Can I brag for a minute? I met with Jack’s teacher today for a post-progress-report conference. I wasn’t concerned about anything, I mostly just wanted to go hear about how wonderful Jack is. And I was not disappointed.
Jack got all “S’s” and a few “S+’s” in everything except for knowing his phone number, that was an “I” for “improving.” (I taught him our phone number last year, but failed to practice it with him, so he forgot it.) Mrs. M. said that she’s actually pretty stingy with her “S+’s,” but Jack just knows his numbers and patterns too well. He’s the best in the class at patterns, in fact. He also is a good leader and follows directions really well; she never has to tell him anything twice. (This is slightly different from my experience with him.) All in all, he’s a joy and delight to have in class.
But you know the best part of the whole thing? She said that he’s a good leader and will help kids who are struggling with their work, and that he is kind about it. Because if I had to choose between raising a child who is kind and raising a child who succeeds at school, I would a thousand times rather raise a kind child.
Oh! And they asked the kids today what they want to be when they grow up, and Jack said he’s going to be a scientist. “What are you going to study?” his teacher asked. “Whatever interests me,” he said.
Tuesday, January 24, 2012
Thursday, January 19, 2012
Carpe-ing the diem as best I can
You know how old ladies have a tendency to tell moms with little kids to make sure they savor every moment because it all goes by so fast? And meanwhile the moms are counting every dragging minute till bedtime? Well I was at the mall yesterday with Nora and Ann Marie and two old ladies came over to admire the baby. There was much oohing and ahhing over my sweet baby, and it turned out the first lady had a daughter named Ann Marie. Then the second lady said, "Oh, to be young again! Enjoy it!" and the first lady said, "Oh, I wouldn't do that again! I had seven, that's enough for me."
My kids were being sweet and enjoyable that day, so I didn't have much to complain about at that moment, but I couldn't help but think of this post, and smile to myself. It was just so refreshing.
My kids were being sweet and enjoyable that day, so I didn't have much to complain about at that moment, but I couldn't help but think of this post, and smile to myself. It was just so refreshing.
Tuesday, January 17, 2012
Three remainder one
The kids and I went down to their grandparents’ house for the afternoon yesterday. We did this for several reasons. First, we love them, and hadn’t been to their house since Christmas. Second, Jack and Andrew were sick this weekend, leaving us housebound for two straight days, and if we had had to spend another day of family “quality” time, we might have killed each other. The third reason is that their grandparents live an hour away, so that’s two hours in the car that I don’t have to think of something to do. (The third reason is linked strongly to the second reason.)
At any rate, Jack watched an episode of Peep and the Big Wide World while there, which was a refreshing treat for me, because I love Peep. We never seem to watch it here anymore; it’s usually not on during the times I let them watch TV. In this episode, Peep, Chirp, and Quack were trying to fairly divide two crackers among themselves. They started by breaking each cracker in half, so everyone got a piece with one piece leftover. They broke that into four, and I think you can see where this is going. They went through several iterations until Peep finally said, “Will there always be one piece leftover?” but then an ocean wave came and whisked away the last piece.
I thought it was weird that they didn’t solve the problem; usually they do. I had expected Quack or someone to accidentally break the last bit of cracker into three pieces. My mother-in-law must have had a similar thought, so she asked Jack how he would divide two crackers among three people. She gave him some paper and a pencil to work it out. He scribbled away for several minutes, and this is what he came up with:
See, he would divide both crackers in half, then break the last piece into four, and break THAT last piece into four, and so forth, and he’d do this seven times according to his drawing. And THEN, he’d take the last final piece, and throw it away.
Well, it’s fair!
(My favorite part is the level of detail on the trash can.)
At any rate, Jack watched an episode of Peep and the Big Wide World while there, which was a refreshing treat for me, because I love Peep. We never seem to watch it here anymore; it’s usually not on during the times I let them watch TV. In this episode, Peep, Chirp, and Quack were trying to fairly divide two crackers among themselves. They started by breaking each cracker in half, so everyone got a piece with one piece leftover. They broke that into four, and I think you can see where this is going. They went through several iterations until Peep finally said, “Will there always be one piece leftover?” but then an ocean wave came and whisked away the last piece.
