Ouch ouch ouch!

I have my first mommy injury. Last night during a feeding of The Sweetness, I was trying to get back into her room after rinsing out a bottle, when IT happened. Duke decided it was boring being in the baby's room, so he tried to leave, I tried to step out of his way and my itty bitty toe on my right foot SLAMMED into the dresser. MAN, does it hurt! Every step is excruciating. I put on a sock and a sneaker this morning to try and give it some support but it still hurts. I think I shall drug myself with about 600mg of motrin and put my feet up!

Sometimes I can be pretty dense.

SO DUH!!!! For almost 5 weeks now, I've had The Sweetness... and it wasn't until I opened a gift mailed to us from The Lizness that I realized the similarity of the names!!!! The Lizness made a blankie and of course sent some foot 'blingage' for The Sweetness. The blankie is super soft and will be nice and toasty for the winter, and the shoes are just way too cute! If my camera wasn't upstairs and I wasn't so lazy, I'd take a picture and share it with you guys, but alas... the laziness takes over. Sorry.
ok, the girl is sleeping and I should use this opportunity to get in the shower....

~Til next time!

Check it out!

Look what we did today!

I mentioned to my Aunt D that I wanted to put this phrase over The Sweetness' crib, and my aunt emailed me a few days later... she found the phrase online ON SALE! SO YAY! I ordered it and today we finally got a chance to put it up. They are just rub ons. So easy to put up. I have another phrase that I want to get for our master bedroom, and I'd love one for the family room, I just haven't figured out what I want it to say yet. The phrase that I *think* I've settled on is from Psalm 4:8 "I will lay me down in peace, and sleep: for thou, LORD, only makest me dwell in safety." I'll probably order that sometime next month... and of course I'll share pictures when we get it on the wall.

and I did a mini photo session w/ the girl, but the ones I planned didn't come out right... I need another lesson with my camera... so I'll share this one I took just because she is so stinking CUTE!!! :D



~Til next time!

I did blog...

but I didn't post it. It was a whiny blog post that I wrote up on Sunday after a sleepless night with The Sweetness. It was a long and whiny post and after rereading it I decided that none of you really needed to read it. Sleepless nights are to be expected and with all the help that I get from C, I really shouldn't complain at all. Since The Sweetness is really SO GOOD, I absolutely have no business whining about her. She hardly cries. I read in books that babies spend 1-4 hours a day crying. I think that MAYBE in her 4 weeks of life she has cried for 1 hour total.

This Sunday is her first time at church and I'm excited yet nervous at the same time. See, not only do I have OCD tendencies (as mentioned in the previous post) but I'm very much a germaphobe. And of course the OCD in me has made the germ thing come out in full force since The Sweetness has arrived. I really don't want people touching her hands and face. Where the problem might be, is in the way that I tell them to BACK OFF and not so much in the actual request for them to not touch her hands or face. I'm really hoping to count on the support and protection of my friends on Sunday (HINT HINT... Staci do ya think Mike would stand by as a body guard?)
I've asked C to sit w/ me but I feel badly about doing that b/c in the last 4 weeks both of our attendance at church has been pretty scarce and I know that he misses playing the saxophone.

Ok, I have a real mystery on my hands here folks... this week we received in the mail a gift for The Sweetness, it is a Savings Bond, totally an awesome gift for her and I think its the coolest thing ever. Here's where the mystery comes in... the savings bond arrives in an envelope from the US Dept of Treasury and NOT from who the sender is or where they are from, neither is there a 'gift note' indicating who the gifter is. So we have no idea who this is from. I NEED to send a thank you note to them. I've asked some of the people in my family who I would suspect of doing something like this if it was them, so far they've all denied any involvement. What do I do now???

I know some of you are looking for more pictures of The Sweetness... they are coming soon. I plan on having a bit of a photo shoot w/ her this weekend. So hopefully, depending oh how they come out... I'll share them with you next week!

~Til next time!

This post is not about the baby!

