A Series of Fortunate Events

Okay, here is my story and I am sticking to it. I apologize in advance for the detailed delivery story, but being that this is my main journal at the time, I think it only responsible for me to start the bragging and be thorough for my posterity's sake.

So I was scheduled to be induced on the morning of Friday, August 17. My body seemed to know that I was feeling a bit apprehensive about being induced, so it kindly decided to start labor that morning for my sake. As I got up that morning to shower and get ready for the hospital, I started to feel real contractions, a couple an hour- nothing to intense. As we drove to the hospital, we of course went through the McDonald's drive-thru for breakfast for Cody and Claire. There was some hold up and we were waiting for a long time, and I was having more frequent contractions. Cody and I laughed as we were waiting, because I told him to yell out the window to the car in front of us to hurry up because his wife was in labor. For some reason, it was pretty funny at the time. Anyhoot, sorry for that tangent.

By the time I got to the hospital I was having contractions sporadically and by the time they hooked me up to everything and strapped me down, I was dilated to a 6. The nurse joked that this was the easiest induction she had ever been to. So they decided to hook me up to the epidural (which was perfection) and by this time I was at a 7, all before the doctor got there. So after the Dr arrived, she broke my water and started me on a little patocin and an hour and a half later, baby Morgan joined our family. It wasn't too bad as far as delivery goes- a little bit of natural labor, a little bit of induction, and a beautiful little girl in the end.

It has now been two weeks since she was born and I feel like we are doing okay. Morgan has good nights and bad nights, Claire has good days and bad days, and Cody has been delightfully helpful through it all. Slowly but surely we are starting to get back to our regular scheduled programming called life.

Chronology

Brand Spankin' New

YYY

We welcomed baby Morgan Joy into our family on August 17, 2007.

She was born at 9:57 am, weighing 7 lbs 6 oz, measuring 20'' tall.

She is absolutely beautiful and squishy, and we are completely in love with her. We are all doing well and appreciate every one's well wishes!

YYY

Soon

So I am having a baby tomorrow. It feels weird to me. I am the type of person that goes to extra lengths to ensure that I am surprised on Christmas day. I like surprises. So I am just having a teensy bit of hesitation about being induced tomorrow. I feel pretty optimistic that it will go well, since my body is pretty ready to have the baby anyways, but I feel a bit of, dare I say shame, for being induced. It's purely for convenience- the doctor is worried that I won't make it to the hospital in time to have the baby if I go on my own. But I really do only live 20 minutes away from the hospital. My big concern is just making it to the hospital in time for an epidural- an essential part of delivery for me. I guess my biggest worry with being induced is that somehow I won't be proud about my story- no midnight labor, no bracing through contractions at home, no rush to the hospital. Instead, I am going to go sit in a bed, get hooked up to who knows what, and wait for the pain to start. It seems a bit anti-climatic. (I do realize that I sound completely stupid, but when has that ever stopped my from speaking my feelings!)

But the best thing about knowing I am having a baby tomorrow, is knowing that I will be holding my baby tomorrow! I am so excited to see her, to hold her, to cuddle with her. Soon.

Who am I Becoming?

Last night we had a girl's night out. That meant that we left the hubby and kids at home and went to dinner and a movie that most likely our husbands had no interest in seeing. The movie of choice last night was one that I had been anxiously awaiting for some time.

Becoming Jane is the story of Jane Austen and the romance and experiences in her real life that influenced the romances and experiences in her novels. I have been pondering over if I should give you a thumbs up to go see it, or thumbs down. I am an intense Jane Austen fan- I think her writing is among the best the world has ever seen. I have read and enjoyed each of her books repeatedly (with the exception of Northanger Abby) . I really enjoyed picking out the different parts of her books from the subtle references in the movie. I know it was all the work of the screenwriter, but it was fun to imagine and to wonder where she did find her inspirations. The movie is a romance and the filmmakers and actors do a good job of making the romance something that you felt and truly rooted for (as opposed to feeling forced to go along with a formulaic romance portrayal). So this is really my final recommendation on the matter. If you don't like Jane Austen books, don't go see the movie-you will be lost in the language and probably frustrated by the story. But if you are a true Austenite, go see it, enjoy the guilty pleasure of imagining Jane's life, but just don't sit in the front row!! I would say its a good movie, just not a great movie. Be warned, though. Even though it is a PG movie, you do see the backside of two men, and a shocking, misplaced, rather sickening scene that I am too embarrassed to even label for you.