I thought it was weird that they didn’t solve the problem; usually they do. I had expected Quack or someone to accidentally break the last bit of cracker into three pieces. My mother-in-law must have had a similar thought, so she asked Jack how he would divide two crackers among three people. She gave him some paper and a pencil to work it out. He scribbled away for several minutes, and this is what he came up with:
See, he would divide both crackers in half, then break the last piece into four, and break THAT last piece into four, and so forth, and he’d do this seven times according to his drawing. And THEN, he’d take the last final piece, and throw it away.
Well, it’s fair!
(My favorite part is the level of detail on the trash can.)
Saturday, January 7, 2012
2011 In Review
1. What did you do in 2011 that you’d never done before?
Right off the bat, I’m thinking I’m not cut out for a review like this, because I can’t think of anything. Not one thing! I mean, besides “have a third baby” but I’m already planning to use “baby” as my answer for 50% of these questions, so shouldn’t I come up with SOMETHING new I did? Hmm. Flew across the country with two little kids? Got some financial software up and running for the organization I work for? These seem lame. I want to say something like, “Ran a marathon and came up with a cure for cancer on the way,” but I don’t have anything like that. Mostly I hung in there.
2. Did you keep your new year’s resolutions, and will you make more for next year?
Last year I made three resolutions: Find a place for everything in my house and get rid of the stuff that has nowhere to be, run two 10k’s, and call people more/cultivate more phone-friends. I did pretty well on the first one; while I wouldn’t say that everything has a place, but we cleaned the attic and I threw out/gave away/donated quite a lot of things. It’s hard to get on top of this when more stuff is coming in all the time. But I have definitely had a mind shift this year, and I think about where I’m going to put something before I buy it. Also, when the time comes to tidy the house, it’s generally less stressful because a lot of the stuff that used to just go in a pile now has a permanent home. So I’m calling it a win.
I completely failed at the second two resolutions. I give myself a pass on not running two 10k’s, though, since I was pregnant. I had already registered for one in May when I found out I was pregnant and I tried to run it anyway, but instead I lay on my bed, took a nap, and cried a little about feeling so terrible. I did not register for second, obviously. But once the debilitating fatigue, nausea, and depression that came with the early part of this pregnancy had passed, I did think I’d be able to keep jogging throughout the pregnancy. I know, isn’t that adorable? I went twice, maybe.
As for making new phone friends, fail. Utter fail. I called Arwen once. I called Annie a bunch of times, but we never managed to speak, mostly because of the time difference and resulting conflicting nap/feeding schedules, I think. I did talk to Maggie one time, but she called me. Oh! And I called A'Dell once. The calling people turned out to be the hardest one, because I think I’m always afraid I’m going to have nothing to say if I call someone just to talk, but I’d really really like to have a cadre of friends I can call when I need to speak to another adult. It’s a conundrum. So for this year, I’m making the same resolutions: Keep organizing the house. Run two 10k’s. Call people.
3. Did anyone close to you give birth?
Me, obviously. Many internet friends, eg: Diane, A'Dell, Maggie, Lucy, Arwen. A new friend I made this fall had a baby in November; her daughter is in Jack’s class and she also has a two-year-old and now a new baby, so we are a matched set (except for genders, hers are girl-girl-boy, mine are boy-girl-girl).
4. Did anyone close to you die?
Thankfully, no.
5. What countries did you visit?
HAHAHAHA! You’re cute. I did manage to renew my passport that’s been expired for about five years, but I lost it pretty much the instant it arrived in the mail. Next time I’ll just throw the $130 into the trash and save myself a trip to the post office. (Seriously, where is it? I had it in my hand, and then it vanished!)
6. What would you like to have in 2012 that you lacked in 2011?
Infinite patience. And hell, infinite money. Why not, right? Just as likely. On the realistic side, I’d settle for MORE patience and some perspective when it comes to the level of clutter in my home. I don’t want to live in a filthy mess, but I also don’t want to spend all my time maintaining (or attempting to maintain) an unrealistic level of cleanliness/organization when I could be living my actual life.
