About a week ago we noticed that our garbage disposal stopped working. We figured something must have clogged it, but it turned out to be "its time". It was kaput, working no more, on its way to the appliance heaven in the sky.
Last night Robbie went out and purchased a new garbage disposal and got to work replacing the old one. As with most home improvement situations in our house--things are always worse than first anticipated. In this case it was discovering that the old disposal was rusted badly, so all the parts were stuck together.
As Robbie was trying to get the old disposal detached, it fell unexpectedly and his hand wasn't ready to catch it. I was in the other room when I heard the loud "thunk" quickly followed by a teeth grinding growl. The edge of the rusty disposal pinned Robbie's hand to the floor, specifically landing on the middle finger knuckle.
Oh the amount of pain he was in!!! Poor Robbie was concerned about waking the baby by yelling, but I told him to let it out!! The gash in his finger warranted waking the baby if needed. However, Maverick was completely unfazed (as expected) by the whole scene.
I didn't take a picture of his finger, which is probably a good thing. The gash went to the bone and he probably broke his finger. Robbie treated it with alcohol and antibiotic ointment so it wouldn't get infected. He waited until this morning to get it seen by the doctor but by then it was too late to get stitches because it had started to heal.
Tomorrow he gets an x-ray to see if its broken, or if its tendon damage. I know this sounds funny, but hopefully its broken because that's easier to deal with than tendon damage.
After all that, he still got the new disposal installed last night. Thankfully our brother-in-law was already stopping by, so he helped him. Plus Robbie's dad also came over to help remove the rest of the old rusty parts.
Never a dull moment around here!
Thursday, December 17, 2009
Saturday, December 12, 2009
Measuring Maverick
So life has been super crazy! I don't even know where to begin, or what to write. Maverick pretty much has me tied to the house 24 hours a day. I am going crazy being inside this much. Maverick's doctor was pretty adamant about not taking him anywhere unless absolutely necessary for a few more weeks since it's the middle of cold and flu season.
You would think being home this much would give me time to write more on the blog. But free time is precious! When I get the chance I don't know whether to load the dishwasher or read a magazine. It's usually spent trying to catch a nap. Cumulatively I'd say I'm getting about 4 hours of sleep each day.
Mostly because Mav has to eat every 2 hours, and then it takes another 30 minutes or so to get him back to sleep. So by the time he is hungry again, I've barely caught a wink.
Going to sleep at night has been harder than I expected. I was ready for the lack of sleep for the usual reasons (the baby is hungry, needs to be changed, etc). But I find that I just cannot relax when Maverick is sleeping. I am constantly waking myself up to make sure he is still breathing. I have to make sure his face isn't covered, and make sure he is on his back (he already likes to turn on his side).
I am really trying to focus on the verse "Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all comprehension, shall guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus." Philippians 4:6
This verse helps me to take all my fears to God and find comfort that He is watching over Maverick.
I decided to have fun and track Maverick's growth by taking his picture next to his favorite stuffed animal. Well, we've decided it's going to be his favorite because it's a siberian husky just like his "older sister" Belle. This is his one week photo:
Here is the photo I took on his 2 week birthday. He looks longer, and he actually is because at his follow-up doctor appointment he had grown 1/2 inch in 4 days! But he also looks longer cause he is stretching out his anger. :) I tried, but I couldn't get a happy face for this week's picture.
I plan on doing a weekly photo only for his first month. After that I'm just going to take a monthly shot. I'll leave you with a picture of Maverick and his real life husky. Belle loves to sleep on the couch with him.
You would think being home this much would give me time to write more on the blog. But free time is precious! When I get the chance I don't know whether to load the dishwasher or read a magazine. It's usually spent trying to catch a nap. Cumulatively I'd say I'm getting about 4 hours of sleep each day.
Mostly because Mav has to eat every 2 hours, and then it takes another 30 minutes or so to get him back to sleep. So by the time he is hungry again, I've barely caught a wink.
Going to sleep at night has been harder than I expected. I was ready for the lack of sleep for the usual reasons (the baby is hungry, needs to be changed, etc). But I find that I just cannot relax when Maverick is sleeping. I am constantly waking myself up to make sure he is still breathing. I have to make sure his face isn't covered, and make sure he is on his back (he already likes to turn on his side).
