Friday, August 5, 2011

Ok- maybe a month and a half is a long time not to post

... But in all fairness, we haven't really been home!  I'm working up a monster post and a major picture post- I'll let y'all know when it gets done!

Friday, June 17, 2011

Now the time has come to say goodbye...

Well, sort of. We're planning The Big Move.  Hayden is four months old and knocking on wood he's sleeping very well through the night, so we're planning to move him into his own room soon.  In fact, the plan is to move him in permanently when we get home from our trip.  I spent the majority of tonight re-organizing the nursery (such as it is) and making his bed.

My folks were very kind to purchase the adorable Eli's Elephants nursery set from Pottery Barn Kids.  When I saw it online, I fell in love.  I didn't realize that they were apparently discontinuing the theme so I couldn't get the mobile, window treatments and all the other cute stuff that would have made Hayden's room a nursery.  I'm disappointed, to say the least, but it doesn't matter.  I've never been one for the match-y match-y stuff, so I can just put something else together on my own.  Tonight, I put the crib skirt down (as much as I could in the Ikea crib we got), put the waterproof pad on our new mattress and put the cute PBK fitted sheet on it.  I had to untie and re-tie the crib bumper to accommodate the mattress, but all told, it looks cute and should be comfortable for Hayden.

But when I walk past his room, which is a lot, I feel like it's empty.  There is nothing on his walls.  To be fair, there's really not much on the walls in our house.  I don't feel like this house is my home, honestly, and I never have.  Over the past seven years we've done little things here and there to personalize an otherwise bland house.  Our walls are mainly still the inoffensive beige that most new construction has, with the kitchen and the guest bathroom being the exceptions.  The kitchen is a bright, lemony yellow that we accented with dark red valences with oranges, lemons and blueberries (I think) decorating them.  It took us about 2 years to get the valences up.  The guest bathroom was a project from a couple of years ago:  sage green with aqua, brown and green accessories.  We hung a drape, just one panel for the one window, in the living room and we have sheer panels in our bedroom.  That's it.  One picture in the living room, a plaque from Margaritaville in the kitchen, an elephant photo series in the hall near a hand-crocheted wall hanging and a golf swing print in the office.

I have a bunch of artwork that I'd love to hang, but it all requires framing, which will be expensive.  Add to that the fact that we're going to be putting the house on the market before too long, so what do I do?  Do I spend a lot of time, effort and money to really decorate the house?  Or do I just wait till we move?  I mean, it's not like Hayden will notice that there isn't anything fun on his walls.  And we don't have enough guests to see that I'm apparently a lazy decorator, so should I really expend the energy?

Well, that's about all I can process for now- it's been a long few days.

Wednesday, June 8, 2011

Four months already?

Where has the time gone?  My sweet little man is changing so fast! He gets the giggles now...  Mama and Daddy are his favorite comedians, some days.  He's starting to teethe, too, which makes me very nervous.  He's been such a well-mannered little guy, I don't want him to be fussy :(  But he's handling it pretty well.  We go in for his four month checkup next week, I'm pretty sure he's up around 16 lbs and he's probably grown another inch.

He's outgrown his bassinet so we've had to move some furniture around to make room for his pack-n-play in our room.  I'm still not ready for him to sleep in his own room yet.  That, and we don't have his mattress for his crib!  Ooops.  We're planning to make that big move in July when we come home from our extended trip to Kentucky.  Plans are in full-swing for his christening in early July.  He'll be christened at the church where my sister, two cousins, Maggie and I were christened, Daniel was baptized there, I was married there...  It's very special because we grew up in that church.  It was right next door to my mom's parents' house (which is now part of the church as a counseling and meeting area).  The day we're having Hayden christened, church is scheduled to be outside under a big tent down by Owl Creek- which holds fond memories for many of my cousins and me.  We played down by that creek so many springs and summers...  It's a very special thing for us to be able to do this.  It's important to me that Hayden be officially welcomed into God's family.

Little dude is trying really hard to sit up by himself and it takes a LOT of entertaining for him to want to stay on his back anymore.  He seems to want to skip rolling over in favor of just walking.  He loves standing up- with our help, of course.  Nap-time is actually a fairly regular occurrence in our house now, and he's still sleeping like a champ through the night.  I'm so lucky!

Nibbling on Capt. Calamari
Hayden will typically wake up between 5 and 6:00am and want a diaper change and a bottle.  With me, he usually just conks out in my arms while I'm burping him.  With Mike, he'll want to stay up and play...  But he'll usually play himself back to sleep within an hour or so.  He'll typically sleep till about 10:30 or 11 (which is LOVELY for me!) and then we're up for the day.  He's taking naps around 1:00, 5:00 and 8:00 and will generally sleep an hour or two.  We're learning to live together, the three of us, now that Michael is home.  I'm thinking about starting yoga next week- I feel so old and stiff- and I know that I'm going to have an active little boy to keep up with!

We're so excited about our upcoming trip...  We'll be in Louisville for almost a month, so- no excuses!!!  Come visit!

Sunday, May 22, 2011

So much to say...

So little time to actually say it!  Wow... Time is flying faster than the qualifying at Indy.  Hayden is already almost 14 weeks old- and growing like a weed doesn't begin to cover it.

At his 2 month checkup he was just under 12 lbs and 22" long.  Last Monday at his 3 month checkup he was 14.25 lbs and 25" long!  My little man has become a big chunk o' baby!  He's really discovered his voice, too.  If you've called my house or gotten to hang out with us lately, you can attest to the fact that my son likes to talk just about as much as I do.  He's discovered the use of his hands, and loves to hang on to his onesies when I change his diapers.  I think it's cute and almost helpful at this point, I'm sure it'll get annoying the bigger he gets!  He's also starting to teethe a little!  He doesn't actually have teeth coming in just yet, but they're definitely "on the move" and his poor little gums are itching him something fierce- so he's chewing on Sophie the Giraffe quite a bit, as well as trying to fit his entire fists in his mouth.  That's funny to watch, and hear, when he tries to talk through his hand! 

Hayden has also discovered that he vastly prefers sitting up to lying down.  It's about time for us to find a Bumbo for him so he can practice keeping his balance.  As it is, he enjoys spending his late mornings (after his second breakfast) sitting in his daddy's lap and playing Xbox.  He's shown us that he loves to watch sports on TV.  So much so that he even gets upset when commercials come on!  I don't think it has anything to do with the bright, flashing colors on the screen (tee hee).  And we're both thankful that Michael's "busy season" has come to a close!  I'll admit, it has been very difficult to be a mommy without having Daddy around...  But I think that it's going to be a fun summer for all three of us! 

