Pages

Tuesday, March 4, 2008

March Creeps In Edition

Hooray for March. Or, um, anyway, at least it isn't February.

My whine: Sore right hand and muscles on right side.

Anti-whine: Soreness is the result of a community service project I engaged in yesterday. By which I mean, I dug the ice away from the curb near the storm drain just uphill from my house. My motivation was not entirely community-oriented, I admit. The water that was trickling in a big circle around the storm drain was pooling in the slush next to my car door and I wanted it gone. I managed to make some headway by myself, but the ultimate raging success owed much to a neighbor who joined me, first with his own spade and then later with a large ice pick. The ice pick did the trick!

Bonus anti-whine: After nearly four years in this house, I now know the name of the man 3 houses west.

Bonus whine: Tonight's forecast is snow, ice pellets, and freezing rain.

Great big bonus anti-whine: Uccellina had the twins! She's already updated her first announcement with good news about Little Girl. Welcome, pixie twins!

39 comments:

kathy a. said...

hooray for uccelina and the fabulous twins! let's all do the happy dance!

madeleine, there is much to be said for a neighbor with the right tools. hope your right side is feeling better!

Anonymous said...

How exciting!
New babies!

I too have lived in my house and feel like I live in a real life anonymous blog. Except for the neighbors on either side of me I know Man With White Dog, Old Chinese Couple, Lady with the Puggle, People on the End, and Young Couple.

whine: I had a friend that delivered her babies on Friday at 32 weeks. Apparently she had some weird fatty liver thing that she never knew she had and all week that she thought she had the stomach flu (ugh - can you imagine having the stomach flu at 32 weeks with twins???) she didn't really have the stomach flu - her bizarre liver thing was acting up. She had to have an emergency c-section and ended up in ICU where they thought she was going to need a liver transplant. Friday night was touch and go the whole night. She is still in ICU and has fluid in her lungs but is doing better. Miraculously the babies are doing pretty great for 32 weeks. It's so scary sometimes to think of all the things that could go wrong with something that is supposed to be so happy.

no personal whines this week and i hope everything is well with all of you!

JenR said...

Speed version because I can't spend more than five minutes doing anything anymore.

Baby due Feb 12... got icky asthma-flaring up chest cold on the 14th that didn't get better until the 18th and never really went away...
Went to the hospital February 18th to be induced. Started hard contractions about 8 am on the 19th. Still not dialated at 5pm, but my water broke anyway, so they upped the pitocin to get things moving faster. (OW!!!) Pain killers stop working about 7pm. An earlier-than usual epidural is granted about 9pm because I am no longer coherant at all due to the pain. 10:00pm, every nurse on the floor is in my room because Baby's heart is not handling this well and I am still only 3cm dialated. 11:30pm, and the doctor shows up to talk us into a c-section. (Really, would anyone say no when the first words out of her mouth were "your baby's heart rate doesn't look good"?). Baby is born high-speed c-section style shortly after midnight.

Feeding problems that still aren't resolved start the next day when the little guy wakes from his 12-hour post-birth sleep. We go home on Saturday for two days of halfway decent healing time, only to be informed on Monday morning that Baby hasn't gained weight since leaving the hospital. Tuesday, and I get some sort of stomach thing that keeps me from eating much for the rest of the week. Wednesday - baby has lost weight since Monday. Why? The stupid hospital people told us to feed him only one ounce at a time, and he should be getting more like 2-3 ounces. And the breastfeeding? Still not working.

Ok... so that wasn't short. My only antiwhine is that his weight did go up after we started feeding him more (a struggle, actually - babies who lose too much weight get sleepy and won't stay awake to eat).

kathy a. said...

((((( jenr ))))))) and major baby congratulations and good wishes and -- holy cow! it will get easier, i promise. xoxoxoxoxo

diane, many good wishes for your friend and her teensy baboos. xoxoxo

it is definitely BABY week, here!

Anonymous said...

Lots of love and healing vibes out to all the new babies and mamas out there!!!!!

It seems pretty petty but my whine- the Girl Scout I ordered my cookies from got my order ALL wrong: No Thin Mints! No Thin Mints. As far as I am concerned this is a tragedy of major proportions. Sigh. I did get my Tag-alongs. But instead of those new Lemonades I got some lemon creme sandwichy cookie things. Grumble grumble.

debangel said...

Wow, March comes in like a lion and is going to go out like a guppy, apparently...baboos are everywhere! Congrats to Uccellina and JenR! Hurray for the next generation of pixies!