Recently some of my OCD tendencies have been pointed out to me. So I'm going to list the ones that I can remember here for you.
I can't have the thermostat at the house set to an odd number... and yes I will go back and forth and move it from 74 to 76 as I feel it needs it, but will NOT just set it at 75!
The volume on the stereo in the house or car can also only be set to an even number.
A cup must be filled to within a half inch of the rim. (This seems to be something that C has an OCD tendency NOT to do!!!)
I absolutely HATE having any kind of garbage in my car... I will carry it with me and deposit it in a garbage can in front of a store if I find or 'make' some while out and about.
Toilet paper can hang from either direction, but when I tear it, it MUST tear on the perforation and not any where else! Same with paper towels.
Right now, I'm loving that The Sweetness drinks 2 ounces at a time and not an odd number... I don't know what I'll do when she moves on to 3 ounces; probably make a 6 ounce bottle and pour 3 in one bottle and refrigerate the rest.
I hate listening to commercials and will mute the stereo/tv if one comes on. (Thank goodness they have put tv series on dvd's!) PSSST! Staci... are ya finished w/ 24 season 4 yet?
And now for a personal note: my 'unmentionables' must match what I'm wearing.... like black top black.... (you know) If I can't get the bottoms to match my skirt then I'll wear a matching top and bottom set. It's weird and I know it. (I have an ungodly amount of 'unmentionables'... it's not right and C thinks that I probably should get therapy! ;) )
There are more I'm sure but I can't think of them now... and maybe I've done just a bit too much sharing as it is!!! :D

~Till next time!

All alone, by all herself! *picture has been added at bottom!

Yep we are mean. We put The Sweetness in her crib. And she slept there, all night long, all by herself.

Last Monday night was her first night and I'm proud to say she has slept there every night since. It was really hard for me, I cried, I jumped up and checked her breathing a few times, eventually after 3am I fell asleep. At first when we laid her down, and went to our bed, we both turned on our monitors, and I could hear her in her crib, making noises and breathing. I started crying. C offered to sleep on the floor in her room if I thought it would make me feel better, I told him it would be nice, but he needed a good nights sleep just as much as I did and eventually I was going to have to let her sleep alone anyway. C did go into her room b/c she was making more noises and then through the monitor I could hear him starting to read... he picked a book that we have called "I love you, Mommy" so yes, I cried harder. Then I heard him pray for her. Eventually I settled down, but The Sweetness didn't, she insisted on being swaddled. I had heard that it wasn't a good idea to swaddle them but The Sweetness insisted on it, she kept waking herself up w/ her random arm and leg movements. Once swaddled, she settled down and went to sleep. She only woke up 2 times to be fed and once she finished eating she went right back to sleep. She has pretty much kept up this pattern for almost 2 weeks now. She has a bit of trouble getting settled the first time we put her in the crib; so, we've decided that instead of putting her in when we are ready for bed, we are going to put her in a few hours earlier. Tonight (9/14) will be our first night trying that out.

The dogs are adjusting just fine to The Sweetness's arrival. At first, Duke moped, but I think some of that was b/c we weren't sleeping in our bed and I wasn't' able to get down and love on him like I usually do. Since, I've been feeling much better, and we are now in our bed again, he is doing MUCH better. Josie is much calmer and has totally adapted to this change really well. I'm so pleased with her. She of course is very curious and wants to sniff her as much as possible. I do have a picture of Josie stealing one of The Sweetness's 'spots'. I'll have to add that later... its still on the camera... and that is upstairs... so come back later and you can see it!

Here's the story...

