I think my cat is bigger than you.

So.  Seth has already seen two big hurricanes headed his way in his five short weeks of life.  He also had two tropical storms approach during the last four weeks I was pregnant.  I’m starting to think this child is a hurricane magnet. 

When the models started showing pretty consistently on Wednesday night that Ike was moving toward Houston, we decide to pack the car and leave after one of Seth’s early morning feedings.  “Packing the car” meant loading the two cats, the dog, our things that we’d need should our house blow down, and the things we’d need for a week or more in Dallas plus the three of us.  I packed, Will loaded, and we were on the road to Dallas at 6:00 a.m.  At 7:30 a.m., we heard the announcement that our zip code would be under a mandatory evacuation at noon. We high-fived each other for getting away before the traffic got bad.

Our neighbor stayed through the storm and has been using his generator to charge up neighborhood refrigerators.  He says that we lost our gate, but nothing else really happened to our house.  We’re pretty grateful for that, considering that we’re so close to Galveston!

We’re fine and will stay in Dallas through this weekend, at least.  And now, the baby calls.  I’m not online much because we don’t have wireless here. Talk to you later - thanks to everyone who has been checking on us!

On Monday, August 11, we welcomed Seth William to our little family. He was born at 3:26 p.m., weighing 6 pounds and 12 ounces and measuring 20 inches.  We’ve been home since Wednesday evening, and it’s been great.  I am still pretty sore and we’re all tired, but we’re slowly adjusting to being three instead of two.  Seth has had some jaundice that required daily check-ups at the pediatrician, but fortunately that seems to be on the way out now.  He’s eating very well (ow for Mommy sometimes), and he’s started gaining back up to his birth weight.

Will is picking up my mom from the airport now, so we’re going to get a few tips and lessons from the master!

So I’m awake again at 5:22 a.m. — I got up around an hour ago — and dithering aound on the internets until Tropical Storm Edouard arrives and takes away our electricity.  Maybe we’ll be lucky and that won’t actually happen, but I thought I’d get my morning reads in anyway.

This week’s big news, other than the French-sounding Tropical Storm that no Houston newscaster knows how to pronounce, is that we now have an approximate arrival date for the Bunny-Mouse!  My asthma keeps being a pain to deal with, even more so now that Bunny has grown enough to have his/her head all the way down and still keep the butt and feet tucked into my lungs.  Restricted lung space on the interior and exterior is not fun.  My blood pressure has also started to rise whenever I get up and, oh, I don’t know — walk for any length or distance like from the waiting room to the exam room.  My OB is usually hesitant about inducing first-time moms, for which I am very grateful, but yesterday at our appointment she suggested that we could start a slow induction on Sunday night and see if Bunny will cooperate.  If Bunny doesn’t arrive by Monday night, we’d take a break, rest overnight, and then start again on Tuesday.

I was really torn about that idea; ask Will, I was almost in tears in the office.  On one side, I really didn’t want to go the induction route at all.  I wanted Bunny to take his or her time, but preferably be a little early.  On the other side — I CAN’T BREATHE.  I haven’t been able to breathe since December, and I’m exhausted.  I’m on so many medications that the pharmacist knows me by name and by sight.  I also haven’t made any progress labor-wise in the last three weeks, and I can’t sleep through the night because I end up needing to wake up to … you know, breathe.

It was the slow, careful approach that decided me.  I feel like I get the virtual glares from the über-crunchy mothers on the baby sites, but whatever.  I think this will be better, healthwise, for Bunny and for me.  And really, that’s all I want — for Bunny to get here and be healthy!

So, Bunny, you’re on notice:  you can still come before Sunday, but after that we’re going to help you out a little!

Erin was asking people to share their top-secret guacamole recipes, so I thought I’d be nice and share mine. Well, the most recent variation of mine. I tend to make it up as I go along, but this combination seems to work the best. Even attempting to quantify these measures is hard!