Whine: My daughter is an insufferable brat. Unfortunately she is 2.5 years old and this isn't going to stop anytime soon. She growled like Satan on steroids when I was chastising her earlier and I thought I was going to have to get her a rabies shot or something!

Antiwhine: she is SO frickin' cute. She was afraid of spiders ("Mommy! Piyers!!"), so Dave told her, "Don't worry, that's just Herman!". She decided she wanted Herman to be her friend ("Heah, Huhman huhman huhman.."), so she grabbed her pink plastic ball, tossed it toward the wall and cried, "Catch, Huhman, catch!!". You had to be there ;)

Also in anti-whines this week: my friend's 9 year-old son's tumor is BENIGN. My youngest brother just got hired by a great law firm! And my middle brother made Lt. Colonel a full two years early. Woohoo! Suck it, February, March has your a** kicked already!

Liz Miller said...

JenR, Mazel Tov! I'm sorry his arrival and first few days have been hairy.

Unknown said...

Babies. New shiny babies. Awwww, and they're all so cute! Congrats. Uccellina and JenR.

W: Week from hell. Daughter's program is not working out well, she's angry all the time, her clinician is a moron, and I'm about ready to march down the street and punch said clinician in the head. Latest gaff? Kid in program wants to search for his bioparents. His adopted parents are supporting him. Clinician tells him it's a bad idea since they might reject him. My head is about to explode with her awesome asshatness.

W: Trying to get daughter out of said program is proving much harder than it should be. School dept is doing nothing but screwing up. Law says tutoring is required after 2 weeks. She's been out of school almost the entire year. Guess when the tutor started? Oh, it would be TOMORROW. Can you say law suit?

W: I'm about to pull her and homeschool, but she's not happy about that. She just wants to go back to school.

W: Son is screwing up meds again, but I'm after him all the time. I will not have a repeat of last spring.

W: BFF's husband who has brain mets from his colon cancer is turning violent and has physically attacked both her and teenage son.

W: Did online grocery shopping and forgot many key items. Like milk, eggs, bananas. I'm an idiot.

W: Cat continues to pee in dining room on wood floors. No matter what I do, he pees there. He's using his box, just marking this spot as his alone.

W: Son grounded for 3 weeks. My house is a mess, he's driving me nuts, I think I'm more punished than he is.

AW: It is NO LONGER FEBRUARY.

AW: New project I'm working on is really happening. I'm getting excited!

AW: Lost 8.8 lbs in past month. Which is OK considering all I do is sit around on my ass watching TV.

Uccellina said...

Biggest antiwhine ever: my beautiful, darling babies, with whom I am thoroughly in love and who are doing SO WELL at the whole being-out-of-the-womb-a-bit-early thing. Crossing our fingers they'll be out of NICU soon.

Whine quite small in comparison: ow. C-sections suck.

Sue said...

Congrats to uccelina and jenr!! Babies everywhere!!

Diane, sorry about your friends wee ones. I hope they are all feeling much better soon.

yay for good neighbours!!!

(((margalit)))

Sue said...

Whine: Beyond Tie-tie. I'm having so much trouble sleeping. I don't know how I'm actually functioning. Some nights it is head pain that keeps me awake, other nights I just lie there with racing thoughts.

Last night I did everything right. No caffeine after noon, no exercise too close to bedtime, soothing bath, no naps during the early evening hours. By the time I went to bed, I was so exhausted I thought for sure I would sleep.

Not so much.

Doc will not prescribe sleep meds. He says that once the depression meds kick in, I won't have any trouble sleeping. Ya. And until then??? This is the busiest time of the year for me - Easter is in two weeks. Sleep might be a good idea. Crap.

Liz Miller said...

Sue, it might not work for you, but here's what I do when I have bedtime racing thoughts (we call it "fizzy brain" around here):
1. Imagine myself at the top of a very tall dark spiral staircase, the bottom of the staircase is not visible.
2. Count backwards from 10,000 using a slow, deliberate rhythm (nine thousand...nine hundred...ninety-nine, nine thousaund...nine hundred...ninety-eight)
3. With every number counted, I take an imaginary step down the staircase.

The counting backwards is important, because it keeps your brain occupied just enough to quiet the racing thoughts but it's not so attention-grabbing as to keep you awake on its own.

The staircase is a hypnotic tool to bring you down into a pit of sleep.