Thanks for keeping up with my blog, I know I don't post nearly enough- but honestly there's so much going on, it's hard to find a free minute to compose much! 

Monday, May 2, 2011

Oh wow... it's been a little bit

So it's been awhile since I updated this blog!  Life tends to get in the way, especially with a darling little bundle of distraction.

As a last-minute decision, Hubs decided it'd be a good idea for me to take Little Man to Louisville for Easter weekend.  It took a lot of doing, but I got us both packed up and we hit the road Thursday.  Very convenient for me, my dearest buddy from my days at Alabama lives just off the interstate in Nashville and she let me stop at her place as a middle-of-the-trip pit stop.  I was able to feed Hayden, let him get out of his car seat for a little bit and stretch and regroup myself before we headed on North. 

I'd done my research like a good traveler should:  I checked the weather and it said temps in the mid-60s and 70s all weekend with rain chances every day.  I didn't expect what happened:  record rainfall and river flooding.  It was bad.  I took lots of pictures of the flooding in Mom & Daddy's neighborhood but they've disappeared off the camera...  If I find them, I'll post them.

Hayden and his cousin Maggie on Easter
All that aside, Easter was magical.  It stopped raining and the sun came out just in time for the Easter egg hunt at St. Luke's.  Maggie was SO excited- she won a chocolate cross as a prize for finding a special egg.  Something about that just screams sacril-icious.  Hayden was able to wear his adorable white bubble-type outfit and not only did he look like an angel, he played the part by sleeping through church.  He didn't make a peep!  I took him to the communion rail with me and he was blessed by Father Joe, who will be christening him this summer.  (Father Joe also performed the marriage ceremony for Hubs and I almost six years ago, and he blessed my belly when we found out I was pregnant!) 

And I'm sure you've heard me rave about how mellow my little man is... Well he really proved it on our trip- he was passed around to no fewer than 50 friends and relatives on Saturday and Easter Sunday and he was just grinning or sleeping the whole time!  He slept well those nights, too, but he was really amazing. 

I was really glad to get home before July, as we'd originally been planning.  I know so many of my friends and family were just chomping at the bit to meet Hayden.  We had some friends come over on Saturday before Easter to meet him, and he was just a sweet and smiling little angel the whole time!  I guess that's a good thing, too, because we're slightly social folks (tee hee) and we go out all the time.  I was also able to leave him with his first two babysitters!  Mom and Ginny took care of him while I went to get my hair done on Wednesday, and Thursday my friend Julie's husband Damon kept him for a little while so Julie and I could go have some girl time.   He was an angel both times :)  I'm so lucky!

We got some interesting news on Easter.  Most of you know that my parents have a nice houseboat, The Last Resort, on the Ohio River.  We've owned the boat, well, yacht technically, since 1993 and we've had many many good times on it.  Daddy was holding Hayden while he slept when he fielded the phone call from one of their neighbors at the marina.  "Bob, your boat sank!"  Um, WHAT?  Apparently, at 11:30am Easter Sunday, the boat was fine, by 2:30pm, 80% of the boat was under water with only the prow sticking up.  After raising the boat from the marina and some ongoing investigation, it looks like the hull was struck by something and a hole opened up.  The bilge pump probably shorted out and couldn't get the water out.  Luckily no one was on the boat at the time, so they're just going to take their losses and go from there.  RIP Last Resort, you will be missed.  

Time came to start planning our return trip to Alabama when I got to looking at my Twitter feed and Facebook feeds.  I follow two of my favorite weathermen from NBC 13 here in Birmingham and they were warning of the potential for a super-evil severe weather event on Tuesday and Wednesday.  Well, our plan was to leave on Tuesday, but then I got to researching the weather and, after consulting with Hubs, we decided it would be best to stay put till the following weekend.  (He was going to be out of town working, so why not extend the trip till he got home..?)  It's a good thing that we did stay put, because we all know what happened on Wednesday. 

We were very lucky here in Calera.  Tornadoes split the path to our north and south, but steered clear of us.  We didn't even lose power.  Our friends and family were marginally affected, losing power, downed trees, etc... but we all know someone who knows someone who has it much worse.  I organized a bunch of ladies on some pregnancy and post-pregnancy websites to send their unwanted baby formula and other infant-care supplies to Tuscaloosa and I also took a big bag of diapers, wipes, formula, and other baby-care stuff to be donated to the families affected.  If you are so inclined to make donations, please let me know and I'll send you the information.  These areas were hard-hit and any and all help is desperately needed.

OK- that's enough for now...

Wednesday, April 13, 2011

Traveling with a two-month old baby... Not as bad as I thought

Whew.  What a busy week it's been!  I decided to go on a weekend trip with sweet husband to Memphis...  He had to work Friday and Sunday, but we'd have the whole day Saturday together to explore.  Friday's trip up was going to be a grand experiment.  We'd never had Hayden in the car for longer than two hours and the trip to Memphis is four and a half hours (on a good day).  So we "tanked him up" (fed him really well) before we left and set out, praying that Little Dude would do what he always does in the car: sleep.  He did!  Once we got to Memphis, though, he was totally over being in the car-seat, so I laid him down in his stroller and we hit Beale Street after we dropped Mike off at the FedEx Forum for his Grizzlies game.  Well, we kind of hit Beale Street.  I took Hayden to the Hard Rock Cafe and we both enjoyed lunch...  He totally wolfed down his bottle and I found a way to feed him and myself at the same time.  All was right with the world.

Lucky for me I have a couple of really great friends (Brian, above left and Doug, above right) up in Memphis and Hayden and I got to have dinner with them.  I'm a big fan of good barbeque, and Memphis is known for theirs, so the boys took me to Brad's BBQ for some amazing Q.  Saturday Mike took us to Uncle Lou's, a favorite spot of his and his crew's when they go to Memphis to work.  Mike got the chicken, of course, and I tried the "Fatboy" sandwich- think grilled cheese, with ham and turkey, on steroids (see below) and tried their fried pickles, too.  Uncle Lou also makes his own kind of Cool Aid (had to change the spelling for copyright reasons), and it's SOOOO much better than the stuff we drank as kids.  When the guy brought our meals to us, he saw Hayden snoozing away in his car-seat (poor little guy).  He asked what we had ordered for him... I laughed and said a whole fried chicken. 

