Pansy: November 2004 Archives

Fredegar had his second check-up yesterday. About a week and a half ago the doctor was a bit worried because he was looking quite yellow. They took a blood test and his bilirubin was at 14.5 which the doctor said was "ok". Yesterday the doctor said he still looked yellow, but is growing, eating and doing all the stuff babies should be doing, so he is not concerned. He weighs 9-8 now and is filling out. My daughter and I say he looks like a potato, but my husband says no.

Fredegar is such a good baby. Having a non-colic baby is so easy and is so much fun. Post partum itself is so easy this time around. I have no post partum depression, no mastitis, I am very blessed. He is so cute I can't stand it. Even when he decides to keep me up at night, all he does is sit there and stare at me with his cute little eyeballs in his tiny, little round head.

The only thing I am upset about is I am still rather zoftig. I only can fit into my yoga pants these days and I do not look like I do yoga. I am going on my diet after Thanksgiving. I have been dying to work out, but cannot find a spare minute as of yet. My husband says I need to chill since I just had a baby. He is right, but I know the longer I wait the harder it is to get back into shape. And I am too vain to buy new clothes in a larger size. I guess I am also a little paranoid because I do not wish to hear any speeches from my grandmother about how she is making novenas for me because I am starting to look "matronly".

Isn't this the kind of thing you do after a president who accomplished great things is dead? Like did Lincoln give himself a speech in his honor at the opening of the Lincoln Memorial? I don't think he would have actually.

Also, the article I read about this on AOL, no one mentions who paid for this.

Clinton's library collection consists of more than 80 million presidential items, and Clinton has promised to give scholars early access to previously private policy advice and other documents he isn't required to release until 2006.

Like what? Cigars? OK, that was low. Here we go:

The Lewinsky matter is covered in an alcove dedicated to the ''politics of persecution.'' The display lumps together Newt Gingrich's ''Contract With America'' and independent counsel Kenneth Starr's Whitewater investigation.

This just seems so weird to me.

Why is it whenever a little baby smiles, people always say "it's just gas." Since when does gas make people smile? Like I have never sat there with like a girlfriend and they spontaneously giggle and I say "what?" and they say "oh nothing, just gas." So why is that the case when you are like 1 month and younger?

My extended family hates the holidays. Instead of being happy that this is the time of the year to get together, they start dodging phone calls out of fear my mother will invite them over, or ask what they are doing for Christmas.

I was looking at this pretty red velvet jumper dress at Chadwicks that would be perfect for a holiday get together. It would be so cool to have egg nog, holiday music, plum pudding and a kid who says "God bless us everyone" and everybody chuckles. Maybe just one year.

Ok, so perhaps I have been watching too many TV Christmas specials on the Hallmark Channel.

Well, since we ahem "acquired" the new kittens (one who broke into our house and moved in), our old cat, Chun Li has been having temper tantrums and messing on our beds. We brought her to the vet to see if there was anything medical wrong with her, and not just attitude. It was attitude. The vet said to add one more litter box than number of cats (for a total of four), spread them around the house, not keep them together, and prescribed an anti-depresssant for Chun Li. My husband, Polo went and bought the litter boxes and purchased a cat door so we can keep them out in the mud room. We put three in the mud room, one in a different corner. This all worked because Chun Li has not messed on anyone's bed since then.

First of all, Melody, the cat who made a hole in the screen window so she could move in, could not figure out how to use the cat door. When she finally figured it out, the cats would all flock to one litter box and literally wait in line to use the same litter box despite the 3 others around-some just a few feet away. Sigh.

The funny thing is, we brought Melody for a check-up on Saturday and she escaped from the pet carrier in the car. I am pleased to announce that as of today, she has figured out the cat door. It only took a week and a half.

This morning I had Baby Dominic (I have to start using his hobbit name, but I keep forgetting it) in the sling while I was making pancakes. He was staring at me with his little eyeballs and I tickled him under his chin. And he gave me a big smile! Happy moment!

Update: Baby Fredegar.

Gorbulas is having a cute moment as well. He has a bowl of Chicken and Stars soup in front of him and he keeps asking "Is hot syoop?"
"Yes, hot soup"
"Is hot syoop?"
"Yes, hot! Blow."
"Is hot syoop?"
"YES!"

Regnum Christi recently started a La Familias group in my area. I was very excited to join because I have been waiting for something of this sort for a long time. I have only been a couple of times, but I am enjoying reading about the Pope's words on marriage and the family with other women.

Last week I think I stepped on some toes. One of the discussion questions was "how do we protect our families from evil in the world?" The answers started flowing out "turn off the TV", "only wear dresses", "homeschool". Someone said "build a strong personal relationship with your children" which is the answer that made the most sense.

