Monday, June 28, 2010

Ummm...

Did anyone else have these things pop up on their blog asking if the post was funny or interesting or whatev's?  I can't figure it out...how do I get rid of them?

But then I'm struggling opening a door and not walking into walls...

Kelly Down

Feelin' the Pressure

Literally.  I mean, she's pushin' down.  YAY!

I had an uneventful doctors appointment, which is GREAT.  I also discovered that my doctor has a lazy eye.  Brett says this is my 57th discovery of this fact.  I believe in placenta brain and will be writing a book about it as soon as I can remember what it is I'm writing about...oh yeah, placenta brain.

What were we talking about?

Anyway, I'm measuring at 34 weeks and have gained a whopping 13 lbs.  WOOT! 

I have seven weeks left of bed rest.

I will be nesting for the next 7 weeks.  Which means, Brett will be nesting for the next 7 weeks.  Which means, pray for Brett.

Kelly Down

Bladder of Steel

I love Kegals.

I've sneezed 6 million times today, but haven't had to change my under-oo's.

I'm pregnant, I can talk about these things unabashedly.

On another, less uriney note, can you believe it's almost my birthday?

Well, I mean, can you believe it's almost the 4th of July?

I know, right.  I'm so ready for Fireworks.  And Red White and Blue everywhere.  And BBQ's.  And birthday presents.

Did I say that?  No, I wrote it.  Okay, good.

Happy Monday!

Kelly Down

Sunday, June 27, 2010

Feelin' Baaalluuuue

Today has been a rough (physical) day.  I've been spoiled, disillusioned, with delicious pills that I now think I'm immune to.  Is that the word?  Immune?  Anywho...deys ain't workin' so good no mo'.

Friday I was really sick, which was poopy (a very appropriate term for what I was going through) and I haven't slept well in several nights. 

I'm feeling physically and emotionally exhausted.  And I'm sure I'm the only woman 30 weeks pregnant who has ever felt this way. 

But things are going to start looking up.  TOMORROW.

I demand it.

So let it be said, so let it be done.

Kelly Down

Friday, June 25, 2010

Thursday, June 24, 2010

Cosleeping: What's Your Opinion?

I've been reading a fabulous book recommended by a friend called, "Our Babies, Ourselves: How Biology and Culture Shape the Way We Parent" by Meredith F. Small.  (If you click on the link, it will take you to a fairly good book review.)

And as books often do, this one has got me thinking.

And I'm coming to you for your opinion.  Mainly, about cosleeping.

I'm frustrated that I have this fear of cosleeping.  Mainly, that I'm going to kill my baby, because that's what all the books and pediatricians and consumer health reports tell me.  But Meredith Small says that is unlikely, and that our babies biology is actually set up to cosleep.  That we can help teach them to sleep by following our sleeping rhythms like breathing and heartbeats.  This makes sense to me.  Still, and I quote my mother-in-law here, "I was raised..."

But the funny thing is I wasn't raised thinking cosleeping was bad.  In fact, (am I really about to share this information on the WWW?...) I slept with my parents until after I started school.  Eeek.

So it isn't that I've been raised to think cosleeping is bad.  It's that I'm a book worm, and the second I found out I was pregnant with numero uno five years 9 months ago, I started reading all the books I could get my hands on about babies.

And they all stressed a main theme about sleeping: do it separately.  Not just do it separately, but also how often and how much and when a baby should sleep was stressed as well.  And so when Cohen came along, I stressed about all those things.  "He's not sleeping like the book said he should...not as long, not as often, not when..."  and it was really hard as a new mom.

Of course, Cohen had medical problems that we didn't discover until he was 3 months, after which we had a whole new, fat, baby.  And by then, his internal sleeping habits were well on there way to developing just fine, with or without the help of books.  And, without cosleeping.