We left Uncle Lou's and trekked over to Graceland.  Kinda.  I wanted to go, just to say I've been.  Then I found out it's roughly the same cost to put a child through college at Yale than to take two adults to see some crap that Elvis used to own.  And I'm not even a fan of Elvis, so instead of going in, we just did a quick drive-by.  I saw the Lisa Marie, Elvis' big ol' airplane and a big line of people.  We're glad we didn't go.  It was a little too warm, anyway, and I was a bad mommy and forgot Hayden's sunscreen.

Sunday we were fortunate to get a ticket to see the Grizzlies' game against the New Orleans Hornets.  With Friday's win, the Grizzlies clinched a spot in the NBA Playoffs, so everyone was really excited.  Hayden, however, was pretty unimpressed.  He snoozed his way through the entire game.  Pyrotechnics?  No worries.  Roaring crowds?  Not a peep.  All in all, it was a great weekend. 

Sunday night we made our way home, and Hayden, again, slept the entire trip.  We did a quick unpack/repack and hit the road Monday morning to go visit Mike's parents.  My brother- and sister-in-law were down visiting as well with our nephew, Nehemiah, who was totally chomping at the bit to meet his new cousin.  I think that in a couple of years, these two cuties are going to cause some serious mayhem.  We had a small Easter egg hunt for Nehemiah, and Hayden pretended to supervise by sleeping the whole time.  We figure that next year, he'll be a little more interested. 

So I know that I've been bad at keeping this updated, but now that Hayden is two months old (whoa, y'all weren't kidding when you said time flies) and isn't quite as needy, I can take a little more time to update y'all on our adventures.

Sunday, April 3, 2011

Visiting grandparents

My little man is almost seven weeks old!  His Mimi and Bob Bob (my parents) came down to visit for a long weekend to spend some good time with Hayden.  Not only has Mom been an amazing help cleaning up around the house, but she and Daddy have really gotten to bond with Hayden- kinda hard to bond with a 2-3 day old baby when you're vying for your spot to hold the baby with three to six other people, not including the baby's parents!

We were able to watch the University of Kentucky's first Final Four appearance since 1998 together.  Yes, it was a disappointing loss (one point!?), but we're proud of our boys in blue...  And speaking of boys in blue!

Tuesday, March 29, 2011

Six weeks and all is amazing

We've had an eventful past few days!  Hayden got to meet his uncle Daniel and cousin Maggie on Friday.  Maggie is 7 and going to be a big sister to twin boys in August, so to say she's a little baby crazy is an understatement.  She was great holding Hayden- see the pix below.  I really miss my sweet niece, it's tough having my family so far away, but it's great when I do get to see her.  His daddy has been in and out of town working so much.  It really sucks that he's gone so much, but he definitely makes up for lost time when he is home.  His work season is slowing down quickly, though, so he'll be home a lot more.  I swear, I don't know how single and working moms can handle having a baby and doing all they do.  I'm barely keeping my head above water at this point!  I know that I'm keeping little man fed, clean and entertained, but the rest of the house is totally suffering because of it.  Meh.  No worries, right?
Such a little angel

With his cousin Maggie

Maggie proving how good she'll be when her twin brothers arrive

Chillin' with Uncle Daniel

Flirting with Mama Cathy

Sunday, March 20, 2011

Road Warrior!

So while sweet hubs is out working again, I decided to take little man down to his grandparents' place yesterday.  His great uncle was in town to fish with his Papa, so I figured that'd be a prime time to visit- and have some more family come to meet Hayden as well.  I was a little nervous about driving the two hours (or more) by myself, but it was a relatively event-free trip!  I had the car and the baby all packed up and ready to go at halftime of the UK/WVU game and we hit the road just around noon.  I brought his pack-n-play and enough formula, diapers and changes of clothes (for him) to last 3 days...  Hey, better to be prepared, no?

I've been making the trip to my in-laws' place for 11 years now.  I'm pretty familiar with the route.  Take 65 South to Montgomery.  Catch 85 North to the Mt. Meigs/Mitylene exit and drive till that road ends.  Take a left and follow that road till it ends.  Get into Union Springs, take a right, another right and drive to the end of the world.  Take the first left at that little bend in the road and their house is the first one on the right after the road turns to dirt.  Think I'm kidding?  I'm not, I swear.

Anyway, my first fun detour started when I was getting hungry.  I pulled off the road at Clanton to get some McDonald's.  The line was wrapped around the building and the parking lot was full.  Duh.  This is a prime stopping place on the way to the beach- and it's spring break time.  It was a Saturday afternoon.  I should have done that math before hand.  I circled the building and left...  With an empty stomach.  Boo.  So we soldiered on southward and pulled off at the exit to Prattville.  There was a Wendy's nearby and that struck my fancy much more than Mc D's.  Except the Wendy's didn't have a sign posted out front.  So I drove on out the road about two miles before I realized that I had probably driven past it.  My first clue?  The cow pasture on the left...  So I u-ied and Googled the Wendy's on my iPhone.  Where was it?  Right next to the bloody interstate.  No sign, as I said.  Morons.

Back on the road, we get through the no-longer-under-construction zone and Mom calls just as I'm throwing my hamburger wrapper away in the bag.  Just as I'm reaching the 65/85 split.  And I missed my exit.  After all these years of driving to my in-laws', I've never missed that exit.  So I find an exit, turn around, and get back on the road again.  All the while, Hayden is just a-snooze in his little car seat, completely oblivious to his mommy's ineptitude.  Just as we get off the interstate and start to make our trek into the boonies, little man- shall we say- filled his diaper.  Rather loudly.  Parenting dilemma:  pull over to the first clean-looking place and change the diaper or just wait till we get to our destination, in hopes that this was just the first salvo in what is normally a longer battle.  I chose to soldier on.  He didn't fuss.

His Nana was sitting out on their porch waiting for us when we got there...  He was a perfect angel most of the time!  He let his cousin Amanda hold him and give him his bottle.  He let his great aunt Sue burp him.  He let his Nana hold him and play with him.  But his great uncle Larry was afraid to hold him, and his papa actually had a cold...  So the men left little man alone.  But we had a great time visiting.

I felt really accomplished by the time I got us home last night.  I made the four hour round trip without incident!  He slept the entire time in the car and I didn't do anything stupid, like forget our camera or the baby bag!  Or the baby...

Nana burping Hayden

With cousin Amanda


Enjoying his new swing!

