The longest trip to editorgirl's house ever

On Sunday evening we went to editorgirl's house to watch a movie, and I just barely came home today. I should probably be lying down instead of blogging, but Master Fob is at Target picking up my Percocet so I might as well be uncomfortable and blogging instead of lying in bed feeling uncomfortable. So yeah, most of you have read what Master Fob posted for me, and hopefully some of you read his nice gory post about what happened. And there are some cute pictures of the baby on S-Boogie's blog, just remember that I felt as bad as I looked in that one picture of me.

Basically, I feel bad now for ignoring my nagging feeling last weekend that something was wrong and that I should get my crampiness checked out. Instead, I kept going and went ahead with my weekend plans. On Sunday night we went over to editorgirl's to enjoy a movie and chocolate cake (I'm also glad I didn't have a second piece of cake, since the first one barely stayed in my stomach). About 9 o'clock I suddenly felt a very weird "popping" feeling and a gush of something in my pants. I immediately jumped off the couch onto the plastic doormat and said "Um, I think my water broke". And of course everyone turned around to look at me and realized at about the same time I did that my hands and my pants were covered in blood, not amniotic fluid. So we grabbed a towel, slipped on my shoes, and I waddled rapidly to the car. Thankfully we were literally a minute from the emergency room, so we screeched to a halt in front, jumped out, grabbed a nurse and a wheelchair, and bolted for the fifth floor.

Surprisingly, everyone else was there was pretty calm. Calm, but quick and efficient. And they all perked up a lot when I revealed that my sister had just quick working there--I was famous, and so was my uterus, since they'd heard about it before. So, within an hour of getting to the hospital I was in surgery, trying not to throw up from a combination of nervousness, shock, and the anesthesia. Apparently my placenta decided to come off early, which is a very bad thing because it is attached to many blood vessels. Baby Little Dude (we did decide on a name, but that's his blog name) came out rather large and screaming, so he was no worse for the wear. And after they got everything cleaned up and stiched up, I was fine too.

I'm actually feeling a little better with my second c-section than I did with the first. I just need to remember to take it easy and not lift anything for a few weeks. I'm still kind of in shock that I am not pregnant anymore and that I have a baby. It's not even June yet. I'm just glad that we were so blessed. I don't even want to think about all the other places that I could have been when this happened, since I'm so glad I was where I was. Maybe I should find a new recipe for caramel popcorn, or at least put a warning on it for pregnant women to stay away...

Baby Fob

Master Fob here:

Foxy wanted me to post an announcement here that Baby Fob is alive and well. He was born last night after a ruptured placenta and an emergency c-section. He's 7 lbs. 1 oz. and 19" (unless that's a ridiculous length for a newborn, in which case he's some other length ending in -9). We'll post pictures later.

Now back to your regularly scheduled programming.

Feathering the nest

I seem to be alternating between feeling totally like crud and feeling massive amounts of energy. That whole "nesting instinct" you might have heard about is a very real thing, folks. When I feel good, all I want to do is clean my house, cook, and finish up all my little projects that are scattered here and there. I really need to convince myself that some of this energy should go towards writing my 10-page paper that's due a week from Monday.

Today I wore myself out by cooking a massive bunch of food and freezing it. Call me Molly if you want, but my freezer is now stocked with casseroles. The funny thing is, we don't usually eat very many casseroles, but those were the sorts of recipes I could find that apparently freeze well. Plus, all you have to do is bake them and add a salad or fruit and dinner is ready. I know I'm going to need stuff like that on hand. I usually only buy meat every few months anyways, when I go to Costco and buy giant packages of it that then go in the freezer. So I figured I might as well cook the meat and then freeze it this time, rather than having to remember to defrost it, then cook it into something. Some of it is just things like taco meat and sloppy joe filling, but we have some yummy looking casseroles in there. I also stopped by Master Fob's sister's house today to pick up some hand-me-downs, so our child now has clothes and a carseat. I feel so prepared--all we need are diapers and a few other things for me.

