2 WEEKS and Happy about it!!!

Two weeks old today! Happy 1/2 a month old, Faithy!

She's celebrating this milestone with sleeping and grinning alternated with moments of grinning and sleeping. There might have been a few squeaks of protest from the flash of the camera bothering her.

Ask And It Shall Be Given...

My camera wasn't cooperating yesterday for most of these pictures, but at least I have some new ones!

This is Paul Bunyan.




















This is Ironman. They aren't the same man.

Ironman grows a beard for good luck when we're going through a life changing event. Being that he's of the Middle Eastern breed, he looks like a terrorist in most of our important photos. Or a trucker. A trucker or a terrorist. No offense to the truckers.

I try to convince him he's more of a hottie when he's clean shaven, but he's of the opinion that the power is in the facial hair. Whatever.

The nurse was supposed to bring him a hat to wear in the operating room. When she didn't follow through, he decided the face mask would make a good hat. And in case you're wondering, our hospital didn't carry shoe covers to adequately cover a size 14 boot. Oh, you weren't wondering?























Here's what Faith looks like when she pulls her entire body inside her gown. I guess there really is no point to having sleeves when your hands can't stick out of the ends.

























Here's what Faith looks like when she's thinking about something funny she heard earlier in the day.
























This is Faith loving the feel of chenille on bare skin.






















Awwww, Bub. That kid LOVES his baby sister. He has kissies for her all the time! I've been shocked how well the 3 older kids have taken to what I feared would be seen as "the invader." So far she's their baby.



















I don't really know why this picture was included. Ched asked for pictures. What Ched wants, Ched gets--except for the pictures of us (parents) as babies. I haven't had a chance to get those pictures down yet.
























Baby ear.

And wispy baby hair for kissies. Karly asked me for a picture of baby toes, so I thought I'd get a baby ear pic while I was at it.























1970's bedspread baby ninja.

This gown came from Ironman's side of the family. Just wanted to clarify...

It originally belonged to the twins. I have no idea why I continue to put it on my children other than it makes me giggle because I'm mean like that. I had professional photos taken of the twins wearing these gowns along with the gigantic hot pink hair bows that came with them. At least Faith was spared the bow...until her head gets big enough to wear it and her neck strong enough to support it...

Still Hanging On...

Still surviving...doing fine by most standards....completely exhausted...haven't even taken any new pics of the baby since we've been home...I suck...need humane advice for getting a newborn to stay awake during the day so she doesn't want to party all night...why did I think I could handle a newborn and 3 children 4 years old and younger without a nanny? Will be back eventually assuming I can scrape together some brain cells. I'd like to share my c-section story with you when I have more time and less fatigue. I'll warn you now not to read it if there's any chance you could be having a c-section any time soon. Despite my age and misery during pregnancy, my c-section experience is by far going to be the biggest deterrant to stopping at 4 children. All the dining room chairs are now filled at my table. I could very well be calling it quits on the baby making thing.

Before I go and stumble into furniture and cry over how many dishes need to be washed, I'd like to thank all of you for your sweet comments about baby Faith. :D It's been fun having an inbox full of nice comments, and my attention span is equal to the length of a blog comment...so thank you from the bottom of my heart. More lata!

Crap! Of all days for spell check to not be working...I just typed in "bierd" and spell check didn't catch it. Good luck understanding this post.

Faith Shows Off Her Double Dimples

Today Faith is 3 days old, and we're going home a day early. I think we'll wait until this evening. Anyway, here are photos from this morning. Faith likes to have her face rubbed. Or she has gas. Either way, we continue to touch her face to get a smile out of her.

She's Here!

Faith Emilee

7lbs. 9 oz.

18 3/4 "

6/16/08

12:50 p.m.

More details later, but she's doing very well.

DAT'S NOT FUH-NEEEEE!!!!!!!!!

This should be a brief post to tell you just a few things.

1. JUST A FEW DAYS LEFT!!!! By this time on Monday, I'll be a mother of four and NO LONGER PREGNANT!!! I can't tell you how happy it makes me to realize I will no longer be 14 months pregnant or whatever I am at the moment.

2. I exceeded the weight limit on a plastic stool, and I almost had a very ugly fall when the leg bent.

3. A complete stranger took one look at me the other day and died laughing. I know he was laughing at me because I was the only person on the aisle, and it was the very end of my Wal-Mart trip. By the time I've walked that many steps for over an hour while pushing a heavy cart, I'm looking pretty bad. He shook his head in dismay while I waddled by completely stunned saying, "Do I look THAT miserable?"

I couldn't believe he was so rude. Instantly the "blooduh" kid popped into my mind. A friend shared this with me about a year ago, and it's only gotten funnier to me with time. If only I could carry that little guy around in my pocket and whip him out to say, "DATS NOT FUHNEE! DAT'S NOT FUH-NEEEEEEE!" because that little kid sums up exactly how I felt. The facial expression. The disdain. All of it. Enjoy.

Random Ramblings from a Fairly Unstable Pregnant Chick

Nothing interesting to say here.