7. What dates from 2011 will remain etched upon your memory, and why?
December 3 is the only date I will remember since it’s Ann Marie’s birthday. Otherwise, the days I remember are our trip to California in June, the times I took the kids to the beach in the summer, our hikes through the local state park, stuff like that. I won’t remember the times I cleaned the whole dining room; hence my answer to number 6.
8. What was your biggest achievement of the year?
I think I’m going to have to say it was managing to stay mostly sane and keep living a mostly normal life while pregnant and then delivering a baby. Remember, I’m taking full credit for the ease of Ann Marie’s birth, deserved or not.
9. What was your biggest failure?
I think my failures are the same as many parents’: All the times I’ve lost my patience and snapped at my children for just acting like children are my biggest failures. Most especially the times I, myself, have thrown a tantrum because things aren’t going my way.
10. Did you suffer illness or injury?
Yes, actually. In July, I dropped the shower head on my toe, and the toenail is still black and is going to fall off soon and I’m scared. Gah. I also had a mysterious illness in September that made my entire body hurt to the point that Percocet only took the edge off. It was pretty much horrible. I never got a diagnosis other than “viral” and it eventually went away, but it was a loooooong week or two. I also had a bunch of sinus infections. And of course, I was pregnant, which certainly feels like an illness a lot of the time.
11. What was the best thing you bought?
This was a tough one to figure out, but I think probably our California trip. We had a great time and got to see old friends. I also got a Phil & Ted’s Dash for half price (HALF PRIIIIICCCEE!), but time will tell if it proves to be as awesome as I hope, since Nora’s too tall to sit in the doubling seat when it’s up front, and that’s the only way she and Ann Marie can both ride right now because Ann Marie needs the main seat to be flat. But when Ann Marie can sit up, it is ON.
12. Where did most of your money go?
Oh, mortgage, by far. And then probably food. I’m kind of snobby about what food I buy.
13. What did you get really excited about?
Well, the trip to California, for one. And the birth of my third child. And Christmas break. And the times my kids spent a night or two at their grandparents’. Probably mostly that last one, though.
14. What song will always remind you of 2011?
And now we reach a question that makes me feel like a loser, because I don’t KNOW any songs. All I ever listen to is NPR. I do like Adele, even I couldn’t escape hearing her songs all year, and I also like OK Go, but I don’t even know if that’s from this year or not. I am so unhip. But maybe I’m approaching this wrong: Nora’s favorite song is “Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star,” so I’ve heard and sung that approximately 4378925 times this year. So maybe that one?
15. Compared to this time last year, are you:
– happier or sadder? Happier
– thinner or fatter? Fatter, but I did just have a baby.
– richer or poorer? Probably about the same, depending on how you measure it. Net worth is possibly higher, but as far as actual lifestyle cash, the same.
16. What do you wish you’d done more of?
I’ve been pondering this question for a while, and I think I’ll have to say exercise. I did walk a lot, so I guess I did pretty well for a pregnant person, but I miss exercise when I can’t do it. I also wish I could have seen more movies. This may make me shallow, but I love movies, and I currently can’t even stay awake for a whole movie at home, never mind going to a movie.
17. What do you wish you’d done less of?
Any pointless time wasting or yelling at my kids instead of dealing with them patiently.
18. How did you spend Christmas?
We spent Christmas Eve with my family (Ann Marie makes it a total of 15 grandchildren on my side), then went to the pageant mass, which was at 5:30. Afterwards, we brought the kids home and put them in their PJs, and then drove around to look at Christmas lights. This was a mistake, because on the way to a particularly crazily-lit-up street, Jack asked us to turn the music down so he could sleep. Oh, well, Nora saw some of them. When we got home, I think we tried to watch a movie, but I fell asleep (see question 16). Then we had Christmas morning at our house and spent the afternoon with my in-laws (grandchildren count: 5). It was very lovely.
