The Good, the Bad and the Good Again

First the Good:

This smiling baby who turned 6 weeks old today. 

She has been smiling since about 4 weeks.  I was holding her today and getting ready to take Owen to school.  Each time I looked down at her I found her smiling at me.  There is something so sweet about a baby smiling. 

She still loves to be held a lot and has permanently made her way into the bed to sleep with me (although, that didn’t take much work or convincing on her part).  Owen says he is glad she is a girl cause girls are cuter than boys.  Ivy still doesn’t understand personal space and thinks kisses on the baby’s head with her binky in are still super special.  We switched to Tide Free and Clear and her bumpy rash on her body has started to go away.  Life with her is good.   

Happy 6 weeks teeny one.

Now the Bad: (which has nothing to do with the good, I just wanted to remember the good when thinking about the stress of the bad)

I was working the other day and kept smelling a gas smell at my desk coming through the vent.  Greg couldn’t smell it (not that I was surprised).  I have been waiting for the furnace to have a problem and was concerned that the smell was coming through the vent from the garage.  Time for a service call.  We knew the furnace was on its last legs.  It was the one thing that was not new or replaced with the house when the previous owners remodeled the entire place.  It was only a matter of time. 

Well, the guy came out today while I was at work and apparently it was time.  Through a series of text messages with Kristi I was informed the heater was NO longer.  Shut off.  In fact, the diagnostic notes include a statement that says: Furnace is Dangerous.  Lovely.  We have been living in the house with a DANGEROUS furnace.  Tonight we have no heat. (I would gladly have no heat than a dangerous furnace.)  I am waiting for an email tomorrow containing a bid as to the replacement cost of the new furnace.  So tonight, we are dressed in sweatshirts, heaters are going and we have a fire (thank heavens the fire didn’t mean the end of all of us with gas in the house).  Hopefully the new furnace will be up and functional by tomorrow.

Which leads me to the good again: (which is actually the good and the bad again)

We have wanted air conditioning for some time now.  I hate to be hot and not be able to do anything about it.  Not a lot of people have air conditioning around here, but who cares what other people do, I hate to be hot.  We have talked about that time when we replace the furnace, to add a heat pump, which saves on gas costs during the winter and then functions as an air conditioner during the summer.  Well, that time has come, and we have to decide.  A furnace alone is around $2000 while the heat pump makes it about $5,000.  Merry Christmas to me? So the good – I may have the air conditioning I have always dreamed about.  The bad – I really didn’t want to spend $5,000 right now (but then again, is there a price tag on comfort when you HATE to be hot – probably not).   So tomorrow we decide, but I think I already know the answer and I am so excited.

So, tonight I will forget the price, forget about the freezing night we may have because how can you care about any of that when you have this:

and I will throw in these guys for extra help in not caring.

1 Month & Only a Lunch

Owen goes to school full day on Mondays and Fridays.  On those two days I have to pack him a lunch.  He is so picky that his lunch is usually pretty boring and is often the same thing every time.  I was packing the same peanut butter sandwich, container of goldfish and a granola bar on Friday when Owen looked at me and said, “Can I have a note?”
And then it went like this:
“Yes, I can write you a note.”
“Everyone always has a note, Gavin, Austin, (and named about four other kids), everyone but me.”
“Well, that is terrible! I didn’t know you could read the note so I didn’t put one in”
“My teacher helps us read it.  Mom, everyone has a note and all I have is a lunch.”
My poor son without a note, he had to ask for a note. 
I am awesome. 

This is a post-edit blog.  I went to find out how much Autumn weighed at 1 month only to discover that I NEVER posted it.  I cannot let her be the "third", the one with nothing recorded and no pictures.  That being said, for the future:

Height: 21 inches = 44%
Weight: 8 lbs 10 oz = 30%
Head: 37 1/2 cm = 60%

Vegetablearian

I love Owen.

Owen: “Mom, did you know Austin from school is a vegetarian?”

Me: “No, I didn’t realize that.”

Owen: “He is.  He is a vegetarian just like me.”

Me: “Like you? Owen, I don’t think you are a vegetarian.”

Owen: “Yes I am.  I don’t like ANY vegetables.”

3 Weeks

I love 3 weeks old.  I love it because this little stranger who has come to live with us is no longer quite a stranger.  When she first arrived, the only thing I knew about her was that I loved her beyond measure, and now, well now I know more.

I know that she likes to wake up twice in a night, usually around 2:00 and 5:00, to eat.  I know that she spits up more than I think she should after she eats.  I know that she doesn’t like to be naked.  I know she likes to sleep with her hands by her face.  I know that when she starts to get really tired she gets fussy and to stop the fussiness she likes to be dressed, wrapped up tight in her blanket (with her hands able to get free) with her binky and snuggled in close.  I know that she likes to sleep in her bouncy seat.  I know that she likes soft piano music. 

I love learning what she likes and doesn’t like. 

I also know some new things about the other two.

Ivy loves to put her face too close to the baby.  She also loves to kiss the baby while leaving her own binky in.  Ivy loves to decide what the baby is going to wear.  Owen loves to hold the baby but wants to make sure she is done spitting up before I give her to him.  He cannot stop kissing her head.  

They love her. 

I love her! 

She looks like the others

Here are all the kids at 3 days old.  Baby fits right in.

OWEN:

IVY:

AUTUMN:

She is Here!!

At 40 weeks 1 day, on Thursday 9/29/11 at 8:20 pm, little Autumn Emily arrived.  She weighed 7 pounds 12 ounces and was 18.75 inches long.  And I could not be happier.