Sleeping in the same crib his daddy did

Tuesday, March 15, 2011

It's twoo! It's twoo!

As in, it's true:  Time does fly when you're having fun!  Our angel is one month old today!  He's growing so fast, he stays in his quiet alert state for so much longer now- which is a blessing and a curse.  I want him to sleep more so I can sleep more, but it's a blessing because we can show him so many more things!  He's loving his play gym and his pack -n- play...  And I've discovered what his ultimate, calms-him-down-quick song is:  The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down.  He's gonna be a little hippie, I can tell.  No yurts or frisbees (giggle, stolen from here) for this little guy- not yet at least.  And I will get him his first pair of Birkenstocks when he starts walking. 
I'm going to go snuggle my little man now... I know he's going to be graduating from high school before I blink again.

Thursday, March 10, 2011

The Birth Story: Part 2

The rest of the story (as the late, great Paul Harvey would have said...)

So our super doula, Dalia, was on her way to the hospital to rescue me from myself.  I had prepped and planned for months to have a non-medicated labor and delivery and here I was doubting myself.  It wasn't that the pain itself was so bad, it was that I was having a hard time getting comfortable and relaxing into the pain.  I know that sounds weird, especially for those of you who have either never had a baby or haven't experienced the pains associated with labor and delivery.  My back hurt more than anything, and I was just getting irritated I think.

We had been pretty energized in our LDR suite... Our staff of nurses were so supportive of me and Hubs was absolutely amazing during the entire time by encouraging me, holding my hand, changing the music on my iPod, making sure I stayed hydrated...  We were energized, but we had no focus really.  When Dalia breezed into the room, the mood changed instantly.  My nurse Amy asked me if I wanted to try laboring in the shower, and I had said no, that I thought the water hitting my belly would probably just aggravate me more than anything.  When Dalia came in, there was no option.  "Come on, let's get into the shower."  So I did.  We got the water temperature just right and Dalia and Hubs came into the bathroom with me.  At first, I sat on the seat attached to the wall, but that didn't help much and it was totally uncomfortable.  So we set me up on the big balance/birthing ball... Which was very nice.  Hubs sat on another birthing ball behind me and applied glorious counter pressure on my lower back.  I apparently was barking at him like a drill sergeant:  more pressure, less pressure, higher, lower, left, right...  And as I breathed and vocalized (read: quiet yelling of different vowel sounds) my way through the contractions, I didn't realize that the bathroom around us was slowly filling with water.  Apparently the birthing ball was blocking the drain.  We all got a good laugh out of that one... 

All the while that I'm in the shower, I'm vaguely aware of some commotion in the suite proper.  There was a small team of nurses preparing the pool that I was going to finish my labor in.  I had to get to 4 cm before they would let me get into the pool, though.  And as soon as I felt the urge to push, I had to get back out.  So we soldiered on in the shower.  I had no idea how long we were in there, but one of the nurses poked her head into the bathroom and said I needed to come out for my twenty minutes of fetal monitoring.  So we get me out, dry me off and as that's happening, I tell Dalia and Hubs that I was feeling the urge to start pushing.  I should have known something was up at that point.

We get me back to the bed and try to get the monitors around my belly and another nurse is checking me for progress.  Hubs told me this later, but the nurse who was checking me looked at Amy, who was seated near my head ready to enter some data into the computer, and Amy asked her how I was progressing.  The nurse had a perplexed look on her face and said she thought I was complete (for those who don't know, that means that I was all the way effaced and 10 cm dilated, and ready to start pushing.)  Amy was a little shocked, because when I went into the shower I was only at 3 cm.  I was totally shocked, but not until later when I heard this part of the story... I don't remember that at all, because the pushing thing was getting harder.  So after the small team of nurses went to all the trouble they did to set up the labor pool, they had to break it back down again, because it was time for me to start pushing.  I felt really bad, but hey- Mother Nature had her own ideas. 

They called in the new doctor, Dr. Morgan (again, not afraid to use real names, because these guys were great!), to come check things out.  At this point, my warm compresses were being applied to my [very sensitive areas] and we were busy trying to get me into a position where I could push more comfortably and more effectively.  The next three hours of my life were a total blur.  I say that because 1.  I was pushing with every contraction as hard as I could and 2.  I didn't realize that it was three hours that I was pushing.  In fact, when Dr. Morgan came back into the room and saw that we hadn't progressed in pushing Hayden down much further into the birth canal, he said that I had been pushing for almost two and a half hours and we needed to make some decisions at that point.

Very practically, he said that after three hours, I wouldn't be any stronger and the baby- in all likelihood- wouldn't be any better off either if I decided to keep pushing.  His suggestion was to have a c-section.  Now, Hayden's heart rate never dipped or wavered at all during the entire ordeal, he just wasn't coming any closer to the exit with every push.  Dalia, who had been either holding compresses to my [very sensitive areas] or holding my legs when I pushed, moved up closer to my head and told me that we still had other options and could opt to keep pushing.  She reassured me that the baby was fine and that I could choose to keep going if I wanted to.  But I was truly worn out.  They don't call it labor for nothin', y'all.  That's some hard work!  My other option was to have an epidural and "labor down", basically ignore the contractions, not push and just rest until the epidural wore off and then start pushing again. 

Now, in my line of thinking, that was a little contradictory.  Our goal was to have a non-medicated labor and delivery.  And the new doctor wasn't willing to let the non-medicated delivery happen, for whatever reasons he had, but he wasn't willing to throw in the towel just yet.  He promised me that we would go through the next half hour with the hardest and most intense pushing I could manage and see what progress we could make that way.  Thirty minutes of Hell, he called it.  And he was right... But my Hell was populated by an amazing cheering section.  We were the only couple in active labor at that point of the evening.  There had been one other woman to give birth, and that happened right after we had gotten settled into our LDR suite.  I had no fewer than eight people helping me through my last stages of labor:  Hubs, Dalia, Dr. Morgan and about four or five other nurses, all either holding my legs up, supporting my back, shouting encouragement the entire time...  It was great!  But it wasn't enough.  And after twelve hours of labor, I made the executive decision:  if I was going to have an epidural, I might as well go ahead and have the c-section.  I was ready to meet my baby boy.