I am really trying to focus on the verse "Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all comprehension, shall guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus." Philippians 4:6
This verse helps me to take all my fears to God and find comfort that He is watching over Maverick.
I decided to have fun and track Maverick's growth by taking his picture next to his favorite stuffed animal. Well, we've decided it's going to be his favorite because it's a siberian husky just like his "older sister" Belle. This is his one week photo:
Here is the photo I took on his 2 week birthday. He looks longer, and he actually is because at his follow-up doctor appointment he had grown 1/2 inch in 4 days! But he also looks longer cause he is stretching out his anger. :) I tried, but I couldn't get a happy face for this week's picture.
I plan on doing a weekly photo only for his first month. After that I'm just going to take a monthly shot. I'll leave you with a picture of Maverick and his real life husky. Belle loves to sleep on the couch with him.
Saturday, December 5, 2009
The Best Thanksgiving EVER!
I would like to introduce our son:
Maverick William
November 26, 2009
3:25 AM
7 lbs 6oz
20 1/4 inches
Wednesday (11/25) morning around 10 am, Robbie and I had just sat down on the couch to plan out our day of errands. Go to the bank, the store, clean the house, etc, etc. It was then that I realized my water had broken...but I didn't say anything for a few minutes just to make sure. I didn't want to prematurely freak Robbie out. We were just talking about how he still needed to pack his hospital bag. But he figured it out when I got up to go to the bathroom for the 3rd time in 10 minutes. :)
We were alot more calm than what my mind rehearsed in anticipation. Robbie packed his bag while I got a shower. And then Robbie got a shower. We sort of tidied the house and made sure things were okay to leave for a few days. Then we left Belle, our dog, with my parents. Although--we did sort of fib to my parents as to why we needed to drop her off. We didn't want to sound all the alarms until we got to the hospital and for sure knew that I was in labor.
Our dog Belle goes to hang out at my parents' house all the time, so she loves to jump out of the door when we pull into their driveway. But Belle knew something was up this time! Instead of getting out of the back door, she climbed into the front seat with me!! She curled up on my lap with her ears and head down. It was soooo sweet! And once she got inside, she stood at the top of the stairs and watched Robbie leave.
The drive to the hospital was sooooooo surreal. The sky was crystal clear blue and the sun was shining bright. Almost no traffic on the highway. Even though I wasn't even feeling contractions, Robbie decided to speed on the way there. His reason: to actually have an excuse to be speeding. :)
We did stop in the McDonald's drive thru before getting to the hospital. I was hungry and I knew that as soon as I got there, food would be off limits. So we both munched on chicken nuggets and french fries for the ride. Unfortunately the drive thru attendant wouldn't give us an "I'm in labor" discount.
This is me in the triage room. I looooooove ice chips, so I was quite happy. Oh and I wasn't in any pain yet either.
We finally got into our labor and delivery suite, and I was still feeling okay. My goal was to go as long as possible without an epidural. I was feeling quite confident that I could do it.
I made it to 6cm dilated, with contractions being 30 sec apart before I was in the most excruciating pain of my entire life. It was so crazy how much the pain intensified in just a few minutes. I couldn't breathe or relax between contractions at that point. So I went ahead and got the epidural. Looking back, I feel I did the right thing. I wasn't able to focus on breathing and felt my energy dwindle. The only thing I wasn't prepared for--no one ever told me, or I hadn't read it--was the vomiting! During the last couple of hours of labor I was vomiting quite frequently. I think it was a mix of an empty stomach and the stress. My doctor said that it's actually quite common for women to vomit frequently when the baby is descending. It's like the body is trying to help push him out.
After the epidural I progressed roughly 1cm per hour, and by 2am the doc asked if I was ready to do some practice pushes. Her original plan was to let me get to 10cm and still wait an hour before pushing. But after the practice pushes Maverick was (sort of) ready to come out.
