BLOG REPOST--Having Babies

This is a blog I wrote a couple years ago on myspace:

So there's so much to say...
Lets start with having babies!
So aparently when you move in with your grandparents (especially a grandma that cooks!) at 7 months pregnant,
All the weight you were SO proud you didn't gain hits you harder than a semi traveling at the speed of sound!
I'm pretty sure i gained 30 pounds just living with them! That's not the other 20 i had lost and gained back!
At one point i mentioned how good cookies sounded, she made me some!
She made a pumpkin pie for work and make one for home,
Pretty sure i ate pretty much all but one piece...
And gave my grandpa a hard time about eating the last piece!
There was a time we ordered more that $30 worth of Taco Factory food...
And the lady asked if it was all just for the two of us...
"Well no the tamales are for someone else, everything else... Yeah... But she's pregnant and eating for two!"
I think I was eating for 8, actually...
It's funny how happiness can truly affect how much more you eat!
I started calling myself Fatty... Fatty was the pregnant woman I never thought I'd be!
When I'd eat and no one else would i'd always say "Well Fatty had a party and no one was there!"
It was a big joke, that's not so funny when you're still Fatty, but no longer a pregnant woman...lol
No one tells you the emotions food can provoke in a pregnant lady either...
When we still lived in Louisiana I ordered a chicken sandwich from sonic, and ordered no mayo... And of course they put it on it...
And i didn't check it until I got home, Nick was offshore..
I called him in almost a panic attack crying about how they put mayo on my sandwich...
He told me to just call and have them make me a new one...
Yeah because some crazy lady bawling over a sandwich isn't every managers dream of humor...
I told him by the time I get in my car drive back to sonic, I'm going to be so over the crying and so pissed i had to waddle out to my car, that I'm going to shoot a sonic manager and you're going to see it all over the news "Pregnant woman hysterical over mayo on her sandwich, shoots manager" It's really not worth the time in jail...
NO one tells you you're going to piss your pants... and your husband is going to sit back and laugh...
This is not something people share, But I share it with you because YOU NEED TO BE PREPARED!
I was scared shitless because I had pee leaks... But they told me it could be amniotic fluid and I needed to go to the hospital... So there I am in the hospital and the nurse comes in and tells me that if I am leaking fluids I'm going to have to be delievered early like 6 weeks early at that point... And if it was, they were going to take me up and induce me right then and baby would have to be taken to nicu because of how little she was... My husband's still in Louisiana, it's my gma and i, and i'm scared shitless and bawling! They come in and tell me it's not amniotic fluid but the baby is probably just sitting on my bladder just right to where i'm leaking pee and not really having control over it and not feeling it coming out either...
But then you really start to lose complete control of this function you've always been able to control... And it becomes humorous... You MUST wear a pad at all times, it's the only way to feel somewhat in control! My grandma was telling me to take off the clothes I was wearing so she could wash them but I told her no because we were going somewhere in a minute... Then I peed my pants and HAD too... Then I put on some sweats and 15 minutes later peed my pants again... I was walking into the living room and was like "OH MY GOD I DID IT AGAIN!!!!" Nick just laughed and laughed... Which I must admit, it's really really funny...
I've realized you can't wear sensitive pants while pregnant, because then you'd be a big emotional basket case. I'm so thankful for nick being so funny and actually teasing me a lot, it made my pregnancy really light hearted and most everything amusing...
We laughed a lot through the end of my pregnancy... I'd laugh and my belly would bounce and Nick would laugh even harder and make fun of me, and it would make me laugh even harder. During my maturnity pictures she got two pictures of us laughing and they're my favorite pictures because that's what I want to remember most about my pregnancy and she captured that!
And its so scary when you actually go into labor, because literally NO one can tell you how you will know or what it feels like...
I had one really hard contraction walking through walmart about a week or two before i went into labor so I had an idea... I stopped and Nick looked at me annoyed told me to come on...And almost lost his life...
When I went into labor it was about 2 or 3 in the morning, but it felt just like the cramps I had been having for weeks... I hadn't slept at all, we laid down about 10 that night and I just couldn't sleep so I laid in bed and the cramps were pretty regular, so I got up and took a shower and about 3:30 or 4 I woke nick up and said I thought this was the real deal and maybe he should get up and get ready and we could pack our bags and stuff... So at about 5 my grandma gets up and asks us what we were doing and i said i was having contractions and she was like "WERE YOU NOT GOING TO TELL ME!!?" so loud i'm sure it woke the house... So my grandma, my dad, nick and I start timing the contractions and my step mom joins the festivities and they start getting harder and harder and nick calls the hospital an is like "Um... my wife is pregnant..."
I still laugh about it b/c had I been the nurse I probably would've been like "Okay?? Did you just find this out and needed to tell someone or what..."
