Funky Kim

A day late, but still must be posted!

Due to much drama in my life over the last couple days, this post is a day late.  But Sarah turned 21 yesterday and this story must be told. 

Enjoy!

Sarah’s birth really wasn’t planned to be anything other than the normal go to the hospital and have her already.  I began having labor pains that were painful and regular on Monday, August 29th, while I was at work.  My boss, a single guy who was afraid of pregnant women, made me go home immediately because he didn’t want any baby born withing a 10 mile radius of him.  LOL

I went home, made sure I had my bag packed, walked around our block about a zillion times, made sure I had someone available that evening for Katie, who was 3 at the time, and I called my parents to let them know that the time was now!  Finally decided I’d had enough of being home and my dh (who is now my ex) drove me to the hospital.  This was an Army hospital, as I was in the Army at the time.  And the hospital was a 25 minute drive normally.  But I couldn’t deal with being in a moving vehicle and having a contraction at the same time, so we drove for 3 minutes and would stop for 2 minutes.  I’m sure we looked funny.  Oh well.

Once at the hospital, I’m put in the exam room and a midwife comes in to examine me.  Yup.  I’m having contractions.  Yup.  They’re regular.  Yup.  They hurt.  But they really aren’t organized, you know.  So they’re not doing anything.  I’m only dilated to a 2 or maybe a 3 and the golden number to get to stay is 4, so I’m sent home.  We pick Katie up from daycare and head home to walk some more.  Katie thought it was great fun that mom was walking with her all over the place and that mom needed frequent rest stops so that she could explore every pebble on our route. 

We put Katie to bed.  We have a single friend come over to spend the night, so we don’t have to bother Katie in the night.  About midnight, I’m ready to kill anyone who comes near me and I’m regretting having let my family know that I was in labor.  One more phone call will result in a letter bomb being sent!  So, since I’ve probably hit the bitchy phase of labor, we head to the hospital.  New midwife on duty.  Same news.  My labor is real, but disorganized.  Dilated to a 2.  Go home.  Rah.

Tuesday August 30th is spent being grouchy and bitchy.  I’m not eating much of anything because I know I’ll just throw it back up right before I deliver.  I live in freakin’ hot Texas, so walking isn’t being done outside anymore.  And pacing isn’t my thing.  I can’t sleep because I hurt.  I can’t lay down because I hurt.  I can’t sit because I hurt.  I can’t abide people because I hurt.  My dh does deserve an honorable mention for not losing his temper at me this entire time.  I go back to the hospital in the early afternoon and am told the same story.  I may start removing heads soon.

That evening, I’m sobbing hysterically.  I’m telling dh to just get a knife and do a home c-section.  I don’t care.  I must end this now!  He loads me in the car for our fun, go-stop-go, ride to the hospital.  Go back to that damn exam room.  New midwife.  She looks at me, examines me, and then sits down beside me and holds my hand.  She explains that disorganized labor is a common thing.  Then this blessed angel of mercy tells me that sometimes having a glass of wine or taking a hot bath will either stop disorganized completely or help speed it up. 

Well, she said the magic words: hot bath.  In my world, there is NOTHING that a hot bath cannot fix or make better.  We drive home and I even deal with contractions while driving because I want that hot bath that I haven’t been allowed to have since I lost my mucos plug.  It will be the best bath ever!

Once home, dh goes to sleep on the couch so I can make noise and pace and bathe in the master bedroom and not bug him.  I understand because one of us should be well rested.  I draw my bath.  Must be plain, because of lost plug, but who cares!  It’s a bit after 1 am, I can see steam rising from the water in the tub.  I climb in and lay down in the hot, hot water and just relax.  This is the first time in days that nothing hurts!  This is a good thing!  I’m pretty sure I’ve stopped my labor, but I don’t care. 

I lay there, reheating the water as needed, for about an hour.  I get out of the tub, wrap myself in my beach towel, and go lay down on the bed and immediately fall asleep.  More bliss, as I haven’t slept much in days.  Around 4:30 am, I’m woke up by MUCH stronger contractions.  I’m excited because surely these puppies must be doing something.  But, because I hurt so bad, I decide that another hot bath is in order to get my pain down long enough for the drive to the hospital.

