No, I haven't died

I know I haven't blogged in ages. That's largely because there is so much happening in my personal life, much of which I just don't feel like sharing on a public blog. I'd like to focus more on writing topics on this blog, but the truth is I just don't have much to say right now. Yes, I am still working on Outleaf. It's going well, actually. My family are all well also.

For the time being, I'm going on blog hiatus. I'll begin posting more when I have more writing news to talk about. Sorry to anyone who is upset by this; I'm always available by email or IM, even if I am not blogging.

Oh Happy Day!

Dang life is good.

My husband has been embarked on a job search for four months now. Not because he hates his current job, but because he doesn't quite make enough to support his family and our debts have increased. Also, the benefits package at the church is not good, and our insurance bills with the baby have been quite high.

Since my husband became a citizen last October, he's been wanting a government position, but all through the last few months very little has come up. Finally he got his very first official interview of the entire job search this morning. We prayed and said that if they offered us a certain amount, we'd take it, but less and we'd say no. They offered even more than we were hoping for! So he'll be working for the Department of Agriculture, in Denver. Even cooler, if such a thing is possible, is what happened immediately after his interview. My father works for the Colorado Bureau of Investigation, right next door, and gave Grahame a tour of his lab and etc. Well, the Digital Evidence Department is there as well, and G would love to work for them someday but they haven't had any openings. They talked to him for an hour and all parties hit it off, and they said that once he's working for the Gov't it would be an internal transfer instead of a new hire, and they'd be very interested in getting him on the team next time there is a position. In addition to being a cool job, it would pay more as well.

So, a new job in Denver, with possibility of future coolness down the road. Happiness indeed! (Oh by the way the job in New Mexico didn't pan out. Just as well really, I wasn't very psyched about moving there.)

Home just in time to say Happy New Year!

Well, I did it. I produced a living being from my body this week. Eleanor Rose Dryden entered the world kicking and screaming (in a good way) on December 27th at 9:09 am. She was 19 1/4 inches and 7 pounds even. Here's the gory details:

I went in for the induction on the evening of December 26th, and my sister and husband stayed with me. All night long the contractions were manageable, but about 5 am the doctor started Pitocin. Oh my holy -insert strong word here-! The very first contraction on the Pitocin was excruciating, and they got worse fast. Apparently I was having back labor because the baby was turned the wrong way. I had said in advance I wanted an epidural as soon as possible, and at this point, boy was I ready! However they said they had to wait until they saw what pattern the contractions were in. I didn't care what pattern except that it was painful! Changing positions, breathing, et cetera, didn't work to help with either the pain or moving the baby, and when they went to put in the epidural the pain got a lot worse because I was expected to hold perfectly still and curve my spine out. Well, curving my spine made the contractions even more evil than before, and they ended up having to stick me four or five times in the back to get the epidural right.

But, once it was in, ah . . . sweet relief. Though, this was short lived, as the doctor broke my water and gave me the bad news: lots of meconium. Also, Ella's heartrate was slowing significantly on each contraction. To top it off, the doc said she thought the baby's head wouldn't fit through my pelvis, since I was now fully dilated but she wasn't moving down. If things didn't improve within a few hours, we'd have to do a C-section. Only moments after saying this, the doc said, never mind the few hours, we're doing the section now. Because of the terrifying experience of Claire's birth and near death, I wasn't about to argue.

The epidural worked so well that they did the section and I felt nothing. Although, immediately after her birth, I had to throw up and let me tell you, trying to puke when your abdominal muscles are severed is not an easy task! Anyway, recovery for me went well. Eleanor had to spend the morning in the NICU as they were worried that she had inhaled meconium, but she was brought up to me in the afternoon, doing well. I kept throwing up all that day, but afterwards I was fine. Eleanor learned to nurse, though we are still working on the latching, but she's healthy and doing very well.

Our hospital stay ended up being a little longer than expected because my incision was seeping fluid and the doctor wanted to keep an eye on it, but we finally went home on the afternoon of New Year's Eve. I'm to take it easy for the next six weeks, no lifting anything heavier than the baby, and no baths until my incision heals. That last bit is really hard for me. I love a good tub soak and with all the various aches and pains after labor, a bath sounds REALLY good, so it is frustrating to wait. But, I don't want an infection either, so I'll be good.

Anyway, if I can get this to work, I'll post a few pics:

Head cold from Hell for the Holidays

I'm becoming very glad that I didn't have the baby this week. I'm miserable at the moment. Completely stuffed up, lots of throat, ear, and sinus pain, coughing, nausea and vomiting, and all around good times.

Now I'm going to my parents' house for the holidays and the whole time I'm going to be scrunched in a corner, trying desperately not to breathe on anyone and spread the plague. Tis the season!