ok, I think I'm ready, I've got a large 2nd cup of coffee and an even larger glass of water at the desk with me... I'm going to try to blog THE BIRTH story.
For anyone to fully capture the emotion of this post you have to understand that I am NOT a dr type person. I will do whatever I absolutely can to NOT see a dr. The only dr that I look forward to seeing is my dentist and that is b/c I have an obsession with teeth. ANYWAY back to the topic... so back in January I wasn't feeling well, I fought it for a few days, then started mentioning it to C and then to an online friend. Someone (not C) mentioned that I should take a pregnancy test, I laughed said what's the point? I can't get pregnant blah blah blah... well.... I peed on the stick and VOILA! it read PREGNANT.
Let me back up just a smidge, I was babysitting for a friend at the time and we had run to my house to let the dogs out, so I peed, set the timer, got some lunch together for myself and a snack for the kiddos, and got the cheesecake that I had made ready to go to a friends house, during all this the timer went off and I did not go check 'the stick'. I actually got in my car and was almost out of the driveway before I remembered to check it, when I did and it read PREGNANT, I literally pulled it closer to my eyes to look for the NOT word... the thought ran through my mind that maybe I had waited too long and the word has disappeared, but deep down I knew. I was pregnant. OH. MY. GOD!!!!
So if you've followed the blog at all this year, you know that I have had more dr appts than anyone else. EVER. I've been on more medicines, have given myself multiple shots daily, and this was all BEFORE the c section. If anyone else was going through all this, I would have been beside them the whole way, from peeing on the stick to the recovery room of the OR and I wouldn't have closed my eyes for one blessed second. However, this was ME we are talking about and not some third person. The day that I sat in the dr's office thinking we were going to pick an 'exit' date, I had it all planned out... I wanted it the following Tuesday and here were my reasons and couldn't she please just do it 2 days early. Well, she shocked me and told me to go home, have dinner, get my bag and to meet her at Labor & Delivery at 6pm b/c I was being admitted that night and we were having a baby the very next afternoon. Let me tell you, I was STUNNED! I must have asked her to repeat herself like 3 times for every sentence she uttered. They say that your hearing loss is like 50% when you are sitting on a dr's examining table naked. Well, I was half naked and my hearing and comprehension loss was most definitely at 90%! I left her office and called C. I was so NOT prepared to have a baby in less than 24 hours! I didn't even have my bag packed. I had laundry to do! In less than 3 hours I was being admitted to a hospital for the very first time in my life and I DIDN'T want to go!!! There is no doubt this baby had to come out and soon, b/c my body was 'creating a hostile environment' and it was becoming harmful for my baby. While I treasured this baby and was anxious for its arrival, I must be completely honest with you and tell you that in my whole life being pregnant was never anything I wanted. When C and I would talk about becoming parents it was always through adoption. Having a baby growing inside of me was not something I felt that I needed (or wanted) to do. As easy as my pregnancy was, (excluding all the dr visits and medicines and shots and whatever else I may be forgetting right now) I didn't really have much pain or discomfort. The weather this summer was truly a blessing for me and I totally realize that. However, I didn't ENJOY being pregnant. Some women love being pregnant; I am not one of them. Plus I knew that somehow this baby had to get out of me and quite frankly, I didn't like the 2 options presented to me... natural or c section.
I got to the hospital about 30 minutes late (surprise surprise surprise). The nurses at L&D were confused as to why I was being admitted the evening before my surgery. They are used to people coming in early in the morning the day of their surgery. Once everything got figured out and they realized that I was a gestational diabetic with pregnancy induced hypertension whose blood pressure and sugar levels were no longer under control they had me in a bed and hooked up to machines in the blink of an eye! We tested my sugar every 2 hours and my blood pressure every 28 minutes ALL. NIGHT. LONG!!! Thursday FINALLY arrived. I shouldn't waste my time telling you the tortures of sleeping in a hospital, not sick, and by yourself... b/c I'm sure you can imagine or have possibly been there too... I will tell you that, if you can, request to not have the room near the OR doors, ya know the doors that have that button on the wall to open them... b/c most likely that button will be on the other side of your wall and well, all night long at random intervals you may or may not hear the BANG every time someone PUNCHES the button to open the doors and then the not so gentle whooosh noise the doors make as they open, then clatter as they bump your walls, and then again with the not so gentle whooosh noise as they close. By Thursday I was one raw nerve. The morning seemed to drag yet also race by as I waited for that dreadful 1pm hour. I was prepped for surgery, IV was inserted and off we go into the OR. C was back in my room 'gowning up'. They had me sit on the OR table and hug a pillow and then my nurse was hugging me. We were supposed to be making my back into a C shape for the spinal block to be inserted.
:SCREEEETCH:
I MUST tell you before I go any further... if I had a natural delivery I was adamant that I was NOT going to have an epidural NO ONE was going to be putting a needle in MY spine!!!! My philosophy was "I can do anything for a day". I'm a tough cookie, I can handle pain and I knew there would be an end in sight, besides they didn't always have this medicine and women have always been having babies so I figured I could tough it out with the best of them. Now here I am sitting on a table making my back into a C so this dr guy can do exactly what I didn't want! Ok, remember me? the one w/ the high blood pressure... well, um the machine starts taking my blood pressure... and well, the alarm goes off... I look over at the monitor and my blood pressure was 191/119...yep, that's me having a STROKE!!! So of course this freaks me out. oh and my pulse was way up there too. The nurse had to literally take my face in her hands and make me look away from the monitor. She (tried) to talk me into calming down (HA!) finally I looked at her and said, I'm gonna cry. She said that's fine honey, you go ahead and cry. and I did, not only did I cry, I SOBBED. Great big buckets of tears rolled down each cheek and I was gasping for air. The dr guy that was trying to put the spinal block in said, crying is totally ok, but I really need you to keep your back still. Between gulps of air I told him I'd try. He said some nice encouraging words and said something about how the next time I won't be so nervous and I told him he was really pushing it and then STING and it was over. They were laying me down and putting up curtains and I was about to pass out. I told them a few times I wasn't going to make it, they put oxygen at my nose and told me to breathe, so I took big mouthfuls of air... they said to breathe through my nose cause that's where the oxygen was... I felt a little bit better... then C came in, looking all cute and whatnot in his little surgery outfit. Then I promptly shut my eyes and pretended I wasn't there. C held my hand and sang to me and then I heard her say it... "SCALPEL" OH. MY. WORD. they are gonna cut me open!!! I tried desperately NOT to be where I was, then I felt all this pressure on my stomach and then the dr said 'Hey someone is trying to give me a high five' and then a bit more pressure and a squawking baby was outta me and we heard 'oh she's beautiful' and then C went over to take pics and within seconds he was back at my side w/ this absolutely STUNNING baby in his arms. His eyes were shining so bright and I could tell he had a HUGE smile on his face. He said, "this is our daughter". I think we both cried a little. Then I started to not feel so well, and even gagged a bit... then... get this! I fell asleep. Yep, me. The human raw nerve. I fell asleep on the OR table. I think it was a combination of no sleep and absolute relief that the baby was out and ok and that I was going to be ok too and that this whole ordeal was almost over. C said I slept for about 7 minutes, and well, since I'm sharing... I do this hum/moan thing in my sleep (a lot) and apparently I was doing that and the medicine dr guy (I keep calling him that b/c I can't spell anesthesiologist) was asking me "Denise, are you ok?" and C told him that I was sleeping, that sometimes I do that in my sleep and the dr guy said well, better to be sleeping than throwing up. True dat. After a bit more unpleasantness, they got me off the OR table and onto my bed and then wheeled me back to my room. And that my friends is THE story of how The Sweetness got here.
Sometime, I'll explain the why she wasn't expected.

