And Introducing!

We had a fairly strange 48 hours after my last blog. I went to the doctor as said. Not only was the baby too "high," but I had made no progress in a week. The other reason my doctor didn't want to strip my membranes is because she wasn't convinced the baby was even head down anymore. Great.

The ultrasound confirmed Baby Pete's acrobatics and she scheduled me to come in the next morning. They would flip him (a very weird procedure they do from the OUTSIDE believe it or not) if they could and induce me, or if that didn't work, she would C-Section me the next morning. Getting better all they time. So that night I put a frantic phone call in to DesMama to get the low down on the C-Section. (Thanks again, DM, you really allayed a lot of my fears.) Also, I relaxed quite a bit. One way or another in 24 hours I would have a baby.

So, of course, I actually went in to labor that night. (It was after the season finale of L O S T--conincidence? Hmm . . . . ) I called the hospital at about 1 am. My doctor was not only at the hospital but answered the phone. She is wonderful, incidentally. She told me to come in; no sense to spend half the night in labor to just get a C-Section.

Anyway, when I got there they gave me a drug to stop my labor so they could apply all kinds of pressure to my tummy. Her first try didn't work and they gave me some fentanol because I was shaking so badly afterward. I don't know why? Maybe because it seems so totally unnatural to have somebody doing that to you and maybe because they had already hooked me up to the IV which automatically makes me feel like a sick patient instead of a pregnant woman.

Her second try was successful and baby was now head down. Time to RESTART labor. By the time they located a Pitocin pump that was working it was nearly three a.m. At about 5:30 in the morning I got the worst epidural I've ever had. Between the epidural and the other drugs, about 8:30 I started feeling that whole ghost leg syndrome thing and was sure I was going crazy. The fact that I was by myself didn't help. (Weeks ago we scheduled a physical for Plantboy that morning. He had to have the physical completed before he could be officially offered the Oregon job. So we couldn't exactly cancel.)

My brief journey into the land of nervous breakdowns was one of the worst hours of my life. If any of you have ever actually had a breakdown, I got a tiny taste of empathy and I will never again say, "that could never happen to me."

Once Jeff showed up, my attitude improved immensely. We also turned on the TV to try and distract me. This technique actually worked pretty well because we turned on the most obnoxious presidential press conference (it was on every station) and I channeled my energy into disagreeing with the current leader of the free world.

Baby Pete entered the world at 9:58 am with a head full of light brown hair weighing in at 7 pounds and 11 ounces--making him more than half a pound smaller than either of my other kids. Baby Pete has also been easier on me in every way so far than my other two bambinos. The thing that is hard about three? Getting everything done. Right now it is okay because Plantboy is home, but when he heads for Eugene and leaves me alone for a few weeks it could get a little dodgy.

Hah! Another lengthy post, but everyone loves to tell their birth stories and in this medium nobody interupts with one that is inevitably better. I promise to dutifully read your posts about your births as well.

I'm sure you will all understand if my blogging is a little spotty this summer, but don't give up on scienceteachermommy. Check in every few weeks and I'm sure I'll eventually find time to be a regular again. So now it is back to the world of laundry, dirty dishes, dirty diapers, constipation, nursing and whatever other pleasant thing is part of motherhood.

I've got adorable pictures, but I'm having trouble making them work. They aren't attaching to my gmail either. I will try to get it together for the next post.

Too Much Information

Still no baby. Tomorrow puts me six days overdue my earliest estimated due date. I always said I thought I'd be closer to June than the doctor told me, but the reality of it is miserable.

And yes, I know all the tricks for starting labor. My sister yesterday told me what she did to get herself going a week early with her 2nd baby. Lets just say that the title of this blog is very appropriate. Now I will give you all too much information. Tomorrow the doctor is going to STRIP MY MEMBRANES. Okay, I have heard that this hurts like the devil. My own doctor says it only has a 30% success rate. I can hardly wait.

So I guess I am not so much looking for advice as for some fellow commiseration. Does anybody else go this far overdue?????????????

On The Road Again

Plant boy got a job! A great job. We couldn't be happier. Of course, that job is in Eugene Oregon which presents its own set of challenges. We are hoping to get in a house so that we aren't nomads much longer. Oregon, with its wonderful beaches, mountains, bike trails and gardening should satisfy my wanderlust (Aussies call this walkabout) without needing to actually change locations every six months. Does anybody know anybody who lives in Eugene or could tell me anything specific about the area? This looking for homes long distance stuff is a little dodgy.