An hour and a half of hard pushing later, Maverick arrived! He sort of got stuck actually. I could definitely feel him stuck in the right side of my pelvis. The pain actually ended up helping me push, otherwise I wouldn't have felt anything. There was talk of having to use a couple devices to get him out, but thankfully we didn't have to. This is the first time I saw my baby boy:
When he first delivered, all I wanted to hear was him cry. But he didn't, and it was the longest moment of my life. I kept asking Robbie if he was okay, but the nurses wouldn't let him near the warming table yet. After a couple minutes, Maverick finally gave a small whimper. By then they had called in a pediatric doctor for Maverick. His 1 minute APGAR score was a 5, but by 5 minutes it was up to a 9. Maverick just had a little trouble breathing after being stuck in the birth canal a while. It turns out though, that Maverick isn't much of a crier anyway.
Once the nurses gave the green light for Robbie to come over, she asked if he wanted to feel his heartbeat. So Robbie reached out to feel Maverick's chest, and Mav grabbed Robbie's hand and stopped crying. It was their first "moment". :)
The rest of the night is pretty much a blur. I remember being wheeled past the nursery where all of our family was watching Maverick getting the "once over" by the staff. And I remember our families briefly coming to the recovery room with us, but I quickly passed out from exhaustion.
About 8am, I woke up as the nurse wheeled Maverick into our room. Robbie was passed out on the little couch next to my bed. The nurse briefed me on all his tests and that he was nice and healthy. She put Maverick in my arms and I spent the next couple of hours internalizing that he was our baby--and the cutest one ever!
Maverick joined me in my first meal after delivery: pancakes, sausage links, and a blueberry muffin. I hadn't had pancakes in FOREVER because of the gestational diabetes. It was the best breakfast ever! Probably because our little family was all enjoying it together. :)
Maverick William
November 26, 2009
3:25 AM
7 lbs 6oz
20 1/4 inches
Wednesday (11/25) morning around 10 am, Robbie and I had just sat down on the couch to plan out our day of errands. Go to the bank, the store, clean the house, etc, etc. It was then that I realized my water had broken...but I didn't say anything for a few minutes just to make sure. I didn't want to prematurely freak Robbie out. We were just talking about how he still needed to pack his hospital bag. But he figured it out when I got up to go to the bathroom for the 3rd time in 10 minutes. :)
We were alot more calm than what my mind rehearsed in anticipation. Robbie packed his bag while I got a shower. And then Robbie got a shower. We sort of tidied the house and made sure things were okay to leave for a few days. Then we left Belle, our dog, with my parents. Although--we did sort of fib to my parents as to why we needed to drop her off. We didn't want to sound all the alarms until we got to the hospital and for sure knew that I was in labor.
Our dog Belle goes to hang out at my parents' house all the time, so she loves to jump out of the door when we pull into their driveway. But Belle knew something was up this time! Instead of getting out of the back door, she climbed into the front seat with me!! She curled up on my lap with her ears and head down. It was soooo sweet! And once she got inside, she stood at the top of the stairs and watched Robbie leave.
The drive to the hospital was sooooooo surreal. The sky was crystal clear blue and the sun was shining bright. Almost no traffic on the highway. Even though I wasn't even feeling contractions, Robbie decided to speed on the way there. His reason: to actually have an excuse to be speeding. :)
We did stop in the McDonald's drive thru before getting to the hospital. I was hungry and I knew that as soon as I got there, food would be off limits. So we both munched on chicken nuggets and french fries for the ride. Unfortunately the drive thru attendant wouldn't give us an "I'm in labor" discount.
This is me in the triage room. I looooooove ice chips, so I was quite happy. Oh and I wasn't in any pain yet either.
We finally got into our labor and delivery suite, and I was still feeling okay. My goal was to go as long as possible without an epidural. I was feeling quite confident that I could do it.
I made it to 6cm dilated, with contractions being 30 sec apart before I was in the most excruciating pain of my entire life. It was so crazy how much the pain intensified in just a few minutes. I couldn't breathe or relax between contractions at that point. So I went ahead and got the epidural. Looking back, I feel I did the right thing. I wasn't able to focus on breathing and felt my energy dwindle. The only thing I wasn't prepared for--no one ever told me, or I hadn't read it--was the vomiting! During the last couple of hours of labor I was vomiting quite frequently. I think it was a mix of an empty stomach and the stress. My doctor said that it's actually quite common for women to vomit frequently when the baby is descending. It's like the body is trying to help push him out.