Back to Plan A

The hospital offered to give me an amnio at 5 am this morning. However, that would have meant they wouldn't induce until this afternoon, and the baby wouldn't arrive until Saturday, which means the earliest I'd be out of the hospital is Christmas Eve and possibly not till Christmas Day. Either way it would mean not enough recovery time before the holiday. So, it's back to the old schedule of going in on the evening of the 26th, and Ella Rose will most likely arrive on the 27th. (Though, the doc is supposed to confirm the time with me and has not yet done so; here's hoping all is well on the scheduling front).

In other news, I now officially have the creeping crud. I've been developing a sinus infection for a while now, but it's spread to the whole gamut of fun: sore throat, cough, total congestion, earache, awful sounding voice, inability to breathe, etc. Whee! The gift that keeps on giving! Now I'll have to be really careful around the extended family on the holiday to keep from giving them a 'special' present this year. Sigh. Lucky Grahame has somehow missed out on the joy so far.

Let it Blow, Let it Snow, But that means no Amnio!

Well, since we are buried in a blizzard with several foot drifts (3-4 feet in places) the hospital finally decided to postpone elective procedures, which definitely includes my amnio. I'm okay with that, I don't think I'd have been able to make it to the car at 6:30 in the morning anyway (Grahame came in with his jeans soaked to the thigh from trying to cross the parking lot at 4 this afternoon) and most of the roads in town are closed, so it would have taken a long long time to get to the hospital. They are supposed to call at some point to reschedule, but that likely means going back to the original plan of beginning induction on the 26th. Ah well, I guess it is meant to be. Though, if a miracle happens and the weather clears up by the afternoon tomorrow . . . who knows? If I get to go in I'll post.

The contractions I mentioned earlier kept going for about 12 hours, but didn't end up getting stronger, so I guess they were what I thought they were, simply practice for the real deal.

Hey, in later years I'll have a great story to tell Ella about her birth and this year's Christmas!

Due for an update - pun intended

I haven't written anything in a while but there are not a lot of events in my life while on bedrest. Though a few highlights have been: a 'surprise' shower/Christmas party with my very dear girlfriends here in town. I got a super cute Christmas outfit and moolah for a nursing pillow. And last week I was told by the doc that I could ease up on the bedrest a bit since I've not gotten any worse, so I got to have Claire home for a couple days, which was truly wonderful.

Okay now for the big news: I'm probably having the baby this week! All along the dr has promised an induction at 39 weeks assuming pre-e did not cause me to go earlier. 39 weeks is the day after Christmas. Well, I've been agreeing to that all along without ever really believing it would happen as late as that. But, since pre-e never materialized after all (thank God!) the possibility turned into the main plan. I realized that this bothered me a lot more than I thought it would. I want my whole family together on Christmas morning, and I want Ella out of the womb and in my arms. The thought of still being pregnant on Christmas depresses me significantly.

So I asked the dr for a slightly earlier induction, the week before Christmas. Since I'm only 38 weeks, she can only do an induction if an amnio shows lung maturity. Well, that's fine with me, I don't want to sacrifice the health of my little one in the interests of ending the pregnancy sooner. So, I'm scheduled for an amnio followed by induction bright and early Thursday morning - the 21st. Of course if the amnio results show that she's not ready, I'll happily wait a week longer.

Now that's all settled, Grahame and I have been scurrying about trying to run last minute errands and do some vital cleaning. We have one day left, Wednesday, and have not packed the hospital bag (or even finished washing the few items of clothes I can still fit into) or done a few other things. And now, I've been having contractions for about two hours. Painless, but definitely there. And fairly often. So . . . am I going to jump the gun on the induction, or because they are painless does this mean just Braxton-Hicks? It's odd that they are every 5 to 10 minutes for several hours though. I haven't had that before.

If it really is labor, poor Grahame will be so flustered. He's counting on one last day at work to get everything sorted out. But, the best laid plans, as they say. I'm going to assume the contractions are meaningless, because if this is truly labor at some point it will become obvious, and if not, why worry?

What a Beautiful Day!!!

I'm so excited!

Yesterday Grahame took me to our favorite tree lot after he got home from work. We picked out a ten foot naturally grown white fir, that's not really symmetrical but I personally find beautiful. It had a double trunk near the top, and because we have 8 foot ceilings, we had to trim one. I'm pleased to note that you can't even tell it was ever there, so I don't feel like we butchered the poor thing too badly. I would have gotten a shorter tree to begin with, but most of the white firs were tall, and the rest a lot more misshapen. I like to know that I'm appreciating the natural beauty of this tree instead of getting one that has been trimmed into a cone. Though, my tastes in Christmas trees seem to change every couple years - part of the reason I'm not in love with artificial ones - so who knows what I'll be in the mood for next year.

Anyway, the plan was to decorate the tree Thursday night, since Grahame works all day and into the late evening on Wednesdays, and I'm not allowed to do the decorating myself. However, we woke this morning to a beautiful winter wonderland, and his office is closed! YAY!

So I'm very excited. Today we will put on Christmas music and trim our tree, and it doesn't have to be done hastily and at night. What a beautiful present to wake up to!