19. What was your favorite TV program?
Hmmm. Probably still Burn Notice.
20. What were your favorite books of the year?
I didn’t read any books that made me say “WOW!” this year, but I liked Snuff by Terry Pratchett, A Visit from the Goon Squad, Ape House (which I technically read this week but I’ll forget by next year), and a bunch of other books that I can’t remember.
21. What was your favorite music from this year?
I plead the fifth.
22. What were your favorite films of the year?
The only movies I saw in the theater were Harry Potter and The Muppets and they were both awesome.
23. What did you do on your birthday, and how old were you?
I turned 35, and Andrew made me a cake.
24. What one thing would have made your year immeasurably more satisfying?
There is a difficult person in my life, and she created a situation where I fantasize about responding with the childish thing instead of the adult thing (which is what I did), and in my fantasy it totally schools her. This would have been immeasurably satisfying. This may be petty, but there you go.
25. How would you describe your personal fashion concept in 2011?
Stretchy.
26. What kept you sane?
My husband and the internet. (I only put “husband” first so his feelings wouldn’t be hurt, because, let’s face it, who’s here for me at 4:45pm on a weekday? The internet or my husband? Exactly.)
27. Tell us a valuable life lesson you learned in 2011.
That difficult person did some things that got me really upset, so I learned that it takes me a week to get over the things hateful people do. After a week, I can laugh about it instead of cry.
Right off the bat, I’m thinking I’m not cut out for a review like this, because I can’t think of anything. Not one thing! I mean, besides “have a third baby” but I’m already planning to use “baby” as my answer for 50% of these questions, so shouldn’t I come up with SOMETHING new I did? Hmm. Flew across the country with two little kids? Got some financial software up and running for the organization I work for? These seem lame. I want to say something like, “Ran a marathon and came up with a cure for cancer on the way,” but I don’t have anything like that. Mostly I hung in there.
2. Did you keep your new year’s resolutions, and will you make more for next year?
Last year I made three resolutions: Find a place for everything in my house and get rid of the stuff that has nowhere to be, run two 10k’s, and call people more/cultivate more phone-friends. I did pretty well on the first one; while I wouldn’t say that everything has a place, but we cleaned the attic and I threw out/gave away/donated quite a lot of things. It’s hard to get on top of this when more stuff is coming in all the time. But I have definitely had a mind shift this year, and I think about where I’m going to put something before I buy it. Also, when the time comes to tidy the house, it’s generally less stressful because a lot of the stuff that used to just go in a pile now has a permanent home. So I’m calling it a win.
I completely failed at the second two resolutions. I give myself a pass on not running two 10k’s, though, since I was pregnant. I had already registered for one in May when I found out I was pregnant and I tried to run it anyway, but instead I lay on my bed, took a nap, and cried a little about feeling so terrible. I did not register for second, obviously. But once the debilitating fatigue, nausea, and depression that came with the early part of this pregnancy had passed, I did think I’d be able to keep jogging throughout the pregnancy. I know, isn’t that adorable? I went twice, maybe.
As for making new phone friends, fail. Utter fail. I called Arwen once. I called Annie a bunch of times, but we never managed to speak, mostly because of the time difference and resulting conflicting nap/feeding schedules, I think. I did talk to Maggie one time, but she called me. Oh! And I called A'Dell once. The calling people turned out to be the hardest one, because I think I’m always afraid I’m going to have nothing to say if I call someone just to talk, but I’d really really like to have a cadre of friends I can call when I need to speak to another adult. It’s a conundrum. So for this year, I’m making the same resolutions: Keep organizing the house. Run two 10k’s. Call people.
3. Did anyone close to you give birth?
Me, obviously. Many internet friends, eg: Diane, A'Dell, Maggie, Lucy, Arwen. A new friend I made this fall had a baby in November; her daughter is in Jack’s class and she also has a two-year-old and now a new baby, so we are a matched set (except for genders, hers are girl-girl-boy, mine are boy-girl-girl).
4. Did anyone close to you die?
Thankfully, no.