After the decision was made, it was less than 30 minutes later that I was completely numb from my tits to my toes.  The anesthesiologist was great!  I was nervous because I knew they needed to put a needle in my spine to administer the epidural, but I also knew that these contractions were hard and fast... How was I going to hold still?!  But the nurses helped me out there- we breathed through about three contractions and all of a sudden, they were no more.  Hubs went out into the waiting area to tell our parents what was going on, and he had a slight (major) go-to-pieces on my behalf.  He was so disappointed for me because I'd worked so hard only to have to have a surgical birth.  I was content to know I'd done all I could to bring our son into the world, he was just being a stubborn little cuss (taking after his daddy!) and didn't want to leave me. 

I was wheeled back to the OR and transferred to the operating table.  I'm 33 years old, and had made it up till February 15, 2011 before having surgery.  I'd also made it the same amount of time without having to be admitted to the hospital for an overnight stay.  I really hit the lottery there- major surgery and a five day stay in the hospital, all in one fell swoop.  But I digress...  When they got me onto the table, it felt odd and I asked the nurses if my feet were elevated at all.  They laughed and said no, that I was completely flat on the table.  But it felt like my feet were lifted up somehow... Oh well.  The next thing I knew, Hubs was in his surgical garb and sitting to my left by my head.  I felt some tugging and pulling, but that was it.  I drifted in and out of sleep, until I heard the most amazing sound in the world, my baby's first cry...  I'm tearing up now just remembering it.  I said, "That's my son!" and tears streamed down my face.  Hubs was hesitant to stand up and peek over the surgical drape to see, but he did and got the first look at Hayden Alexander: dark blue-ish purple and covered in goo.  Hubs later told me that he thought Hayden looked like an alien!  Dr. Morgan held Hayden up over the drape so I could see him, too, and then they whisked him off to be cleaned up. 

The newly minted daddy went back to watch, and they flipped on a tv screen over my head so I could see the activity, too (a very nifty idea!)  Once the baby was clean and bundled up, they brought him around so I could meet him- they snuggled him next to my face and I was able to talk to him and kiss him a little before they took him off so I could get pieced back together.  Not too much later, they wheeled me out of the OR and back to our LDR.  There were Hayden, Hubs, our baby's nurse and Dalia all waiting for me to get back.  The nurses knew there was a one hour waiting period that we wanted to have with our baby before we let anyone else in to meet him...  We tried to get him to nurse a little and we snuggled a lot.  Such special and tender moments and I'll try my best to never forget them.  Hayden and I were both very tired, though... It had been a long day!

The Birth Story: Part 1

Valentine's Day was never going to be a big, jewelry-filled gush fest like the past ones have been.  I knew I wouldn't be up for going out to dinner or anything and I also knew that splurging on jewelry was just a bad idea with a baby on the way.  *Yes, I know... I turned down jewelry.  I was pregnant, and thinking more practically for once!*  So instead, we spent our Valentine's Day 2011 by going to the doctor for what was going to be the first of our bi-weekly appointments.  And since the ladies of the practice had been so awesome to us over the last nine months, I baked them all brownies.  I mean, come on, it's Valentine's.  Chocolate is mandatory, isn't it?

I hadn't made much progress at all- like none.  The week before I had been dilated 1 cm and 50% effaced.  No progress at all in a week.  However, I had, in two weeks' time, gained 10 lbs and swelled up like Violet in Willy Wonka and seen my regularly quite low blood pressure spike up.  I waddled around wearing my biggest, widest Birkenstocks, because that was all that would fit on my swollen feet.  I was definitely getting quite uncomfortable, but Dr. Heidi was content to let me try to remedy my high blood pressure at home with homeopathic remedies (eating lots of celery, soaking in epsom salt baths, drinking gallons of water and keeping my feet up) and continue my bi-weekly visits to the chiropractor.  Valentine's Day I had an appointment with my chiro as well, and I asked her how she thought Hayden was doing.  She said that he was running out of room.... It gave me good hope that Our Time was fast approaching.

I had been experiencing some backaches, but I just chalked that up to my enormous belly throwing my already messed up back out of whack even further.  Hoo boy way I wrong there...  My weekly massages, bi-weekly chiropractic appointments and various other relaxation and soothing techniques were helping me out, but the backaches were getting worse.  Around 5:00am on the Tuesday after Valentine's Day, I woke up with a killer backache.  Now, I've got a pretty high threshold of pain.  I never take Tylenol for headaches, took myself off prescription pain meds for my chronic knee pain and basically try not to complain too much about hurting, ever.  But this backache was enough to wake me up- so I went into the office and played on Facebook for awhile.  I thought the pain had subsided enough, so I tried to go back to sleep around 6ish and in the process of getting comfortable (no small task for a woman almost 40 weeks pregnant), I felt a very distinct pop in my general uterus/cervix/baby area.  I thought to myself that it could be one of two things: either the baby just had a seizure or the most intense hiccup ever, or my water had just broken.  And of all the stories I've heard about pregnancy, I have never heard anyone say that they felt a popping sensation when their water broke.  So I waddled my way to the bathroom, and [**squeamish types, avert thine eyes**], I felt a gush of fluid down my legs.  Now, I'd had some leakage for a few weeks, so I had been wearing some pads and had one on at this time, so I didn't make a big mess... But I still knew something was up.  Poor sweet Hubs, he had to be awake in less than an hour to go to Memphis for a game, so I didn't want to bother him- but I knew I should mention it to him.  So, much in the same manner that I told him I was pregnant, while sitting on the commode, I sweetly but insistently said, "Honey?  I think my water just broke."  Well, I'm pretty sure that's a good way to get anyone's attention, and this seemed to have worked.  "How do you know?" he asked.  "Well, I felt a pop and a gush.  So either my water just broke, or I just [peed] myself."  Ever the rational one, he asked, "Well, what do you want to do?"  I decided I'd better call my doctor, and told him so.

He went back to dozing, and I went back to the office (after cleaning myself up) to look up the phone number and call the doctor's office.  Being not quite 7am, I got the doctor-on-call.  He suggested that we go on to the hospital for monitoring.  All of my preparation went mostly out the window at this point...  I know that we had decided we wanted to labor as long as possible at home, but I wasn't sure that was exactly what was going on...  I got out my iPhone and started timing my contractions on my Sprout application, but I was in such a tizzy, I would forget when one ended or another started.  So Hubs and I got busy packing our stuff and making phone calls.  I called my parents, he called his.  I called Dalia and he activated his "Holy $#!+ the baby is coming" phone tree for his replacement for work.  We were out the door and stuck in traffic before 7:45.  I knew that we'd get stuck in traffic when I went into labor, but my earlier prediction of it happening during a major snowstorm was off by one week.  Thank God Dalia, our amazing super doula, (rather forcefully) suggested that we stop somewhere and get some breakfast.  Chick-fil-A it was, and by the time I got my breakfast burrito, my contractions had started in earnest.  And it's a good thing we did stop and get food, because that turned out to be the only thing I ate for over 24 hours.

