New Routines

oops

I posted awhile back about not liking Gerber reusable breast pads with Addison. I figured out that all that time I had been wearing them backwards. They work fine. I hope you enjoyed this post Dad.

:)

Ironic

As I was typing that last post (you know, the one where I am complaining about nothing happening) I literally paused to have a contraction on this big bouncy ball we have and then resumed typing. I finished up the post and thought "wow, these are actually pretty close together. Maybe I should time them." Yep. 5 minutes apart! We packed up Addison and hopped in the car, met my mom at Target and then went to the hospital.

They checked us in (it was the same girl from Saturday. I told her I wasn't leaving this time) and we decided to go ahead and break my water. I was too pooped to go home and have more contractions to wait for it to break. Seriously. There was no way I was going to leave and come back again. Addison took forever to come out, so I was worried that if I broke the sac, the baby would take too long to come out, forcing me to eventually have a c-section. The midwife assured me that would probably not happen. Yeah. Ainsley was born in under 3 hours. I was literally sitting upright getting the epidural put in, feeling pressure to push. Devin almost passed out watching me get it! He had to sit down in a chair and have some juice. The lady on the intercome buzzed in asking what kind he wanted and I screamed "JUST GET HIM SOME JUICE!" I could not handle one more distraction as I was having these insane contractions and trying to hold still for dear life. I was just hoping as I was starting to push that the warming sensation would make it to the right spot in the right time. It did! No ring of fire for Marie! Ainsley Nicole was born at 10:43 PM, weighing in at 6 lbs, 11 oz (I have small babies). Now for the name:

My brother, Dad and I are use West Wing fanatics. Ok my dad just likes the show. Eric and I are fanatics. One of my favorite characters was this fiery, yet cute republican named Ainsley Hayes.








She's also on CSI Miami, but that show is stupid and she's had a nose job since then. Nicole is Amanda's middle name. Since I spend so much time embarassing her with my status updates and blobs with TMI, I thought it was only fitting that I name one of my kids after her.

I had a great experience at Overland Park Regional (I didn't want to leave. Is there a full-time nursery and bedside assistance at my house? No, there is not!), and most importantly with the midwife group I chose. It meant a lot to me that Kathy, the midwife who delivered me was willing to sit down with me and talk things through instead of just running me through the "typical" process just like everyone else. I talked to her later and found out she was the 3rd midwife in the state of Kansas to have hospital privileges.

So far Addison really likes Ainsley. I'm relieved because I hated my brother when he was born ( I love you Eric!). My mom and dad had to take me to the park and buy me ice cream because I refused to even talk to them. She has been telling everyone, even strangers at the library that she has a new baby sister and likes to hold Ainsley and put her pacifier in when it falls out. She even says "She needs your milk mom!" when Ainsley gets really fussy. It is really precious to see. I hope it lasts longer than these two days because it certainly makes things easier for us. My first night at home has been....eventful.

Ok I don't feel much like typing anymore, so I will end for now. There are pictures on facebook, so go there until I can download them onto the computer!


P.S. I know I need to take it easy, but I really did consider going to Hen house to get those 18 oz. tubs of blueberries on sale for $2.99. I didn't. What can I say? Bargain hunters never die.

Contraction City

Wow. These past few days have been really weird! Let me give you a little background: Addison was 4 days early. One Sunday morning at 4 am I woke up to this weird trickling sensation. I had no idea what it was, but the only thing about water breaking I'd ever heard of was on Sex and the City when Miranda's water broke on Carrie's beautiful, brand new shoes. I called my doctor and they told me to go to the hospital, so we did. Sure enough, it was amniotic fluid and I had Addison at 10 that night. It was a long, crappy day in the hospital but pretty straightforward.

Well the other day I woke up at 5 am with some contractions. They were about 5 minutes apart and feeling pretty strong. They were really uneven and sporadic, but they did last all day. We spent the night at my parents' house that night and I woke up at 5 am again with more contractions and soaked through pants. Nice... It was especially nice to go into my parents' room to ask my mom if she had an extra pair of underwear as she was laying right next to my dad. I called the midwife on call and they said to wait a few hours and then come on in the hospital. I didn't know what to do. The contractions weren't awful and I was so comfy and cozy at home. I procrastinated (changed my clothes 3 or 4 different times, took a shower, ate a lot of food) and about 9:30 went over to the hospital, not before stopping at Caribou for b1g1 free lattes!

They determined that it was not amniotic fluid. I was like "well what the heck is leaking out of me?" The answer: "Sometimes this late in pregnancy the bladder is so compressed that urine can leak out." Great. Why don't I just stop on the store on the way home and pick up a pack of Depends while I'm at it. Gross!! They had me walk the hall of the hospital for an hour before they sent me home. Neither Devin nor I could could figure out how the heck to put the gown on (and he's an engineer for crying out loud) and the nurse had to help us. One good thing is that I was dilated to a 3 by the time we left the hospital.