And he was like um...she's in labor when should we come in?
And they wanted to talk to me and i didn't want to talk!!
We leave for the hospital and are driving down hefner parkway at about 7 in the morning GOING 50! Cars are flying by and i'm like how fast are you going???
LOL he was freaking out and trying to act calm!
So we get to the hospital and all I want to do is sleep...
Just stop them for a while so I can sleep!
But nooooo casey has to walk around the hospital to try and dialate more...
OH my goodness...
Anyone who doesn't have an epidural is INSANE!
by the time they took me to my actual room i was shaking every time i'd have a contraction b/c they hurt so bad!
Ihad the most amazing nurse, I loved her...
She kept hugging and kissing on me...
We all had a good time...
Along with Nick and the nurse, my grandma, sister and step mom were in the room with me...
We litterally laughed the WHOLE time I was in labor....
I had banned my husband from the delivery room a week before b/c we were in the doctors office and I asked nick if he was going to move over by me while the dr checked me and he said no he was actually hoping to give the doctor a helping hand... And I shared that with my family and the nurse and doctor...
Nick said something about taking a picture, during the point she was crowning and everyone was like "not right now!" and he was like "well I didn't mean right now, just as soon as she's born!" And my doctor chimed in that had a picture been taken during the process of her coming out there'd definitely be a stuffed turkey joke...
Blair was so intrigued by my cathedar and my pee in a bag...LMAO...
She kept asking if she could come look at my pee again...
But it was amazing not to feel a thing!
It gets kinda feaky b/c the epidural makes your nose and chest itch, and no one warns you, so you might think you're having an allergic reaction..
And I actually had a headache for about a month after which is another side affect..
But it's well worth it!
I'm not so sure I'd have it done in woodward hospital, but hey i didn't even trust them to have my baby here so, i'm not very trusting of them!
People never tell you that once she's out and they take her to the cleaning station on the other side of the room, no one remembers you exist...lol
Oh yeah, and no one tells you about the incredibly indescribably painful poop you have... and they keep giving you stool softeners as if it does ANYTHING!
I kept refusing painkillers until I took my first poop... It hurt So bad i thought the whole left side of my abdomen was just going to explode...I can't even explain it, but it doesn't even hurt where you think it will!
And I ask for painkillers and my husband has the nerve to ask me to wait to take them until after he goes and smokes...
HAD I FELT like I could move fast enough off that hospital bed to catch and choke him before he could run from me, I would have...
I just started bawling! That's a better power i have of making him feel 2 inches big, when i just have nothing to say that the tears just over take me!
No one tells you about the lactation nurse... AKA Breast feeding Nazi... I just wanted to scream to her GET OUT! My daughter has a tooth that hurts and isn't normal for a newborn so I'm still wanting to breast feed AND bottle feed and i'm not a bad person for that, GET OUT!
Everyone fails to mention how much more you love your husband...
And how much more you want to kill him too!
Those nights when you get no sleep and he's laying over there sleeping so peacefully, you just want to go get pots and pans and like bang them in his ear! At some points just putting a pillow over his face seems more reasonable! LOL
Loralei was sick and hadn't slept in 3 days and new years eve i begged him to come home from work and just let me sleep... So he comes home and falls asleep on the couch... And mind you he's like you should've woke me up, but i'm so paranoid about him falling asleep with her and like suffacating her that if he's so tired that he falls asleep i'm not going to wake him up...
He slept for 14 hours!!!! I was so mad, so so mad, I've never been so mad at anyone in my life!
No one tells you that part... It's so stressful...
I honestly think having a baby was the best thing we could've done in our lives, and the worst thing we could've done for our marriage (Having gotten pregnant on our honeymoon, I think people need to wait a year or few to be a couple and have time for and with each other)
NO one admits there's a breaking point to every woman, that you just want to shake them and yell and beg them to go to sleep...
There's a point you just put them down and let them scream and you sit there and bawl your eyes out because NOTHING you do will console them...
And that your husband will be no help, and if he is (like mine) he helps you in every way you don't want it...
Nick's AMAZING, and I don't give him credit like he needs...
Our house is so clean because he comes home from work and cleans it...
Our laundry is always done by him, dishes always done by him...
But you just want him to come take the baby, and they don't understand THATS where you need help, they dont think like we do...
Thank goodness nick and I have the communication we do, I tell him EVERYTHING... But sometimes he still doesn't understand...
But I could've never known how much I love him when I see him with this tiny thing in his arms and the way she smiles at him.
And he was the first person she laughed at, she already adores him and it makes me love him in such a strong way I could've never imagined...
And on his days off I can wake him up to take her in the morning and let me sleep in an hour or two, and he never complains or tells me no...