Fast forward an hour and a half and we roll up to Brookwood Medical Center.  Yes, I'll mention them by name because, overall, our experience there was a good one.  The one regret we had, at this point, was that we didn't take the hospital's class on childbirth.  We had no idea where to go, where to park or what protocols to follow, but lucky for us the valet parking attendants (yes, they have valet parking at the hospital) knew what we needed to do.  So, clutching the rest of our breakfast, my purse and my pillow, I plopped into a wheelchair and Hubs rolled me into the maternity ward.  The nurses were expecting us and we were ushered into our LDR (Labor, Delivery & Recovery) suite.  Our nurse, Amy, was amazing.  The poor dear was dealing with a sinus infection and sounded awful, but she was really on top of things.  I gave her copies of our labor and post-delivery birth plans and she was completely on board with our desire for a natural childbirth experience.  She'd done it and was very supportive of our wanting to do the same. 

Hubs got busy settling us into our temporary space, setting up my iPod player, putting our little Crock Pot and lavender oil to work heating up the washcloths (which are a great idea to use... the washcloths/compresses keep the perineum loose and the lavender makes the room smell amazing all at the same time) all the while keeping all our family and friends informed as to what was going on.  It was about this time that I started to have some doubts.  A small but persistent, yellow neon sign was blinking in the back of my mind saying quietly at first, "nubane... nubane... nubane..."  I looked at Hubs and said, "I don't think I'll be able to do this without drugs."  He gave me the following pep talk: "Honey.  How can you say that?  This is just the first play of the game!  Just because you got knocked into the dirt by a linebacker doesn't mean you don't get up, dust yourself off and get back into the huddle!  You've got to finish this game!"  I think I looked at him, blinked, and asked for clarification.  In hindsight, it makes sense.  But hell, for me it's basketball season... he just used the wrong analogy. 

The contractions were getting more uncomfortable and stronger.  And all the pain and pressure was centered in my low back.  It wasn't until later the next day that I realized that I was having back labor and it wasn't until later that afternoon that we all realized that Hayden was turned "sunny side up", which explained the back labor. It was coming up on noon-ish and my doctor came in to check on me.  Of course, she said, I decided to go into labor on her half-day.  She told me that her partner would be taking care of me and that I'd like him.  She said he knew of our birth plan and he was on board, too...  When she checked me for progress, I was 100% effaced, but only 3 cm dilated.  So we went on...  And the neon sign got a little bigger, a little brighter and a little more insistent: "NUBANE... NUBANE... NUBANE..."  I told Hubs to call the nurse, that I wanted to discuss my options for pain relief.  Now, I didn't realize that this was happening, but Nurse Amy was following my birth plan to the letter.  I specifically stated I did not want to be offered pain medication, that if I needed it I would ask for it.  So when Amy came in and I told her I wanted to know my options with regard to pain relief, she skirted the subject, and I hinted back.  We went back and forth for a bit, while Hubs realized what was going on and called Dalia for reinforcements.  Amy never offered any medication and I never asked, and Dalia was on her way. 

Wednesday, March 9, 2011

The Saga Continues

When last we left our heroine...  Oh nevermind!

After all the drama and difficulty we had getting pregnant, and after my newly [re]discovered love of learning, it was only natural that I would be doing a metric ton of research (is a metric ton heavier?).  I read several books, including Henci Goer's A Thinking Woman's Guide to a Better Birth.  It was totally a game-changer for me.  I knew that I was considering a non-medicated, intervention-free birth, but this book helped to cement my frame of thinking in this direction.  Goer presented logical arguments for and against every common medical intervention during labor and delivery: from routine episiotomy to induction and epidurals.  After reading her arguments, I formed my list of Do Not Want for our baby's birth. 

As I formed my birth plan in my head, I decided that we'd need a doula to help make all that happen.  A quick internet search yielded Dalia Abrams... and we moved quickly to enroll in her childbirth education class.  We had a small group, only two other couples, and it was very helpful and amazing.  Not only did we get good, practical advice, but we have new friends out of the whole deal... and friends who think like we do when it comes to raising our children! 

I was the furthest one away from delivery in our group- but it turns out not by too much.  One couple had their baby right before (or was it just after?) Christmas and the other couple had theirs the week before we had Hayden.  We had all chosen to have a non-medicated birth for various reasons, and everyone laughed at me for my reason: to prove to all my friends and family that I could do it.  When I told anyone that I was going intervention- and medication-free, they all called me crazy or stupid and said that I'd never be able to do it.  It made me more determined to do it, though, and I got my chance on February 15, 2011.

Sunday, March 6, 2011

I get by with a little help from my friends...

I knew that this week was going to be a rough one.  Darling Michael had to go off and make some money and has been gone since Tuesday morning.  A few weeks ago, before Hayden was born, I was just sure that I'd be able to handle having a newborn by myself.  How hard could it be?  Well, I'm glad that Michael didn't listen to me and made sure I had help this past week. 

My amazing sister, Ginny, who is in her second trimester with twins, came down here to help me out.  She changed diapers, made sure I had time to eat, held the baby so I could get stuff done around the house and generally was just good company to have around.  My cousins, Bambi & Palmer (who is Hayden's godmother!) came in yesterday afternoon for a quick, overnight visit and that was a welcome treat, too.  
It was lovely to have someone else to hand the baby off to when I wanted to take a shower or just take a nap.  It was rather comical, however, because Ginny needed naps as much as I did! 

It's amazing just how quickly Hayden is growing!  He's starting to coo and make non-crying noises now during his awake times... But he's sleeping quite a bit as well.  We're working out the kinks in our feeding schedules, too.  I'm pretty sure he's getting enough milk, between me and the extra formula I'm giving him.  Now, if we can just survive the next two days, I know I'm closer to getting this mommy thing down.  For these first few weeks, Michael has been the one to strap him into and carry him around in his car seat.  I did it all by myself today and yesterday :)  I still haven't mastered his stroller just yet, but we haven't had to use it on our own, so I still have time for that.  I'm also back on the roads again (yay!) and driving the car with an infant in the backseat is a little daunting, but he just sleeps (for now) so it's not that hard. 

