What Im loving

• Coconut rice krispie treats, sourdough pretzels, string cheese and caffeine free diet coke. Seriously, these are my four food groups.
  
• knitting 3 rows, undoing it and knitting them again. Im working on my tension.
• The Book Thief... My SIL Nikki recommended it, 50 pages into it and Im already hooked.
• The Boppy... how can something so simple be so genius?
• swaddle blankets from Gap and Gymboree
• Sleep Sacks
• The very few nights I only have to wake up 2 times.
• looking at home design blogs
• A changing table I bought off craigslist for 15 bucks! Its my new project, its going to be fabulous when Im finished with it.
• Pledge four in one cleaner, its pretty awesome.
• This website Cool Mom Picks
• This website Color Lovers, its awesome, it shows you how to pair colors together, colors you wouldnt even imagining of pairing.
• Living close to our families. I really feel for new moms who dont have help.
  
• The Real Housewives of New York...Scandalous!
• Sally Hansen nail pens, never has painting your nails been so easy.
• Gap's new t shirts
• Huge bows... I know some people hate them, but its my baby so get over it. :) And PS if youre not a fan of my fashion choices for G (including the bow) keep it to yourself, maybe its the hormones but, man, it pisses me off.
  
• Candice Olsen from Divine Design, my favorite designer ever.
• Being part of the Mom Club... it's like a whole new world opens up to you.
  

What I am NOT lovin...

• the lack of sleep (obviously) Im SO tired.
• When Ginger is screaming in the car and there is nothing I can do about it.
• not having a camera (Casey has one that he apparently needs for work or he'll die.) but it's super frustrating not having one when you have a new baby. Im getting pissed just thinking about it.
• not being able to nap because my body is retarded and just wont let me sleep during the day.
• my tiny trunk that barely fits my stroller. Its painful trying to shove it in.

Okay that's it for now.

Fabulous

Some of you have commented on Ginger's car seat cover.

So here's the website where you can find them...

http://www.2littlemonkeys.com/

The brand is Baby Bella Maya

I ordered it on a Friday and it was here by Monday

Love that.

Have a great week!

Our other kids

If you know me
you know I really love my dogs.

I was so worried about how they would react to Ginger.
I knew Sammy would be fine
but I was concerned about Moses.
He is very needy and is used to being the center of attention.

Sammy reacted as expected...
He is so darling but the dog is clueless.
I imagine if I asked him how he felt about the new baby,
if he could reply he'd ask, "What baby?"

Moses on the other hand surprised me.
He is so sweet with her.
He walks gently around her.
When we come home he always peers inside the car seat to see her.
And he looks so concerned when she cries.
She doesn't seem to be afraid of him
so I am a happy mama.




And here is Sammy enjoying his favorite part of having a new baby...
new comfortable sleeping options.

A Baby Story

A Baby Story...

A warning... This is the longest post in the world.

I decided to share the story of how Tuesday went down,
Partly for you
I always like to hear details
and partly because I know this is the only way I'll record it.



Monday night, I went to sleep VERY excited and woke up TERRIFIED!
It finally set in that in order to have a baby, I needed to go through
the delivery part first.
And I have never heard anyone say how "fun" delivering a baby is.

Casey walked out of the bathroom and I just started cracking up...
He was in his church clothes!
He said he wanted to make a good first impression for Ginger.
He ended up changing in to jeans and a button up
but Im pretty sure Ginger was impressed with her daddy nonetheless.
We arrived a half hour late (of course).
I had an apple and a poppyseed muffin for breakfast.
I later regretted that this was all I had
since the rest of the day my diet would be ice chips.
My mom was waiting outside the hospital with a camera.
When we pulled up, Casey and I just laughed-
because this is a very typical "Sheila" thing to do.



Speaking of typical Sheila... this picture pretty much sums up
my pregnancy experience with my mom.
I hated when she kissed my stomach!!


I walked in and saw a dear friend from high school Alexis Shmidt Sorensen
I was ELATED!
She was my labor and delivery nurse... how lucky!
I cant tell you how much comfort this provided throughout the whole process.
There was also another nurse that tag teamed with Alexis.