As soon as we left the contractions got really strong again, but stayed about 10 minutes apart for the rest of the day...and most of the night. Today it's been about the same. I just want to meet this little baby! I got a $10 in extra bucks for filling out a survey for CVS, so one good thing is I was able to go over there today and stock up on some great stuff (I had to pause on several occasions to get through a contraction).

Things are really different this time around. Besides the weird contraction situation, there are some other differences. For instance, I didn't have to take Addison to the potty in between contractions last time! Oh and today Addison was on her hands and knees saying "My tummy hurts (sometimes the contractions are so intense I have to get on my hands and knees)! Here are a few cute pictures:



















Addison is being my doula since Heather is out of town.














Addison told me she needed to sit on my heating pad because she had an "owie" which is what I was calling contractions. I didn't really know how to explain it any other way.














As soon as my contraction was over and I was done using the ball, Addison said "I'm not feeling very good. I need this." What a copycat!

Anyway, say some prayers for us! I am getting really tired and sore from having all these contractions.

P.S. People have been asking me if I like to have visitors in the hospital. YES! Just please don't try to steal the baby or be offended if I kick you out to nurse or something. You can bring your babies/kids (we always bring Addison). Just don't come if you're sick...duh....

Toddlers are funny

At the park today:

Mikya (Merah's daughter): Marie, what are you going to name your baby?

Marie: Well if it's a girl we'll name her Ainsley. If it's a boy we might name him Austin. Do you like those names?

Mikya: Yeah.

Marie: What names do you like?

Mikya: I like Allie.

Addison: How about Tyrone?

_________________________________________________________________
I was getting out our newborn stuff and was really overwhelmed. I forgot how much crap you need for a baby. I don't know where the heck to put it all! Agggh!

American Idol made me so happy tonight? All my favorites made it through so far. My ultimate favorite? You guessed it: Norman!

Hurting alongside you

My heart is breaking for Joel and Jess (Cora's parents), and I didn't really know them that well. Devin was pretty good friends with Joel and I had a few teaching classes with Jess at K-State. I was listening to Addison singing in her room, slightly agitated that she wasn't napping when I stumbled upon their latest blog entry that Cora is in heaven right now. Most mothers will agree that nothing hurts like the thought of losing your baby. I can't read a newspaper article about it or even watch a pretend movie about it. It's too painful. I hurt so badly for this poor little family right now. Just looking through their old blogs with pictures from Christmas, Halloween, summer with a happy smiling baby, never imagining that this could ever happen. How could you? It's just so sad.

You who have done great things;
Oh God, who is like You?
You, who have shown me great and severe troubles,
Shall revive me again,
And bring me up again from the depths of the earth.
You shall increase my greatness,
And comfort me on every side.

Psalm 71:19

Taxes

Look, I'm not the smartest person in the world, but I graduated from college with a fairly decent GPA. If the tax code confuses the heck out of me every single year than what about people who are less intelligent and less educated than me? What do they do? This is ridiculous.

Just another reminder of how much I wish we had the fair tax.

If these ar e fake, I'm in some trouble...

I never had Braxton Hicks contractions with Addison, and my water broke before I had any "real" contractions with her anyway. I never experienced the whole "are they real or are they fake?" thing. Well I did, but it was because I couldn't figure out if I had peed my pants or if my water broke. Last night I was watching The Biggest Loser and it started to hurt. I started to remember that bad feeling of bad pain! I went to bed and they didn't stop. In fact, it hurt pretty bad and it was happening every 5 minutes or so. Ouch. Instead of being slightly excited, though, I was freaking out. I thought "I can't be in labor! I'm too tired to have a baby! I need to sleep first!" I was so completely exhausted that the thought of being up all night, delivering a baby was too much to bear. Even though the contractions hurt pretty bad, I thought that maybe if I went to bed I could pretend this wasn't happening!

You'd think my two year old would have some sympathy. Nope. She kept waking up, calling out "Mama! I need you!" Devin was hopped up on Tyenol Cold and didn't hear any of this. It really was a good thing they were fake.

Anyway I guess I didn't have to worry. They went away. We'll keep waiting.

The Biggest Loser was so good!
American Idol was even better. Anyone else think Norman is adorable? I want him to stick around.

Last weekend I got to go to Manhattan. I can't even tell you how great it was to get away and spend some wonderful time with amazing girls. I didn't take my camera with me, but there are some great pics floating around on facebook. Highlights:

-laughter
-Call Hall ice cream (oh how I miss you, Call Hall chocolate milk. I used to pour you on my cocoa puffs. mmmmmm...)
-pushing Noah in a stroller into Ford Hall
-asking a guy in Aggieville where the nearest liquor store was and seeing if he'd notice my gigantic belly. He didn't, but it was still funny.
-So Long Saloon
-Early Edition, even though Leah had to complain about plastic wrap and eggshells in her food.
-Encouraging Leah and Heather after everything they've been through this year.
-looking for couples having dtr's in Java...err...Bluestem :)
-not going into labor in the car (even though it would have made for a good story...someday)