I guess I better get some food before he wakes up from his latest milk-induced coma :)

Friday, March 4, 2011

It's hit... Exhaustion.

*** This is a regularly scheduled break in the story of the birth ***

My sweet, loving and hard-working husband had to leave us to go back to work and make some money.  It's a good thing, because I haven't held a really real job in over four years.  It's a bad thing because 1. I didn't realize just how hard this breastfeeding-mommy-of-a-newborn thing would be and 2.  He's missing out on some really sweet things happening to our rapidly changing son.  He made sure, well before he left town, that I'd have someone here to help me out while he was gone and that someone is my wonderful sister. 

Hayden's Aunt Diddy (AKA: my sister, Ginny), was here two days after Hayden was born and stayed to help us transition into Life With a Newborn.  But she had to get home to her own daughter and POSSLQ- AND to take care of her own self, being that she's pregnant with twins!!!  But she came back to spend time with Hayden and I for the week that Hubs was out of town.

So suffice to say, we're kinda busy... But I promise to update again soon.

Friday, February 25, 2011

But wait... what about paying for it all?

I mentioned that my health insurance was lapsing before the end of the summer.  And after a little research, I found out that our new health care legislation wasn't going to do anything to help me till 2014 [not trying to get political, that's for a different blog...].  So what's a girl to do?  The only logical thing she can do: re-enroll in school!  We found out that it would actually be much cheaper for me to take a couple of classes, pay an up-charge and be covered by the "enhanced" student health plan offered by the University of Montevallo.  So I signed up for a couple of classes that I knew would be interesting to me:  US History (up to the Civil War/War of Northern Aggression) and Art History of the 20th Century.  I never guessed myself to be a history buff, I always hated the classes in high school and my first go-round in college...  But I have found, in my dotage, that if you can actually reference historical events, your conversations and arguments tend to be more relevant. I guess they're right, with age comes wisdom.  And besides, whoever they are, they were right...  History is always repeating itself.  I found it very interesting the parallels between the early decades of our country and where we are now.  If only our leaders would go back to take an intro-level history class or two, they might see it too.  Oh, wait, sorry... Stepping down from my soapbox now.

The other ulterior motive behind going back to school, though, was for me to have time to relax and be pregnant.  I wouldn't have to worry about finding a job and stressing out about that.  There was also the added bonus of my newly-found over-achiever status:  anything less than an A would be unacceptable to me, so I would also boost my cumulative GPA.  I was honoring the advice my dear, sweet Grandaddy gave me years and years ago:  The day you stop learning something new everyday, you should just cock up your toes and die.  And I'm far from ready to shuffle loose this mortal coil [hat tip: Monty Python], so back to school with me!  The next thing I knew, it was December and I was almost eight months pregnant!

Hayden was quite taken with my professors.  He would be a wiggly, squirmy little dude and as soon as my professors would start to lecture, Hayden would calm down!  He's quite a good listener, and still is.  In fact, that's how he came to us:  Michael had to leave on a three-day road trip and had told Little Man to stay put just till at least Sunday.  And when he got home on Sunday night, Michael knelt in front of my [enormous] belly and started talking to Hayden.  He said, "Ok, Little Man.  You can come out now!  Daddy's home and he's ready to see you!  The weather is better now so you can come on out..." [it had been snowy and cold, it was now in the 70s and sunny].  I'll be dipped if the little bugger didn't listen to his daddy and make his way out two days later!  And the bond these two share is simply magical.

I'm a firm believer in imprinting.  When a baby chick is hatched, the first thing it sees, it thinks that's its mother.  Well, since I had a c-section, the first person Hayden got to spend any appreciable time with was Michael.  I know these two will be like Mutt & Jeff for the rest of our lives. 

Love at first sight

Snuggle buddies

Thursday, February 24, 2011

The saga continues...

So we found out I was pregnant at the end of June.  I mentioned that Michael and I had started charting, ahem, important dates on our calendar, just in case something did happen, we'd know when.  After a quick check back at the calendar, we found our exact date of conception (something my mom laughs at...  "We have no idea when you or your sister were conceived!"  Gee, thanks for that mental image, Ma.  And you're welcome for my sharing it with you!)

After the initial shock and disbelief passed, reality sank in.  My health insurance was expiring at the end of the summer, if not sooner.  After a quick flurry of research, we discovered two things:  1.  No one will insure a woman who is already pregnant and cover the maternity expenses, and 2.  It's really bloody expensive to have a baby without insurance.  Quite a pickle.  But I put on my best Scarlett O'Hara and decided to think about that tomorrow...  After all, tomorrow is another day!  Our next big problem loomed...  Who to tell first?  And how?!

Our decision was made pretty easy by the fact that we were heading to Louisville to spend time with my family for my birthday.  It was a pretty momentous occasion, as most of y'all know (I'm sure if you're reading this blog, you were probably at the party!) because it was the first birthday I'd spent in Louisville since pre-9/11 [another story for another entry].  But it was also momentous because it was the last big party we were throwing at The Compound.  I was ready to burst with the good news of our little bun in my oven, but it was way too soon to tell everyone.  So if you were at the party and didn't find out I was pregnant till several weeks later, I'm really sorry!  I wanted to tell you, but I couldn't.

All that being said, the occasion presented itself with Mom and Daddy buying a new house (now dubbed Compound 2.0, as it's a major upgrade).  Michael and I decided to take them out to dinner, and since I'd never been, I suggested we go to Morton's Steakhouse.  When we sat down and got situated, I asked my parents what they were planning on doing around mid-February and Mom said, "Oh, I don't know?  Having a baby?"  I said, "Well, actually, yeah!" And again, if you're reading this, you probably know my mom (or at least have heard stories...) and her overwhelming sense of subtlety and decorum.  She yells out, "No $#iT?!" and starts crying.  Daddy starts misting up.  Hubs starts tearing up.  And of course, me being a big ball of hormones and nerves, I start to cry.  We have a lovely dinner and head back to the house to continue spreading the good news to our family.  Michael called his parents and his brother and sister-in-law and, of course, everyone was happy for us!  As my sister put it, who's going to actually say, "Oh, well.  It's a baby.  Big deal."