As I crept closer and closer to my due date, I decided to talk to my dr. about how far past that date I should go.  Ivy was 8 pounds 3 ounces and the idea of going past my due date and having a baby bigger than that was a little overwhelming to me.  My dr. is very conservative and I felt he wouldn’t do the induction unless he felt it was the right thing for me.  Without any hesitation, he suggested that we schedule it for the day he would be on call at the hospital – 40 weeks and 1 day along.  I scheduled it, but with some hesitation and some hope that it wouldn’t come to that.  Most people would be thrilled with the prospect of the certainty of being done, and don’t get me wrong, I was excited about this idea, but concerned about picking her birthday and scheduling her birth before she was ready.  Hopefully she would come on her own. 

The week went by with no sign of labor, no broken water, no contractions, nothing.  My due date of 9/28 came and went, still nothing.  This lead us to 9/29 – the induction date.  The hospital was set to call me if they had something available.  At about 8:30 I got the call to come in.  Doubt crept back in and I asked if I could think about it for 5 minutes and call back.  I am sure they talked about me after we hung up, about that insane girl who was gong to think things through.  I called Greg and he said go.  I called Angie and we talked it through, at the same time we both said I should go.  It came down to me being past the due date and if any risks were going to come from something, I felt there were more if I waited than went in.  Within a few minutes the plans were set, Angie would be here within the hour to watch the kids, Greg was on his way home to get me and the hospital was expecting me around 10:00. 

We arrived and checked in, and I can say it was nice to be driving and checking in without wet pants and water dripping down my leg from my broken water with both of the other kids.  Definite bonus of this plan. 

With the kids safe with Angie and on their way to the Dr. to have a strep test done for Owen (it was positive, awesome timing), Greg and I got checked in, answered a million questions about my medical history, the birth of the other kids, and this and previous pregnancies, got the IV, started Pitocin and came to the realization that there was no turning back and within a few hours (give or take), she would be here. 

My first nurse took things really slow.  I was progressing slowly but moving along.  I had decided without a doubt that I wanted the epidural and as soon as it was possible.  In the past I held off getting it.  I have no idea why but decided I would be getting it early this time through.  BRILLIANT decision.  Getting an epidural with horrible contractions happening is awful.  Getting an epidural with minimal contractions is so much better. 

After the epidural, my dr. broke my water and a little more progress was made over the next few hours. Around 7:00 that night it was time for the nurse change, and the new nurse, Lacey, is part of the reason that I now believe going in this day was the best decision I could have made.

She started out by moving me to a new position to get things going and she turned up the Pitocin a little.  While she was reviewing the charts and the monitors the contractions started coming much faster and much sooner.  She said she was going to come back and check me in 2 hours.  That was not happening.  I told her to check then.  I had gone from a 6 to a 10 in about 25 minutes. It was time to start pushing. 

The experience at this point was totally different than the other two.  She turned down the lights and it was just her, Greg and I.  There were no rules about taking a breath and counting to ten or who was going to hold my legs or who should do what and stand where.  She just let me figure it out and do what I wanted without even saying that, she just let things happen.  With Owen I was so numb that I couldn’t feel the contractions or the pressure and had to have everyone tell me when to push and because I was so numb I didn’t know how to push.  After pushing forever he was pulled out with forceps.  With Ivy, things started happening so fast, there were suddenly a lot of people in the room.  I was told to push while someone counted to ten and always told me to do one more breath.  In between pushes everyone sat and talked to each other.  I felt a lot of pressure to do things a certain way and eventually the dr. suggested using the vacuum to get her out.  With this baby, I pushed for 40 minutes.  Most of that time was with my new favorite nurse and Greg.  There was no one talking between pushes unless I wanted to.  There was an undeniable calm in the room and a connection between Greg and I.   My dr. was there for the last three pushes and she was here.  Having my dr. and this nurse be a part of the process turned a horrible part of being pregnant for me into something totally different.  I cannot thank this nurse enough for her part in making this experience what it was.   (and I am ever so emotional today and I cannot stop the tears as I write this). 

Baby was cleaned up, weighed, measured and checked out. Greg got to hold her for about five minutes before he left to take care of the other kids and I got her to myself for a little while longer.  We both suffered through the long hospital night being checked every few hours and gladly welcomed the sun and new day. 

The new day brought on visitors and it was quickly apparent that her brother and sister could not get enough of her. We anxiously awaited our check-out time as we could not wait to bring her home and love on her more here.  We left the hospital that night around 6:00 to start our new life as a family of 5 and as that gets underway, as I mentioned above, we could not be happier. 

Birthday Baseball

My husband LOVES to play baseball.  I mean really LOVES it.  He plays on a league where they all play as though they are professionals.  So you can imagine my joy when I went to the baseball website to look up a game location and found an announcement for a great opportunity.  It was a chance to play a game at Safeco field, the home of the Mariners on my birthday.  The game would be against other players in the league, they would have use of the visitor’s locker room, a professional announcer, a concession stand open, introductions and the national anthem… all for a not so small fee. 

Who cares!  Happy early birthday present to Greg!

Yesterday was Greg’s real birthday.  It probably sucked.  He was sick, I am days away from a baby and not the nicest I have been in my life, he already got his present, he had to do the dishes and we didn’t even make a cake.  The day he turned 36 could go down as one of the worst birthdays yet.  

Hopefully the posting of his dream day will bring back the wonderful memories and we can pretend that was his birthday instead.

Oh, and p.s. Greg, I love you.  (does that help?)