5. What countries did you visit?
HAHAHAHA! You’re cute. I did manage to renew my passport that’s been expired for about five years, but I lost it pretty much the instant it arrived in the mail. Next time I’ll just throw the $130 into the trash and save myself a trip to the post office. (Seriously, where is it? I had it in my hand, and then it vanished!)
6. What would you like to have in 2012 that you lacked in 2011?
Infinite patience. And hell, infinite money. Why not, right? Just as likely. On the realistic side, I’d settle for MORE patience and some perspective when it comes to the level of clutter in my home. I don’t want to live in a filthy mess, but I also don’t want to spend all my time maintaining (or attempting to maintain) an unrealistic level of cleanliness/organization when I could be living my actual life.
7. What dates from 2011 will remain etched upon your memory, and why?
December 3 is the only date I will remember since it’s Ann Marie’s birthday. Otherwise, the days I remember are our trip to California in June, the times I took the kids to the beach in the summer, our hikes through the local state park, stuff like that. I won’t remember the times I cleaned the whole dining room; hence my answer to number 6.
8. What was your biggest achievement of the year?
I think I’m going to have to say it was managing to stay mostly sane and keep living a mostly normal life while pregnant and then delivering a baby. Remember, I’m taking full credit for the ease of Ann Marie’s birth, deserved or not.
9. What was your biggest failure?
I think my failures are the same as many parents’: All the times I’ve lost my patience and snapped at my children for just acting like children are my biggest failures. Most especially the times I, myself, have thrown a tantrum because things aren’t going my way.
10. Did you suffer illness or injury?
Yes, actually. In July, I dropped the shower head on my toe, and the toenail is still black and is going to fall off soon and I’m scared. Gah. I also had a mysterious illness in September that made my entire body hurt to the point that Percocet only took the edge off. It was pretty much horrible. I never got a diagnosis other than “viral” and it eventually went away, but it was a loooooong week or two. I also had a bunch of sinus infections. And of course, I was pregnant, which certainly feels like an illness a lot of the time.
11. What was the best thing you bought?
This was a tough one to figure out, but I think probably our California trip. We had a great time and got to see old friends. I also got a Phil & Ted’s Dash for half price (HALF PRIIIIICCCEE!), but time will tell if it proves to be as awesome as I hope, since Nora’s too tall to sit in the doubling seat when it’s up front, and that’s the only way she and Ann Marie can both ride right now because Ann Marie needs the main seat to be flat. But when Ann Marie can sit up, it is ON.
12. Where did most of your money go?
Oh, mortgage, by far. And then probably food. I’m kind of snobby about what food I buy.
13. What did you get really excited about?
Well, the trip to California, for one. And the birth of my third child. And Christmas break. And the times my kids spent a night or two at their grandparents’. Probably mostly that last one, though.
14. What song will always remind you of 2011?
And now we reach a question that makes me feel like a loser, because I don’t KNOW any songs. All I ever listen to is NPR. I do like Adele, even I couldn’t escape hearing her songs all year, and I also like OK Go, but I don’t even know if that’s from this year or not. I am so unhip. But maybe I’m approaching this wrong: Nora’s favorite song is “Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star,” so I’ve heard and sung that approximately 4378925 times this year. So maybe that one?
15. Compared to this time last year, are you:
– happier or sadder? Happier
– thinner or fatter? Fatter, but I did just have a baby.
– richer or poorer? Probably about the same, depending on how you measure it. Net worth is possibly higher, but as far as actual lifestyle cash, the same.
16. What do you wish you’d done more of?
I’ve been pondering this question for a while, and I think I’ll have to say exercise. I did walk a lot, so I guess I did pretty well for a pregnant person, but I miss exercise when I can’t do it. I also wish I could have seen more movies. This may make me shallow, but I love movies, and I currently can’t even stay awake for a whole movie at home, never mind going to a movie.
17. What do you wish you’d done less of?
Any pointless time wasting or yelling at my kids instead of dealing with them patiently.
