Tuesday, August 18, 2009

Tummy Time!



Look at my cute girl having some tummy time today! She is two weeks old today! We started out the day on a rough note (imagine no sleep last night, peeing in my bed this AM, non stop crying till about 11:00, etc) then we chilled out and have been sleeping all day with breaks for diapering and eating. I was about to ram my head through a wall cry! Maybe I did-don't judge. But now, she is all good and happy, and as you know, if baby ain't happy, ain't nobody happy!


Sunday, August 16, 2009

For the Love!

I am about to LOSE IT on some insurance peeps-srsly! I need a freakin' assistant to handle all of the BS insurance things I have to go through. Last night, Husby got the mail, and there were 3 letters in it-all from the HOSPITAL-
1. One for me for $14,000 for my business
2. One for Baby E for $2,500 for her business
3. One for $500 for my gestational diabetes class that was PRE APPROVED.

And 2 letters from INSURANCE-
1. We need your baby's social security number-HELLO, she is 12 days old-I don't have it yet!
2. Something else I can't remember, but I'm sure it was BS.

Now, the diabetic BILL is the kicker! The other ones will resolve themselves via insurance (but I sure as H don't like getting "billed" for them-it just stresses a woman out!) The diabetic class is about to put me in an early grave! Before going, I called insurance to make sure it was covered-it was. I go to the class, and then about a month later get a bill from the hospital. I call them, and they tell me they have submitted it and it is not being paid for. WTF?

I call my OB and talk to the billing lady (we're practically BFF's) and she's all like, "WTF?" I call insurance, and they say it is coded as something like a nutrition class, which is NOT covered. Oh for the love people, it is a nutrition class on GESTATIONAL DIABETES-it is always covered!
Now they are really pissed because I still haven't paid it-I am going to have to get on the phone tomorrow and deal with this, while keeping Baby E happy. All while extremely emotional, and trying not to cry to people who DON'T care!

Rah to the rah! Does anyone else have these types of problems? I really want to hire someone to deal with this shizzle for me, because I am about at my flippin' wit's end!
Thanks for listening to the rant!

Thursday, August 13, 2009

Yesterday versus Today


This was our day yesterday.

Nothing would make Baby E happy-not feeding, holding, cuddling, swaddling, nothing! Husby and I were about at wit's end with the crying.

This was our day today.


Ahh, perfection!




Monday, August 10, 2009

SJE's, "A Labor Story"

We've all watched TLC's "A Baby Story," right? Well, this is my version of it-my labor story. So, if you don't want TMI, stop reading now.

OK, that was your chance. I'm bout ta tell it like it was.

I am a Mexican whore-I LOVE Mexican food-and all through my pregnancy, I ate Mexican like it was going out of style. Several times, I had myself convinced that I was in preterm labor because I overate cheese dip and taco salad and had ma-jah gas pains! MA-JAH (that's from my bestie Laura). Anyway, on Monday August 3, I was scheduled to be induced at 8:30 pm. So, hubs and my mom and I went for my last preggo meal, Mexican! We left at 7:45 and walked outside. Hubs was helping my huge ass into the car, when I felt it: trickling down below! Now I had myself convinced that I was NOT going to have all the normal labor stuff, because I was getting induced. So imagine my surprise when I feel what I can only assume is my water breaking! Ewww, it was gross interesting. For the whole 1 mile ride home, I attempted to levitate my fanny off the seat so I wasn't feeling it. Anyway, we get home, I do an inspection, and decide OK, this is really happening. Forty five minutes before I'm due to be induced, she decides she is coming out on her own!

Well then I get a contraction. I guess I had been having them all day, but didn't know what they were-they feel like period pains-cramps. Now, all of a sudden they were getting ramped up! Dude, like 3 minutes apart. Well, if you know me, you know I'm a drama queen bit dramatic, and I was all like, "We are not having this baby on GA 400, get me to the hospital STAT!" Cue hubs, driving 90 down GA 400 to get me there! We screech up to the L&D entrance, just like we practiced at our tour. I go in to the admissions desk while he parks the car. As I am standing there saying, "I am in labor," more water breakage occurs, splashing out on the floor, in front of a maintenance man and a Chinese couple. All are clearly not amused, and maybe even grossed out?? I can't imagine why. The admissions clerk gives me two towels (like, just birth it right here woman!!) and tells me to take a seat, a nurse will be right with me. OMG-srsly?? I am in labor and you want me to wait?!?! I begin texting the free world. This is where I could insert my need for an iPhone and/or Twitter. Ahem, hubs.