I hope it works for you!

kathy a. said...

hugs to margalit and sue.

turtlebella, i've got some extra thin mints in my freezer; sharing them virtually and hoping you run across some in real life.

debangel, wonderful news about your young friend! and your brothers.

free-floating work whine: feeling very disorganized and overwhelmed. on the up side, i can't be THAT disorganized, since i've figured out 3 tons of stuff that needs doing, leading to the overwhelmedness. bonus angst points to brokeness; also, needing to replace the student who cannot manage to make time to work on the 3 tons of stuff, and gets pissy when we try to get her to honor promises. [what's with that??]

antiwhine: finally got the cat pee out of the rug! and the weather is just gorgeous.

Anonymous said...

Wow, what a week. Congratulations to all the new baboos and their accompanying whines! And the weekly vote for Sue, now with added insomina. Just not fair.

On behalf of my own baboo, a whine: Hey! Parents and silly doctor! I'm growing! You have to increase my medication dosage or it doesn't work. That reflux stuff HURTS.

Liz Miller said...

Anti-whine: I remembered to bring a canvas bag to the grocery store!!! WOOT! And it's now hanging up on the knob of the front-door so that I'll remember to take it back out to the car!

Sue said...

thanks Liz!! I'm going to try the staircase the next time I can't sleep. Tonight, I'm guessing...

Anti-whine: lunch with an old friend.

Miranda said...

Many of you know I have a rather complicated family structure. My dad had another child with his third wife when I was 17. Her mother became an addict and our father is not fatherly and abandoned both of us the minute we each hit puberty. Sis lives with her maternal grandparents, works two jobs, kicks ass in school, and cares for her sick grandmother as well. Sis is amazing and she and my oldest are only three years apart. Even though she lives nearby, I don't see her often because of her work schedule and the fact her maternal relatives hate my father's side of the family which includes me.

She emailed me last night to say she was accepted at this really amazing small liberal arts college. This is a very nurturing place so I have good feeling about this and I am SO PROUD OF HER. I suspect she has a really good scholarship as well.

Liz Miller said...

Miranda, that is so amazing! Please let her know how psyched all your friends are about this!

Sue said...

Miranda - ditto what Liz said. That is so amazing!

kathy a. said...

miranda! such fabulous news!! she is handling stuff beyond her years, and now she has this great chance to escape and blossom! she may need a posse behind her, but she's got one. what a glorious opportunity.

Miranda said...

Thanks, everyone! This is the same sister (my only sister) that my mom made a beautiful necklace for at Christmas.

While I couldn't fix anything, I've been so worried about her post high school plans. I didn't want her to have to commute to community college. She deserves a chance to finally live her own life.

She also turns 18 this week. I remember when she was a baby. Sniff, sniff. She looks like our grandmother. I have a picture of them side by side at our brother's wedding.

Miranda said...

Ugh, WHINE!!!!

The mother of the girl who hosted the sleepover my waist-length haired daughter attended called to say that another girl who was present has had a resurgence of head lice.

Ugh, of to check.

kathy a. said...

lice. that is award-worthy, every time. xoxo

KLee said...

Got in trouble today for restraining a kid who threatened to punch me in the mouth.

Not the coolest move on my part, but since when do we have to justify taking steps *not* to be hit?

*sigh*

Anonymous said...

Wow - what a vibrant week for whines! Big hugs to Sue, who never gets a break. Big votes to Margalit for losing 8.8 pounds by sitting around and watching TV. I'm off to try it right now. ;)

Anonymous said...

Dear Potty Training,
I'm sorry it had to come to this. I never wanted to write this letter, especially since, well, there is no way to sever our relationship; we must find a way to coexist. That said, I hate you. Deep down, truly, in my heart, I hate you. I don't say that word about many things, so you can trust that I'm sincere about this one. I hope you die in a fire.

Sincerely,
amy.

Anonymous said...

Dear Pampers,
I hate you too. I hate you for your tempting convenience for those tricky and sticky overnight hours and for your overly perfumed presence. Oh, and I hate Dora, too, but do you offer a choice? No. So now not only do I hate the sight of you, but every time I see you, I hear Dora screaming at me: "Say 'MAP!' Say it! SAY IT!!" You know what? No, I will not say it. I will say only this: I hope you die in a fire, too.

Sincerely,
amy.

kathy a. said...

amy's letters are the essence of style. big votes!

and i say we send some extra-large dora diapies over to absorb the angst in klee's classroom. sheesh, what a day.

Madeleine said...

Go, Amy! We promise not to call the arson squad on you should there be suspicious events.

