Charlotte Doesn't Like Brian

Charlotte is always very excited whenever Emily's uncle Brian comes over.  He was over recently to meet Happy and Charlotte was so psyched to see him.  In fact, when it comes to Brian, the only thing Charlotte likes more than hanging out with Brian is acting like she doesn't like him.  It is one of her greatest jokes.

The Last Word on Christmas 2012

Oy to the world!

When I was a kid, my aunt made a JOY for each family.  At some point, the J fell off of ours and my sister, Jessica, hung it on her bedroom door.  We were left with the OY to hang up with the Christmas decorations.  My sister has the original OY, but last year for Christmas she made me my very own.  Isn't it cute? 

To wrap it up, here is a slideshow with random highlights from Christmas 2012.  A little background:  the adults in my extended family do a white elephant gift exchange.  Many of the gifts come from Ray's Closeouts (the off-sale store by the cottage), but some people get really creative.  We play a game, everyone ends up with a gift, we sing Moon River, everyone opens their presents at once and laughter ensues.  It is super fun.  This year we got to have two Christmases because Suze came yesterday!

Happy Birthday USA!

Despite the recent oppressive heat wave, Mike was brave enough to turn on the oven to make meat loaf and bake a cake.  I don't know who loves Mike's schedule more - me or him.  Having a house husband for the summer is pretty kick ass.  I am one lucky lady.  But, I digress - back to the birthday cake.  My favorite kind of cake is class yellow cake with chocolate frosting.  Mike has been looking for a good recipe.  For the Fourth of July he made the best birthday cake from Smitten Kitchen.

Smitten Kitchen cake

Mike's cake is below.  It looks just like the one on the cooking blog!   I frosted the cake, it is one of my surprising talents.  The cake was really good.  The frosting was a chocolate sour cream frosting, which I really liked because it wasn't overly sweet.

Mike's cake

Charlotte staying cool

After a day in the hot sun, who wants to go home and cook?  So, we went to Galactic Pizza with the Garvins, and Nance and Brian.  Six adults and 5 kids crowded around a four-top.  It was busy at Galactic Pizza, apparently the rest of Minneapolis didn't want to go home to their hot kitchens either.

Cozy

Easter

Charlotte and I got together with the Parkers and Longleys for Easter.  After brunch, we went for a walk to enjoy the beautiful day.  Look, no jackets! 





The Parker Parade!




Charlotte and the girls can finally play/fight over toys together.




Ben took this precious picture.



Party Girl

We took Charlotte to a party on Saturday night.  Not just any party, but a Burns Supper to honor the Scottish poet, Robert Burns, Scotland's favorite son.  This is an annual event in my family, usually hosted by my step-mom or uncle Bob.  One of the rituals of the Burns Supper is the haggis parade, which this year came from a can (I don't know which is grosser, prepared haggis or haggis from a can).  Anyway, the haggis parade is led by a bagpiper.  I was wearing a drowsy Charlotte in my baby sling.  She was on her way to sleep so when the bagpipes headed my way, I scooted to the other side of the room.  But they followed me!  Ah!  Amazingly, Charlotte fell asleep and stayed asleep amidst the cacophany of bagpipes and people yelling at the sight of the canned haggis.  She was very cooperative. We could have stayed a lot later if only I had packed some diaper covers.

A Sort of Homecoming

First nap at home.  The close viewer will note the mess on the floor suggesting we weren't quite done getting Charlotte's room in order.  But I am just happy to see Charlotte free of tubes and leads.

Check out the great paint job Emily's cousins and aunts did, and the ceiling painted by Zach.

A Catalog of Thanks

As I wrote the last post and reflected on the insanity that was the last two months of Emily's pregnancy, I was reminded just how impossible our ability to function would be without the help of others.  To accept so much help from others, initially, was a very hard thing for me to do.  But that doesn't make me any less grateful for all the love and support we have received.  And I have to remind myself, if the shoe were on the other foot, I would be just as eager to help.  So many people to thank!

