Friday, February 27, 2015

Jekyll and Hyde

A good day today.  It's very weird, because yesterday Samuel was the child from hell and today he was great --  happy, helpful, excited.  If everyday flip-flops like this I'm going to be a completely worn out, tired wreck within a week or two.  But anyway, today we all went out for a Target trip and then were able to get our laundry folded and put away -- which, between the birth of Anna and Samuel's sickness seemed to include every piece of child's and adult clothing that we own and everything that we keep in our linen closet.  A lot of laundry.

Earnest opens tonight, and then they're setting up for tomorrow's Vanya matinee after the show.  I'm contemplating swinging over there, although it will be late and I really need to just work on a design for Romeo and Juliet and then go to bed.

Funny kid story:  Samuel is at an age where he wants to be by himself while he's pooping.  So he will either ask you to leave whatever room you happen to be in, or he will go into the corner of some other room and just kinda hang out for a few minutes while he's crapping in his diaper.  If he's in or near the kitchen, he will say, "I need to go look at the oils," and then go to the back of the kitchen and stand in front of the shelf that has our cooking oils on it and then shit.  So in our house, "I need to go look at the oils," will, I think, enter the vernacular as code for #2.

I'm a little worried about Anna's eyes.  She doesn't seem to focus on anything.  I can't remember if that's normal for newborn's or if I should just assume she's blind.  I'm not going to worry about it until told to by a child's health professional.  She had her first pediatrician appointment on Wednesday and they said she looks fine, so that's what I'm going on now.  I think she has another appointment next week.

Today I had pea soup for the first time in years.  I love pea soup!

Tuesday, February 24, 2015

2X the FUN. 2X the LOVE.

So far, having 2 kids is NO FUN.  It has been made more NO FUN by the fact that #1 child has been sick and throwing up every other night, and that he has not been to the babysitter in a few days.  And really, he's just at an age where he's a big ol' dick.  Pardon the expression.

#2 child hasn't been too bad, although really Jeannie is the one that shoulders pretty much all of her demands thus far.  It has been nice having a warm, soft newborn to cuddle with for the last few days.  And really, she just sleeps, and eats, and poops, and then squeals until you rock her back to sleep.

I have no idea how the juggling of work and the demands of these 2 children is going to happen once Jeannie and I go back to work.  NO IDEA.

Jeanners and I are gonna eat and watch Downton now.

Saturday, February 21, 2015

Anna Begins

Okay, let's talk about how Anna got here.

At about 10:30 a.m. on Thursday morning, I got a call from Jeannie while I was shopping for black fabric for Earnest in Joann Fabric.  She was crying (which scared the hell out of me) and said that at her midwife appointment that morning, they had found protein in her urine and were sending her to the hospital to possibly be induced.  Protein in the urine, by the way, is an indicator of preclampsia, which Jeannie had with Samuel and which is life-threatening and  makes the delivery process more dangerous and considerably more shitty. 

So I told her I would meet her at the hospital and about 20 minutes later we met at the hospital (St. Joseph's).  We sat in the triage area of the Labor and Delivery floor while a nice nurse named Catie (I think that's how it was spelled on her nametag) did some tests and filled out a lot of paperwork and chatted us up.  She said our midwife (Bela) would take a look at the test results and decide whether to send us home or to admit us and induce labor.  About 2 and a half hours went by while we waited, and I dozed and Jeannie chilled out a bit, and her blood pressure was going down nicely (dangerously high blood pressure is another fun factor of preclampsia) and we both kinda figured they would just send us home, when at around 2pm we got word that they were going to admit Jeannie and induce.  They figured that since she was already showing signs of preclampsia then there was no point in sending her home and risking the possibility of her seizing at home (seizures come with preclampsia, too). 

So they set us up in Rm 7 of Labor and Delivery, and let us know that they were going to put Jeannie on magnesium sulfate, which is what she was on with Samuel and it really sucked and made the whole thing sucky and all the nurses make grim faces when they talk about magnesium.  It also means she has to be hooked up to all kinds of things and has to stay in bed the whole time and can't eat real food and  can't drink water.  So we kinda dreaded hearing that, but were also kinda half expecting it. 

Despite the contrary advice of the nurses, doctors, and midwife, Jeannie decided she didn't want an epidural. 

And eventually the shitty nurse who wouldn't let Jeannie have ice chips and who talked about "unnatural bed positions" went home and Alicia (Elisha?), the cooler nurse who let Jeannie have ice chips and eventually helped deliver Anna, came on.

To make a long story short, they checked Jeannie out and were going to give Jeannie pitocin to induce labor, but then the midwife decided to wait and see how Jeannie progressed on her own.  Ended up being a good decision,  because things ended up progressing pretty well on their own, and because Jeannie wasn't so drugged up this time with pitocin and epidurals and spinal catheter pain meds the way she was with Sam, she was able to labor much more on her own terms.  Plus, we had a  doula there, Jennifer, who was really good at keeping Jerns calm and focused and less-uncomfortable. 

I generally don't like woo-woo ness, but I'm really kind of in awe of people who can pull off being woo-woo but also normal and who can make it work.  Jennifer is kind of like that.  Little bit woo-woo, but totally grounded and practical and hard work. 

So yeah, then Jeannie labored.  In a pretty straight-forward, labor-y kind of way, with all the shittiness and pain that labor entails.  But there were some moments where she had a total earth-mother-goddess thing going on, which is a part of her that I've never really seen before but which was completely awe inspiring and powerful. 

And she labored for many hours until 1:12 in the morning on Friday and then a baby was born, and when the nurses said the word "girl" we were completely shocked and surprised and happy.  I've always wanted Jeannie to have a girl to bond with.

And after the baby was born there was concern for her lungs, which ended up going away after a few hours as her breathing improved.  And there was concern that Jeannie has lost too much blood (2 liters) so they gave her a blood transfusion.  But those concerns went away, too, as time went by and everything stabilized. 

So --

Where we stand now: 

1.  Jeannie and Anna are at the hospital.

2.  Samuel and I are stuck at home after attempting to visit the hospital this afternoon during a snowstorm (6+ inches of new snow) and taking an hour to just get around the block and barely make it back home.

3.  Samuel's been puking tonight.

4.  Jeannie's at a hospital with reduced nurse and food staff because of the storm. 

5.  Jeannie scheduled to be released  tomorrow (Sunday), hopefully Sam and I can make it to the hospital tomorrow after plowing has taken place.

Welcome, Anna!  Your arrival has been quite an adventure, and we're glad you're here.

Friday, February 20, 2015

New Excavator

Samuel got a new toy excavator and new toy loader today.  They were given to him by his new baby sister, Anna.

Monday, February 16, 2015

Perfect night

1.  Snow
2.  Fire in fireplace
3.  Kid in bed
4.  Dishes washing in dishwasher
5.  Gin and tonic
6.  Cheesecake

Monday, February 09, 2015

Plumbus

I'm a pretty bad carpenter, but I'm an even worse plumber.  Jeannie and I have been making great strides in getting our kitchen in shape, but tonight had a big fail attempting to sweat some copper pipe together.  Hmmmmmm.  Feel stupid and skill-less.

Been working a bunch on Uncle Vanya.  I didn't design anything, so I thought it might be a bit of a break, but it turns out that it's been just as much work as the shows I design.  Probably because I design towards the things I know I'm able to do easily, and outside designers don't.  In the end, it's better for the company, but it makes for more work for me getting everything together.

This new baby's coming pretty soon.  I look forward to meeting him/her.