Miranda, I hope you check back in. Fear of lice is bad, but that gets a different prize than actual lice. And now I feel itchy just from typing the word.

KLee. Eeep. I hope you are able to tell them your side of the story.

Sue, I hope you get some sleep tonight.

Snuggles to esperanza's sweet refluxy baboo. And a comforting pat to Mama and Dada too. I know other highly intelligent parents who had that same problem with a growing baby. At least now you can add that to your checklist: hungry? wet? hot? cold? gained a pound?

Also, Julie at A Little Pregnant had a classic "Worlds Worst Mother" post which she called "Woman Wastes Medicine" because she discovered that the little orange globbies of reflux medicine were getting stuck up in the bulb of the medicine dropper. They don't do the baby much good from there. Nope.

Uccellina said...

Updated whine: I know I am so incredibly lucky. I know I am. But the babies are having feeding difficulties and I have not slept and I hate this NICU thing with every ounce of my soul. I know so many babies have a harder time than mine, and my heart breaks extra for all of their parents right now.

Miranda said...

No signs of lice! It's been more than 24 hours and there should have been signs.

Ominous news on the lice front the second: Daughter says that she was checked at school yesterday. No lice, but it means that it's going around her grade.

Madeleine, I'm glad I'm not the only one who reflexively scratches her head every time the l-word comes up.

Can I add three whines?

Whine the 1st: Z had another asthma attack today. I have to learn how to catch the signs. It was pretty bad. The nebulizer treatment helped but oy, the guilt. He hates the nebulizer so much that he tries to tell me that it's just a cold.

Whine the 2nd: I'm attending a job fair tomorrow.

Whine the 2nd point one: I don't know what to wear.

Whine the 2nd point two: What if everyone hates me?

Whine the 3rd: The spouse was told through unofficial channels that he will be working just outside the capital very soon. The local office closes next month.

However, this message has not arrived via official channels and between almost being finished with school and having no job AND not knowing when Spouse leaves or how much money we have to pay bills with is making me crazy.

Anti-whines: No lice! And we didn't have to go to the ED tonight!! And my last paper earned a "brilliant" so it would appear that I *am* suited for my job as a writing center-like resource.

Anonymous said...

I am dying with laughter at Amy's letters! too too funny. I have a feeling it will be not-at-all funny when I have to live through it. But from afar? You make it sound funny!


Hugs to all the pixies out there! Here's hoping for nights that are full of sleep and free of lice, carpets that are cat-pee free, clinicians that wake up with a clue in their heads, and anything else you all may desire. And some Thin Mints for moi.

Anonymous said...

I am dying with laughter at Amy's letters! too too funny. I have a feeling it will be not-at-all funny when I have to live through it. But from afar? You make it sound funny!


Hugs to all the pixies out there! Here's hoping for nights that are full of sleep and free of lice, carpets that are cat-pee free, clinicians that wake up with a clue in their heads, and anything else you all may desire. And some Thin Mints for moi.

Anonymous said...

fireplacing google. Honestly, what am I doing wrong?!

Liz Miller said...

Whine: I am up at three in the morning finishing some homework because I had to watch Project Runway (Yay Christian!!!) and read a book.

Done now. Going to bed. Night.

Madeleine said...

Uccellina,
Being in NICU always, always, always gets sympathy. You don't have to feel guilty for feeling whiny. I hope you get some sleep and the babies' feeding improves quickly.

Admin note: prizes not till much later, Maybe this afternoon. Feel free to continue whining.

Sue said...

Liz - I *adore* Christian! We get Project Runway up here but it's delayed by a few weeks. Honestly, can it really take three weeks to get a program to Canada these days. Why does the Slice network do this to us??? Anyway, I heart Christian. I like Jillian too, but she makes life far too difficult for herself when she doesn't need to.

KLee - there are rules against defending yourself now??? WTF???

votes for amy for style.

Anti-whine: Sleep! I had a relatively good sleep last night, assisted by a natural over the counter remedy containing ?melatonin? - whatever it was, it worked. I wouldn't want to take it too often, but I feel more prepared for the day now that I've some sleep.

Anonymous said...

Yes, enthusiastic NICU votes from me too, of course. It simply goes against every natural instinct there is, that's all.

Anonymous said...

@Uccellina,
Having baby/babies in the NICU is HARD, no matter what their reason for being there is. Don't feel that just because other babies are struggling more than yours negates your right to feel what you feel.

All my hugs to the babies out there this week, and their mamas too.