I have been struggling for the past year with the fact that most of the homeschooling teens I see around here in real life are not ones I would have my children around. Before we started homeschooling, there was a great deal of propaganda that if you homeschool, your children will not be troubled teens, will be smart and always stay in the faith. It's like the propaganda surrounding NFP. "NFP builds marriages"-whatever. While I think there are always better choices, NFP for example, will not fix a marriage that is in trouble (unless of course the trouble is simply birth control). Same with homeschooling. I see a great deal of good in homeschooling which is why we do so, but not as a cure all over a relationship with your children. Not over putting parenting in God's hands and asking the Holy Spirit to guide you in correct decisions regardless of how much "evil" you try to keep from them.

I do not mean to vent so, but I get kind of discouraged when Catholics get started so much on the "evil in the world" subject. I know I personally am never doing it right in many a Catholic's eyes. I allow my children to watch occasional TV with Spongebob in his underwear, I allow my daughter to wear pants and the list goes on. But I just don't think God cares so much about some of these things. I see so many parents obsessing about the evils of Harry Potter, while their teenage daughters are having aborrtions behind their backs.

My brothers attended traditional parochial schools all their lives. I think the way my parents raised them would qualify as quite evil in many people's eyes. Yet they turned out the way I want my children to turn out. They are funny, down to earth, smart and practice their faith. Sometimes I think the devil puts up issues to distract us from real evil quite literally in front of us. I think that unless I personally develop a better prayer life and conversation with the Holy Spirit, those issues will always distract me from what I really need to do.

Just to clarify, I am not trying to put down anybody's parenting decisions in raising Holy children. I am just vocalising the fact that there are many decisions I have made in the past simply to appear "Holy" to other families on issues that not only did I truly feel made no difference, but made my children feel "weird". I don't think that is what God is calling me to do as a mother. And I just get tired of hearing "I never...that's evil, that's horrible...that secretly means..." and I rarely hear "oh, that was so much fun".

I have stuff I want to blog about, but it is hard to type with one hand and hold baby with the other. So if I get a free hand, I have a few blogs coming up...

We are home. I stayed at my mother's a few days and babymooned and I am home now.
Like Peony mentioned, we had an Election Day baby. The name we picked was Dominic Jose. Dominic after St. Dominic and Jose after St.Joseph and my husband's grandfather.

He is doing very well, nurses like a trooper and no sign of colic. I am on cloud nine. He is just so tiny and so cute.

The birth went well and was actually kind of funny. On Tuesday (11/2) the doctor came in and broke my water at around 9.30 am. For a couple opf hours we watched ER and Judging Amy on TNT much to my husband's chagrin while the nurses kept coming in and asking me if I was having contractions. I was having a few mild ones, but the nurse said it was not enough and they might have to put me on pitocin. Yuck. The monitor showed contractions every 7 minutes, so they decided to check me. Thankfully, I was in labor and did not need to go on pitocin. After that they filled up the tub for me which was a relief because I did start to have one or two contractions. Also, the gravity relief was awesome. The only thing was my husband got the remote control and changed Judging Amy to annoying sitcoms. I think I got in the tub around 2, and my husband started watching I think the Steve Harvey Show which I never heard of and remembered that during a couple of nasty contractions wishing badly he would just turn the darn thing off. At about 2.10, they sent their medical school studen t to ask me some questions. I remember his name-Dr. Garrick Tong- and he was just too young and cute and I wanted him to go away. Actually I wanted them all to go away, but it all seemed a bit more humiliating with handsome young doctors around. So like I said it was around 2:15 and the nurse came in and asked how many contractions I had and if I felt any pressure. I said I had like one bad one at the point but no pressure and they were about 3 minutes apart. They were very specific that I could not deliiver in the tub and needed the doctor there when I delivered due to the gestational diabetes. So I told them that psychologically I was feeling with each contraction that I wanted to stop and go home, so that was probably a sign things were moving right along and maybe they should check me. The nurse said "Ok" she will call the doctor and left. The next contraction was a long hard one and in the middle of it changed to a "pushing" contraction. My husband said I screamed to which he asked "is everything alright?"
I said "no, the baby's head is out".
I never, ever saw my husband look so anxious as then. He called the nurse in and the nurse started yelling for other nurses. Apparently there was a midwife there who picked me up and said "OK, out of the water" (I was not allowed to deliver in the water due to the GD). I remember thinking first "you gotta be kidding" and then "take one step, then another" I also remember asking if I was going to squish his head by walking. Thed bed was two steps away and I made it to the bed. I reached for the other side of the bed, got one knee up to climb up, and my husband caught the baby.

The maternity ward nicknamed Dominic "Speedy".

Tomorrow they are going to break my water. I am cool with that though because the midwife does not think I will need pitocin-just my water broken. My doctor went out of the way to do an ultrasound today so I can have a waterbirth. Apparently insulin dependant Moms are not supposed to have waterbirths, but they figured if they are armed with the baby's measurements, it should be alright.

So please say a prayer all will go well.