After the epidural I progressed roughly 1cm per hour, and by 2am the doc asked if I was ready to do some practice pushes. Her original plan was to let me get to 10cm and still wait an hour before pushing. But after the practice pushes Maverick was (sort of) ready to come out.
An hour and a half of hard pushing later, Maverick arrived! He sort of got stuck actually. I could definitely feel him stuck in the right side of my pelvis. The pain actually ended up helping me push, otherwise I wouldn't have felt anything. There was talk of having to use a couple devices to get him out, but thankfully we didn't have to. This is the first time I saw my baby boy:
When he first delivered, all I wanted to hear was him cry. But he didn't, and it was the longest moment of my life. I kept asking Robbie if he was okay, but the nurses wouldn't let him near the warming table yet. After a couple minutes, Maverick finally gave a small whimper. By then they had called in a pediatric doctor for Maverick. His 1 minute APGAR score was a 5, but by 5 minutes it was up to a 9. Maverick just had a little trouble breathing after being stuck in the birth canal a while. It turns out though, that Maverick isn't much of a crier anyway.
Once the nurses gave the green light for Robbie to come over, she asked if he wanted to feel his heartbeat. So Robbie reached out to feel Maverick's chest, and Mav grabbed Robbie's hand and stopped crying. It was their first "moment". :)
The rest of the night is pretty much a blur. I remember being wheeled past the nursery where all of our family was watching Maverick getting the "once over" by the staff. And I remember our families briefly coming to the recovery room with us, but I quickly passed out from exhaustion.
About 8am, I woke up as the nurse wheeled Maverick into our room. Robbie was passed out on the little couch next to my bed. The nurse briefed me on all his tests and that he was nice and healthy. She put Maverick in my arms and I spent the next couple of hours internalizing that he was our baby--and the cutest one ever!
Maverick joined me in my first meal after delivery: pancakes, sausage links, and a blueberry muffin. I hadn't had pancakes in FOREVER because of the gestational diabetes. It was the best breakfast ever! Probably because our little family was all enjoying it together. :)
Monday, November 16, 2009
All clear for arrival!
I'm so happy for my dad! He harvested the biggest buck he's ever taken this weekend. We don't care that much about the size of the rack. It's more about the amount of meat! From what I hear, he was a Big'un! It took 3 of them to load the buck on the ATV. Can we say, "Deer sausage!!!!" Yum, yum, yummy!!!
I love eating wild game instead of the over processed meat from the grocery store. I wish it was more like the "olden days" of fresh farm meat. No antibiotics and steroids and stuff in the meat. The best chicken I've ever eaten was clucking an hour before I ate it.
Okay, so now with my dad's successful hunting trip over...and my sister-in-law is home from the Philippines...Maverick is clear to arrive any time now!!! LOL!
Of course now that there is no worry about all the family being home, Maverick is going to take forever getting here. Ha ha!
Nah, I'm actually not in too big of a hurry. He will get here when he's supposed to.
Although, last night I was having some pretty regular contractions for a couple hours, and then they completely stopped. And nothing since. They weren't painful at all...more weird than anything!!! My entire stomach would get really, really hard and oddly shaped for 20-30 seconds, and then stop. Crazy!
I love eating wild game instead of the over processed meat from the grocery store. I wish it was more like the "olden days" of fresh farm meat. No antibiotics and steroids and stuff in the meat. The best chicken I've ever eaten was clucking an hour before I ate it.
Okay, so now with my dad's successful hunting trip over...and my sister-in-law is home from the Philippines...Maverick is clear to arrive any time now!!! LOL!
Of course now that there is no worry about all the family being home, Maverick is going to take forever getting here. Ha ha!
Nah, I'm actually not in too big of a hurry. He will get here when he's supposed to.
Although, last night I was having some pretty regular contractions for a couple hours, and then they completely stopped. And nothing since. They weren't painful at all...more weird than anything!!! My entire stomach would get really, really hard and oddly shaped for 20-30 seconds, and then stop. Crazy!
Friday, November 13, 2009
On the set of "Scrubs?"