I start filling the bathtub.  I sit on the toilet to take care of matters.  I watch the tub filling.  I begin to have diarrhea.  I can’t leave the toilet.  I watch the tub filling ever closer to the top.  The cat comes in to investigate what’s going on.  I finally stop cramping enough to stand long enough to stop the water, but I can’t seem to walk.  I sit back on my toilet and immediately throw up into the wastebasket.

Lightbulb comes on.  I feel down below and feel a head!  Holy shit, Maynard!  I’m having a baby right here.  Right now.

I reach up into the cupboard above the toilet and grab a few towels.  I scooch forward on the seat and push really hard and out pops this cute little head.  After a little more pushing, out comes the shoulders and she can get to her thumb, which knows the way to her mouth already.  Another big push and there she is!  It’s a girl!

I wrapped her up in a couple of fuzzy towels and just sat there and stared at her.  She stared right back while sucking her thumb.  Cat came over to see what I had just done.  Cat started licking her off.  I shooed the cat away.  I hollered for that husband.  He came back, bitching that this better be important.  He about died when he came around the corner and saw her in my arms!  ROFL

He called 911, then left me the phone and went out to direct the ambulance.  We lived in a sort of rural area.  I called my mom.  After she told me that she was chapped that my ex hadn’t called her to let her know the minute Sarah had been born I filled her in that the cord wasn’t even cut yet and I’d had her in the bathroom and she was about 3 or 4 minutes old!  I wish I could have seen her expression!

Paramedics came.  They were silly with excitement.  Apparently they needed a happy call.  They took Sarah long enough so the placenta could be birthed and taken care of.  They let me cut the cord.  They checked Sarah over, then wrapped her in an aluminum space blanket and gave her back to me.  She hated that blanket.  She wanted her fluffy towel back.  Screamed for a very long time about that blanket!

Paramedics held her while I took a shower, then I walked out to the living room to get on the stretcher for the ride to the hospital.  Practically the whole neighborhood was in my living room cheering!  Funny way to start the day.

When we got to the hospital, the angel of mercy midwife was thrilled for me.  We laughed at how well her advice worked.  I needed no stitches or anything.  I got a private room, which was unheard of for an enlisted person in a military hospital back then.

Sarah Beth was born at about 5:00 am on August 31, 1988 in the master bathroom of my home in Kempner, Texas.

Florida Musings

I'm here in the greater Tampa area, visiting my friend Colleen.  She and her husband, Jim, are both graduating tomorrow from Saint Leo University.  That, my friends, is a big fat hairy deal!

Today was spent having our nails done, eating a yummy lunch, and some major shopping.  Now everyone has errands to accomplish for the ceremony and the party tomorrow.  I have finished my jobs (I ironed the gowns and put felt thingies on the chair legs in the dining room).  So I thought I'd post here.

I cannot access a couple of my message boards.  This is an aggravation as the other message boards, located at the same place, are accessible to me.  I like keeping up with my online friends when I can.  Oh well.  I'll be home Sunday evening and am off Monday, so I'll catch up then.

I went to a Bare Escentuals store.  My first!  What fun!  They have an eye shadow called Puzzle that's a fund raiser for autism awareness.  I bought one even though it is very light and I might not wear it much.  I love supporting causes that are near and dear to my heart.  I also got a mauve lip kit .  I loved going to an actual store and seeing all the different colors.  My spa at home sells this makeup, but doesn't have as large of an assortment.

Jim's back from his errand.  He and a friend went to pick up the keg.  I'm off to supervise the tapping of the keg and approve the beer.  I have a hard life down here, but I try to make the best of things!

Full (sad) circle

I helped plan Katie's wedding 4 years ago. Did a lot of the work involved in making it happen. Hoped for the best and wished them well. And today, in a weird circle of life moment, I will preside at the divorce of Katie and Josh.

The court system here in Utah has divorce paperwork available online. If you use this paperwork, you just pay an additional $25 when you file them. This works kind of like Turbo Tax. You answer questions and based on those answers there are more questions to answer. And eventually you reach the end of the questions and hit print and out prints a bunch of paperwork, written in the appropriate legalese. They you take all these papers to a notary and sign them in front of the notary and haul them to court. 90 days later, you're divorced.

They have haggled over a bunch of stuff. And Katie's gone through reams of paper printing out the different agreements. And they both have finally come to an agreement on all the little things that are involved when you divorce and have a child.