Ingredients

• 1 medium sweet onion (Vidalia, 10-15, or something mild)
• 2 cloves garlic
• 2 T fresh cilantro - or about a small handful of leaves/sprigs
• 1 cup grape tomatoes (or 1 1/4 cups if you like lots of tomato)
• 3 Large Hass Avocados, ripe
• juice of 1 medium lime
• 1/2 t. ground Ancho Chili Pepper
• 1 t. Chili Powder
• 1 t. kosher salt

1. Dice the onion, mince the garlic, and chop the cilantro. I use a mini processor to do all three ingredients at once; focus on the onion size and you’ll be just fine. Place in a large mixing bowl.
2. Chop grape tomatoes roughly, and add to mixing bowl. If you use the mini processor, chop these separately from the other ingredients.
3. Cut avocados in half, remove the pits, and scoop insides into the mixing bowl.
4. Squeeze lime juice over the mixture in the mixing bowl.
5. Add spices.
6. Use a potato masher to combine all ingredients, being careful to not stir too much.
7. Grab a chip to sample your guac, and doctor the salt and lime content as appropriate.

Serves: A party of about 10 - 15 people who love guacamole. Two avocados will serve about 4-6; slightly reduce all other ingredients.

The potato masher is important because it doesn’t beat your avocados to death but it does get everything mixed up very well. This isn’t a hot guacamole (notice the lack of jalapeños, serranos, etc.) because too many times people add too much pepper and it drowns the blended flavors of fresh tomatoes, lime, avocado, garlic, and salt. The onions add a bit of zip without overpowering everything else, and the peppers I use add a nice mellow zest to the guacamole.  The grape tomatoes have a much lower water content and keep the guacamole from getting too slimy.

Not to toot the horn too much, but this guacamole has induced people to literally lick the bowl clean. It’s also delicious on freshly grilled burgers!

I’m working from home today, and all I can think about is cooking and satisfying my hunger! My nesting has turned me into Izzie Stevens from Grey’s Anatomy! I have been working, but so far today I’ve used my pre-work and break times to:

• make blueberry waffles for breakfast
• start chicken in the crockpot for enchiladas tonight (V8 since I’m out of salsa, salt, pepper, garlic, a few jalapeños, a little water, on top of frozen chicken breasts and thighs)
• make tuna salad for lunch, and arranged sandwiches for my husband and me
• decide we needed a cake, so there’s one baking now and I think we’ll need buttercream icing, too.

Oh, and I licked the bowl, whisk, and scraper for the cake, even though I know batters and doughs are verboten for everyone because of the eggs. I also melted an entire stick of butter on the bottom of the microwave because I didn’t think to put it in a bowl and then left it in the microwave for too long. At least I’m not making muffins yet!

Saturday’s nesting was all about cleaning. I cleaned the carpets in the guest bedroom (thank you, Bissell Quicksteamer), did 18 thousand loads of laundry, and washed all of the little new baby clothes.  The small Fuzzi Bunz I ordered came on Saturday, too, so now the little cloth diapers are ready for the baby butt to go in them!  Although, I’ll admit, we’re using disposables for the first few crazy weeks.

About five or six more weeks until Bunny gets here!

My due date counter tells me that we have about 46 more days to go before the baby will be here.  Yes, Bunny could come later than that, but s/he could also come earlier!  There’s so much to do before then (at least in my head).  We need to:

• Wash baby clothes
• Return some 0-3 month onesies and get some larger sizes
• Store baby clothes
• Get some newborn diapers for our transition into parenthood
• Buy the first set of cloth diapers for a small baby.  I bought a friend’s stash of pre-folds and covers for a medium sized baby.
• Get a few more sheets for the Pack-and-Play since we’ll be using that as a bassinet at first.
• Test the baby monitor
• Get the things I’ll need for the hospital
• Actually pack the things I’ll need for the hospital
• Clean up the house and see what we can do about flea treatment (thank you, Josie)
• Write some thank-you notes!
• Start cooking double portions of meals and freezing one of the portions

It looks like the baby has dropped already or for the first time!  I suddenly noticed yesterday that I didn’t feel a baby butt or heels pressed right into my diaphragm.  It’s kind of nice to have a little extra room since the breathing has not been too great lately.  I’ll take the extra pressure down low over the squishing of my lungs, thanks!