18. How did you spend Christmas?
We spent Christmas Eve with my family (Ann Marie makes it a total of 15 grandchildren on my side), then went to the pageant mass, which was at 5:30. Afterwards, we brought the kids home and put them in their PJs, and then drove around to look at Christmas lights. This was a mistake, because on the way to a particularly crazily-lit-up street, Jack asked us to turn the music down so he could sleep. Oh, well, Nora saw some of them. When we got home, I think we tried to watch a movie, but I fell asleep (see question 16). Then we had Christmas morning at our house and spent the afternoon with my in-laws (grandchildren count: 5). It was very lovely.
19. What was your favorite TV program?
Hmmm. Probably still Burn Notice.
20. What were your favorite books of the year?
I didn’t read any books that made me say “WOW!” this year, but I liked Snuff by Terry Pratchett, A Visit from the Goon Squad, Ape House (which I technically read this week but I’ll forget by next year), and a bunch of other books that I can’t remember.
21. What was your favorite music from this year?
I plead the fifth.
22. What were your favorite films of the year?
The only movies I saw in the theater were Harry Potter and The Muppets and they were both awesome.
23. What did you do on your birthday, and how old were you?
I turned 35, and Andrew made me a cake.
24. What one thing would have made your year immeasurably more satisfying?
There is a difficult person in my life, and she created a situation where I fantasize about responding with the childish thing instead of the adult thing (which is what I did), and in my fantasy it totally schools her. This would have been immeasurably satisfying. This may be petty, but there you go.
25. How would you describe your personal fashion concept in 2011?
Stretchy.
26. What kept you sane?
My husband and the internet. (I only put “husband” first so his feelings wouldn’t be hurt, because, let’s face it, who’s here for me at 4:45pm on a weekday? The internet or my husband? Exactly.)
27. Tell us a valuable life lesson you learned in 2011.
That difficult person did some things that got me really upset, so I learned that it takes me a week to get over the things hateful people do. After a week, I can laugh about it instead of cry.
Friday, December 30, 2011
Ann Marie's Birth Story
My due date was November 29. On November 30, I went in for my 40-week OB appointment, where I was 2cm and, uh, had my membranes scraped. Possibly this is too much information, so sorry about that. At any rate, I felt pretty weird on Thursday morning (Dec. 1) and thought it was conceivable that my water had broken. You might be wondering how I could be unsure, particularly as television always shows the water breaking as a huge unmistakable gush, but it doesn’t have to be. Just trust me, it’s possible not to realize it.
At any rate, I had a non-stress test scheduled for that day, so I figured I’d just have them check it when I got there. I was kind of hopeful that they’d say, “My goodness, you are 8 cm! You have to stay!” but I didn’t expect it, particularly given the amount of no-pain I was in. (Well, other than the sciatica, round ligament pain, and various other pregnancy ailments. No contractions, though.) So it was no surprise when they told me my water had not broken and I could go home. But I had a nice quiet nap while I was non-stressfully tested, so that was something at least.
Then on Friday, Dec. 2, I still felt really weird. Just… weird. No contractions, no concrete signs of labor, but if I were a cat I would have been fluffing up my birthing nest, or whatever it is cats do when they’re about to give birth. I don’t really know, so I probably should have picked a different analogy. After school I took the kids to buy Christmas outfits/kill the afternoon, and then we went home and had some sort of leftovers or something for dinner. And then I started to feel twinges. Contractions? Maybe? Sort of on the regular? We put the kids to bed, and I informed Andrew that I was having twinges about five minutes apart.
I called the doctor, and she said not to come in until they were two minutes apart. Now, two minutes is only three minutes less than five minutes, and three minutes is not a long time! So it seemed quite possible to us that we’d be at two minutes in an hour or two. I realize it doesn’t work like that, but that’s how it felt anyway. Since we were planning for the kids to stay with Andrew’s parents while I was in the hospital, and they live an hour away, we decided to ask them to drive up while it was still early enough to reasonably do so. That way they could just stay the night and I wouldn’t have to wake my niece up in the middle of the night to come babysit and it would just in general be easier for everyone except my in-laws.