And it so happens that I am a notary in the great state of Utah. And Katie asked the court clerk if I could be their notary. And it was determined that there really wasn't a conflict of interest for me, so it would be OK for me to be the notary on these divorce papers.

Josh will bring Vincent home about 6 this evening. And he'll actually come in my house this time and we'll sit around and notarize the paperwork about 8 times. I wonder if I could talk Dwaine into pictures?

Life changing!

My new bras have changed my life!  Rocked my world!  Really!

I went to Macy's yesterday for a professional bra fitting.  And I bought four new bras as a result.  And sitting here this morning I was realizing that my bra really feels good!  The girls aren't any more perky today than they were yesterday, but they are ever so much happier.

Is this TMI?  Too bad.  I'm happy.

Retail Therapy

Have you tried to get a mortgage loan lately?  The new rules are incredible and the forms change on a daily basis.  We're refinancing our home to take advantage of the seriously low interest rates out there right now.  We've been in this process for a little over two months now.  TWO MONTHS.  We finally got the call that we had a closing appointment yesterday.  So we got off work early, went to the title company, and our loan documents weren't there.  Not only weren't they there, they weren't scheduled to be printed yet at the loan place.

Frustration.

So I decided I needed some retail therapy.  And that means something much different to me than to most people.  I hit the local Savers, which is a thrift store that benefits Big Brothers/Big Sisters.  I adore thrift store shopping.  I spent a total of $4.64.  I found a couple books that I hadn't read.  And I found Vincent a puzzle made up of a bunch of different shapes!  He's very interested in shapes at the moment.  And, thanks to his grandpa and uncles, I'm having a heck of a time getting him to say hexagon instead of sexagon.  *sigh*  The puzzle will introduce a trapezoid to him.  Bonus!

I just got off the phone with the title company.  They should have our loan documents today.  And they need to be signed today.  But no one has time to do them with us today.  So we're meeting there tomorrow morning and just dating the darn things today.  And we will get a phone call if the documents fail to show. 

Larger family?

Mary Alice was sort of wishing she had a larger family.  Not that the family she has isn't perfect.  Just in a different world, she would have wanted more children.

I feel the same way.  Especially since I married Dwaine.  Back in the day, when I was married to that first husband of mine, one child was not enough and two children were definitely too many.  And when I was a single parent for those 11 years, the two girls I had were more than enough children for me and I was grateful that I had both of them and that I didn't have any more.

But now...I get a longing for another one.  One that I could raise in a two parent household.  I'd like to experience that.  With Vincent living with us, I get large tastes of what that could be like.  But it isn't the same.  Because he's not our child.  He's our grandchild.  When I'm doing things with him, sometimes I wonder if I would be doing the same things, only differently, with him if he was my child.  Of course, then my brain explodes.

And there is absolutely no chance that a baby will accidentally happen to me.  I'm spayed and Dwaine's neutered.  And Dwaine's adamant that we're much too old to do something silly, like adopt a child.  So I'll always just get to wonder what it would be like.  And I'll spoil my grandchildren like crazy! 

Birthdays!

Tonight is the family birthday party.  My dad, my eldest step-son and Vincent will all celebrate tonight.  Vincent isn't aware that it's HIS turn finally!  And his actual birthday isn't until April 12th, so he will get to celebrate a lot more before he's done turning three.

Currently there's an old fashioned fudge cake in the oven.  It's one of my MIL's recipes.  I never met her, but have heard her cooking, sewing, crocheting, etc skills raved about since I married Dwaine.  Someone in Dwaine's family even called her Saint Joyce when talking with me.  Appears she did everything perfectly.  Of course, that happens when you're very loved and you die young and unexpectedly.  Anyway, after Dwaine's sister died, I inherited a big drawer of recipes from his mom and his grandmothers.  And I'm very clear that I'll make the attempt, but I'm certain that they will never taste "right" to Dwaine.  And he gets that part.  So he doesn't hold me up to anyone's cooking/baking standards but my own.

The cake will get a peanut butter frosting that his mom invented.  And after googling several peanut butter frosting recipes, I can see that it is an invention.  I hope it turns out OK.  And I can't wait to try a fudge cake with peanut butter frosting!

The other cake I'm making is my dad's favorite.  Oatmeal cake made just the way his mom used to.  (Do you see a theme here???)  Major plus about my dad's family favorite recipes is that I learned how to make them from my grandma.  So I can duplicate them precisely and they taste right and everything.  I'm jonesing for some of the frosting for this cake.  Coconut walnut yumminess!  I can't wait to lick the bowl!