With Kembry, I let her lay in bed and nurse while I slept.  So many people have condemned me for this.  I'm not even kidding.  "You could've rolled over and killed her!"  Uh...not likely.  Not only do I sleep lighter with her next to me, so does she.  If I so much as tickled her arm, she'd squirm and squack.  But my milk supply was there and ready whenever she needed it.  It was easier for me.  I didn't notice when she was awake and when she was asleep as much* as I would have had she not been laying with me.  I didn't stress about the amount she received or when she received it.  And she did just fine.

*(Let me clarify: when I say "as much" I mean, I didn't wake up completely, making it really hard for me to fall back to sleep, which is something I have problem with.  I simply made myself available, almost still fully asleep.  It was nice.)

So, I've done both, sort of.  Kembry would go down in her bassinet next to my bed, alone, but ultimately wound up sleeping next to me.  Some nights I would put her back, some nights I wouldn't.  And we both survived.

Now I'm going to go all conspiracy theory on you.  I question the motive behind Western thinking, and why cosleeping seems almost condemnable.  Part of me questions why Consumer Safety and Health should have a say on the matter.  Possibly because if we did cosleep, we wouldn't buy cribs, bedding, mobiles, stuffed animals, etc., as often as we do now.  And let's face it, ours is a land of Planned Obsolescence (not that again, Kelly.  Yes, that again.)  But this doesn't seem to be a likely reason that the Pediatrics of America would agree that cosleeping is dangerous and bad.

I also feel like all the books and all the t.v. series and all the opinions we're getting befuddles our natural thinking.  If we were tabula rasa going into parenting, would we naturally cosleep?  I sort of think we would.  Would we naturally breast feed?  Um, yeah.  I think we'd see the streams and milk and the squawking baby with her opening mouth and put two and two together.  Would we stress about how much they ate?  Probably only if they weren't thriving.  Would we worry about how much they slept?  Probably not.

What about the other partner in bed?  Brett isn't too keen on cosleeping, but when I remind him about Kembry, he realizes he didn't even notice when she slept with us, and has to concede that it didn't bother him one iota.  As compared with having to get out of bed with Cohen, wake myself up, feed him, then come back to bed and try to go back to sleep.  Yeah, he noticed then as I tossed and turned and some nights just bawled because I couldn't go back to sleep.

And as I read more and more about it, I feel like cosleeping, at least for the first year, is the way to go.  It makes sense.  It feels right.  But the American in me cringes at the idea of rolling over on my baby, or suffocating her with my blankets and pillows, or missing out on "better" sleep which they say I would get or intamacy with my husband (yeah, because I'm so keen on middle of the night romps now).  I also don't dig the whole, "I need to sleep with mommy or I don't sleep at all," business.  Which is one of the reasons I think putting Kembry down alone, and then bringing her to bed with me, was a smart thing to do.

What do you think?  Don't be shy to share your opinion, I'm looking for honest thoughts and experiences.

Kelly Down

Here are some articles about this topic I've read thus far:

http://kidshealth.org/parent/general/sleep/cosleeping.html
http://parenting.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/01/26/the-risks-of-sleeping-with-your-baby/ (I kind of scoff at this article)
http://www.nd.edu/~jmckenn1/lab/faq.html (This is more of a website with several different pieces of information on cosleeping.)
http://www.marchofdimes.com/pnhec/298_29656.asp (This is another one of those "scare you out of cosleeping "articles".  And who doesn't trust March of Dimes?  See, it's frustrating, all the mixed information we get...And again, why is CPSC giving it's opinion? "BUY MORE CRIBS!")

Back to Behaving

The last couple of weeks have been great!  Sad, but great!

Great, because Brett had some vacation days.

Great, because I wasn't alone for a looong time.

Great, because I got to see a lot of step-family I normally don't get to see.

Sad, because my sweet step-grandmother died.

But it was nice spending whole days at my step-moms', with the entire family there.  Nice having the kids home with me every day.  I even drove a few times (I love Terbulatine) though I really shouldn't have.  Don't worry, I had Brett in the car with me the whole time!