I wrote a crazy woman rant last night, but I didn't post it. Luckily some common sense came out of somewhere. Instead of posting it for all the world to see, I sent it off to a few unsuspecting girlfriends and burdened them instead. You're welcome.

What you're witnessing right now is a person procrastinating. I have a ton of things I could be doing to prepare for Monday, but I don't want to do any of it. I'd rather write about nothing than do something.

I find myself looking forward to my 5 day, 4 night stay in the local funny-smelling hospital. I realize I'll still be almost 50 pounds overweight and uncomfortable. I will be pestered all night by nurses taking vitals, etc. I'll be in charge of a newborn. I'll be bleeding like a stuck pig. The food will taste like crap. The bed won't be soft and fluffy, yet somehow I'm still viewing it as time off to take it easy. A mini-vacation that begins with being split open.

But I won't have to break up fights over toys. I won't have to time children playing with toys to force them to share. I don't have to think about what to feed them 3 times a day that they'll actually eat. And no cleaning!!!! Woo hoo!!!!!!!!!!! (Of course, all 3 of my children have come in during the writing of this paragraph and made my heart melt with the things that make them so endearing...I will miss them even though they'll visit daily.)

I'm hoping it will be lots of me and Faith time. For some stupid reason I picture her being easy to care for. Then I watch the reality t.v. shows about newborn babies and am reminded of the non-stop crying and not sleeping at night thing. That worries me. I'm soooooooooo tired right now because of not sleeping much at night. I keep thinking that in five more days I'll be able to rest, and what in the world makes me think that's going to be the case at all??? And I think my hormones will finally be back to normal when that's definitely not the case for women who have just had a baby. It could be months before I feel "normal" again.

I can do it!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I can do it!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Can I do this again? Do I have the stamina? How much harder will it be to have four instead of three? These are all questions I asked myself before pursuing pregnancy. I never figured out who had the answers, so I kind of shoved those thoughts aside. The thought that has always popped into my head is that the work while they're young is so worth it in the long run. I want to be old with a lot of family all around me some day.

Guess what? Apparently 5 days before giving birth to your 4th child in 4 years is when you really wish you had the answers to how much harder it's going to be, etc. The whole "it will be worth the insanity someday" is not nearly so comforting.

Can you tell I'm wigging out a little? I know I can do it. I'm tougher than nails! I can do anything I put my mind to! Yada, yada, yada.

Oh geeze louise...I'm so tired.

Last OB appt before c-section!

Okay, so apparently Faith took her due date very seriously. I'm still a couple of weeks away from being a full 40 weeks, but for some reason I thought she wanted out as much as I want her out.

Not the case.

I went in for my LAST doctor appointment today. Next Monday is my c-section. I kind of expected to hear there was at least a little change after all the contractions I've been having. No dilation whatsoever and she still hasn't dropped.

WHAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAT??????

So it looks like it's on for Monday. By this time next Monday, I'll be getting sewn back up and sent to recovery. The doc said the surgery starts at 12:00 and Faith will probably be out by 12:15.

We can actually have a video camera at this hospital which is a first for us. Now I can finally have Ironman on tape saying, "Do you smell that? That's your flesh burning from where they're cutting you open."

I can't decide if I want to ban all video from over the sheet or not. My first instinct was to warn Ironman that he couldn't videotape the gaping hole in my body. That's what the sheet is up for--so that I don't have to see myself being sliced from hip to hip.

For the record, Ironman, I DO NOT WANT TO SEE THEM CUT INTO ME!!!

But I would be slightly interested in seeing them pull that little chickie out. We have still shots of Alex being lifted out, and everything is covered. My stomach doesn't even look like my stomach. It looks like he's being pulled out of the foam from a couch cushion or something.

If Ironman video tapes it, and it turns out horribly graphic, we don't ever have to watch it again. It will be shelved like our wedding video which is too traumatic for either of us to watch. Ironman looks like he's on the verge of running out of the church while he's watching all of the bride's maids file in. I look like I'm about to faint the entire way down the aisle. But once I get up to the front with him, it turns into a giant cheese fest that makes me get stomach cramps from watching it. It's like I need to take some Imodium A-D before I sit down to watch it.

I repeat all of my vows like a really bad soap star--complete with dramatic head movements for emphasis on all the really important parts.

But I digress...so I've gained about 50 pounds with this pregnancy which is my norm. I gained about 10 pounds more with the twins, but I only went to 34 weeks with them. Had I gone full term, I'm sure I would have gained over 70 pounds.

There is no (good) excuse for my weight gain, but my frame is never prepared for me throwing on that much weight. I know that has something to do with why I'm in so much pain all the time. I'm not letting Faith off the hook that easily though. She has certainly done her fair share to add to the tonnage. Six pounds, 11 ounces is nothing to sneeze at. She has to accept responsibility for her part of it. It takes two to eat all of those cookies.

I'm currently contemplating a nap versus cleaning. This is my last week to get my house in perfect order if I'm ever going to do it. But I work better under pressure. I'm thinking Sunday night is the time to spazz out and clean. Looks like it's nap time.

man with no wear underwear give girl to see his sexual organ

I have just a few things to say today.

