Running on Fumes

Well, we are pretty much running on fumes around here although I am feeling better every day. I have been taking everyone's advice and resting as much as possible (not like there is much else I can do) and it really seems to be helping. I even have had a couple of bursts of energy which resulted in unloading and loading the dishwasher and doing several loads of laundry!

Jack is fabulous. Absolutely 100% perfect and more than I ever imagined he could be. We have a doctor's appointment tomorrow morning and hopefully he will check out fine and we won't have to keep him on the light anymore. Then I can spend all day holding him! :) I am kind of dreading the appointment tomorrow (the last one took a lot out of me, physically and emotionally). I feel much better equipped for this appointment though than the last one and I am looking forward to hearing good news from the doc, so I'm thinking positive and I know it will be easier than the last one!

The cats are so upset it's almost funny (it would be if they didn't voice their anger by running into the room and jumping on Jack's stuff as soon as I take it out of the dryer, meowing endlessly, staring at Jack with huge eyes and fully dilated pupils, opening every single cabinet they can reach - even Dinah - and then letting them slam, etc.). I do feel a a little guilty as just last week they had full run of the house and could do whatever they wanted to and had free range of my lap for their daily naps. They will adjust and as Jack gets bigger I'm sure I will worry less.

Janga also came home today. Jack's sleeping so she hasn't met him yet but she's been running around the house and smelling everything like she's never been here before. We'll introduce them when Jack wakes up from his nap.

How Funny the Post Below Seems Now...

If only I had known that I was about to endure my last night of that! :)

Of course, Im even more tired now...but I am able to occasionally sleep for a couple of hours at a time AND I don't have to pee as much.

Monday morning, December 1st, I woke up around 4:30 AM (after falling asleep again around, say, 3:45!) to extra back pain and a crampy tummy. And, without going into too much detail here, I was a little more leaky than usual. So I tried and tried to get back to sleep but I had two webinars that I had to do from home that morning, the first at 7:00, that I was afraid I not going to wake up for anyway, so I finally got out of bed around 6:00 and drained the rest of the apple juice.

In between webinars I took a shower and straightened my hair (what IF it turned out I was in labor - I would prefer to have straight hair in the hospital!). I kept thinking I was overreacting but Charles convinced me to call the doctor after I finished the second webinar, around 9:30. The nurse said it probably wasn't anything and sounded like pre-labor, which could go on for days or weeks, but to come in anyway to get checked out. So we made it to the doctor's office around 11:30 that morning. The doctor checked me out and I was a bit more dilated but still not showing any really strong signs of labor, although she did want to test the fluids I was leaking to find out if I might have broken my water. Five minutes after taking the sample she came back and said, "This buys you a ticket upstairs to labor and delivery." My water had broken, or had a slow leak, and it was time to have a baby!!

Charles and I were shcked, excited, nervous - we had really not been expecting this. My due date wasn't until December 22nd! It especially hit us hard when we walked up there and my doctor had already called to check us in and they took us to our room and said, "This is where the baby will be born." It didn't start to feel real until they hooked me up to the IV - and even then, it didn't feel real until the pitocin kicked in and my contractions starting coming hard and fast.

Lucky for me, things progressed very, very quickly. When I was dilated to about 6 I decided on an epidural, thinking I could have hours of this ahead of me - but then, as it turned out, when the nurse came back in 30 minutes later to insert the catheter and see if I had dilated anymore I was ready to push! I couldn't believe it. It was like things just kept happening faster and faster.

The baby was facing upwards and it turned out he had his hand up against his face, so pushing was hard. I pushed for about an hour and forty five minutes and at many times wondered if I would be able to do it. Charles was fabulous, as always, and kept motivating me and really helped keep me strong. At 6:26 PM on Monday, December 1st, Jack Lewis Lindsey made his entrance into this world and our lives will never be the same.

Some Sleep, Please!

So, people keep telling me that I need to get all the sleep I can now, before the baby is born...and here I am looking forward to when the baby is born so I can get some sleep! I mean seriously, I am lucky now to get 45 minutes of uninterrupted sleep before I wake up to pee, to roll over, because my legs are cramping or because Dinah has taken over my body pillow and my hips and back ache because I don't have any support under them. And getting out of bed has become more than the difficult task it was before - sometimes, it is damn near impossible to sit up. If I got two hours of sleep in a row I would probably feel like I had won the lottery. Even if I am waking up every two hours once the baby's here, there is something to be said for being able to sleep for two straight hours!!