• The cousins and aunts who painted our bedroom and Charlotte's bedroom.
• Zach who assembled Charlotte's crib with me (actually I did him a favor because he gets boners when he assembles IKEA furniture).  Zach also helped me restore Emily's old dresser to working order for Charlotte. 
• Doug and Erin who have taken Pancho off of our hands time and time again so I can focus on being with Emily (and eventually Emily and Charlotte).
• Erin also cleaned the house and sorted the baby clothes for us.  But like Zach, we were doing her a favor.  Organizing and cleaning gives Erin lady boners.
• My mom and sisters for helping host a shower for Emily and traveling all the way up from Texas for the occasion.
• Maureen and Angie for co-hosting as well.  Maureen hosted the shower in her home.
• Nathan for bringing us Potbelly sandwiches a few days after Charlotte's birth.
• Emily's mom for bringing food for Emily and just being herself.
• All the people who gave us gifts at Emily's shower.
• Nathan, Kirk, and Marty for organizing a Finn Shower for Dudes, which may go down in history as the most inappropriate shower ever.
• Emily's cousins Cait and Amy who made us two huge batches of excellent soup.
• Emily's mom cooked some spaghetti soup for me one night.
• My mom bought a library of books for Charlotte to grow up with.
• My niece Sophia and nephew Calvin both made homemade books for Charlotte back when she was just a future cousin in utero.
• My other niece Hannah is knitting Charlotte a scarf.
• As I type this, Emily's aunt Deb and her cousin Laurie are coming over with roast beef sandwiches.
• Bob and Jules made us some homemade mac and cheese freeze and store. 
• Laurie sent us so many supplies for Charlotte, like a car seat, swing, bassinet, and many other things.  Then Deb called on her mad Rubik's cube skills and assembled the bassinet and swing with no instructions, but the help of Cait and Amy.  Take that Zach!
• Emily's friend Missy bought Emily some slippers, nice shower gel, and an Eyebrow Wax Lady came to the hospital to beautify her.
• Emily's sister was amazing.  While toting twins in her belly (that came out three days after Charlotte) she cooked for us and visited Emily in the hospital whenever she could.  No small feat for a mother of two.
• Ben took those stunning pictures of Charlotte's birth that are priceless to us. 
• Also, one day Emily's work computer crapped out and Ben first brought her one of his old computers so she could stay online in the hospital, and then he took her broken computer to Emily's workplace to get fixed.  No small feat for a father of two with a wife pregnant with twins.
• Emily's friends Rachel and Kate took Emily to lunch.  Just giving Emily a chance to escape the hospital for a few hours is a huge relief to her.
• My employer has been incredibly supportive through all this.  So has Emily's.
• The staff I work with has been great too.  From asking questions and offering to support, to giving gifts, including tea for lactation, molasses to prevent anemia, books for bedrest, and the proverbial "I LOVE MY DADDY SOOOOO MUCH" onesie.
• The Longleys brought us Blizzards and ribs.
• Maureen brought us candy corn and Leann Chin.  
• My sisters and mom are sponsoring a cleaning lady for our house.
• This summer I was coaching a marathon training class and my co-coaches Anne and Marty were very understanding, as was the whole class, the times I had to bail on a practice at the last second.
• Emily's step-mom gave Emily some much needed fresh fruit in the form of honeycrisp apples.
• Zander and Julie brought us a whole homemade dinner (including leftovers that I used for lunch) and the entertainment of their son Jin, of Jin Quote du Jour fame.
• Paul and Karen came to visit and two days later, Charlotte was born.  Karen brought some magazines to make Emily's bedrest more tolerable.  And typical Professor fashion, Paul took a copy of the day's paper from the front desk.
• At least three different moms gave us complete sets of baby clothes that they no longer needed.
• Our friend Heidi had a daughter at 34 weeks and visited Emily to reassure her that things would be okay and told her what to expect.
• Angie brought Emily her favorite State Fair food (now being sold in downtown Minneapolis), World's Greatest Turkey Sandwich.  
• Maureen and Bill brought us Stress Free Crosswords which Emily and I did together quite a bit to pass the time.
• My friend John, whose son was born the same day as Charlotte, gave me a book, The Survival Guide for First Time Dads.  And yes, I need it.
• I run with John, as well as Greg and Nick.  All of us have wives who are expecting or already delivered this fall.  In 16 years we will be one runner away from having a  pretty good co-ed cross country team.
• Emily's friend Kate brought "Cashew Trail Mix" which I call "Devils' Mix."  You eat one bite and you are condemned to eating the whole container because it is THAT good.
• Emily's aunt Nancy then brought another canister of the Devil's Mix upon request.  I first accidentally typed "upon regret."  Which is how you feel after 30 minutes of eating the cashew, M&M, Milk Dud combo.
• Jen was visiting from Grinnell and gave Emily some magazines and homemade pumpkin muffins.
• Emily for being Emily.

The list is impressive in its quality and length.  Here is how I can summarize it the best.  Last Friday was garbage and recycling day.  I always budget an extra ten minutes before leaving on recycling day because you never know what hiccup I may come across as I gather and take out the recycling.  

Well first I went to get the trash bins and push them to the edge of the driveway so the garbage man would take them.  Both bins were empty.  In one week I had accumulated no trash.  

Then I went to get the recycling out of the basement.  None there.  Maybe I already transferred it to the garage.  Nope.  None there either.  In TWO weeks, I had accumulated nothing that needed to be recycled.  

Holy crap.  That just shows you how ungrounded I had become.  "It's upside down and backwards; the foot's on the other shoe," to quote James McMurtry.  And yet I am healthy, eating three square meals a day, and able to  make to the hospital everyday to be with Charlotte and Emily and we know we can finish off getting the house Charlotte Ready.  That last sentence could not be true without the love and support we have received from everyone.  

Charlotte is blessed to be born into such a caring network of family and friends.

Our Babymoon

I was thinking about starting a blog to document Charlotte's coming into the world.  In fact, I had planned on doing it the week she was born, as I was not even 34 weeks pregnant and felt I had plenty of time.  Then, on October 5, 2010 at 12:23 pm, she was delivered and it's been busy ever since!  Before I can tell her birth story, some background is in order.