My doctors (lung and obstetrician) want me working from home most of the time and being pretty inactive until the baby comes.  It does seem to help with the breathing; any time I get out and do things, I usually have a bad night and following day.  If it’s an ozone action day (thanks, AirNow.gov!) I don’t even bother going outside if I can help it.  Being at home helps a lot, particularly with this third trimester exhaustion, but I do get a little stir-crazy.  Okay, I get cranky.  A LOT cranky.  I know this has something to do with the corticosteroids for the asthma issues, but still.

Bunny continues to be just fine and dandy.  S/he’s had the hiccups more regularly in the past few weeks than earlier pregnancy, or at least I’m noticing them now.  I’ve started calling Bunny my roly-poly because of the fun turns and rolls s/he makes.  The lung specialist did say that because I’ve been on steroids so many times and so late in pregnancy, Bunny will need to be weaned off them after birth.  Fortunately that should only be a few days.  I’m hoping that this last, current round of steroid taper will be the end of it.  I tend to go in a two-month cycle of needing the steroid treatment and then getting better, so two months would put us beyond birth!

Scary!

Dallas Baby Shower

Originally uploaded by dormousie

This weekend we went to Dallas for one last trip before the baby arrives. My lung doctor was iffy on me going, but relented when I promised to drive instead of fly. We’d bought a plane ticket for me and planned for Will to drive so that I’d have less time sitting in the car, thinking that would be better. While my OB thought that was fine, the lung dr. said that he’d prefer I drive because of less risk of bronchial spasms and lack of oxygen. Okey dokey then. Since they can’t really deploy just one emergency oxygen mask on the plane, driving seemed like the best option.

We’ve also started our childbirth/breastfeeding/baby care classes at the hospital where we’ll deliver. (Also where I’ve been admitted for the pregnancy-induced asthma thing.) I love my OB so very, very much. One reason is that she encouraged us to come back to this appt. with questions that we came up with after our first two weeks of class. When I asked her about her preferences about inductions and augmentations, she said that she really prefers to let nature take its course, particularly with first babies. She hates to do inductions for first babies because of the higher risk of emergency C-section, and she thinks the body will do what it should at the right time. However, if the mother or baby are in distress (e.g., not breathing well), she will step in and move things along. She also doesn’t want her patients strapped to beds, which is important to me since I’ll need IV steroids throughout my labor and delivery. She was quite adamant that I can still get up and move around. She doesn’t believe that laboring moms shouldn’t be allowed to have anything other than ice chips, although she does keep it to popsicles and clear liquids. I’m so entirely comfortable with her, and I feel like it’s a real partnership with her. I know the nurses at the hospital are also very much into a team environment, and they remind us in class that the most important partnership is between the mother and her support person (husband, partner, mother, etc.).

Baby Bunny-Mouse is still great. The growth scans come about every four weeks now, and this last one showed us to be on the “small side of normal.” My OB’s measurements say I’m right on track. Bunny likes to roll around and responds to our voices and touches. While we were at Karen’s house this weekend, her son made a sudden loud noise (like good four-year-olds do), and I felt Bunny do the “jump” and arm spread like any startled baby would.

So yes, we were in Dallas for our baby shower, and it was so awesome to be with all of these friends again! Adelle organized everything from New York, and some of my other close friends helped her get everything done in Dallas. I felt so overwhelmed and amazed at how nice and how generous our friends are! All of these things are so helpful! One of the big hits of the shower was the basket of goodies from Jen. I was ecstatic to see some of her handmade soap, specially made for sensitive baby skin and with all ingredients listed just in case. Btw, Jen, several people were asking if you sell your soaps!

It was such a good weekend, and I can sit here on my couch and work now and continue to try and breathe well.

I did make some progress on that list of plans for the day, but not all on that day!