As I sat on the examination table this morning for a routine prenatal visit, I was woken out of my morning fog with a gentle tap on the door and greeted by a young woman who couldn't have been a year or two older than me (mid 20s). Having to go to a free/reduced cost clinic at a major metropolitan hospital, I'm very used to seeing a different doctor every visit so it wasn't a red flag to see a new face. However, I could immediately tell she was very unsure of herself.
In a small voice she introduced herself as a medical student, and was very quick to say that the resident doctor would be in after her. I think she was afraid that I would be scared by her inexperience and would demand to see a "real doctor" and storm out of the room. But I couldn't be more happy to be her first patient without a doctor over her shoulder! I was excited that she would probably remember me out of the thousands of potential patients to come in her career.
On her clipboard she had written out all of the questions she was supposed to ask in these neat little bullet points. (Later, the resident doc would let her put this information into the computer system after she double checked it.) Then she grabbed the hand held doppler to measure Maverick's heartbeat. I felt sooooooo bad for her because she couldn't find his heart! She felt my tummy and quietly said, "I think his head is up here" pointing up toward my rib cage. I didn't have the heart to tell her that it was really down in my pelvis.
I could almost feel her wanting to shrink in height after struggling to find his heartbeat for 10 minutes without success. Part of it was that she didn't have the wand in the right place, and she wasn't pressing very hard either (afraid to hurt me I suppose). She kept apologizing profusely, and I kept reassuring her that I was glad to help her learn. After I explained to her that I was a science teacher who thrives on hands-on learning, she relaxed more and we had fun conversations about college biology lab classes.
After measuring a few more things with uncertainty, she got up to get the resident doctor and the poor thing stubbed her toe on a doorstop and almost smashed her head into the door. We both just laughed and blamed it on being Friday the 13th. :)
Fortunately the resident doctor was awesome about trying to boost her confidence. I was afraid that the doc would come in and take over with lots of rolling eyes or something. The doc had her measure everything again (heartbeat found this time with a little guidance!) and was very calm about directing her through it all.
Granted, by the end of the appointment I did sort of feel like one of the helpless creatures I watched being dissected from my chair in a college lecture hall. But that's okay. I hope I was a good first patient for her!
By the way the exam showed that I'm about 2cm dialated and about 60% effaced. The doc wants me to take it a bit easier because she wants to slow my progression only for the reason that the closer we can get to 40 weeks, the better. No long shopping trips for me!
Tuesday, November 10, 2009
Tick-tock!
It's so weird how excruciatingly slow time passes, but at the same time, you're not in a hurry for it to pass either. Ever feel that way???
I've been feeling like that since Saturday night. I've been having some contractions, so I'm anxious to get this whole labor thing going. We're sooooooo excited to meet our son, and curious as to what he's going to look like. How he's going to act, etc.
But at the same time, it's terrifying to think we're going to have a baby! You would think that 9 months would be plenty of time to prepare your mind for this. But it doesn't! Are we ready? The answer is no. But who is ever ready to be first time parents?? Nobody I know!!
So back to being excited!
During my NST this morning the nurse administering the test kept glancing at the printout from the contractions monitor, and asked me how I was feeling. I was like, "Ummmm....fine. Am I supposed to be feeling something else?" And she showed me that I was having pretty regular contractions that weren't huge or anything, but enough that I should be feeling them.
When I had another contraction, she let me know so that I could be aware of what it should feel like. I was like, "Oh! I've been thinking that was the baby moving or something!" She almost called my doctor to see if I should go get checked out at the hospital. But they weren't quite that bad yet.
Now back to waiting!
My gut feeling is that he's not going to arrive for at least another week or two. That would be good because the closer to 40 weeks, the better.
Plus--I've been given specific instructions to wait until Sunday night (at earliest) for 2 reasons:
1) This coming weekend is opening rifle season for deer hunting, and my dad is an avid hunter who doesn't want his grandson's birthday interfering. LOL! :)
2) My sister-in-law Johanna is out of the country until Sunday night. She had to go to the Philippines for work. Maverick needs to wait!
And I think he will. :)
I've been feeling like that since Saturday night. I've been having some contractions, so I'm anxious to get this whole labor thing going. We're sooooooo excited to meet our son, and curious as to what he's going to look like. How he's going to act, etc.