We got settled in our room.
Started at a 3.
Got the IV. Ugh.
Got the Petocin.
Felt a round of mild contractions.
Pain rating (1 to 10)... a 1.
Got the epidural.
I was freaked out, but all in all,
getting the epidural was not bad at all.
Better than the IV.

The next few hours I progressed nicely.
My mom works at the hospital I delivered out so she checked in hourly.
Casey was there and my mother in law Peggy.
Later my sisters and their boyfriends came and popped in and out.
It was a super mellow day.
I kept thinking...
really? this is it? this labor thing is a walk in the park.



See how fun this labor thing is!

After a few crosswords and episodes of Oprah, The View and lots of court shows...
I started to change my mind about the "walk in the park" thing.
About 5 pm I started to regain feeling in my legs.
The thing about the epidural is that it numbs you from waist down
so you cant even lift your legs.
Anyway the feeling in my legs had returned to about 80%.
A nurse came in (not Alexis) and I told her I was starting to feel my contractions
She told me this was normal.
But I wasn't convinced.
I should have pushed it but I didnt.
about five minutes later a machine started beeping.
Casey looked and it said something to the effect of...
"bag is empty."
I looked up and my epidural bag was EMPTY!!

We called the nurse and about 5 minutes later...
HELL.
I started to feel very strong contractions.
The pain was about a 7.

The nurse came in and checked me...
I was dilated to a 9!!
A 9 and I run out of my epidural-
what the freak kind of luck is that?!
She called the anesthesiologist to come and give me more
but I knew that I was definitely in for some pain.
It took him 30 minutes to get there and then it takes 15
minutes for it to actually kick in.
So for about 45 minutes I felt contractions about every couple minutes
while dilated to a nine and progressing to a 10.
Pain rating 1-10... a 10.
This will forever be my litmus test...
my scale is now 1-10; 1 being no pain and 10 being
"having a contraction while fully dilated with no medication."



Worst. Pain. Ever.
The first two contractions without any pain medicine
were ridiculous.
The problem was I never prepared myself to handle pain at the fullest extent.
So I wasnt breathing properly, I was freaking out inside.
Pain paired with psychological craziness does NOT work.

Finally I told myself, this is not going away any time soon so GET IT TOGETHER.
With every contraction after that
I squeezed the crap out of Casey and my mom's hands
and BREATHED and FOCUSED.
And I only said one swear word.
Which Peggy quickly admonished me for.
From then on it was just, "Oh my gosh! Oh my gosh! Oh my gosh!"


Here's Peggy cheering me on.

Finally the epidural kicked in again.
Dr. Lewis arrived about 15 minutes later.
It seemed like the longest fifteen minutes of my life.
the pressure is so strong.
I could totally feel her SO LOW.
I thought for sure she'd just popped out.

Anyway, Dr. Lewis came and I have to say she is an amazing doctor.
She came in cheering!

Alexis prepped me before.
She told me how to push and had me practice.
I knew that the better I pushed the sooner I'd see Ginger
and at that point I was SOOOOOO ready for her.

It took 3 rounds of pushes and she was out.
I pushed with EVERYTHING I had.
During the pushes everyone was cheering me on.
It was great motivation.



All of a sudden she was in my arms and they were cleaning her off.
And this is what I'll never forget...
The first time we made eye contact!
What a magical, indescribable moment.
She also stretched her arm out towards me and it looked like she was reaching for me.
I was bawling.
It was so overwhelming.
It seems silly to attempt to describe this.
There aren't words for it.









In retrospect, the fact that I went an hour without the epidural
turned out to be a cool experience.
An experience I never want to repeat but cool nonetheless.
The mind is very powerful and I have always had trouble because I allow
myself to be overwhelmed and lose control.
But I conquered that weakness.
It's nice to know what were capable of.

Whew...that was a tangent...
Anyway our families came to the hospital to visit
and it meant so much to have them all there.
I never visit mothers in the hospital because I always felt like it was an irritation...
but I was SO wrong.
It so cool to know that there are others eager to meet Ginger.
I know how much we love our nieces and nephews and
it feels great knowing she has lots of aunts and uncles that will love her like that.