My goal for the next post is to figure out how to load pics so you can see the baby. He hasn't come yet, but I was up from 1-3 am last night with contractions that finally subsided. Any day now . . .

Tagged

Three Things I’m Really Looking Forward To:

1. Plantboy getting a job (hopefully I'll be able to report on this in my next post).
2. Moving into an actual house.
3 Having a baby (due in just TWO short weeks) and summer vacation--this is all wrapped up into one for me.

Three Books That Made Me Laugh Out Loud:
1. Eats, Shoots and Leaves
2. Confessions of a Shopaholic
3. Cold Sassy Tree (It made me cry too. GREAT read.)

Three Things I'm Afraid Of:
1. Global Warming (C'mon! Have you seen that commercial with the train? And the adorable little girl on the tracks? It is completely terrible. What about the documentary "An Inconvenient Truth." The science is very convincing.)
2. UFO Sightings (Four words: "Fire in the Sky." It is a creepy beyond all reason based-on-a-true story UFO movie. We knew a guy in Texas who knew the guys the events actually happened to in Snowflake Arizona. ALL members. Explain that!)
3. Hubby dying while my kids are young/miscarriage

Three Things I Love:
Okay, everyone will put family first on this list, but these should be three unique things about me, right?
1. Reading, especially on a rainy day or in the bathtub
2. Writing anything and getting letters back from people I've written too.
3. Washing my hair with Paul Mitchell's tea tree shampoo. Or even better, having somebody else wash with this stuff. And yes, if you use your imagination here, that is when it is REALLY the best. I could also include pedicures under this category. Pampering now and then is really great.

Three Things I Really Don't Love:
1. Doing dishes by hand. I've been without a dishwasher for 18 months and I hope it is something I never take for granted again.
2. Mushrooms. It is a fungus for crying out loud.
3. Labor. The first six weeks post-partum and the obligatory conjugal visit after the doctor says, "Good to go!" Starting nursing. Truthfully, I don't much like motherhood until about 3 months. So if you don't want to check back all summer it might not be a bad idea.

Three Things I Don’t Understand:
1. How computers work, or anything electronic really. And the wireless internet thing! That just blows my mind.
2. People that think they are being nice to their kids when they don't give them parameters and discipline.
3. How an egg and sperm is smart enough to grow into a human.

Three Things On My Desk:
1. Some papers that have been there for some time that I KNOW I will eventually need.
2. Pictures of my kids.
3. My lunch; that isn't just this minute. I've generally got something to eat or drink hanging around.

Three Projects I'm Currently Working On:
1. I have two chapters to finish in a fantasy novel, but I have serious writer's block.
2. Growing a baby; I don't have to think about it much, but it sure takes a lot of effort.
3. Two scrapbooks--a family one and the Poopy Pirate's.

Three Things I Want To Do Before I Die:
1. Speak Spanish
2. Travel. Now that is pretty nebulous, but it would take more pages than we have here to list all the places I'd like to see.
3. Go on a mission with Plantboy

Three Things I Can Do:
I really hate these talent questions. I've never really had the kind of talents that are easy to list.
1. Teaching (except for how a computer works).
2. Write. Although the jury is still out on how talented I really am in this area.
3. My scrapbooks are nice, it is kind of an artistic outlet for me. Still, it seems a bit cheeseball to add this to list. Like I'm one of those Mollys with the big eighties hair and the appliques on my sweaters.

Three Things I Can't Do:
1. Hide my feelings diplomatically. I'm getting better at this, mostly by avoiding people who really annoy me, but I don't have to bite my tongue as often as I used to.
2. Stop myself from making comments in church. I'm actually working really hard on this because sometimes I think I am one of "those" people. You know who I mean, "Can't she just shut up? She wasn't asked to teach the lesson!"
3. Consistently keep a clean house or decorate very well. So even when the house is clean it is like, "This is it?"

Three Recently Discovered Musical Groups I Think You Should Listen To:
1. I love this new song called, "I'll Follow You into the Dark" which I think is by Death Cab for Cutie. There is a line in it that says, "If there's no one to join you when your soul embarks . . . "
I love this idea of embarking instead of departing or dying.
2. Keith Urban. I don't generally like country music, but there are a few singers I never miss. He is my new favorite.
3. How about old standbyes? Midnight Oil. U2. Matchbox 20. Journey. Eagles.