So now it's back to behaving and being lonely.  Yesterday was the first day, and it was a cold reminder of how much I dislike "bed rest" and day time t.v.  Oh how I hate day time t.v.

So please blog.  Please post.  Tell me about the state of your butter, or the length of your grass that needs mowing, or the slobber coming out of your toddlers mouth.  Heck, you can even tell me about your lactating experience if you want (I did!) haha. 

I'm bored, and I'm needy.  Just ask Brett.

Kelly Down (again)

Wednesday, June 23, 2010

Stress Is Poopy

I am convinced that stress has a direct link to these little contractions of mine.  I know there's no scientific documentation to back this up *chuckle*, but I'm convinced.

Convinced I say.

Brett and I were discussing this incident, and my contractions started getting really hard and closer together the angrier I got.  Needless to say, we changed the subject.

And now Brett has both my little children up the tree.

Maybe I should call labor and delivery now, since we'll be on our way to the E.R anyway for head lacerations or broken arms or eye balls popping out...

Kelly Stressed

(Haha, I said that in my mind like "HULK MAD!"  Oh dear...I make myself laugh...it's the little things...)

How The...What The...Who The...?

I'm lactating.  Already.

Not like stream of golden milk, or anything.  Just the occasional, "What's that on my shirt right near my nipple?"

Sorry men.  Wait, do any men read this blog?  *Tap Tap* this thing on? 

Oh well, testosterone is over rated, if you ask me.  Though, the extra estrogen I seem to be puttin' out could probably take a step back...

Anywho, please keep all babies, baby smells, baby names, baby thoughts and baby carrots away from me for the time being.  My milk ducts are on overdrive.

What's that moving in my uterus?  CRAP!  Well, there goes the spicket.

Kelly Down

Tuesday, June 22, 2010

A Tree, an Uninsured Boy, and a Maniac with a Saw

Just a normal tree on a normal day...but wait...what is that I see?


Let me get a closer look...it couldn't be...


Oh but it is!  An uninsured little boy playing in a tree with...



...a maniac and a saw.  Hmmm, yes, this seems like the appropriate thing to do a few hours after finding out the boy has no insurance. 



Of course this shadow should be lying down on the couch, not outside taking pictures.



"Mama, what are you doin' outta bed?"

Taking pictures of cute little girls.  Pose for mommy, baby.



"But what about the pants I chose to wear against your advice?  What ever will people say?"

They will say that is one willful little girl.  And they would be right.



"Me?  Willful, Mama?  But I'm your little angel..."

And now back to the uninsured...



"Here son, lemmee help you down since your Mama is fuuurreaking out."



"Let's try to do this in the most dangerous way possible.  Ooh!  I know, let me dangle you from the tree son."



And that bright light you see, I'm sure Cohen saw it too.  That, and all 5 years of his short, short life.

"Don't go into the light, my son!"



"But Daddy's dangling me from a tree.  Let me go into the light Mama, please."



And then, just inches away from death...or worse, an uninsured stay at the hospital...



...we have touch down.

Now let's all go inside and change our shorts.

Freaking Insurance

Remember that "Friends" episode (Oh my gosh, I swore I would never start a conversation like that, and a blog post isn't any better...)  Anyway, remember that "Friends" episode where Phoebe's bank accidentally deposits $500 into her account?  So she goes in to straighten it out, and so they deposit another $500 instead removing the first $500?

Well, we're having the exact opposite hell.

We enrolled our family for insurance.  Pragmatic, no?  Well, we got our "confirmation" letter back in May.  It said our family was happily and safely enrolled in Medical Insurance, but that only Brett was enrolled in Dental.

No big deal.  Well before the Open-Enrollment had ended.  So he calls them up, tells them their mistake, gets it fixed.

WRONG!

Instead of adding the family to the dental plan, they REMOVED us from the Medical Plan.

Are you twitching yet?  It gets better.  We didn't find out about that until we were at a doctors appointment.

"Um, this says you're inactive."

What the....??