1. Ironman would prefer it if the word "hemorrhoid" were never used again. Apparently that
word really does him in. If you care at all how he feels, either don't use the word in his presence or replace it with the words "butt flower."

2. Obviously I didn't give birth to anyone yesterday. Assuming that this baby ever comes out and I have the energy to blog, I won't open with hemorrhoids. That sounded really gross.

The contractions started getting further and further (or farther and farther??? I REALLY kick myself for thinking I'd never need to know proper grammar--stupid teenager!) apart and eventually stopped. It's been an uneventful day. I feel like all of the contractions from yesterday completely wore me out. I have no energy to do anything I need to be doing which brings me to #3.

3. When I get bored, I check out my site meter. I found two things that surprised me. The first is that over 40 of the last 100 visits were from people looking at pictures of aborted fetuses. The hits were from all over the world. It made me wonder how all those people were connected. It's not unusual to get visits to see the pictures, but that's a whole lot in a short period of time. I'd be interested to know if there's a reason so many are suddenly popping up.

4. One of the visits today was from a person searching for "man with no wear underwear give girl to see his sexual organ."

Well, by all means...send him to Jennyhaha's site! She talks about that crap constantly! What the heck? Is that English as a second language or just someone so excited to find out info for perverts that he couldn't type a coherent sentence?

I followed that search through the first 100 sites and never saw my blog listed. There were over 100,000 sites to come up when searching for "man with no wear underwear give girl to see his sexual organ." I'm sure he read all of them.

5. If you don't hear from me this week, it's probably just because I got addicted to searching for "man with no wear underwear give girl to see his sexual organ." I doubt I'll be birthing a baby, so no worries.

Rambling and Timing Contractions

Thiiirrrrrrrrrty eight weeks along today.

The hormones have hit the fan again today. Ironman, if for some reason you check this blog on your break, you might want to come up with another excuse to come home late. Or quite the opposite. I just finished cleaning up the kitchen, and it sure felt like I was having a lot of contractions. If they don't slow down now that I have my feet propped up, I think I'll start writing down how close they are together.

For quite a while now I've been getting those looks people give pregnant women. Men with children who are older tend to smile and tilt their heads to the side as if to say, "I remember that." So good to know God can make men forget how craptastic their wives were while pregnant. It's similar to women and labor. You remember you had it, but the intensity of the pain doesn't blast you away when you think back. Men with older children are the best because they're quickest to open doors for you or ask if they can help you with something you're carrying.

2:23--remember that--contraction

Women of child bearing years can go either way. You can get a look of compassion and sympathy or they completely ignore you since they know there's absolutely nothing unique about what you're experiencing. Or it could just be that I'm not the center of the universe and they didn't notice I was painfully pushing my overloaded cart around their cart parked in the big fat middle of the aisle.

2:28--another contraction but not very strong

Anyway, I was standing in the refrigerated section of the deli checking out pre-packaged (2:32--another weak contraction) salads and sandwiches when this older woman came by, rubbed my shoulder in circles, and asked me how I was doing. It was like a scene out of a movie. Except not a movie about a chick shopping for sandwiches. It was like someone had just died and she was asking me how I was holding up. Do I look that miserable? (2:37--another contraction, but that could just be the pain in my ass named Ironman who came home early and is griping at me for wearing his Speed Racer t-shirt. It happens to be one of the only things left in the house that fits me.) I was startled that she asked me how I was doing...and that she was touching me. I felt like saying, "I'm doing fine thanks to the labels companies are putting on their packaging these days. It makes shopping for food so much easier when you know what's inside!" (2:40--contraction. Wait. What happened to that five minute trend we had going?)

All that talk about sandwiches made me hungry, so I left for a while. Now I'm back and full of turkey sandwich. I've been attempting to pay attention to contractions. I think they were inconsistent, but now they're back to 5 minutes apart. Since Ironman is home, I'm going to wind this thing up.

Wish me luck. I don't know what that means.

The Latest in Baby World

You guys are the coolest in the world for checking in on me!

I had my check-up this morning. ZERO signs that Faith is coming early. She's barely even dropped at all.

We had some excitement because my blood pressure was being wacky. I was sent to labor and delivery to be monitored for a couple of hours. The blood work and other monitoring came back great. I got to have an ultrasound, and I was AMAZED how well I could see her!!! I'm not used to getting to see a 37 week old baby on ultrasound. She was looking around, sticking her tongue out, and drinking a little amniotic fluid. YUM!

I found out she has little to no hair, big chipmunk cheeks, and weighs 6 pounds 11ounces.

I also found myself freaking out a little when I thought it was a real possibility we might have to do a c-section today because of my blood pressure. I realized I'm not as ready as I thought. The past couple of days have been MUCH more pleasant hormonally. Maybe that's just because one of my closest girlfriends who has put up with me for nearly 3 decades was in town. Raging hormones or not, you can't help but de-stress when you're laughing non-stop. It took my mind off my discomfort. I don't know how I'll feel tomorrow, but as of today I'm okay with Faith waiting until her c-section date. It's less than 2 weeks away at this point. Woo hoo!

I had more I was going to write, but I'm super sleepy. Sleep is not something I'm getting much of these days. More later!