So naturally, a half hour after they left their house, my contractions dwindled and then stopped. They were pretty much gone when the grandparents arrived. It was too late for them to drive home, though, so they stayed over anyway and said they would take the kids home with them in the morning regardless of what was happening on the baby front. We gave them our bed and Andrew and I settled down in the living room.
Somewhere around 1am, Nora woke up crying for me, so I relocated to the recliner in the kids’ room. Then, around 3am a contraction woke me up. “This is really it now,” I thought, foreshadowingly. After I woke Andrew we went in to tell his parents, who had requested that we wake them if we left in the night. “We’re going to the hospital,” we said. Then Andrew asked me how far apart the contractions were, and since I wasn’t really sure he suggested we time them before we actually left.
“Good idea,” I said. So I lay back down on the couch to time them and woke up four hours later. “I think that wasn’t actually it,” I told Andrew.
Andrew’s parents made good on their promise to take the children away in the morning, and I still felt pretty weird, so I parked myself on the couch after breakfast and mainlined episodes of Grey’s Anatomy on the Wii. The sporadic twinges reappeared, but I could never be certain they were actually contractions. We went for a walk around 11am, and halfway through, I had a contraction that was a for-real, I-mean-it contraction, no question. And I thought again that maybe my water broke. Water-breakage was confirmed when we got home, so I checked in with the doctor then re-parked myself on the couch
for a few more episodes of Grey’s.
Meanwhile, Andrew started nesting. In the grand tradition of husbands/fathers having to do SOMETHING, he bustled around the house attending to various chores. Some (packing the hospital bag) more pressing than others (cleaning the coffee maker). After about an hour of this, he came into the living room with a thoughtful expression, gazed around critically and said, “I want to rearrange the this room.” Now by this point, my contractions were quite unmistakable, and about 5-7 minutes apart. I was most definitely in labor. So I asked if he could possibly hold off on rearranging the living room furniture until at least the next day.
At any rate, I labored along on the couch for about two and a half hours and then decided that 4 minutes apart was damn well close enough, and we went to the hospital. That was at 2:30. In the car, I breathed and silently fretted about how in the heck I was going to walk to L&D which is on the third floor, and also would I have to wait while Andrew parked? I had no experience with this, as I went to the emergency room when Jack was born since it was the middle of the night, and Nora was induced, so I wasn’t in labor yet when I arrived. I did not want to labor by myself in the lobby of the hospital, but knew I couldn’t possibly make it to L&D all alone. But do you know what hospitals have? Wheelchairs! I forgot they have wheelchairs! I tell you, I was never so relieved to see a wheelchair.
The front desk person wheeled me up to L&D while Andrew parked the car. (I didn’t have to walk from the garage either! Those hospitals. So considerate.) By the time Andrew got to my room, I was already gowned and being helped into bed. A quick check followed, revealing me to be at five centimeters or so, and the contractions were ramping up. With both Jack and Nora, I tried hypnobirthing, and made it to six centimeters with each of them before getting an epidural. But the critical thing was that Nora was born twenty minutes after I got the epidural. Since six centimeters seems to be my breaking point, and since I was worried that I might miss my window, and since I was hoping for a repeat of Nora’s quick birth, I decided to ask for the epidural right away. In the meantime, I used my hypnobirthing mp3 file and concentrated on staying relaxed. In order to do so, through every contraction I found myself making a low guttural “Unnnnggghhhhhhhh” sound. I never did that before, but it helped immensely.
At this point, my concept of time failed. The anesthesiologist came, and I seemed like getting the epidural took fifteen or twenty minutes, but Andrew assures me it was less than five. All I know is that I had to sit up without moving lest I become permanently paralyzed for a very very long time. Also I couldn’t say “Unnnnngggghhhhhh.” Well, I probably could have, but I didn’t. Once the epidural kicked in, though, I was very happy and chatty and about forty minutes later I had to push. This was twice as long after the epidural as with Nora, but I don’t think I’ll complain. Especially since Ann Marie was born at 4:27 pm, which was 87 minutes after getting hooked up to monitors. I took all the credit for this, citing my skillful relaxation techniques and general wesomeness. All the nurses were very impressed. Heck, even the people I was wheeled by in the waiting area on the way in said, “Wow, that was fast!” when I
was wheeled back out again.