So, Brett gets on the phone again.  He calls his HR and the company benefit people (the morons of this whole scenario).  They give him a case number, and insure him the problem will be fixed by June 14th.

He even got an email and a phone call a few days later telling him the problem was fixed.  So we happily went our merry way to Labor and Delivery, joyfully got the kids shot up with all the immunizations their little legs could handle...heck, I even did a little quicky for my second degree sun burn.  Luckily, we saved the e-mail because...

...today we got our confirmation letter in the email.  Guess whose insured, and whose not insured?  Yep, Brett's got all the medical benefits his little, healthy, beating heart could desire, while the rest of us have zero.

Including the pregnant mother with a semi-high risk pregnancy who could very well go into labor at any moment and give birth to a preemie who will have to spend a minimum of 8 weeks in the NICU, while the mother spends the next 8 years in therapy recovering.  Oh, and also holds down 2 jobs to pay off all the medical bills that should have been covered by freaking insurance in the first freaking place.

I'm freaking out.  Can you tell? 

So much for avoiding stress...

Kelly Twitchy

PostIt Note Tuesday





















Kelly Down

Monday, June 21, 2010

No Better Man

My dad sums up the greatness of my husband well.  He took me aside last week and said, "We think Brett should get the Father of the Year Award. Can we get him something for Father's Day to show him how much we appreciate him?"

K, if people outside our immediate little family love and appreciate Brett this much, can you imagine how much we adore him?

The man can't clean, but he tries.  He can't match kids clothes to save my life, but he tries.  He cooks like a God of the Grill and he is always, always, in a good mood.  I mean, how does he do it?  I looked around a few times for the happy pills I thought he was popping...but I couldn't find anything but Skittles and Reisen's. 

He fills my prescriptions fast and takes me to my appointments and drives me around while I tell him how to drive me around.  He let's me read to him and talk his ear off about the crap I'm reading (how many men can feign interest in a book called, "Our Babies, Ourselves"?  But he does.  He totally does.)

He's taught our 5 and 3 year old their first four Articles of Faith, which has just about everybody impressed, including me.  He has established a bed time routine that rocks my freaking mind, including the kids cleaning up their room, brushing their teeth, saying a family prayer, and then saying personal prayers.  Oh, and giving mommy the obligatory "Good Night Kiss", which he doesn't let them forget, ever.  So sweet.

The man is plain incredible.

And even though I tease and call him "Hermaphro-Daddy" and "Man-Slave" (he secretly likes that one) what he really is, is my Rock. 

So, Happy Day-After-Fathers-Day honey.  We truly would be pooh under some dudes shoe without you here.

Kelly Down

Saturday, June 19, 2010

Mommy Don't Play That

I have a lot to blog about, like a fabulous blogger award from my friend Kim and Toy Story 3 (which totally deserves its own post) and my children's 2 hour trip to the doctors for immunizations.  But for now I'd just like to share with you my morning.

Back Story: Kids went to the doctors for immunizations yesterday (in case you didn't catch that before).

This morning, I thought I'd be nice and make a hot breakfast for my kids, since they haven't had one at home in a loooooong time.  So, causing hard contractions and bouts of nausea from pain, I made them some scamby eggs and cut them some apples and a banana and gave them each a half a cinnamon raisin bagel (yes my kids can eat this much) all served with a side of love.  This is the response I get from the couch where Cohen is playing PBSkids.org.

"I can't come in there and eat.  My leg hurts too much to walk.  Bring it in here for me."

Um....no.  I don't think so.  Mommy don't play that.

So, it took him about five minutes to walk into the kitchen, murmuring "Ouch, owee, it hurts.  It really, really hurts.  I can't walk.  My legs are broken."  You get the idea.

I'm now making him vacuum the living room.

It's gonna be a looooooong Saturday.

Kelly Down

Wednesday, June 16, 2010

Also...

Also, I'm sick.

Like, thank heavens we have a toilet and a bathtub, kind of sick.

Like, sweet death come quickly, kind of sick.