A little background:

Aside from feeling like I was 500 degrees all summer, I was enjoying a rather normal pregnancy until about 27 weeks.  At my appointment that week, my doctor was concerned that the amniotic fluid was so low and ordered me on bedrest.  I wasn't overly worried.  In fact, we had plans to go to a Twins game that night with friends and went anyway because I happen to find baseball very relaxing and that complies with bedrest, right?  So, I was on bedrest at home for a couple weeks.  I worked at home during the day on one couch, and then spent the evening on the other couch with Mike.  Then August 30, I was diagnosed with severe oligohydramnios*  and the fluid was so low that my doctor sent me to the hospital to be admitted and assessed by the perinatologist.  She gave me a shot of steroids to help the baby's lungs develop faster and put her hand on my arm and said, "Emily, I don't know what they are going to say.  You might be admitted, you might have to deliver, or they might send you home."  That was scary!  So, off we went to the hospital, had an assessment with the perinatologist.  Our baby girl wasn't moving very much, which concerned her, but she didn't want me to eat anything to try and wake her up just in case I had to have a c-section that night.  She wasn't born that night, although everyone kept reassuring us that 29 week old babies do fine. After a couple days, I was discharged.   When I asked about bedrest, the perinatologist said he didn't see any benefit. Woo hoo!  I got to go home in time to attend my cousin Cait's wedding, where Mike had the honor of officiating and I was heartbroken that I might have to miss it. 

Mike doing his thing

Mike and the newlyweds, Cait and Zach

I continued to go about my business, but taking it extremely easy.  Then on September 20th, it was the same thing again.  I was wheeled over to the hospital.  We thought we might have a baby that night or the next day.  After a night of being pumped with IV fluids, my fluid went back up to a level my doctor was comfortable with, but she wanted me to stay in the hospital for constant monitoring and IV fluids for as long as possible so that the baby could be more of a "chub head" (her words).  It was balance between the baby being best off in the womb until the situation in the womb became too stressful due to the low fluid.  She couldn't say when exactly this would be, but she wanted it to be past 34 weeks.  After eight days being confined to room 211, the fluid was the highest it had been since this whole low fluid thing started. I was discharged from the hospital, but I didn't tell everyone because I knew that I would be back as soon as I saw my doctor again. Sure enough two days later, September 30, I was back.  Same deal as before. 

Let me tell you, being on bedrest in the hospital is not easy. Being away from Mike for so long sucked. I missed our dog (but not the cats, in fact, I forgot I had cats). I was only allowed to walk as far as the bathroom and my doctor only wanted me to shower once a week, but I negotiated showers on IV changing days (every three days).  I left my room one time, to go on a wheelchair ride with Mike pushing me. It was a beautiful, perfect September day and we did a lap around the hospital.  Mike said, "this is our babymoon" and we laughed.  Mike came every night after work to spend time with me, and sometimes bring me food that was edible.  I had zero appetite from being so sedentary, plus being horizontal all the time just gave me a stomach ache and wicked heartburn.  I had no idea what day it was most of the time. Most people won't understand this, but I actually did not get enough alone time in the hospital and that makes me crabby.  People were always coming in my room so I never had any stretches of peace and quiet to myself.  I continued to work remotely because it made me feel like a normal person and made the days go faster.  The weekend before Charlotte was born was a low point for me.  It was really getting to me and I didn't think I could do it any longer. 

Mike was incredible through it all.  He had to do everything around the house that usually takes two people to do and at the same time take care of me.  We got to spend a lot of time together over the summer, but not as we had envisioned.  No trips to the cottage, or the State Fair, or going out to enjoy our last months of just the two of us. Even though it was really scary, stressful and frustrating at times, I would do it all over again and I wouldn't change a thing because now we have Charlotte. 

And that is the end of the background section.


* Do you really want to know?  Oligohydramnios is a pregnancy condition where there is less amniotic fluid than there should be.  The fluid is measured by ultrasound where they measure the largest pocket of fluid in each quadrant and add them up.  Normal is between about 8-21 centimeters.  Below 5 is considered oligohydramnios and may be an indication for delivery.  My fluid was hovering between 5-7 for a while and was below 5 each time I was sent to the hospital.  Oligohyndramnios can be caused by a number of things:  a baby without kidneys or a bladder will have low fluid because the fluid is basically peed out of the baby; a placental insufficiency issue may not make enough fluid; a tear in the amniotic sac; pre-eclampsia and some other conditions that the mother may have.  My case was idiopathic.  Low amniotic fluid can be a very stressful environment for a baby and can result in immature lungs since the baby uses the fluid to practice breathing and inflating her lungs.  It can also result in restricted growth.  A baby needs room to move her limbs for development of muscles and bones.  It can also result in compression of the umbilical cord, which would mean the baby wouldn't get enough oxygen and nutrients.  So, plenty to worry about.