Giving Thanks

In the spirit of the holiday:

I am thankful for my family. I not only have they all stepped up and wanted to be very involved in the new baby's life, they are also asking about me and Mr. C.

I am thankful for my friends. I may have fallen off the side of the planet for a while, but they keep calling and wanting to hear from me.

I am thankful for Mr. C. He does so much for me and even when it seems I am taking him for granted, I am still busy loving him with all I've got.

I am thankful for my sweet baby who is beautiful, healthy, and making my life impossible. I am also thankful that she will continue to make my life hard from now on.

I am thankful for my job and the ladies I work with for being so understanding.

I am thankful for all the lovely people at the hospital and the doctors who are making my life more difficult but really have my (and my baby's) best interest at heart.

I am thankful that I have a roof over my head, enough food, and all of my basic needs taken care of as well as many of my not basic needs.

I am thankful that I have lots to look forward to.

I am thankful for the Macy's Thanksgiving parade. It is one of the few constants and is the true start to the holiday season.

I am thankful for Thanksgiving as it is a time to get together with family and catch up before the stress of Christmas.

Baby

Life has gotten a little more fulfilling as little Melody decided it was her day to be born on Oct 30th, at 9:29pm. (For those of you in the South Bay, that would be about an hour after the earthquake.) I can honestly say that the earth shook when my baby was born.

The whole story:
I went to the OB on October 29th because I was concerned about a minor issue. I was completely checked out and told that Melody and I were just fine. The OB said that I was not in labor and that it was going to be a while. So I sighed and said alright. Then the OB said she was concerned about my blood pressure and so sent me over to the hospital to get hooked up to moniters. So there I sat, for about four hours and they discovered... nothing. I was sent home with directions to return in 24 hours for a second look.

So I went home and did my best to forget that I had to go back the next day.

At 2am I woke up to use the bathroom. As I was getting there I suddenly realized that I was leaking. Totally pissed at myself for losing control I changed my clothes and went back to bed. After a moment of trying to go back to sleep I realized that my water might have just broken. I laid in bed for a few more hours... and at about 5:45a I finally got up and looked at my baby books and all three of them said... go to the hospital immeadately! Hmmm. So I called the on-call at the OB. She said, didn't I just see you yesterday? I said yes. She told me to go to the hospital.

So I woke up Mr. C and we went in at about 7am. We were ushered into the labor room and they tested me to see if it really was amniotic fluid... Sure enough. Melody had decided it really was time to get out of the pool. Unfortunately, I was not having any contractions of note and we sat and waited until about 1pm before they started the Pitocin (the medications that start contractions). Then labor really started. Ok, not really.

Contractions actually started then and by the time the grandmothers got there (starting around 4pm) I was asking for pain meds and thinking it was taking much too long. As I was finally getting drugged out of my pain, I remember looking up at the ceiling and watching the sprinkler heads start shaking... I said, oh an earthquake. At which point things started happening. At 9pm I declaired it was time to push and the nurse checked me and said, yup... you're ready. So I pushed and at 9:29pm little Melody came into the world. She was 7.2lbs and 19.5 in long and took one look at this world and started screaming bloody murder.

We all spent the first 48 hours of Melody's life in the hospital getting food, bad daytime TV and all the juice I could drink.

And now little Melody is over a week old. She is learning how to be awake during th day and letting her parents sleep at night. And we are all doing well... Or as good as can be expected.

More to come...