Shout Out To Wolverine

Last night we learned that our friends K and C (as we’ve affectionately come to know them through AJ's blog) delivered their beautiful little boy, known in-utero as Wolverine, about 11 weeks early last weekend. K and I shared due-dates around the same time and have loosely been following each other through our pregnancies.

As I sat rocking Adam before bedtime I was thinking about Wolverine and I started to remember back to those weeks we spent in the NICU and the subsequent months afterward which could effectively be summarized by one word:

STRESS

How much did he gain today….Why can his lungs not tolerate his feedings…What are his O2 stats…Alarms…...Will he ever be able to feed without causing us to panic…Is that nurse going to make him go blind by giving him too much pure oxygen….let’s try the nasal canula instead….Can he even handle 2cc milk increase every day…Back and forth to the hospital twice a day…we are exhausted….will he ever be interested in nursing…..time to pump AGAIN?...Will he be able to sustain his body temperature outside the isolette…Ok, so now he’s anemic….and an infection in his nose…and some abnormality or other on his brain….oh yeah, and I’m also recovering from major surgery and am in severe pain…spiraling out of control….

I sat with all these memories flooding through me and dearly wishing there was something I could do to help K and C. Clearly nothing….but the thought occurred to me that I have mentioned on several occasions that I wish someone had been able to show me a picture of what Adam would look like 6 months or a year later. Either I wouldn’t have believed it, or perhaps it might have comforted me a little bit to see a picture of such a “fat, dumb, and happy” kid…knowing that he really was going to be alright.

I determined to take this opportunity to do my maiden voyage with Windows Movie Maker, as I’ve been telling myself (and Angie) I would do for several months so I can learn how to use the software.

So without further ado, here’s our shout-out to K and C, and Wolverine. Actually, I am painfully aware that with a running time of 8:20, this movie is much too long for its originally designated purpose. But, it is what it is. I hope you won’t be annoyed with me. And not that I’m expecting that seeing a video of some other kid will truly relieve any of your stress, but for what it’s worth…..we are thinking about you.

I Won The Grand Prize!!!

I'm so excited, I actually won a drawing! The grand prize is a free blog makeover from HEATHER'S BLOG DESIGNS !! As far as I can recall, I don't think I've ever really won anything before.

I was looking at my friend Haleigh's blog, and she had a post about this drawing that anyone could enter. (At the time I didn't know that they are sisters.) I figured, what the hey? I'll just enter and see what happens. We could definitely use some cutes-ifying of our blog, and I'm way too inept....but mostly too indecisive to try to attempt it for myself. I'm even having a hard time picking which paper I want to start with.
But I just wanted to share the good news. And give you a heads up that my blog is going to be very cute, very soon. You should go check out Heather's website to see what kinds of things she's done. I really like her style. Thanks, Heather!

VBAC, Anyone?

Yesterday at my OB appointment, my doctor told me that I should consider whether or not I want to try to do a VBAC (Vaginal Birth after Cesarean) with this little girl.

I'm still in shock.

This hasn't even been on my radar since the emergency c-section I had with Adam. My second c-section. The word on the street is that two c-sections is just too risky to try to deliver vaginally after that. No doctor has ever given me permission to even think about it until now.

My First Cesarean
(The one where I was awake, which was suprisingly less traumatic than the one where I was completely knocked out.)
The happy new father and son in the foreground. Me suffering in the background.

My doctor said that two conditions have to be met in order for me to try it:

1. The baby has to be head down, which is obvious, but still necessary to mention because my abnormal uterus (septated) makes the chances of that lower than normal. But she was head-down yesterday so maybe it is possible.

2. I have to go into labor on my own. Again, with my abnormality, he's not willing to take the risk of inducing labor.

I was actually going to try to do a VBAC with Adam, but then he was born via emergency c-section 10 weeks early (because I had a placental abruption), so that put an end to that idea, as well as any hope that I would ever have an opportunity to deliver vaginally. Ever.

Then, in between that time and when my sister Angie had a VBAC, I must have heard some nasty horror stories about them because I was really, really nervous for her. I was praying fervently that she would be ok. She seemed really confident about it, however. She said she had a really supportive and experienced doctor, and she also had a book called The VBAC Companion that she found really helpful and encouraging.

So I'm still not sure how I feel about it. My plan is to read the book and see how I feel after that. Right now I just have the list of pros and cons running through my head: "Well, I've been planning on a c-section all along...it seems like the "safe road," with less risk to the baby if we just cut her out.....but, it would sure be nice to be able to walk after I have the baby and not be laid up for 6 weeks (if it's even possible)...but I'm not really excited about adapting my mind and my body to all those labor pains. I'd kind of gotten accustomed to the idea of not ever having to do that....but, it would sure be nice to be able to walk after I have the baby and not be laid up for 6 weeks....and to be able to even try to nurse the baby immediately afterward, which I've never had a chance to do.....but on the other hand, I don't even really know what the risks are. Going into the realm of vaginal delivery opens up a whole new arena of horror stories I've heard. Not to mention the abnormal uterus and cersarean scars I already know might pose some risks. Ugh. But on the other hand, if I can do a successful VBAC, that might increase the likelihood of my body being able to handle having more than one after this. I dunno....."