Highlights From Jesika's Visit

1. Seeing Jesika (of course!)
2. Seeing space trash burn up in the atmosphere
3. Popovers at Kenny's
4. Watching Jesika ride Norman (who, for the record, is not trained)
5. Pedicures and manicures (much-needed!)
6. Baby shower
7. Western Cafe (biscuits!)
8. Harassing Twinkie (Jesika got some good Twinkie pictures)
9. Twilight (not that the actual movie was that great, it was just great that it worked out that Jesika was here to see it with me)
10. Having Josh and Marie and Aaron and Jesika all here at the same time

A poem, written by Norman with a little help from Charles (someone had to hold the pen):

The Clomping Steed

His ancestors grazed by a moat

In November came his winter coat

The ground shakes and rumbles underneath his feet

He paves his way down his equine street

Hunger comes on strong with such a great force

Longing for a feast of grain of course

Through trees and tall grass he does stride

With Mo and Seamus the white pony at his side

Down toward the stable and up the hill

His mouth and stomach he longs to fill

In through the gate and toward the trough

Pawing his hoof and beginning to scoff

Nothing but sweet oats and grain

After his hay his water he will drain

After the meal, there is nothing to lack

But one thing, Jesika on my back!

From Norman.

Cribs, Cribs, Cribs...and a Twinkie Picture!

Well, the crib dilemma is SOLVED. We took it back and looked around the store and found one that we somehow overlooked last time. And we got it instead. And...it matches and looks FABULOUS in the room. Charles did a great job of putting it together and it was so fun to put all of his little sheets and everything on it! Now it's looking like a real baby's room. No pictures yet, we are going to wait until we get everything up on the walls.

It is a convertible crib, which (for those of you who do not have babies or babies on the way) means that it can convert to a toddler bed and then a full-size (or maybe queen?) bed. So the saleslady (who was SUPER ANNOYING AND HAS BEEN A BIG PAIN, BY THE WAY) tried to use that as a selling point. She kept saying, "He can sleep in this bed until he goes to college!" to help justify the expense. But I have to agree with Linda on this one...he might not want to be 18 and sleeping in the same bed he was sleeping in when he was a newborn!! Plus, it's not like it will always be in style...I constantly ask Charles, "Who thought it was a good idea to build this house with funky desks and shelves and china cabinets built into each room in this house - didn't they realize that it wouldn't always be 1987 and maybe this odd-color stain wouldn't be in style anymore in 20 years and that it would be impossible to find anything to match it? Or maybe that the style of the desk would be outdated and the person that lived in this house would be stuck with it forever unless they could afford to hire a professional to come and remove it because it is BUILT INTO THE WALLS!?!?!"

But anyway, the crib is up and it looks so good...I can't wait to get pictures on here! And here is a Twinkie picture (blurry if you look at a large version but this was taken right when we got the new lense and Charles hadn't figured it all out yet - we'll have to get some new ones)!

When Did Boston Market Start Sucking???

OK, so last night we went to Boston Market after picking up a piece of our crib (more on that in a minute). WHEN DID BOSTON MARKET START TO SUCK SO BAD??? Not only do they not have tortellini anymore (seriously!!!) but they also advertise their "Premium Lemonade," which turns out to be no more than Minute Maid Lemon-Like Drink Mix or something of that sort. I remember going to Boston Market and getting a side of tortellini, cinnamon apples (they still have those but I didn't even want to try them) and a big glass of that yummy lemonade they used to have. I wish they would bring back the tortellini and lemonade and spend less money on redecorating. Oh - and it can't be that long since they took the tortellini away because it was still on the menu, they had just stuck a sticker with something like "sweet potato casserole" over it! How depressing. :(

So about the crib. This also sucks. We went to Lonestar Baby last night to pick it up (finally, almost four weeks late, it had arrived!). Of course the thing was so stinking huge that it wouldn't fit in the car. The whole reason we ordered this special crib is because it's the only one that came close to matching the furniture that is built into the baby's room. So even though we couldn't take the whole thing home, we of course wanted to see it. So we asked to look at it and they showed us the toddler rail (it converts into a toddler bed). We could fit that in the car so we brough it home. And...of course...it doesn't match.

It's not a horrible non-match, but not the perfect match that I had expected (well, hoped for). So now I am torn - do we make do with what we've got? It's a very nice (read: expensive) crib, it took over three months to get here, and I really want to wash all of the baby's sheets and crib accessories and put it all together and have it ready. Or do we return it (or I guess in this case, return the toddler rail) and then keep looking? I saw one at BabiesR'Us that looks like it might be a better match and is less expensive. Tomorrow when we go into Dallas for our Prepared Childbirth classes I think we are going to take the toddler rail for our crib and a drawer from the built-in furniture, and see if the one at BabiesR'Us matches better. Then, if they have it in stock or can have it delivered in less than two weeks (I'm feeling a time crunch here!) maybe we will get that one instead. I am never difficult when it comes to stuff like this, and I'm amazed at how badly I want it all to be perfect. UGH.

I also happen to be sick, much sicker than last week (I think that these might be the only two sick days I have taken all year - and now I am set up to work from home so it's not even like a real sick day). The only good thing to this (I think I have a sinus infection type thing going on) is that I slept for 16 hours, and I slept HARD, only having to get up every three hours or so to pee. This is something of a small miracle as I am normally up every two hours at least. So, yay for sleep! The Benadryl probably helped too. :)

And I needed to put a picture on here, so here's a recent Ziggy picture! He is so cute. Still looking for a home for him. Yesterday he killed a snake. So if anyone needs a snake-hunting pitbull, he's the dog for you!