It's been the best week of my life.
I've never known happiness like this.
Ginger is such a sweet baby.
I am very grateful that she is SO GOOD.

I feel such a sense of purpose now.
Like Casey says, its a blessing to be in the presence of such a perfect being...
straight from heaven.

Ginger

Ginger Estelle Treese
seven pounds six ounces
3.3.09





I'm in heaven.

Here We Go

I decided to be induced...

TOMORROW 7:30 AM.

I cant believe it.
I am so thrilled to finally see her.

I just keep thinking...
Holy Cow, Tomorrow, I will be holding my daughter in my arms.

Now to be a bit sentimental with you guys.
I know I have complained a lot throughout the past 9 or so months
but I have loved sharing this experience with all of you through my blog.
Yesterday everyone's comments made me smile and laugh.
You are all so loving and helpful and it's great to have such a great support system.

You have helped me with your advice of what to buy.
and what not to buy.
You didnt make fun of me for choosing the name Ginger.
You didnt tell me to stop whining.
You related to my sob stories.
And most of all you have shared my anticipation and excitement.

And I LOVE YOU GUYS for it!!

So, here we go...

The Middle Place

I have read a lot of good books
and a few great books.

The Middle Place by Kelly Corrigan
is a GREAT book.

I decided to read it because it got such fantastic reviews.
But I was skeptical.

Its a memoir about a woman
who is a mother
a wife
a daughter

who has
cancer
and a father whom she adores
with cancer.

The middle place means the place between being a mother and a daughter.

I was skeptical because I thought I couldnt relate.
Im not yet a mother and I thankfully (100 times thankfully)
do not have cancer or a very close family member with cancer.
And I thought that I didnt struggle with "the middle place"... but I realize I have.
and I will.
And in fact I related more to her story than I imagined.

The point is I rarely if ever blog about books.
But I have to blog about The Middle Place.
I want you to read it.

This is a video of a few words read by Kelly,
and if my magical book review didnt persuade you to read her book
maybe seeing who she is and what she thinks, will.




Baby Update...
My last appointment was Monday.
She said I was almost dilated to a 3.
I didnt know they measured in terms of "almost"
So perhaps I'm at a 2.5 or 2.75?
I'm guessing she told me "almost at a 3" because I sort of
mentioned if she said the number 2 I was going drive my car off a cliff.

She then proceeded to "aggravate my cervix"
If you dont know how that's done
use your imagination.
And when your imagining... include in your thoughts...
horrible pain and climbing up the table to escape the "aggravation".
She then said she'd see me in less than 48 hours, at the hospital, where
she was certain I'd end up.
It's now 6 days later.
I am sitting in my new fabulous glider
not yet holding baby Ginger.

I am grumpy and uncomfortable
and I have an awful attitude about the whole thing.
And the thing is... I'm not even due yet!
Im so lame.
So I apologize if anyone has been on the receiving end of it.
And if you are one of the mothers that maintained a positive, lovely attitude
throughout your pregnancy... I salute you.

The new way to urinate

Okay if you didnt rush to my blog after seeing that title...
I dont know how else to lure you people over!!

Ok, so what’s a GoGirl?

Simply put, GoGirl is the way to stand up to crowded, disgusting, distant or non-existent bathrooms. It’s a female urination device (sometimes called a FUD) that allows you to pee while standing up. It’s neat. It’s discreet. It’s hygienic.

Shoot, where has this been the past 9 months. Just think...Instead of walking all the way to the bathroom 8 times a night I could have just reached for my gogirl on the nightstand.

On the other hand, lets all feel bad for Moses...
Yesterday he ran 100 miles an hour INTO the wall.
I have no idea why or how.
I just know he was playing fetch and perhaps he runs with his eyes closed.
I dont know.
Then this morning...
I dropped a coaster on his head.
Poor guy.

Okay gotta run and pick up some gogirls.

Hurry and get here Ginger, the floors are filthy!

Baby Mop from Chris Milk on Vimeo.

Moses Bjorn