Ten minutes later, hubs and nurse come for me simultaneously. We go back to my "suite." Srsly, it is pimp tight. Very large and nice for a birthing suite. My nurse was freakin rad! Lauren was her name. She needs a shout out for dealing with me. And she got to learn my lingo~she was diggin it. Well, at this point when she checked me, I was 3 cm. And I was NOT down with much more pain. So, I requested my enema-ahahahaha! After that bathroom dalliance, I was ready for anesthesia. It was sometime in the middle of the night-I mean we didn't even get checked in and such till about 9:30. So maybe it was like 12:00-I get my epidural-BEST.THING.EVER. I am trying to rest/sleep, as is hubs, when I am greeted by my two long lost hoochie friends, Em and Laura. Am I hallucinating? I wish I had a picture of these two sketchballs rolling in my hospital room at 1:00 in the morning. They were "bored" and wanted to come see me before it got "too bad!" Ha! I was cracking up! Laura wrote some hilarious posts on all this at her blog, Groovin with the Grizas. They kept the laughs coming and I supplied the horror with my contractions/pain screeching. Laura may never give birth now, and I'm pretty sure Emily wants her fetus to stay inside.


So, we keep rolling, and it is the next day. At my next check, I was at 6 cm. It was probably about middle of the day on Tuesday. I was getting pretty miserable because all of my epidurals kept wearing off-yah, I said epiduralS. I got pretty cozy with the anesthesiologists-all 5 of them. Pretty sure that drug bill will be ENORMOUS. I kept losing the numbness on the left side. So anyway, by this point, I was about OVER IT. Plus, I now had a fever of close to 100-not cool-and the baby was not diggin it.


Fast forward to about 4:00-my doc comes in to check me-I was at 8 cm. I was starting to get excited-this is it, it's about to happen! He says, "Oh, by the way, you are not progressing fast enough. We may have to talk about options soon." Options in hospital speak for pregnant people =c section. My worst nightmare. Ask any of my friends, my fear was laboring then having to have a c section. I had been in labor for NINETEEN HOURS at this point-and now you want to jack me up and cut me open?!?! No thank you, I do not want to be bedridden and miz for 89 weeks. BUT, I am not down with laboring another hour, still being at 8, THEN having to do a c section. So I really suck it down and say, OK, for this kid whom I already adore, I will do ANYTHING. So cut me open.

Oh friends, so many misconceptions. Might I now add that a c section is THE.BEST.WAY.EVER to give birth. I will have 97 more c sections with all subsequent pregnancies. Srsly-my foof is still intact and I could use the bathroom without my insides falling out. Yeah, I said it.


Back to the story: I FLIP out on husby-he tries to calm me, then the nurse tech comes in to prep me-full on: new epidural, SHAVE the area, take blood, etc. All I know is once you give me a new epidural, you can pretty much do WHATEV you want to me. I vaguely remember telling the nurse when she is wheeling me to the OR, "I watch TLC, I know what y'all are about to do to me. I am so imagining everything. I'm scared!" She was damning television at that point (as well as my ability to talk.)


Enter the OR-of course just like on television, husby has to stay outside till I'm "ready." Once he comes in, the show begins. I am just imagining everything I see on TLC and slightly wigging. I kept asking the nurses what would happen if I barfed-especially once I was cut open. They were like, "Chill woman-we will give you a barf pan." So the doctor and surgical assistants are just chatting it up about BS, and I'm like, "Srsly, are you talking about this crap while you are CUTTING me open? Shutup and focus." Then I hear my OB say, "Hey dude!" I lost it-I'm all like, "Husband, it's a boy!?!?!? What the.....?!?!?!" (This was another BIG fear of mine-I was certain that all the ultrasounds were wrong and that I would have a boy named Emma with a pink and brown nursery.)


THEN-my little girl comes out! I see them carry her over my head to the little bassinet to do her check up-ahhh, she is amazing! I am so impatient waiting to see her! Hubs goes to take pictures of her and check on her. She is perfect, a gift from GOD. Long awaited.


Overall, it was a perfect labor. No complications, minus the late c section. Let me leave you with a picture of the event. Yeah, it was awesome. Pretty sure we will be doing this again soon.



My Latest Obsession


Do you see this face? How can you NOT be obsessed with it? I am SO.STINKIN.PROUD to introduce MY DAUGHTER. Do you know how long I have waited to say that? Four years-FOUR YEARS people. She is the light of my life (besides my darling husband-without whom, I could have NEVER done this.) This child is incredible. Let me give you some details:
Emeline Sarah Edwards (called Emma)
August 4, 2009 at 5:07 pm
8 lb 1 oz, 21 in long
Dark Brown hair, Blue eyes
GORGEOUS!
After all we have gone through to get this child here, she is here and she is perfect. A true miracle from God. HE is so good! She is such a good baby-she eats a lot, poops a lot, cries a lot, etc! :D She already has a personality.
She DOES NOT like the following things:
-being changed or touched with a wet wipe
-being naked
-being unswaddled
She DOES LIKE the following things:
-being held
-being held
-being held
-being swaddled
-eating
-pooping
She is the best thing that has ever happened to us. We still can't believe she is OURS. Today she is ONE WEEK OLD. Sob-I can't believe it. The time is already flying by.
We will be sharing more info and pictures soon-it's way harder to blog now! :D

Sunday, August 2, 2009

Numbers

This pregnancy has been full of numbers. I thought I would share some with you.