The only downside to cooking all day is that I now don't want to set foot in my kitchen ever again. I'm afraid I'm going to spend the next hour until Master Fob gets home trying to justify going to Sonic for an Oreo shake and a BLT. Unfortunately that's not in our budget, but I really hope he feels like cooking because I am worn out!

Small Blessings

OK, so after all that complaining, yesterday and today have not been too bad at all. I got another decent night of sleep last night. I've decided against taking naps in the afternoon and instead I'm just trying to go to bed at an early hour. Naps seem to mess with my sleep schedule too much. Don't worry, I will change that when I can't get an uninterrupted night of sleep, but for now it seems to be a good strategy. So is eating something every hour or two. I've lost my appetite as of late, but I've discovered that I tend to wilt if my stomach isn't constantly nourished.

Also today I had an appointment after my class and when I got home I discovered that I was home alone. Since Master Fob had to go in to work for a while before I was done, S-Boogie went to visit her auntie. And she fell asleep at auntie's house, so I got a few hours all by myself to do productive things and enjoy not dealing with the two-year-old. It's always more exciting to see her after a few hours apart.

And yesterday I got productive and put a bunch of books for sale on Amazon and we've already sold one. It was a particularly dry one on Spanish syntax, so I'm glad that someone else can be bored stiff by it and it makes one less thing we have to pack up and move to Washington.

What a difference...

...a good night's sleep will make! Yesterday I was convinced that I just wanted to die because I felt so bad. I haven't been sleeping very well lately at all and yesterday I think I hit the wall. Plus I've actually been having some contractions off and on since Sunday (not so many today, though, don't get too excited yet) and those aren't really very pleasant either. But, despite the fact that I went to bed at midnight last night I still fell asleep quickly and stayed asleep until 8 this morning. Hallelujah!

I know I just need to de-stress, but right now that's kind of hard. The last few weeks of pregnancy are stressful, because birth could happen any day now, which really means today or three weeks from today. I've also got school to worry about, and our total lack of funds until Master Fob finds another job, and the fact that I'm still in charge of the Primary, etc., etc... And my grandma has been teetering back and forth between deathly ill and sort-of-deathly ill for the last few weeks. She's old and very sick and I don't blame her for wanting to just leave and be with grandpa again. What's stressing me out is the fact that I probably won't be going to her funeral. I never thought I wouldn't make it to her funeral, but I really shouldn't plan on going at this point. It's about 4 hours up to Wyoming, and even though the hospital there is in-network, the only thing worse than an emergency c-section here is one at a hospital 4 hours away. Not a good idea. According to my doctor yesterday the baby is actually now head down, which was sort of surprising, but S-Boogie did that for a few weeks until she decided to be sneaky and flip back over right before my due date. So yeah, I'll probably be missing my Grandma's funeral unless she manages to hold out for another 2 months (going after the baby comes won't be a good option for at least a month or so either). That makes me sad...

Huh?

Today in the Smiths parking lot I saw a car that had "Honk if your horney" written on the back window. I thought about honking, but I wasn't sure what a "horney" was or what mine was supposed to be doing...

4 weeks and counting

Four weeks from today I will have a baby. Quite honestly, I haven't been really excited about it for most of this pregnancy. I don't know why, and I really hope this kid doesn't read this sometime in the future and hate me. Right now, though, I'm feeling pretty excited about it and looking forward to June 14th. This afternoon Master Fob and I went to a breastfeeding class and got a refresher on proper latching and all those other fun things. It was interesting and I think it helped me get more into "baby mode" than I have been for a while. I realized today that since we don't have to buy anything for the baby and we aren't setting up anything until the last possible minute due to space restrictions and our destructo-toddler, it hasn't seemed very "real". OK, my bulgy, writhing tummy and swollen feet are pretty real, but the fact that a baby is going to come out of there some day isn't. Then after the breastfeeding class we stopped by the hospital to visit some friends who just had their first little one yesterday. And she was very little-just over 5 pounds, since she arrived two weeks early. But very cute and very sweet. And I remembered that newborns aren't that scary, even if they do need to eat every two hours. I think I want one of my own.

