American Girl

She waits another week to fall apart...

If there must be trouble, let it be in my day, that my child may have peace. ~ Thomas Paine

posted by: rustymadgal at 16:08 | link | comments (9) |

Baby Carly is here!

She was born Monday morning at 12:43,  8 pounds 7 ounces,  20 inches tall.  I did NOT have a c-section!

I wish I had time to go on and on in my usual manner.  Later!

posted by: AmericanGirl at 15:50 | link | comments (8) |

Well, my due date has come and gone without a baby.  I have a doctor appointment this morning and I'm hoping that she'll declare that I've somehow dilated to 8 or so and should report to the hospital immediately. 

I had one contraction and it was very exciting.  We got all set to time them and then there wasn't another one.  Maybe a couple of little tightening type things, but no real full blown action.  I've read about the stripping of membranes, and maybe she'll do that today.  Yeouch.

I'm trying to decide if Memorial Day is a really really cool birthday, or a really, really awful birthday.   Cool, I think, right? I mean, there will always be a parade.  When she grows up, if she doesn't work in retail, she'll always have the day off.  Besides, it'll probably only fall on Memorial Day weekend every seventh year or so, right?  My birthday has fallen on Father's Day, but only a couple of times.  I don't mind sharing.

Hope is really getting excited.  Her big girl room is all finished and it's adorable.  She's sleeping in a big girl bed, with a rail, and hasn't fallen out yet.  She knows the baby is coming and I keep finding Hope's animals and toys in the baby's bassinet.  Gifts.  There was even a sippy cup in there.  I was worried that she would feel all displaced, giving up her crib and her room, but having the bassinet seems to be softening the transition. 

I want to keep the baby monitor forever because people forget it's on and I get to hear things I wouldn't otherwise.  Like right now, Ryan is helping Hope get dressed, and they chatter, and he said "Can you dig it?" and she said "Dig eeeet?" because she's into repeating the last two words of whatever you say, and I wonder how it's possible to love people so much that it makes your heart hurt.

When I get home from my appointment, I'll post pictures, assuming I'm not at the hospital dilated to 8.

posted by: AmericanGirl at 10:29 | link | comments (8) |

I shall do nothing but sit in this chair until I go onto labor. 

We've been having SO much fun, neither of us working and all that.  Disability rocks!  It's like that summer vacation between 5th and 6th grade, when you're old enough to appreciate it, too young to work, old enough to have some freedom, and young enough to enjoy every second of it.  There's nothing left to clean, nothing left to buy, and nothing left to do...so, come on out, Baby!

My doctor is dropping hints about not wanting me to go too far past my due date.  I had an appointment last Friday and upon examination, there's absolutely nothing going on down there.  No signs of impending labor at all.  Naturally, this brought on a slightly claustrophobic  "She's never coming out!" panic attack of sorts, but it's passed.  Of course she's coming out.  Did I mention that Hope was nine and a half pounds?  And everyone says that second babies tend to be bigger?  Gulp!  Nah, of course she's coming out.

If you have tips, outside of drinking Castor Oil which I just won't do, for bringing on labor, I'd love to hear them!

Not that I'm impatient or anything like that.

It's a sad state of affairs when you're wishing for a newborn so that you can actually sleep, isn't it?

I'm obsessing over this weird thing - water from the garden hose.  I'd actually prefer that the nozzle of the hose be rusty.  It started when we went for a walk and a neighbor was watering his grass (when sprinklers just won't do, I suppose) and you know that smell?  Garden hose water?  It smells so freaking good!  I just can't stop myself from craving cold water from a rusty hose.  Surely I'm lacking some mineral of some sort, right?  The obvious answer would be iron, but I'm already taking iron suppliments.  What is it about hose water?  I suppose it wouldn't be awful, I consumed gallons of the stuff as a kid and I turned out just fine, but something about this feels so wrong now.

I still have a blood clot but it's smaller and much less painful.  My doctor doesn't want to prescribe anything stronger than baby asprin for now, which brings on a whole new set of smells/memories.  I don't like baby asprin.  As a kid I had some fever of sorts, and my mom kept bringing me baby asprin to take and I kept hiding them under the couch cushions for days and days.  Months later when my mom was cleaning or moving the cushions or whatever, she found them all, dozens of little orange pills.  Of course I denied it.  Wasn't me.  Unfortunately, my reputation preceded me because once while driving through the Animal Safari at Great Adventure I was sitting on my mom's lap in the front seat eating Oreos, but I only liked the creme filling so I kept licking them and then stuffing the cookies in that deep black hole that exists between the seat and the car door.  Wasn't I surprised at the chocolate avalanche that poured out when we got out of the car! Nope, wasn't me.  I really sucked at lying as a kid.

I think, for a week, I shall blog like in the olden days.  Fun, right?

posted by: AmericanGirl at 13:33 | link | comments (10) |

I don't especially feel like writing, but I feel as if I should.  I should have much more to say, shouldn't I?  Today it's finally May.  Hooray for May!  23 days to go until the big day.  I'm semi-prepared.

Here's a story.  So, I'm on the subway, standing because it's crowded.  I was holding on to the bar to keep from falling - You know, the vertical bar.  So I'm standing there, the train stops, people get off, more people squeeze on, and this woman comes and stands and holds on to the same bar, but she was rather large and had rather short arms, so it happened that her boob was pressing against the outside of my hand, which was holding on to the bar.  Now, this is awkward, yes?  I mean, I may not be the shapest knife in the drawer, but I'm certainly aware of where my boobs are at all times, especially if they're pressed up against someone's hand.  I keep thinking that she'll move , that certainly this unfortunate situation is just a brief part of her get settled into a more comfortable space.  Because this is my subway space, and that's yours.  Over there.  But she didn't move.  And what's worse, I felt like I couldn't move, or she might have thought I was attempting to feel her up.  So I just stood there, frozen, and so did she, but she didn't seem to have a care in the world.  Shouldn't she have cared?  I would have cared.  Thank goodness we both got off at the same stop, so I didn't have to slide my hand out.  People are weird.

I had this funny painful spot on the back of my knee all weekend.  I thought I was getting a dreaded varicose vein.  Yucko.  But then yesterday morning it was all red and swollen and hot so I called my OB and she said to come right in.  That's never good to hear.  She looked at it and had two other doctors and a nurse look at it, and then sent me over to a vascular specialist at the hospital to have yet another doctor look at it and do an ultrasound to determine what Ryan had already declared three hours earlier, I have a blood clot.  A superficial blood clot, what fun!  I'm taking baby asprin and keeping my leg up and keeping a heating pad on it and in theory it will go away soon.  I'm trying not to dwell on the fact that blood thinners and labor and delivery don't seem to go together very well.  Everyone seems to be making such a fuss over this, but to be honest, I'm totally relieved because I thought I was getting an ugly varicose vein.  Whew!

I'm pretty sure that Hope was a Jewish grandmother in her past life.  When she gets frustrated with something, like putting a square block in a round hole, she'll say "OY!".  I don't think anyone around here says that, but I could be wrong.  She's also been throwing out a few "Ay yi yi's" complete with a slap to her own head.  Her favorite food in the whole world is Matzoh with butter on it.  Whose child is this?

Last night Ryan said "Hey, watch this" and he turned the pepper shaker and about 6 flakes of ground pepper came out.  The pepper shaker has been one of those little things that just pisses him off because it should be so easy and now it's just not.   It's the small victories  that make life bearable, isn't  it?    Thank goodness for the little things.

posted by: AmericanGirl at 14:12 | link | comments (17) |

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