• I bought coming home outfits: one for a boy, one for a girl.  We’ll just give away the one we don’t use, or keep it for the next one.
• I opened the closet door, closed it, and walked away.  A few days later I came back and cleaned out half of it, including a large box of purses that I am actually willing to give away.  I should get a medal.  I should also get to buy another purse since I haven’t bought a new one in about a year.
• I found non-ugly maternity dress patterns and even cut out the pieces I want to use (with the help of my friend).  I did not, however, find fabric that was not ugly, heavy, or completely man-made.  I had some fabric in hand but couldn’t find the right length zipper, so I got frustrated and put it all back.  Sewing scares me much more than knitting does.
• I definitely hit up the Wal-Marts.
• I might have done some laundry, but now it’s all back in the hamper again and begging to be washed.

Last weekend I went to a baby expo (American Baby Faire) and came home with a baby wrap.  It’s similar to the Moby but of a more breathable fabric that I think will be better in a Houston summer.  The expo was okay, but smaller and more commercial than I expected.  There were no cloth diapers represented (that I could find, and I looked), no doula or midwife associations, not a lot of furniture stores or vendors … I don’t know.  It was still good and had good info, but I was just surprised.  However, if you wanted a 3D/4D ultrasound, this was the place to go get quotes!

As for Bunny-Mouse and me, we’re doing just fine.  I’ve hit the 28 week marker with a weight gain of around 23 pounds.  I actually like my body better while it’s pregnant than not, so how’s that for self-image?  The asthma is still here but not causing big issues.  It is getting worse as Houston gets hotter and more humid.  I’m on the bi-weekly visit schedule now, Bunny’s heartbeat was in the 140s at the visit on Monday, and Bunny measures right on track.  S/he is big enough now that I feel the rolling of little arms and legs as s/he switches sides and positions.  I also can tell Will when to put his hand on my stomach to feel little feet pushing up against the “wall” as Bunny stretches.

Now if I can just continue to stay awake through the work days …

I was going to upload pictures today, but apparently I was really smart and left the camera cable at the office.  Oops.

So my other plans for the day now include:

• Looking at “coming-home” outfits for the baby
• Going through some of the things in the nursery closet so we can clear it out and get ready for painting the room.
• Go to the fabric store and find simple, non-ugly patterns and fabric for maternity sundresses.  I am dying in the heat already.
• Maybe look at baby slings/wraps … so tell me your opinions on baby wraps/slings, please!
• Laundry
• the Wal-Marts (sigh)

And then a nap.

2008-05-06 Baby M 7

Originally uploaded by dormousie

It’s been a crazy-busy week and I”m really, really tired, so I’ll probably keep this short.

We had another ultrasound yesterday to make sure that Bunny is still growing at the proper rate. Apparently the steroids I’ve been on for my asthma can either inhibit growth or cause the baby to grow too much. The latter happens because steroids mess with your blood sugar levels and give you what seems like gestational diabetes, so the baby can get big that way.

Bunny is just peachy keen, though, and looks to weight about 1 pound, 9 ounces. The tech says that Bunny’s feet are long and skinny right now - 4.68 cm, almost two inches. We’ll have to see if the baby has the same monkey toes that Jeannie (my sister) and I have.

Bunny’s also in breech position right now, and the booger had hands AND feet up by the face yesterday. So even if we had wanted to see if Bunny is a boy or girl, we wouldn’t have been able to! Sneaky baby.

The sweetest thing yesterday was the yawn (caught in this picture) during the ultrasound. As the tech was looking around for something, Bunny yawned, closed the mouth, and then kind of settled back in to a comfy position. It was really cute, I have to say.

I’m doing all right breathing-wise, which is nice! They’re trying to wean me off of the steroids and use other meds to control the allergies and the acid reflux, my two main triggers (apparently) for asthma.

I haven’t had the truly bizarre or scary pregnancy dreams yet. Last night I did dream that I felt Bunny move all around (could have been really happening, for all I know), and one of Bunny’s little hands kept brushing the top of my stomach. So I reached down and held Bunny’s hand somehow. No hands poking through anything, just holding onto little fingers. Baby dreams are strange!

And now … to bed. It doesn’t seem like there’s enough time for anything lately!

PS - Thanks to everyone for the question meme! It was great entertainment while I was in the hospital.