Three Things I've Done Which Were Stupid and Which You Probably Shouldn't Attempt:
1. Breaking an engagement. Wait, actually in this case the stupid thing was getting engaged to that guy in the first place. So dating the wrong guy is the stupid thing.
2. Attempting to open a bottle cap with my teeth. Yeah, I'm a rocket scientist.
3. Going in a strange man's house in the projects to teach the gospel. Let's just say that sometimes the Lord protects us even when we are disobedient, ignore the Spirit and are just downright stupid.

Three Favorite Foods:
1. Frijoles a la charra or tamales (I learned to make both of these while living in the Lone Star State. They are both so good it is hard to choose. The beans are best in real tortillas, the kind you cook and the tamales have to be steamed in real corn husks!)
2. Turkey steak cooked in homemade pesto with cream cheese-rosemary-parmesan mashed potatoes.
3. A homemade chicken pot pie in a real pie crust.

Three Shows I Watched As A Kid:
1. Sesame Street (that is why I'm such a liberal)
2. Mr. Rogers (this is why I'm such a geek)
3. The Cosby Show (I'm not sure what this says about me, but I love it.)

Three Shows I Watch Now:
1. Lost. I've seen every episode. It is kind of a religious experience at my house.
2. Shark (sometimes CSI too, but I've been missing it more and more lately)
3. And re-runs I love to watch--Wings, News Radio, Seinfeld and Dharma and Greg

Three People who Shaped Who I Am (I added this one--I'm curious about what people will say):
1. Mission President
2. Two different friends from high school--one for good, one for less than good, though I am mostly over that now.
3. My mother

Three People I'm Tagging:
1. on.the.run
2. forecast calls for rain
3. belly acre farm

Visiting Teaching--The Good, the Bad and the Indifferent

I need to share two experiences--one good and one bad. The bad first; it will shed light on why I have such fond memories of the other.

Here we are in the middle of a job hunt, a few weeks from baby, potentially needing to move and school ending. It is a little stressful right now. My VT calls me and apologizes for missing last month (I've seen her twice in the last year) and asks if I'm available Thursday. Well, no, thank you, I'm actually not. I have to go to the doctor, my husband is working in the evenings, and on days when I don't see my kids before 5 pm it is really hard to commit to anything else. She says, "Well, I guess (insert partner's name here) will try to follow up then later in the month."

"I'm free all next week," I'm nothing if not accomodating.

"We're moving next week."

"Oh, great; husband is done with school then?"

"No, he has a while to go."

"Are you changing schools?"

"No, just moving to a different apartment."

"Where at?" I'm still very friendly at this point, trying to get to know this woman who has made no effort to know me.

She then gives an address about six blocks from here. I hate to complain, but she has no children, until recently didn't work, her husband works evenings and she has been a student. Is she really so busy that she cannot come to visit? And, despite Sunday being their last official Sunday, is it so hard to stop by for 20 minutes next Wednesday afternoon to say, "You must be having a really difficult time right now. How can we help transition you to your new visiting teachers so that you have some help?"

I'd like to walk a mile in her shoes, but I'm swelling out of my own so badly I'm afraid I would just ruin hers and she'd have one more reason to dislike me.

Good experience:

Champions Ward split just two weeks before the Poopy Pirate was born. I remember this time vividly for some other events that happened. I also remember sitting through nearly two hours of "Sacrament meeting" in the heat of the gymnasium while my feet swelled through my shoes to find out which ward we'd be in. Because the ward was new, everyone was officially released. Yet, Jenny Scharman, my visiting teacher in shining armor who didn't miss a month in over two (or was it three?) years despite nearly alwasy coming by herself was there every step of the way. She stayed overnight with ManCub when it was hospital time despite the last minute notice. She made sure we had meals arranged for over a week when I came home, just days before Christmas. And were these officially "Parkway" women? NO! They were women who loved me and had supported me. In addition to Jenny's love, Sarah Berry was there to help with my delivery and take the most beautiful newborn pictures anyone ever saw. She called every day for a week to make sure I was okay.

Did any of them do any of this because they had been assigned? Again, a resounding NO! They did it because these special women understood in a remarkable way that Relief Society is not something you attend; it is something you belong to. It is not about ward boundaries and callings, it is about Christ entering your heart and changing who you are down so deep that you desire above all else to love and serve. In those few short days after my second son's birth, I learned about true sisterhood.

Granted, my less than stellar VT here in this ward is very young, and I doubt she has ever lived outside of Utah. She has probably never had a need for such service. Having not experienced such a time she is unable to understand the importance of lending that support to others. Perhaps one day she will, and she will never blow off a sister in need just because she moved two blocks too far to the south.