Like, why don't we just move the mattress into the bathroom and call it official, kind of sick.

And no, I'm not "pot casting" (as Brett has dubbed it) right now.  Right now, I'm on the couch, wishing I was dead or in the bathroom or dead. 

We call this the "Aguado Flu" because once, when we both had it, and everyone that we came in contact with got it, and we all purchased burial plots that week...well, we got it from a guy bearing this as his last name.  He will forever be seen in my mind as "the man who did this to me" whenever I feel like this.  Just like how I scream, "YOU DID THIS TO ME!" at Brett when I'm having horrible contractions. 

Only without the implication that something more than shaking hands had taken place...

So I may be a little grumpy.  Just a smidgen.  The horns should recede once the vomit ceases...

Kelly Down

I Propose a REALLY?! Button

I have these friends on Facebook that just...annoy me.  On a daily basis.

Then why are they your friends, stupid?

Because I am weak, and a large number on my friends list validates me, that's why.

Remember how I like to be validated?  Yes, validation tastes good early in the morning.

Anywho, they say stupid stuff.  Stuff that I desperately want to comment on, but just don't have the cahoneys.  I'm also not generally a mean person, and I feel mean every time I say something mean on their stupid, stupid, stupid posts.  Stupid.  *Spits in disgust*

For one thing, they're under the impression that sports players should play better. 

That they should do the things that they, the accountants and the bankers and the maintenance men, think they should do.

They also think they should be humble and kind during their post interviews when they're slaughtered the other team.

They also think they can run the country better, apparently, than just about anyone.

I'magonna pull out a basic Seth and Amy "REALLY?!" here.

REALLY, accountant man?  REALLY?  Kobe Bryant REALLY should listen to your advice, because that's how he got to be where he is.  By listening to some 20 something, 215 lb (in the bad way) know-it-all whose never played a successful game of basketball a day in his life except that one time when he slaughtered his 98 year old great grandmother who has emphysema.  REALLY?!

And REALLY, he should be humble and submitting afterwards?  REALLY?!  He should bow down and thank the losing team for SUCKING CRAP, because without their SUCKING CRAP, the winning team would otherwise have bowed down, kissed their feet, and given them the win?  REALLY?!

You REALLY expect a pro-basketball player to be humble?!  REALLY?! 

Next, the President.  How's this for moron: "President Obama says BP is gonna pay.  That's all you can say?  Can you say one term President?"

I'm confident in making fun of this exact post here because a) this person doesn't read my blog and b) even if they did I already made fun of them on FB.  My mean rule was thrown out the window.  Maybe I'm grumpy this morning.

REALLY?!  Finally a president is stepping up and calling for some retribution, and you say this is a BAD THING?  Or is it that in the few minutes he had to address the situation, for the 90th time, he didn't elaborate and read a sonnet and condemn BP to the firey depths of Hades without the convenient coins placed over their dead lids to get them across the River Styx?  REALLY?!  What exactly should he have said?  Maybe he should have named all the millions of different species that have been effected by the oil spill, or perhaps listed the hundreds of names of executives that are responsible for the spill.  That would have been more.  Are you looking for more here?  Moron.  Or maybe he should've said my special FB friends name, and pleaded for him to write him the PERFECT speech to give at this, the day of his daughters wedding.  OH WAIT!  I mean, this, yet another speech about the BP oil spill.  REALLY!?

So, having said that, wanna be my FB friend?  I'm looking for a round 400 by the end of the week...sooo...

REALLY?!  Kelly?  Really?!

Kelly Down

Monday, June 14, 2010

FYI: Last Night Rocked

So this is what normal pregnancy can be like?  Oh yeah...I remember now...

I had been having regular, painful contractions since Saturday afternoon.  This was normal, so I didn't worry too much.  I just went about my usual attempts to stop them, to no avail.  Saturday night was a crappy night.  Not only did my sweet grandmother get put into the hospital where they found some bad news, but my contractions were getting harder and stronger.