I'm sure the list will grow once I start to study up on it. Anyhow, your comments are much appreciated. Especially if you've had a VBAC before. How did you prepare? What risks were you concerned about? Did you feel that it was really, really dangerous up until it was all over?

NESTING, Baby!

I’ve got the nesting bug pretty bad these days. Aside from buying a few pink onesies, the very first thing on my list was to make a girly version of this precious, fluffy quilt that my awesome sister Becky made for me when Peter was born. This quilt has been cherished, snuggled in, and dragged around by both of the boys for three and a half years, now.

Peter at 4 months















Peter with his girly cousins



Adam still snuggles in it every time he goes to sleep. It’s the ultimate comforter.

We’ve enjoyed this blanket so much that I wanted to try to copy every detail as much as I could. Printed white top, solid back, shimmery yarn, and a triangle border. (By the way, Becca, I finally bought my own rotary cutter. Are you proud of me? After doing all those squares I can’t believe I ever lived without one.)

So last week I used my maiden voyage with our new fabulous babysitting co-op, dropped off the boys (thanks, Anna!), and enjoyed a leisurely visit to JoAnn’s all by myself to get the materials.

By the way, for some reason, whenever I walk into JoAnn’s or A.C. Moore I am just flooded with this feeling of joy. Does anyone else get this? It’s kind of weird, I think….since I don’t even consider myself to be a “craftsy” kind-a gal. But for some reason it makes me really happy to wander around and look at all the stuff that I could make, even though I completely don’t have the time, money, energy, or even the aptitude to do it. Even if I leave empty-handed, I still feel fed. Weird. Please comment.

We had Weston’s parents in town last week so I set my sights on getting the quilt done in time to have my sweet mother-in-law help me tie it.

And here’s the finished product. How’d I do? I’m pretty happy with it.

Now it’s on to the next thing. I’ve got the nesting bug so bad I even made a list of all the stuff I want to have ready before the baby comes.

Receiving blanket
Blessing dress
Moby wrap
Bassinet sheets
Binkies/Diapers
Baby book and Calendar

It actually seems kind of weird since Adam came so early that I basically didn’t have anything ready.

Aliens

We found these goggles in the dollar section at Target. They were meant to help keep Peter from freaking out when we rinse his hair.

Peter has succeeded at keeping his intact and wore them for swimming lessons every day last week. He loves them...even though I'm not sure how effective they really are.

Sadly, Adam broke his within 5 minutes of taking this picture, which was within 5 minutes of taking them out of the package. Now, whenever he sees Peter's goggles, or whenever anyone even mentions the word goggles, we are engaged in a 20-minute conversation about how Adam's goggles are broken. It goes like this:

Adam (pointing): "goggoes....boken...."

Me or Weston: "Yeah, are your goggles broken?"

Adam: "Yeah, goggoes....boken...."

Repeat

Adam's Talking!

We are having so much fun listening to Adam's verbal skills grow exponentially every day! It makes me laugh to hear this little tiny voice offering a sometimes constant narration on what's going on in our family life....

"Mama.....Puh-tow (Peter)....siwee (silly)"

or

"Mama, mo peese (more please)....cookie dough.....duckoo (thank you)"

or

"Mama....Puh-cy is?" (Where is Percy? his train)

It's also something of a relief, because he really wasn't talking much before he turned two. I wasn't too worried, just because I've heard the second child almost always talks later than the first. However, a few months prior to his 24 month check-up, I had him in to the pediatrician to check his ears. She was asking me about his verbal skills and I really didn't have much to report. She said that if he didn't have 30 words by the time he came in for his 2-year physical, she would refer us to the Montgomery County Infants and Toddlers Program for speech therapy. (I also think she was being overly cautious due to his prematurity.)

So....we determined that we would start to work more actively with him on encouraging him to speak...and at the same time, delay his physical until he had those 30 words. We also kept a list up on the wall and every time he said a new word we would write it up there. Well, it really didn't take very long before we realized how many words he really did have already, and how quickly he was adding them. I scheduled his 2-year physical and by the time the date actually rolled around, the list was up to 60.

I wanted to try to capture some of his cute talking on video, which is a trick since he doesn't usually like to perform for the camera. This is the best I could do. It's a video of us reading one of his favorite stories from the library. You'll notice a yawn about 3 years long at the very beginning, so that goes to show how tired he was when we did this...so it's not the best example. But it's kind of a sweet story and I love how he helps me read it. Enjoy.

Another Day Down the Toilet

Exhibit A: The Culprit

Exhibit B: The Obstruction

Exhibit C: The Potty

...that my manly husband spent the entire day last weekend actually ripping out of the bathroom in order to get that fire truck out. That's after spending the entire week purchasing and trying different gadgets from the hardware store to try to get it without having to rip the toilet out.

(Even more impressive that he accomplished this feat while I was at a gig so he had two curious blond boys to handle at the same time.)

Previously: After a couple of days of the toilet not functioning properly we started to put two and two together.

The initial conversation was direct and concise, and went like this:

Me: "Adam, what did you put in the potty?"

Adam: "Car."

I find it ironic that in addition to flushing things down the toilet, Adam's other great love is to grab the plumber's friend and pretend he is unclogging it. Sadly, the plumber's friend was inadequate on this job.