Everyone tells you how life changing and incredible she'll be...
But no one tells you the bad, scary or embarrassing parts...
I think it's refreshing to know what it's really like...
That it's not alwas smiles and giggles... and for the first while there's really no sleeping either!

Beautiful Little Girl

As I wrote before we sent our niece a care package! I was sent a picture yesterday showing off her new Tiffany & Co necklace! She looks soo good, and less tired than she did in July. The sight of her thinning hair makes me sad. To look at her and think, she'll be 6 the beginning of October. What 5 year old should be going through chemo, radiation, and having blood transfusion. It's so unfair! I hope the gift shows how much we love and miss her, and think about her often!

Care Package

So if you follow me on twitter, you know, my husband's 5 year old niece, Carlie, has brain cancer that can't be removed. We went to Louisiana and saw her in July. It was incredibly hard for me leaving, with the idea, as little as we go to Louisiana, I don't know if we'll see her again. I can only hope she has many more years, they do chemo and radiation which has made the tumor smaller.The whole drive home I begged my husband to go to Tiffany & Co in Dallas to get her a necklace, as it's my most favorite place! We didn't have the time to do the shopping in Dallas like I wanted, but as soon as we got home, I got online and ordered her a necklace. I had it engraved with her initials and I got her and her little brother, Zach, Hallmark christmas ornaments, old navy pj's and gift cards, and target gift cards for a little going back to school treat, all to send to them in a car package. I also got Carlie a hallmark recordable book. During Christmas last year, my dad sent one to my daughter, and it was so cute, I'm in love with them. If these things aren't on your holiday/birthday gift list, they need to be put at the top! It's a must for people who can't be close by! On top of the sentiment of being able to read to her even if we're not there, recording it was quite amusing for my husband and I. Recording it over and over until we could got it just perfect, trying to keep the dogs quiet, and trying to keep from laughing at each other made the kind of pricey book purchase much more worth it!