Monday and it's looking a lot like Christmas

It's been snowing all day long.  It snowed all night last night, so we woke up needing to clear the cars and stomp our feet.  But it's a spring snow, so it doesn't stick to the roads, as they're still warm from day before yesterday when we broke the all time record high temperature.  Love spring!

Shopped and bought a wedding dress for Kristi today.  It could have been a much harder ordeal than it was, but I'm glad its over and done with.  Now Sarah's gone off the deep end, wanting zoot suits instead of regular tuxedos.  And those zoot suits are at least twice the cost!  Of course, I've told them what I will spend and I will stop spending once we reach that amount.  I'm just afraid we'll reach that amount long before the ceremony.

Vincent has been a trooper today.  He went wedding dress shopping for about 3 hours.  Then he went to IFA to shop for gardening stuff.  Of course, IFA also has baby ducklings and chicks and bunny rabbits to look at and hold, so it wasn't that much of a hardship there.  Then we went to Sam's Club and walked the whole place and bought more than we had planned.  We finally finished our Monday shopping/errand day at the grocery store.  We will eat for many meals now.  Life is good.

I had a day

Yesterday was a no good, very bad, glad it's over day at work.  And when I got home and discovered that Vincent and Katie were out running errands, I rejoiced!  I could have a bubble bath without a young child jumping in.

So I started the water.  And added the bubble bath.  And the bathroom started filling with the wonderful aroma of honey.  As I began removing my clothes, anticipating the warm, relaxing water, I hear a crying boy and realize that not only has Vincent returned home, he's not a happy boy.

Turns out Vincent didn't want his nap today.  So when he was riding around in the car with his mom during the late afternoon, he fell asleep.  And only managed to sleep for about 45 minutes.  And that just isn't enough.  But it's more than enough sleep that late in the day as the people who love and care for him would like to go to bed before sunup the next day. 

Therefore, I did the only thing I could think of that would wake him up completely and make him happy.  I told him he could take a bubble bath with grandma.  As he climbed in the tub, still crying, I could feel him relax as the warm water started working its magic.  And before too long, he was playing with his funnel and eating bubbles.  And when he stood up to pee a rainbow in the tub, grandma decided that her soak was done and left him to play all to himself.

After the bath was done, he ate just a little bit of dinner.  We watched the Utah Jazz play while Vincent drove his trucks around, terrozing the cats.  When the game was over I decided I'd take Vincent to bed with me and he could snuggle while I read a magazine.  He decided he needed his blanket with him.  The blanket that is becoming Vincent's blankie is one that my grandma quilted for Dwaine and me when we got married.  It's a queen size quilt.  And Vincent hauls it around the house  with him.  Funny boy!

After he got settled under his blanket, he had to leave again to get a book so he could read to himself.  He likes identifying the shapes and the colors of the pictures and his latest trick is picking out the different letters he knows.  I think he's pretty darn smart for not being 3 years old yet!

So my heart  was bursting at the cuteness of him laying in bed beside me, both of us reading.   It just doesn't get any better than that and I hope he and his mom live with us for a while longer.

Sunday Musings

Vincent and I are up and fed.  Not dressed. Getting out of pajamas and into clothes is optional on most Sundays around here.  And we haven't found a reason to ditch the jammies yet.

The brides are at church this morning.  Going to meet with the pastor and, hopefully, remember to reserve the church.  I skipped going with them as they didn't decide that they were actually going today until it was much too late for me to get my household dressed and out the door.  Kristi worked until 3 in the morning, so the decision to go to church was all hers.

I saw the most amazing ballet yesterday.  Madame Butterfly was performed by Ballet West and I have no words to describe how wonderful it was.  I knew the story line and how sad the story was, but at the end I was sobbing!  I still have shivers up and down my spine just remembering the performance.  Next month I'll see Treasures of the Ballets Russes.  I have no idea what to expect, so I can't wait to see!

Dwaine and I have a four day weekend this weekend.  Our normal day off fell on the President's Day holiday, so we needed to take another day as our holiday.  Last week was much too busy at work to take a day off, so this coming Tuesday it is!  As an added bonus, the children's museum is having a special day on Tuesday, so I'll haul Vincent out there and watch him have a blast.  Have I mentioned how much fun being a grandma is?