I also really want some chocolate chip cookies, but it's super hot in our apartment already and I'm not sure I want to go turn on the oven. But, then again, I only have four more weeks to cater to my cravings, so why not?

Just before dawn

Yesterday was actually a very nice Mother's Day. When I woke up, S-Boogie greeted me by saying "You have a birthday in the kitchen, Mommy". Master Fob had made me waffles with whipped cream and strawberries on them, as well as a nice card with scribbles from S-Boogie and some cool flowers made of paper with green drinking straw stems. At church I got a tomato plant (our ward decided to be practical) and S-Boogie made me a clay hand print in nursery. Then yesterday afternoon I took a nice long nap, and we spent the evening hanging out with Master Fob's sisters and our niece and nephew. Last night after S-Boogie went to bed we watched Superman 2 (yes, it was slightly better than the first one) and ate rocky road brownies.
Then I went to bed and discovered that I couldn't sleep. And I felt depressed. And I started to worry about feeling depressed, because I wasn't sure if it was something temporary or the return of something darker. I kept thinking about all the hard things in my life. Like paying for moving at the end of the summer, paying for having the baby, and even paying for groceries and diapers right now. Or the fact that I keep running into people that finished everything for their degree except their thesis and my fear that it will happen to me. Or the fact that it's barely May and starting to heat up so much I'm considering getting out the air conditioner already, but we can't afford the higher electricity bills. And now that it's hot enough to wear them I'm too big for all the maternity capris that I own. And we pretty much have no sex life right now and it will be at least two or three more months until that's a possibility again. And I'm terrified of having two kids and I worry because I want S-Boogie to enjoy having a sibling and not just have it be a major trauma for her. And so on and so on.

But then at some point I managed to fall asleep. And I woke up this morning feeling surprisingly good and refreshed. I realized this morning that lying in bed in the dark is really not the time to start thinking too deeply or worrying about things. Nighttime should just be for sleeping. So I don't think I'm getting too depressed again. Right now I feel like I can handle life and that everything will be all right and work itself out somehow. It usually does, even if it's not quite the way we originally planned. The next time I'm lying in the dark at 2 AM worrying, I'll try to remember to get out of bed and read this instead. I think that there really is a longest hour of the day, and it's definitely better to sleep through it than to lie awake watching it pass slowly by.

The 20th Anniversary Rat Cake

Please refrain from ticking off the pregnant woman

So at my last checkup with the doctor, about a week ago, he looked at my chart, looked up at me and asked "oh, are you just planning on scheduling a c-section?". I think my eyes starting shooting daggers at that point, because his office has been very frustrating to me. I patiently explained that we had already had this discussion several times over the last few months and that I was under the impression that my c-section was already scheduled for June 15th. He said, "oh, you should call the office and talk to Julie, she's the one who does the scheduling." Oh, OK, now you tell me. So I went home and forgot to call the doctor's office back (my appointment was last Thursday, so I had to wait until at least Monday to call because they are closed on Fridays).

Finally today I got around to calling the office. The first thing I found out was that my doctor wasn't going to be in town the week of the 15th. That's fine, since there are two other doctors available that can do my surgery. I decided I didn't care that much about who did the operation, but I really care about getting as close to the day that I want as I can. Heck, if I can schedule my child's birth, I might as well get what I want if possible. I figure it makes up for everything else. So then I was told that since they are already down a doctor, the 15th is booked up at the hospital. I debated asking for the 19th, but figured that was pushing it since my due date is the 16th. Plus that's a Monday and later in the week seems to be better for everyone involved in the process. The end result is that I'm now scheduled to have my baby on Wednesday, June 14 (Happy Flag Day) at 7:30 in the morning (I think...).

Happy Rat Day!