oh and tomorrow... I'll tell ya how it's been this week... since Monday night she has been sleeping in her crib in her own room!!!! Down. The. Hall!!!!


oh and btw: 9lbs left!!!! Hallelujah!

WORDLESS WEDNESDAY

Just so you know:
The Sweetness was just placed in the crib to check things out... she wasn't left alone. When we did put her in the crib, all stuffed animals and 'whatnots' were taken out to prevent something awful from happening. More on the dogs reaction to baby girl at another date. (probably tomorrow)

19 down... 12 more to go!!!

* eta missing info at the bottom of post.

Today is a good day folks... and not because The Sweetness decided to sleep last night... no, it is a good day because I wore a NON maternity skirt today!!! WHOO HOO!!! Ok, so it may not have been really pretty, but I got it on, snapped, and zipped it closed. Now, if the swelling would just go down so that I could feel my fingers and the heel of my left foot again, I'd be just thrilled! I did get a wrist brace like someone suggested and while it does help keep the swelling down so that I can move my fingers in the morning, the tingling and numbness is still there throughout the day.
On the Csection healing note, I am doing so much better! YAY! I no longer have to take the major pain med and I am able to sleep on my side. My abdomen is still sensitive, more like nerve sensitive than pain sensitive, if that makes any sense at all. It is so weird though, to have like no muscle tone in my stomach at all. I feel like Santa Clause, I have a jelly belly right now. So NOT cool.
The Sweetness still has her schedule backwards... thankfully C is home with me this week to help me help her get it sorted out.
My aunts have been here since last Monday and they are leaving this Monday morning... they have been such a HUGE help; I'm really going to miss them!!! It really stinks to live so far away from family. There is just something seriously wrong with that!
Ok, so the fingers are numb... I'll try to post another pic or two and then I'm outta here for tonight!






*OH DUH!! I forgot to mention that the title of this post refers to pounds lost, and pounds left to lose until I am back to prepregnancy weight.