pee, followed also then by the need to have several sneezing fits in an attempt to clear my sinuses of all the phlegm that my pregger body likes to accumulate when I sleep.

Basically, I'm a sneezing, peeing, burning monster, but thankfully I have chocolate (in the form of miniature Reesus Peanut Butter Cups), so I haven't killed anyone yet. ;)

People keep telling me that it's all going to be ok, that Logan will arrive soon. Although there are many aspects of pregnancy that I'm really done experiencing, I realize I'm not actually in any extreme hurry to end this whole thing. I've enjoyed the extra time to rest and nest and prepare. I don't want to over-bake the kid, but I haven't been in a hurry to rush to the hospital and do the deed.

And a part of me -- a very small, weird part -- will actually miss being pregnant. It's a truly bizarre but amazing experience.

This does NOT mean I'm already ready to start working on kid #2, LOL! Once I get my body back, it will probably take alot to talk me into doing this a 2nd time. ;)

So, did have some signs last night that the kid is thinking of packing up his stuff and exiting prior to the eviction date of December 5th. I wasn't feeling so hot yesterday evening... or rather, I was feeling pretty cold. Having the heater on, the fire going, and blankets didn't seem to help right away. And I sorta felt like I was having cramps, but mostly I just felt really tired, and like my tummy was in solid-basketball-mode. Lay down for a bit, got warmed up, then managed to get back up to go out and continue seeing the PS3 demo hubby's friend was giving us. :)

I think I must have overdone things yesterday morning, with the doc appointment and then the grocery shopping, and insisting on not having help with putting the groceries in the car. [But then, bringing on labor from dropping 24-packs of water into the trunk would NOT be a bad thing at this point.] Am feeling much better at the moment. Maybe I should go lift some more 24-packs. ;)

So the PS3 demo: got to see a ton of hubby's friend's games. Included were:

• Heavenly Sword


• Warhawk


• Ratchet and Clank


• Folklore


• MotorStorm


• Resistance: Fall of Man


• Assassins Creed

I'm not sure which one floats my boat best. They were all VERY VERY PRETTY. :) Resistance felt a bit like Halo 3. Warhawk felt like Halo 3 online, LOL! You definitely use alot of the same skills.

I do know I'm still totally jonesing for Grand Theft Auto 4 when it comes out. We don't own a PS3 yet, but it will be out for the XBox 360, so that's ok. But then again, some of the games in the above list were nifty enough to warrant the purchase of a PS3, so... Heh. Maybe our old PS2 can go into the baby's room for playing DVDs and my old Spyro 2 game. ;)

Of course, hubby's friend has already been heavily exposed at our house to Guitar Hero for the XBox 360. ;) Not sure if hubby's friend has seen Halo 3 yet for the XBox 360, although he's played 1 and 2. Hubby wants to borrow 1 and 2 to play the back-story, since he's already finished Halo 3. Well, almost: he finished Halo 3 in normal mode, and now has been fighting it in Legendary mode. But he's lost a bit of his impetus, thanks in part to the purchase of Guitar Hero, and the fact that he's "Flooded out" right now, LOL. [If you play Halo 3, you know what I mean by being Flooded out. ;) ]

I've played a little Halo 3, mostly alongside hubby, and mostly trying to be the reason hubby can re-spawn. If you play in 2 player mode, as long as one of you is alive, you can continue the round w/o restarting from the last checkpoint. When one person dies, if the other is still alive, the dead person re-spawns and play can continue. This assumes the other person is any good at staying alive... I'm not, LOL!

I've also enjoyed Guitar Hero... and would be playing MORE of it, if I hadn't lost feeling in my right hand's fingers thanks to being pregnant. Strumming the guitar just isn't really comfortable. I'm just glad I can still type reasonably well in spite of it. [At least I'm no longer retaining water in my right ankle... pregnancy side-effects are SO weird.]

My hands both feel sore and tight when I try to close them into fists. Freaking weird.

Yeah, ok. I'm ready for the kid to be born, LOL!

The left hip feeling like it's rubbing bone-against-bone... I could deal with that. I miss walking the dogs, and hobbling around gets a little old, but whatever. Water retention... in only my right ankle? Weird, but could cope. I could mostly deal with my sinuses going from their normal crappy state to the uber-crappy pregnant state. The heartburn... mostly controllable with Zantac and/or Tums and some swearing, so... cool. The peeing when there's barely any pee to pee ("Why does it say 'paper jam' when there is no paper jam?!?"), ok, can deal with that. The kid running laps in my belly... ok, sure. The kid trying to feng shui my organs around... rather uncomfortable, but he doesn't do it ALL the time. Being required to drink a TON of water in spite of the fact that I have a bladder being squished by this kid down to the size of a... hmmm... PEZ dispenser... ok, sure. Seeing doctor's more times in a year than I can shake a stick at: ok, whatever. [The Phlebotomy and Endocrinology departments in one clinic have insisted I bring the kid around after he's born!!!] The back hurting if I try to do dishes... sure, whatever, no biggy.

But my hands cramping up? Losing feeling in most of my fingers of my right hand? Ok, I'm done here, LOL!

Phew. Well, it's almost 7:00 am. My nose has shut up. I think the heart burn is finally done with me. And it's about time to pee again, LOL. Maybe I can pee and then go back to sleep. :)

Good night all.

Oh, forgot. Hubby's friend thinks I'll go into labor on Sunday. I've had several different labor-date predictions from online and real-life friends. Not holding my breath, LOL! But then, hubby's friend has made other "predictions" before that have been correct.

Hubby's friend doesn't have ESP or anything... he's just really good at seeing where things are going, LOL!

So maybe he's right, and I'd better crank the nesting into high-gear today (Saturday) as this might be the last day of pregnancy, LOL!

... but think I'll do that AFTER some more sleep. ;)