No, this is not a nationally celebrated holiday of the type that Absent-minded Secretary should be listing on her blog. It is, or was, however, a major event in my house while I was growing up. When I was in first grade, our classroom had a variety of animals, including rats. Then one glorious day, the rats had babies. If we got parental permission, we could bring home a baby rat of our very own to raise and love! I thought that this was a fabulous idea, although my mother really didn't think so at all. She grew up on a farm, where rodents fall somewhere lower than rocks on the scale of God's creations. Luckily I was able to convince my dad, and so I got a nice little cage and water bottle and brought home my very first rat, whom I named Eskimo Pie because of her black and white coloring. Since Eskimo Pie is a somewhat awkward name, she quickly became simply "Ratty" and was one of my best friends for the next few years until she broke her leg and had to be put to sleep. Until I graduated from high school I had a succession of rats, often two at a time, and most were named after foods (Caramel, Sunflower Seed, Fudgie, Coconut, etc.) I think rats make great pets for children: they are clean, smart, big enough to handle some squeezing and to not get lost easily, and very affectionate.

Rat Day originated a year after I got Ratty. We needed to have a birthday party for her, since she was an important part of the family. As a child, I was really into planning parties and other celebrations, like wedding receptions for my stuffed animals. I'm not sure how we figured out that May 10 was Ratty's birthday; maybe it really was, or maybe it was the day I brought her home. I don't really remember. But my talented mother was able to figure out how to make a rat shaped cake, and so every year on May 10th we celebrated Rat Day with a beautiful cake and presents of empty tissue boxes and crackers for the rats. Maybe tomorrow I will make a rat cake, since I don't have time or supplies tonight...

A nice Saturday

I am probably one of the few people out there who doesn't like Saturdays. The thing is, I'm spoiled and don't usually have to spend an entire day home alone. Master Fob has a wonderfully flexible schedule and for the past few years we've gotten used to him having various hours home during the day (often while I'm at school, but it's still not that bad). If he had a "normal" full-time job, I would be home with S-Boogie by myself every day. Of course, if he had a more normal job he wouldn't be working Friday nights or all day on Saturdays. But, his nice flexible schedule has also made going to grad school possible for me, so I shouldn't complain too much. And I feel horribly guilty for dreading the one day I get to spend completely on my own with my child. However, anyone out there who has a two-year-old might understand a little bit. So I usually end up dreading Saturdays because I have to find a way to fill the entire day by myself without going insane.

Today I would like to thank Absent-minded Secretary for pointing out "Be a Tourist in Your Own Backyard Day" to me. Even up through last night I was debating taking advantage of any of the offers, because the thought of taking a toddler anywhere by myself when I can barely waddle seemed like pure torture. Of course, sitting around the house all day with a toddler is pretty torturous too. Most things being offered were in Salt Lake, which is a little far to drive when you're taking someone who can blow through the Shark Reef in 20 minutes. Then I repented and decided that $5 to hang out at the dinosaur museum wasn't a bad deal at all, and it would get us out of the house for a few hours at least. Plus it's only in Lehi, it's indoors, and since we've been there before I knew it's pretty kid-friendly. I'm glad we're early risers, because the museum wasn't very crowded yet when we showed up shortly after it opened. S-Boogie did show interest in a lot of the things, although she completely skipped the sand and water table (surprising) and got scared of the giant prehistoric shark. We spent nearly an hour in the museum, and then went outside to eat lunch. Our pass was also good for the gardens, but I wasn't sure if they meant the regular one or the children's one. I didn't feel up to walking around the regular garden, so I stopped off at the children's garden first. Then the lady at the gate informed me I'd have to go back to the visitor's center to get my pass stamped for the garden, and I couldn't bring my own lunch in either. I told S-Boogie that the tulips along the pathway were the "garden" we came to see and we walked over to the picnic tables and ate lunch. S-Boogie was pretty happy chasing birds on the grass, so I didn't feel bad about skipping the garden tour. We got home shortly before naptime and I feel glad that I spent some quality time teaching my child what a trilobite is and how to say "Jurassic".

