Family Update

Margot (Pronounced Mar-G0) One week old in her Boppy. 5 Pounds, 10 Ounces

Grandma Young taking a break from her house chores to hold Margot.The first time Grandma Cornelius got to hold her granddaughter! Chester, toy tester, extraordinaire!

Bob and I have been parents for ten days now, and it's been a really amazing week and half!

So here are a couple of updates on how I'm/we're doing:

1. I am healing quite nicely after the c-section- and am off the Percocet a week early. That stuff is just really hard on your mind and body! I was thankful for it the first couple of days after surgery, but hope I never have to take it again.
   
2. My milk has come in perfectly, and baby Margot is gaining weight. Now we're just trying to get through the pain of nursing. My friends say it stops hurting somewhere between 2 and 3 weeks. So each day, we're getting a little closer. She's a little chow hound!
   
3. The whole family is learning how to sleep in 2-4 hour increments and feeding for one hour in between those nap sessions. It's different, but doable.
   
4. Bob is an amazing daddy! I've never seen the man worry about anything in his life, and all of a sudden there is this entirely different side of him. He worries about diaper changes and poo consistencies. He takes Margot's temperature daily and checks to see if she is breathing. There are another dozen things I could add, but I won't. It's nice to see him completely wrapped up in this. I think he is doing a year's worth of worrying in two weeks.
   
5. Bob deploys sometime this week. My heart breaks at the thought of it. And I am starting to worry at what an enormous responsibility it is to raise a baby on one's own!
   
6. My mom has been here and has been a busy little bee. She refers to herself as our house servant. She seriously has laundry clean and folded almost before you take the clothes off your body. The house is vacuumed, a couple of different kinds of cobblers made, and still she has time to hold Margot and read a book. The woman is amazing. I really appreciate her energy. I couldn't have done this without her!
   
7. Bob's mom, Betty, came out for a long weekend visit, and I'm so glad she did. Bob and Betty were planning a trip out in October, and they're still coming then. But who can blame a new grandma for wanting to come out just a little earlier to get a peek at her granddaughter? They're only this size once! Betty's got such a peaceful energy about her, and it was a treat to see her with Margot. Plus a bonus: she makes killer German Style Potato Salad.
   
8. Chester, the beagle, seems to be doing his level best to ignore Margot. He is, however, very interested in all of her toys. We figure they'll be sharing just about everything eventually, so we put blankets in her seats and let him snuggle in them. He'll probably be more into the baby when she is more interactive. Right now she just eats and sleeps like it's her job.
   

We are so thankful for the support and love we've received from everyone. It's fantastic to know we are not in this alone. I might need regular infusions of that message in the year to come. I know raising a baby alone is doable. I have amazing Army friends who have done it and are doing it every day. My hat is completely off to them. And I am humbled beyond words (and scared shitless) to join their ranks this week.

Until next time...

Baby Margot!

Make a Smilebox greeting

September 3, 2009?

We took Mom and Ed on a field trip to the Salmon Hatchery in Tumwater, outside Olympia.

My cute little mom. Check out my gut!

Almost parents, 39 weeks.

Ooh, so I've been so bad at posting since I've discovered Facebook. Also, I've learned how to text, upgraded to a newer Blackberry, and made my laptop wireless. I'm pretty sure I'm almost current. I think I'll pass on the whole Twitter phenomenon!

Here's the latest: tomorrow morning we go to the hospital to try to turn Margot one more time.

If she turns, we wait for the epidural to wear off- and we go home. Then we wait for Margot to tell us when she is ready to go into labor. This, I would consider Plan A.


If she does not turn, then we will have a c-section tomorrow morning. I am at peace with this now, and though it would not be my first choice, I am really looking forward to meeting this little baby. I think she's going to be spunky.... if refusing to turn is any indication.

Bob is here and so is my mom and Ed. Also, Emmy our doula, will be there. So I feel like I am in very good hands.

With that, I think I'm going to finish a little bit of laundry and go to bed. Our lives could be changing dramatically tomorrow morning!

Recent Reading

I've been working my way through my shelf of books that I need to read before I buy MORE books. Here are two of my recent reads: I almost never read a book because the movie looks interesting, but with The Reader, that's exactly what I did. I wanted to see The Reader in the theater last year, but it just never happened. Then I thought I would just watch it on Netflix (it is indeed downstairs waiting to be watched even now). And then I decided to just go ahead and read it first.

I heard the movie is pretty weird, but the book was actually decent. I do think you can be weirder with books than movies and your reader will stay with you and work through the weirdness.

So the synopsis: Young German boy falls in love with a woman twice his age. They have a relationship and she moves away, quite suddenly. The next time he sees her, he is a law student and she is on trial for war crimes in the concentration camps during WWII. This is where their relationship evolves and grows... and he helps her deal with her terrible secret.

I'd give this book 3.5 stars.

My school book group just read Ann Patchett's Run. Patchett is most notable for writing Bel Canto (which I am currently reading). This was a beautifully told story about an elite family in Boston: white, older dad who used to be Mayor; one troubled, grown, natural son, and two brilliant, adopted black sons. Their lives change dramatically one night in a snowy car accident when they meet family and non family that will redirect the course of each of their lives.