There was also one other person who found out before my parents:  my sweet friend Jessica.  She had just had twins in November 2009 and knew the struggles I was having with getting pregnant.  She and her mother let me borrow a cherished family heirloom, "for luck".  Mama Lolly's sister had brought back an African fertility goddess statuette after a trip to Africa some 30 years before.  Upon receiving the gift from her sister, Mama Lolly got pregnant with Jess about six months later.  Being the good mom that she is, she passed along the statuette to Jess when she and her husband decided to start trying to get pregnant.  Very soon after that, Jess got pregnant with her miracle twins!  So these two lovely women passed on the goddess to me...  And lo and behold, one week later I conceived our son.   I guess I'm lucky it was just the one baby!  I made it a point to return the statuette to Jessi the day we were taking Mom & Daddy to dinner.  Mom was happily playing with the twins and my niece Maggie in the next room and Jess asked me to let her know when we were done with the fertility goddess, that her sister-in-law had a need to borrow it.  I told her that I had, in fact, brought it with me that day- and that it worked!  We both started to cry and hug and I have no idea how we survived not tipping Mom off to something being up. 

The next afternoon, Michael and I met up with my sister for lunch and to tell her the Big News.  She knew...  We're pretty close, but she just took one look at me after I told her we wanted to tell her something and said, "I'm going to be an aunt!"  We laughed and said yes...  We also cautioned her not to tell anyone else, that we were keeping this very, very quiet because it was so early.  As soon as her boyfriend Dave showed up to meet us for lunch, she turned around and blurted, "I'm going to be an aunt!"  So much for secrecy!  That night, we all went to dinner with my grandparents and Daniel (Maggie's dad) and we found a fun way to tell them about the pregnancy:  Their 60th anniversary was on Valentine's Day 2011.  So I wrote them a little note on the back of the specials menu that said: "Shhh, it's a secret.  Happy early anniversary!  We're having a baby in mid-February!"  My grandmother read it, and quickly snapped the paper up to her chest so no one else could see it.  She just stared at me.  She then passed it over to my grandfather, who almost blurted it out to the whole room!  We also told Daniel that night...  Slowly our good news was going public.

I have no idea how I survived the next weeks in Louisville without bursting at the seams.  My first trimester was really a breeze.  No major morning sickness, but I had to have my McDonald's Chicken McNuggets at least once a week and had to (had to) have ice cream before 4:00pm every day.  My daily naps were also awesome.  I did have a minor problem with some spotting, and I completely freaked out about that.  Lucky for me, my old OB/GYN (who is now just a Gyn.) was still around and told me to go see her husband's partner if I needed reassurance.  Sadly, Michael had already left to go back to Birmingham (while I stayed home to help Mom with the move) and he wasn't there for this amazing experience.  The doctor's office was very quick about getting me in for the ultrasound.  So quick, in fact, that it scared me a little...  Why the rush if it was probably nothing?  But I get back into the room and Nurse Vicki showed me the first images of our baby...  I heard his heartbeat, strong and fast, and burst into tears (I'm welling up now at the mere memory).  She handed me some Kleenex and got my cell phone out so we could call Michael- he couldn't get to his phone fast enough so I had to leave him a voice-mail, but he called me back and was able to still hear the heartbeat.  We both cried, we were so happy!  Dr. Link saw me afterward and let us know our estimated due date of February 20, 2011 and that the little bugger looked to be well implanted and progressing normally. 

Now, with the first major hurdles out of our way, and the reassuring news that the baby was fine, we slowly started to tell our nearest and dearest our amazing news. 

The little bugger at 8 weeks

We dropped a bomb on them, baby!

Tuesday, February 22, 2011

A Maria von Trapp once said...

Let's start at the very beginning. It really is a good place to start.

I'm Elizabeth. I live in a sticks-tastic suburb of Birmingham, AL and have been in Alabama for the past eight years. Before that, I lived in and around Louisville, KY. I'm a Spanish degree holder, twice over now, and an aspiring high school Spanish teacher. I'm sure there will be posts on that in the future. But this is my intro- so here ya go...

You probably know me by one of my several nicknames: Liz, Lizzie, BooBoo, Buffy, Ginny's Sister, Michael's Wife, Margaret and/or Bob's daughter. But it wasn't until a week (and a few hours) ago that I gained a new nickname: Hayden's Mom.

My wonderful husband, Michael, and I have been married for over five years now and have been trying (well, not actively preventing- so I guess passively trying) to get pregnant for several years now. After a disappointing stint with one of Birmingham's "best" OB/GYN practices at one of the Southeast's "premier" hospitals. I knew for a long time that I would have issues getting pregnant. Thyroid disease runs rampant in my family (thanks, Mom!) and I knew that I had it by my symptoms. I mean, how else could someone whose activity and food intake levels stay the same, watch their weight go up over 100 lbs in less than ten years? My hair was falling out and [gentlemen, avert thine eyes if you're squeamish about Women Troubles] my periods were about as on time as Delta flight out of Atlanta. When I brought all this up to my doctor, they said they'd run tests on my thyroid levels, but I know they were just patting me on the head and appeasing me. The tests came back and said my thyroid levels were just "a little off". They gave me a prescription for the smallest dose of thyroid hormone possible and told me the reason I was having problems getting pregnant was because I was overweight. I tried to get them to understand that I was overweight because there was a problem.

Fast forward to the Summer of 2010. My friend recommended I go see her doctor about my thyroid... Go figure, a specialist?! He runs a battery of tests and- lo and behold- my thyroid was more than "a little off". Armed with some new prescriptions, and a plan to quit drinking and officially go into Baby Making Training, I blithely informed my darling husband that this summer would be the Summer of Baby. He laughed and told me that was why he loved me so much... It had already been an eventful summer: I completed my teaching internship and second Bachelor's program at the University of Montevallo (Magna Cum Laude, thank you very much) and was on a very intensive job search. Not to mention, I'd committed to myself to quit drinking (gasp, yes, I know) until after I had a baby. I was getting serious. After all, I turned 33 this past July 4th and darling Michael hit the big 3-7 just this January. We started keeping track of, um, Things, so we'd know when Something happened if it ever did.

I took a pregnancy test on June 27 (2010), just on a whim. I'd been feeling a little off all week: queasy and sick-ish at night, [guys, look away again] my boobs were sore and getting bigger (and if you know me, that was a scary prospect) and I was just plain exhausted all the time. I was in for the shock of my life... Here I was, a week away from turning 33 years old, and I saw my first positive pregnancy test. Disbelief doesn't even begin to cover my feelings. I did what any rational woman (LOL) would do, I called for my husband from my seat on the throne, "Honey? Could you come here?" He was just waking up, kind of, and said back to me, "Whatever it is, I didn't do it..." To which I calmly replied, "Oh, but I think you did."