And then? After that incredibly easy and practically painless birth? I got Ann Marie, the easiest, sleepiest, snuggliest, most contented baby in existence. I realize that her being so easy is at least partially due to my own experience and lack of anxiety about every little thing; for example, I do not spend my days hovering over her wondering if I should hold her, put her down, feed her, change her, talk to her, leave her alone, etc. But it certainly helps that she is happy all the time. True, sometimes she goes “Eh! Eh! Eh!” if she’s really hungry, but mostly she just hangs out. She likes to be held, but I just hold her, so that’s fine. Man, if only I could go back in time five years and convince my new Mom self that newborns are easy! Relax, already!
Another thing that helps enormously is that I seem to have escaped any PPD this time. I am just happy! So happy to have this sweet little snuggly baby girl living with us. And it feels like she’s always been here.
Thursday, December 29, 2011
A bunch of random photos
I've been working on Ann Marie's birth story, but it's slow going because my two-handed computer time is very limited. So here are a bunch of pictures of my kids. That are going to be huge because I'm not going to resize them as the baby is making noises and I have to go put on pajamas. You'll note that Nora fell on her face three days before Christmas and its associated plethora of photos.
Friday, December 16, 2011
Pumpkin pancakes
One of the things getting me through these early weeks with a baby is easy dinners. Which, obviously. But we had pumpkin pancakes on Wednesday night, my own recipe, adapted from Cook's Illustrated blueberry pancakes recipe, and they were delicious if I do say so myself. So I'm going to share it.
PUMPKIN PANCAKES
Notes: Original recipe calls for 2 cups milk. The pumpkin is very wet, so I had to reduce. Canned pumpkin is usually not as wet as frozen homemade puree, so you might need the 2 cups. Use your judgment once you're trying to pour the batter out; it should be a thinnish consistency, like any typical pancake batter.
1.5 cups milk + 3/4 Tbsp lemon juice (or else 1.5 cups buttermilk)
2 cups (10 oz) whole wheat flour
2 Tbsp sugar
2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
up to 1/2 tsp table salt (I just shook some in there)
1 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp each of nutmeg, ground cloves, allspice
1 large egg
3 Tbsp unsalted butter, melted and cooled slightly
1 cup pumpkin puree
1 tsp vanilla
1. Whisk the milk with the lemon juice in a large measuring cup, set aside to thicken. Whisk the flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, salt, and spices together in a medium mixing bowl.
2. Whisk the egg and melted butter into the milk until combined. Add vanilla. Make a well in the dry ingredients in the bowl, pour in the milk mix until combined. Add the pumpkin puree, mix.
3. Pour onto hot griddle, cook until bubbles form, flip, cook 1-2 min more.
PUMPKIN PANCAKES
Notes: Original recipe calls for 2 cups milk. The pumpkin is very wet, so I had to reduce. Canned pumpkin is usually not as wet as frozen homemade puree, so you might need the 2 cups. Use your judgment once you're trying to pour the batter out; it should be a thinnish consistency, like any typical pancake batter.
1.5 cups milk + 3/4 Tbsp lemon juice (or else 1.5 cups buttermilk)
2 cups (10 oz) whole wheat flour
2 Tbsp sugar
2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
up to 1/2 tsp table salt (I just shook some in there)
1 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp each of nutmeg, ground cloves, allspice
1 large egg
3 Tbsp unsalted butter, melted and cooled slightly
1 cup pumpkin puree
1 tsp vanilla
1. Whisk the milk with the lemon juice in a large measuring cup, set aside to thicken. Whisk the flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, salt, and spices together in a medium mixing bowl.
2. Whisk the egg and melted butter into the milk until combined. Add vanilla. Make a well in the dry ingredients in the bowl, pour in the milk mix until combined. Add the pumpkin puree, mix.
3. Pour onto hot griddle, cook until bubbles form, flip, cook 1-2 min more.
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