Smile!

I have to start this post with a confession that will sorely disappoint my mother: until Wednesday, it had been about five years since I last visited the dentist. I know, I know--I need to take better care of my teeth. We've even had dental insurance for the last few years, but I never got around to using it. I do floss and brush very regularly, though, so I really do care. I did pass my checkup with mostly flying colors and was told that my flossing has paid off because my teeth and gums are fabulous. I do have two small cavities, but they aren't really my fault. Apparently the sealants that someone put on my farthest back molars have gotten old and cracked, so stuff has leaked in and caused some little cavities underneath them. It's time for repairs, which will happen in about a week or so.

The best part about my dentist visit: I surprised my old roommate, Angela, from freshman year! She just graduated from dental school last year and moved back to Utah (she and her hubby are both from South Jordan). We haven't been great about keeping in touch over the years, but I got a Christmas letter that had mentioned that she was now living here and an official dentist. Then a few weeks ago I was looking for a dentist near my house, and her name jumped out at me. I wasn't totally sure it was her, since she has a fairly common last name, but I had a feeling. It was so fun to be sitting there in the chair and have her come in and squeal excitedly at seeing me! And she did a nice job on my teeth and will be fixing up my fillings for me. Of course, that makes me feel even older to know that someone I roomed with as a freshman has already been able to complete dental school. Two of my other roommates from that time have been married for nearly 8 years now, so I guess we're all just old fogies. At least Angela will be able to help us out with dentures when we need them...

Trip review

In case you are wondering, our trip to Vegas was quite a lot of fun. On Saturday S-Boogie spent even more time in the sandbox and the pool, and then that evening the Thteeds showed up on their way back to California (so far my parents don't seem to mind that we keep inviting our friends along when we visit their house). We all watched New York Doll on Saturday night and I enjoyed it quite a lot. My parents have 9:00 church, so we ended up being heathen and skipping it completely. Perhaps that wasn't such a great idea, since shortly after the Thteeds left on their merry way we received a phone call that they had run into complications before even reaching the freeway. They ended up staying another night--not for the best of reasons, but hopefully the meatloaf, angel food cake with strawberries, raucous stories and photos, and the hot tub made up for all of it. On Monday S-Boogie and the Big O spent several more hours playing together. I'm not too hopeful about their future together--she decided that they needed to go to a restaurant, but neither could agree on who was driving the car or who got to carry the purse. Then they departed for their unfortunately long drive home, S-Boogie took a nap, and Master Fob and I went off to the mall so I could spend some of my birthday cash. I treated myself to a pedicure and a brownie Blizzard while Master Fob browsed at Sam Goody. He told me that he hadn't found any music he wanted to buy (which surprised me a little, but I'm fairly gullible), but when we got in the car I suddenly realized that we were listening to a new CD from Bruce Springsteen. After another quick swim in the pool, we left S-Boogie with Grandma and Grandpa and went out to the Melting Pot for a yummy, romantic dinner (melted cheese and dim lights--a nice combination). On our way back home, we decided to drive up the Strip and got to witness an enormous immigration rally. It was pretty impressive--I've rarely seen that many people in one place at a time, let alone all marching down the street. We finished up the night snuggling on the futon watching Walk the Line. Monday was definitely a good "birthday eve". Tuesday was rather uneventful--we drove back and only stopped once, in Saint George. We did finish listening to Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets, although I nodded off during a few parts so I think I might have missed some key plot elements. It was a nice little trip and definitely a good way to rewind after a long semester.

"Ewww, I'm like the crypt keeper"

It's now been:

2 1/2 years since I had my first child
3 years since I graduated from college
4 1/2 years since I got married
5 1/2 years (almost) since I got home from my mission
7 years since I got my mission call
10 years since I graduated from high school
16 years since I left Primary
20 years since I got baptized
And...
28 years since I entered the world

Dang, where does the time go?

P.S.--Bonus points to the first person to identify the movie quote