On a little personal note, I would like to apologize to everyone that I have been rude and vulgar to lately. For some reason, I have really been off my rocker as far as being clean in speech and kind in humor. I blame it on the humidity, and the fact that when I was little I didn't get equal share of ice cream as my siblings (little inside joke there--me, managing to be rude inside an apology for being rude). When I get in front of a group of people who I am comfortable with, I tend to be more vulgar than I believe I really am. And last night, I felt I was downright rude in some of my humor. At one point, I told one of the girls, who I had meet maybe twice before, who had pictures of kittens in her planner, that I hated people who liked cats. I was completely kidding, but what kind of humor is that?? Just a little off, people. Please accept my apologies if you have been offended, grossed out, influenced, or shocked by any of my lame behavior. And if you haven't experience any of this from me yet, just give it time. At the rate I am declining, I am bound to get a comedy show on HBO by November.

A Bunch of Brunching Braggers

Today I invited some girls in our ward over for brunch. I love breakfast food, but that it besides the point. It had been a while since I have really hung out with any of these girls (or anybody for that matter), and I wanted to get together at least once before I had this baby and am put firmly out of commission. So we got together, ate pancakes and sticky buns (I didn't make the sticky buns this time, for all who were concerned), and had a jolly ol' time chatting.

It is a well known fact that a group of mothers cannot get together without the conversation eventually leading to labor and delivery. . . and boobs. It just happens and its inevitable. All of the girls, with the exception of me, have had a baby in the last year- two of the girls just had their first babies last month, so conversation was ripe and progressed full speed ahead to labor and delivery stories. It's not like we have never hung out before, not like we haven't heard each other's labor and delivery story before (well, with the two new moms, the stories were both pretty new to us). So why do we rehash each and every detail when we get together? I can see how that would be real, real annoying to people that don't have kids yet. And I can see why people say that when you have a baby, you become boring. It reminds me of third grade when all the kids are showing off every scab and scar that they have ever had in order to impress the other kids. However, since I have had a baby, I haven't tired of hearing or telling birthing stories. Why is that?

What we are essentially doing is sitting around bragging about our experience and we are all bragging about completely different things. We are bragging about how short our labor was; we are bragging about how long our labor lasted; we are bragging about how painful it was; how not painful it was; how big our baby was; how small our baby was; etc, etc. Most of our labors are completely different and yet no matter how it happens, we find a way to brag about it. I participate in this full-heartedly, so I am not condemning this- I really enjoy it. I suppose that's why people are drawn to memoirs, because we like to hear other people's experiences. It helps us examine our own and put them into perspective. And more importantly, I think we like for other's to hear our experiences. That sounds incredibly conceited, but I think the reason we are bragging is because we are truly proud of the experience we went through.

Labor is our battle wound that shows how much we commit ourselves and our bodies to having a kid (not that we really have a choice once we're preggers). It's hard; it's scary; it's wonderful; it's messy. And we are proud of it no matter how it happens, no matter if we pushed for four hours or if our babies foot pushed itself out before we were even out of the waiting area. There is really no sense in trying to one up someone else's delivery story, because we are all inwardly excessively proud of how our own story happens. So it should be told, repeatedly, at every Enrichment dinner, cooking gals, and girls night out, because it feels wonderful to be acknowledged for a truly wonderful event. And plus, every one loves a good story with plenty of blood and gore, right?

So here, blogging world, is my current baby story. I went to the doctor today, pretty excited because they were going to "check" me and I was hoping for a good progress report. First off, I was shocked, shocked when they weighed me and I found out I had lost three pounds in a week. I cannot account for it, because I have been constantly eating. In fact since I made strawberry jam several weeks ago, I have had at least three or four sandwiches a day- that's in between meals! I love them so much I have to pace myself so I don't get indigestion. As soon as I feel a bit of hunger, I rejoice and allow myself a glorious pb and j. When the doc checked me I was shocked, shocked and more shocked (sorry for all the shocks, but I previously put two shocks for the weight thing, and this time I was more shocked than that, hence the extra shocked) when he told me I was dilated to a 5!! And then he tells me I am 100% effaced. I didn't know you could get that far without actually being in labor, but apparently you can and I am. So that just scared the pants off me because that could means I can go at anytime. Mentally, I am not ready to have this baby. I don't even have my bag packed or anything. But maybe this is the wake up call I needed. He even scheduled me for an inducement for next week, because he thinks when I go into labor, the baby is going to come fast and he doesn't want me to, and this is a direct quote, "have the baby in the Fort Pitt Tunnels". Okay. For some reason I am anti being induced. I don't know why. I just have some romantic notion of going into labor the normal way, rushing to the hospital, getting an epidural (that is the most romantic part of the whole thing), and pushing a baby out. But he doesn't think I am even going to make it to the day he has me scheduled for inducement. So why schedule me for inducement then? Some questions we may never know the answer to.

That's my story and I am proud of it. I will tell this story to anyone with a listening ear for at least the next ten years, and I will be unapologetic about it. Because every step of it is a celebration for us, and it should be shared!