That night I didn't sleep much.  I was so tired I would wake up every few minutes with a contraction, then fall asleep, then wake up a few minutes later.  I ended up taking 2 hot baths before 7 a.m.  Which didn't work.

Okay, time to bargain.  "I'll go to church today, if You will stop these contractions..."  Haha, ok, I didn't really sink that low, but I did go to church because the thought of staying home and just suffering didn't sound as appealing as being spiritually uplifted.  But, that may have been a bad idea.

So I had Brett bring me home a smidgen early.  By the time he got home, only half an hour later, I was 2 minutes apart with contractions and mentally, emotionally, and physically exhausted.

I kept saying to myself, "Ok, one more hard one and I will go in.  Ok, one more hard one, and I'll go in."  About 60 more hard ones, I went in.

The second they hooked me up, I had a contraction, and it showed up.  I automatically felt validated, less insane, and very excited that perhaps now we were finally going to get them to stop!!!

They checked my cervix, which is holding strong.  I'm impressed considering the beating it's getting.  Between my contractions and kick-boxing-baby, it's determined to stay shut.  I hope it changes it's mind around August 14th, haha.

Anywho, slept really late today thanks to morphine, but woke up to more contractions.  Brett's getting my Rx on his way here for lunch, and then the rest of this pregnancy is going to be easy sailing.  Right?  RIGHT?!

Kelly Down

Sunday, June 13, 2010

Validation

Totally went to Labor and Delivery today where we caught the elusive contractions on paper.

It felt good to know I wasn't totally nutso.

Please forgive this post, I am on morphine and a medicine that makes my whole body shakey, including my brain. 

And guess what, cousin Abbie, I totally got a prescription for that stuff.

It's been sooooo long since I haven't had contractions every few minutes, and I gotta say, I can get used to this!!

Woo Hoo!

Kelly Down

Saturday, June 12, 2010

Golden Thoughts

Sometimes I forget what it means to be a parent.

Sometimes I forget that Motherhood is a calling.

Sometimes I forget that Tweedle-Dee and Tweedle-Dum are just little kids who need to be taught.

But that's okay.  The Lord knew I was forgetful when He gave them to me.  But I also forget that I am part of the beacon that's going to (if all goes to plan) lead them back to Him.

I loved this quote.  It was a great reminder of how tiring, difficult, and wonderful being a parent really is.

"You have walked the sometimes painful, sometimes joyous path of parenthood.  You have walked hand in hand with God in the great process of bringing children into the world that they might experience this estate along the road of immortality and eternal life.  It has not been easy rearing a family.  Most of you have had to sacrifice and skimp and labor night and day.  As I think of you and your circumstances, I think of the words of Anne Campbell, who wrote as she looked upon her children:

You are the trip I did not take;
You are the pearls I cannot buy;
You are my blue Italian lake;
You are my piece of foreign sky.""

President Gordon B. Hinckley, "Women of the Church," Ensign, Nov 1996, pg 67

And the best part is that I can hear it in President Hinckleys slow, shaky, loving voice. 

I know I have been blessed with a rare patience and tunnel vision focused on my rug rats.  From the moment they were born, they've been my life, and it's been easy.  I can't really remember life before them, and I don't really care to. 

I think about number 3, and I get so excited.  For the rest of eternity, this little squiggly baby in my belly is going to be a very important part in my life.  Then I think about numbers 4 and maybe 5 and if I'm really feelin' crazy 6, and think, "There are more precious souls awaiting our important decision to bring them home.  There are little beings who I don't even know, who one day I'm going to love more than I love myself."

What a powerful thought.  I will be walking "hand in hand with God in the great process" of bringing these souls down to experience this hard and wonderful life. 

Cohen and Kembry make it so easy to want to have more and more children.  They make me smile, laugh, cry, cry, and cry (all for different reasons).  Can you imagine your life without someone so special in it? 
Do you even want to? 


Thanks again to Cheyenne!  I love, love, LOVE my box of thoughts.

Kelly Down

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