40-how many weeks I am today!
264-the number of times I have had to take my blood since finding out I am gestational diabetes
66-the number of times I have had to pee on a "ketostix" to check my ketones since finding out I am gestational diabetes
280-the number of days I have thanked God for this baby!
200-bowls of ice cream I have eaten during pregnancy
17-the jars of peanut butter I have eaten during pregnancy
49-the number of emotional breakdowns I have had during pregnancy
5-the minimum number of times I get up in the night to pee
138-the number of times I have checked iPregnancy on my apps
195-the number of naps I have taken during pregnancy
77-the number of times she has woken me up for food
8-the number of times I have "thought" I was in labor
37-the number of pounds I have gained during pregnancy
<48-the number of hours left until we meet her!!!!!!!!!!!!

We have our final appointment tomorrow morning at 9:15, and then we will either A)go to the hospital for induction, or B) find out I am progressing normally and let me go (ha!).

Now, since this is a product of me and hubs, we know she will be A)stubborn, and B)late. So don't hold your breath on labor today/tonight. I'm not!

Thank you all for your support and love throughout this pregnancy! It means a lot to us, and we are ready to share our little angelina with you!

Saturday, August 1, 2009

Hubs New Home


So, husband may have a new home. Have you ever heard of Aldi? It's a grocery store chain that has RI.DIC.U.LOUS.LY low prices-this works because you have to pay a quarter for a grocery cart, they don't bag ANYTHING, and they have all generic brands. Seriously, you want some Kraft cheese? No, they have Hidden Farms cheese. Campbell's soup? They have Right Start broth. Gatoradae? They have Lightening Bolt. It's hilarious.

We searched out our local Aldi today and set off for an adventure, neither of us with me not expecting to find anything worth buying. Sometimes I'm a name brand ho. First thing we notice (after we PAY for our cart), is that there are no shelves of any type. Everything is stacked on pallets and it's seemingly organized by "groups" like snacks, baking items, produce, etc. So within the first 3 feet of the door, the pallets start. Husby starts rolling with it-he's like, "Do we need granola? Fruit by the foot? Crackers? Allspice? Lard? Milk?" Hmm, we need milk-guess how much it is-wait for it: $1.49/gal! OMG-right! Now it's called "Milk Land's Best" or something, but OK, I'll try it. I pay $3.69 or more at Publix or Walmart. We keep going and he keeps calling out: "18 pounds potatoes? Cheese? Marrow bone? 4 pounds frozen shrimp?" In all, we got NINE items off of my grocery list. We go through checkout and it's $16.00! And you get your quarter back when you return the cart-sa weet! Look at what we got:

Salad in a bag 1.89
Grape tomatoes 0.99
Shredded cheddar 1.99
Biscuits 1.19
2 bags hashbrowns (like the "Real Potato" brand 3.00
Sausage 1.99
Skim milk 1.49
Peanut butter 1.39
Cooking spray (like PAM) 1.39
Tax 0.31

Total 15.61

Now, I am a LITTLE scared of the cheese and peanut butter-normally I only buy Kraft and Jif. But, I will try it. While we are going to checkout, husband says, "Dude, I could like SRSLY live here-I mean it has all the essentials. It's so awesome here." While I start having a mini panic attack about the lack of brand names, I have my epiphany. "But it's like 15 miles from out house, so we would really be wasting money coming here all the time for groceries." Yeah, he saw right through that.

On the way home, we stopped at Publix for the other 10 things on our list. Now the Aldi didn't have SOME things (like green onions, and their cucumbers were the size of my ARM), so we beebop into Publix and get:

Rolls 1.79
Jelly 2.29
Mayo 3.00 (because I wasn't about to use generic mayo)
Cheez-its 3.29
Splenda 4.29
Degree deodorant 2 for 4.00
Goldfish 2.19
Croutons 1.39
Ranch packet 1.49
Apples 3.46
Cucumber 0.65
Green onions 0.50
Tax 0.74

Total 29.07
Wow! Double the other price-but, I still don't see this store becoming a part of our future. But husband will be glad to know that I called ahead and reserved a bed for him in the back. Just in case he needs a fix of frugality. He can go there.