Gender Roles

So we have been planning my daughter's 2nd Hello Kitty Party. We (by 'we', I really mean "I") have been searching for everything you can imagine! Anyone planning a "hi Kitty," as my daughter calls it, would be pleasantly surprised to know there is HK EVERYTHING imaginable!-Even wine! My husband and I have been talking about birthday and christmas gifts for our daughter and my niece. Loralei loves playing with my niece's play kitchen, so I was talking to my husband about buying a pink one at toysrus or a red one from potterybarn, there's about a 400 dollar difference. But MY theory is if we buy the pottery barn one the investment will more worth while because if we ever have a boy it would be easier put into a boy's room too. To which my husband said "why would we let our boy play with the kitchen?" Mind you, I do love having a little girl, and LOVE the color pink, so our house is on pink overload! But we let her play with dolls and girl stuff, or dump trucks, cars and dirt. SO what is the difference in letting a little boy play with cars and trucks and also play with dolls and kitchens and girl stuff? I don't think gender roles play a big part of raising our children... and yes I admit there are two things that I say I would never do around our house-take out the trash, and mow and I use "that's boy's work" as an excuse! But I guess if it came down to me having to do it, it wouldn't be boys work any longer would it? We let our daughter play with a play mower, help her dad with tools, and she helps with the laundry and loves wiping up spills, but I've never looked at her and thought about what she "should" be learning to do. I just don't understand why it would be okay for a girl to do boy things, but not vice versa?

Pepe Le Pew

Last night my best friend brought her pet skunk Jinx over to show us! We just love him! He's so sweet and cuddly and playful too! He kept chasing Loralei's feet around, probably they're about the same size he is! It's so weird to interact with a real skunk, always having the idea of skunks and well, lets be honest, cringing when we smell one! He had no sprayer or whatever it is! He drank goat's milk out of a bottle barely bigger than a thumb. After posting pictures to my facebook and twitter, there's been several people wanting to know ALL about them!

Hooray!

Over the weekend my lovely Hubby purchased a MacBook for me, because we've lived without a home computer; ours crashed from a serious virus about 2 years ago. We have been getting along, paying bills, etc. from his work laptop or our iphones, as we'd had other obligations to pay for! Anyways- My point being, I will now be able to blog about the going-ons in Loralei's and our lives wayyy more often! It feels sooo good to have a home computer again!

Loralei's Christmas List

DVD's:

• Snow White
• Santa Buddies
• Bolt
• Elmo movies
• Madagascar 1&2
• Yo gabba gabba movies
• Sleeping Beauty
• Finding Nemo
• Cars
• The Incredibles
• Open Season 1&2
• Brother Bear 1 & 2
• Over the Hedge
• Ice age 1&2
• Kund Fu Panda
• Shrek 1&2
• Bee Movie
• Jungle Book
• Blues Clues
• Ni Hao, Kai-Lan is one of her favorite TV shows

Books:
(mostly board books at her age since they're more durable)

• Santa Duck-David Milgrim
• Goodnight, Moon-Margaret Wise Brown
• Eric Carle Books
• Where is Baby's Belly Button-Karen Katz
• Where is baby's christmas present-Karen Katz
• Elmo's Night Before Christmas
• Polar Express- Chris Allsburg
• How Do I Love You- Marion Dane
• Big words for little People- Jamie Lee Curtis
• 17 things I'm not allowed to do anymore- Jenny Offill
• Adventures of Mackenzie The pug- Summer Moser
• Pug in a truck- Nancy Coffelt
• Dora's Christmas Adventure- Christine Ricci
• Merry Christmas Stinky Face- Lisa McCourt
• Merry Christmas Mouse- Laura Numeroff
• My pretty pink purse- scholastics
• Happy Holidogs- Ed Heck
• Biscuit's Snowy Day- Alyssa Capucilli
• Baby, I love you- Karma Wilson
• I spy Little christma- jean marzollo
• Santa's Christmas Eve- Salina Yoon
• How to build a snowman- Jill Acklyman
• Chicka chicka boom boom- bill martin jr
• Baby cakes- karma wilson
• Beatrice Doesnt Want to- Laura Numeroff
• "if you give a..." books by Laura Numeroff
• She LOVES touch and feel books!

Bath toys
warm fleece footy PJ's
Car entertainment and accessories for front facing seat- car blankets, neck pillows, storage for dvd's in the car...
a little her size purse she can carry around
Juicy couture track suit :))
I'll add more as I think of them!