I'd give it 4 stars.

Oh Captain, My Captain

Bob had his picture taken this week for his packet to be promoted to major. Who knows when that will happen, but now that the photo is taken, the packet is complete. I think he looks pretty official here. He's been practicing... not too happy or too gruff. His head neck shouldn't be smashed down or pointing up. His shoulders should be square and the metals straight... you get the gist. I think he nailed it.

As crazy as I am making myself these days, I am just beyond thankful for Bob. The man is even keeled and has this unnerving way of seeing the big picture when I am still stuck in the details. I appreciate his humor (which doesn't show in the picture) and his steadfastness (which does).

Margot is one lucky baby to get Bob as a daddy. And I don't know how I'd get through this process without his encouragement.

Turn Baby Turn!

So what would a week be like without a little bit of new baby stuff going on? I'd like to use the drama, but that seems a bit extreme at this point. It turns out that Margot was still lying transverse (side to side) last week, and I was 1 cm dilated... so the doctors said I could either go ahead and schedule my c-section (uh, no thanks!) or schedule a time to move her manually in the next two days. I chose option number two.

But before then, we tried everything in our power to turn her ourselves, and without pain. It should be noted that we've been doing most of these things for months now. But I'm swimming, high stepping, squatting, sitting on chairs backwards, sitting on a birthing ball, going to the chiropractor... etc.

So Thursday, Emmy- our doula, came to the house and burned Moxa Sticks (Mugwort) on either side of my pinky toes to trigger the reflexology points that should relax the uterus to let Margot move freely. So here I am pictured standing on phone books with these sort of Roman Candle things burning on either side of my feet. I stood like that for about 45 minutes, and the Moxa sticks smell like you're burning two doobies in the back yard. I'm sure the neighbors are either scandalized or are planning to introduce themselves to us any day now.

Friday morning at 6:00, we went in for the external cephalic version... it didn't work. They turned her head up. Totally breech. I won't even go into the excruciating pain of it. But I have to think it's definitely less painful than a c-section. And if it gives Margot a boost out of her comfort zone... then I'll gladly do it again.

I feel like I've been beat about the stomach with a baseball bat.
In happier news, is this the most beautiful high chair you've ever seen in your life? Bob's parents (Bob-the-dad and Betty) ordered it for us. I absolutely adore it. Bonus features- it comes with a plastic tray cover... for when it's really time to use it. And it turns into a toddler chair when Margot's ready to eat at the table with the adults. This is really a piece of furniture that our grandchildren will use.

Thank you, Cornelius parents!

And finally, here is a fun picture taken this week. Bob is the Charlie Troop Commander for 1-14 Cav. Pictured next to me is Paige and Suzanne. Paige's husband is the Bravo Troop Commander, and Suzanne's husband is the Alpha Troop Commander. They're both due mid to late November.

I said if we wanted to get a picture of us all pregnant, we needed to do it at this coffee... because by the next coffee I expect to have a baby in my arms! So here we are... A, B, and C commanders' wives.

The moral of the story: Don't drink the water at Ft. Lewis if you're not ready for a baby!

Starbucks Trivia

Before moving to Washington State, I erroneously thought a couple of things about Starbucks. I thought:

1. People in Washington would snub Starbucks- because it is a major chain, and Pacific Northwesterners (practically the North American inventors of coffee) would only accept locally owned and operated coffee houses. -NOT TRUE.
2. I thought Starbucks was opened in Starbucks, Washington. -Also: NOT TRUE.

Last weekend, when Bob and I were in Seattle for our little trip, we took the underground Seattle tour and learned a little about the origins of Starbucks. Here's the skinny:

1. The original location was opened in 1971 in Pike's Place market... where you can take your picture and wait 45 minutes for a cup of coffee.
2. The original logo is pictured above. Remember, people: sex sells. So what would sell a quality cup of coffee better than a topless mermaid? Well, the Starbucks truck drove around Seattle selling coffee... and the locals had a fit about decency. (Side note: I have a hard time believing Seattle was EVER that uptight about a little modesty. Has anyone been here lately? Clothes, shmose...) I digress. So they reconfigured the mermaid to picture her from the clavicle up.
3. The original Starbucks was opened by an English teacher, a history teacher, and a writer. -I'm reasonably certain all those late nights of grading and writer's block spurred their business venture.

So I do love Starbucks. I viewed it as a little piece of home when I was living in Europe. -Though the local coffee houses were usually better. And it's about the only decent cup of coffee one can find in the entire city of Cincinnati. Out here, I'm with the locals: Yes, we will pay $4.00 for a cup of coffee at Starbucks, but we will just as gladly purchase a locally owned and brewed (with love) cup of joe.

The really strange thing with coffee out here though is this: they ask you if you want a straw with your HOT coffee- EVERY TIME. Now I'm used to it. But I still think it's just a little different. So I always decline. I guess I'm just not quite a local... yet.