But at the same time, it's terrifying to think we're going to have a baby! You would think that 9 months would be plenty of time to prepare your mind for this. But it doesn't! Are we ready? The answer is no. But who is ever ready to be first time parents?? Nobody I know!!
So back to being excited!
During my NST this morning the nurse administering the test kept glancing at the printout from the contractions monitor, and asked me how I was feeling. I was like, "Ummmm....fine. Am I supposed to be feeling something else?" And she showed me that I was having pretty regular contractions that weren't huge or anything, but enough that I should be feeling them.
When I had another contraction, she let me know so that I could be aware of what it should feel like. I was like, "Oh! I've been thinking that was the baby moving or something!" She almost called my doctor to see if I should go get checked out at the hospital. But they weren't quite that bad yet.
Now back to waiting!
My gut feeling is that he's not going to arrive for at least another week or two. That would be good because the closer to 40 weeks, the better.
Plus--I've been given specific instructions to wait until Sunday night (at earliest) for 2 reasons:
1) This coming weekend is opening rifle season for deer hunting, and my dad is an avid hunter who doesn't want his grandson's birthday interfering. LOL! :)
2) My sister-in-law Johanna is out of the country until Sunday night. She had to go to the Philippines for work. Maverick needs to wait!
And I think he will. :)
Wednesday, November 4, 2009
Oh Internet, where for art thou, Internet?
Isn't it funny how something can be so frustratingly important one day, and then no big deal the next? And what makes it even more worse is when the situation is completely trivial. I'm talking about not being connected to the internet. Yesterday our modem wasn't working, therefore my glimpse into the outside world and my boredom cure for bed rest was gone. It was like living in 1995! (gasp!) :)
I guess it wasn't so much the fact that I had no internet at my fingertips. I have plenty of other activities I do during the day (see below). It was more about the time I spent on the phone with our internet service provider trying to figure out why our modem stopped working. To spare you the agony, I will sum it up by saying that I spent over an hour on the phone talking to 4 different people who probably live halfway around the world. And NONE of them could help me. Needless to say they suffered the wrath of an emotional almost 9 month pregnant woman!
So we ended up scheduling a service tech to visit the house today to fix the problem. You know how that goes--they say they will be there between the hours of 8am and 4pm. And they show up at either 6:30am or 5:30pm.
But now...as you can see...we woke up and the modem is working fine. I wanted to call and try to cancel the service tech visit, but Robbie still wants him to stop by just to make sure everything is okay. Easy for him to say! He doesn't have to stay here!
...oh wait...I was going to be home all day already! :)
Here is one of the activities I've chosen to help make bed rest time pass. I'm really excited about them, but at the same time I sort of regret the commitment to making my own birth announcements because I'm already thinking about if another baby should come along--I most likely won't have the time to make special announcements for them too. Can you tell I'm the youngest of 3? I'm not bitter... :)
I'm just gonna show you the cover. I wouldn't want to ruin the surprise!
I guess it wasn't so much the fact that I had no internet at my fingertips. I have plenty of other activities I do during the day (see below). It was more about the time I spent on the phone with our internet service provider trying to figure out why our modem stopped working. To spare you the agony, I will sum it up by saying that I spent over an hour on the phone talking to 4 different people who probably live halfway around the world. And NONE of them could help me. Needless to say they suffered the wrath of an emotional almost 9 month pregnant woman!
So we ended up scheduling a service tech to visit the house today to fix the problem. You know how that goes--they say they will be there between the hours of 8am and 4pm. And they show up at either 6:30am or 5:30pm.
But now...as you can see...we woke up and the modem is working fine. I wanted to call and try to cancel the service tech visit, but Robbie still wants him to stop by just to make sure everything is okay. Easy for him to say! He doesn't have to stay here!
...oh wait...I was going to be home all day already! :)
Here is one of the activities I've chosen to help make bed rest time pass. I'm really excited about them, but at the same time I sort of regret the commitment to making my own birth announcements because I'm already thinking about if another baby should come along--I most likely won't have the time to make special announcements for them too. Can you tell I'm the youngest of 3? I'm not bitter... :)
I'm just gonna show you the cover. I wouldn't want to ruin the surprise!
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