The Sick Situation

My first week working again was definitely challenging but not in the way I expected. I expected to be exhausted, worn out, overwhelmed, etc. Instead, it was just utter chaos! Of course, Jane's basically been sick since she started daycare which is awesome (sarcasm, duh) and I picked her up after work on Friday to find out she had a crazy fever, the "worst cough ever" and diarrhea. Awesome, again. So, I took her to the docs and FINALLY found out what was wrong - Strep Throat. Double awesome. Remember that snotty nose kid I complained about from day one? Yeah, shocker - he was just "getting over" a throat infection... fab.

So, she's been on antibiotics since Saturday and she's doing SO much better now. No more fever, no more miserable looking red eyes with a face that scream exhaustion. God lover her - she was chipper and smiley-faced through the entire ordeal. Of course, I was supposed to work Saturday and Dan was out of town so thankfully I was graciously let "off the hook" for Saturday. My sis and her hubby are getting settled in their new house this week so once they are "up and running" it will be easier to handle these sick situations as my sis is still off work with her little one, Lucy.

What makes me a little grouchy is that we saw a different doc two weeks ago when Jane first had the crazy-ass fever and she told me it was just a cold/virus and to keep doing what I was doing - of course, she didn't check Jane's mouth/throat like the doc on Friday did and VOILA - strep. Makes me grouchy. What are you going to do though? At some point, you kind of have to trust the docs as, last I checked, I'm not a practicing physician and cannot write myself scripts of antibiotics and so on.

So, life is insanely busy and crazy and chaotic. But fabulous too! :) It's definitely not as hard as I would have imagined being back at work. It's not until I get home and see my little monkey that I realize how much I missed her!

She's walking now. Not full-on walking (like no longer crawling) but walking here and there. She just lets go and takes off - it's the funniest thing - and she's getting good too! Of course, this means I had to go out and spend $50 on a new pair of shoes for her. Oh, how I would love to go out and spend money on a new pair of shoes for me!!! :)

K, absolutely have to go - daily showers are no longer a second thought now being back to work - you kind of have to look presentable and clean! :p ha ha ha.

Back to Work

Seeing as I haven't written since Monday, it's got to be obvious that being back at work means less time (duh) for "me" things. And, technically, today was my first full day so I haven't even gotten into the groove yet! :) I will say, I'm enjoying being on the go and busier and such. I will also say that when I see Jane's beaming face at the end of the day, excited to see her Mommy, I realize how much I missed her during the day.

When I get home, I just don't leave her alone. I want her in my arms and I want to play with her. There's definitely no "fighting" over who "has" to do bedtime routine as I'm all too happy to get those few extra special minutes with my little monkey.

She's apparently doing awesome at daycare now. Dan's been dropping her off since Monday and the girls say she's happy as a lark now which makes me so happy. Still, I feel like it's such a long day for her to be away from us but, I guess, every other child going to daycare in the world is going through the same thing and we all went through the same thing and most of us turned out pretty good! :) Most being the key word. :p

What you may learn quickly though is that your babe has a slightly different personality at daycare vs. at home. For instance, at home, Jane isn't the best eater - she eats everything as far as variety, but isn't a big eater re: quantity. At daycare, however, apparently she is a "great" eater and we're sent home with this fabulous little white sheet of paper that says all the food she ate all day - and typically "all" is selected vs. "some" or "none". I love the "white sheets" - telling me what my girlie did all day (walks, reading, playing, etc.), when she napped, when she pooped (doesn't seem like it would be important, but it is - as a Mom you pay more attention to poop than you ever thought possible), etc.

Ok, this is all you get. I'm busy the next two days but will try my hardest to get back to more frequent posts once this "re-intro to the real world" week is over.

Murderous Molars

I'm exhausted. Jane has three molars coming in and I want my child back (my pre-teething, super sweet, always happy, no trouble child). Instead, the last few nights I've gotten, probably, less than 3 straight hours sleep with 5 hours of waking up pretty much every 15 minutes because Jane's screeching in her crib. I don't want to curse it (but I'm apparently going to anyways), but she seemed to have an easier time going to sleep tonight so PRAY for me. Otherwise, I might as well just write off life and lie on the couch in a zombie-like state. :p ha ha ha. Turning on "professional Jen" was easier than expected today even though a few minutes prior to that, in a conversation with a girlfriend, I was trying to say "specific" and I said "parcific". :p Fabulous.

On a brighter note, Jane did much better at daycare today. The "gals" and I pretty much decided this week is hard core transition. No choice but to get her on board. And, maybe she over-heard us ;) but she did so much better. First of all, she took the bottle from one of the gals prior to her AM and PM naps (success) and she didn't cry all day. She did, however, wake up from her afternoon nap crying and they couldn't get her to go back to sleep but I'm pretty sure I know why. There are 8 kids in the infant room at daycare (well, there's supposed to be but on any day there is usually on 5-6 actually there). There are two sleeping rooms with 4 cribs each. So, I'm pretty sure Jane woke up and started yelling but only wanted her nummy so she could go back to sleep... but because they didn't want her to wake the other babes up, they may have taken her out of the crib and room and that wouldn't have gone over well. Even if I do that to Jane - take her out of the crib when she's still tired - I get a pretty good cry fit thrown at me!

So, I wanted to write to let you know that I will continue to write as much as I can. I have to admit, since that little "research" I did asking y'all what you liked best about the blog and you said you like my ramblings best, it has been a lot easier - vs. regular giveaway posts, etc.

Seriously. Pray for me for a good night's sleep. Otherwise, avoid me tomorrow! :p  And, I pre-apologize to my city for the hideous state of appearence that will likely ensue if your prayers aren't answered.

Will It Ever End?

Oh my goodness, will the teething ever end? Seriously. Jane's miserable. She's got a top and bottom molar coming in and, as a result, she's a child I've never met before - cranky, whiny, fussy... it's awesome. It's not really annoying or anything, it just makes me feel so bad for her. And I hate giving her drugs so I avoid doing it during the day and try to only give her something before bed if necessary. But, she's got this cold/flu thing going on too and had a fever again this morning so she's home again today. God love her, she's a mess! :p

Took her to the docs yesterday after the morning fever and apparently it's nothing serious - lots of clear fluids (water is best), saline nose spray (hell on earth), humidifier at bedtime, inclined crib mattress, etc. Basically everything I've been doing which sucks because I've been doing all of that for two weeks and she's not getting any better. Not to mention the actual docs appt was hell because Jane just had her vaccines so soon as the doc came near her with the ear thermometer, Jane freaked out and the remainder of the appt was a wrestling/screeching match that made me feel like the best mom ever. Don't even get me started on the nasal mist... 

Thankfully, my sis is staying with us next week until her new house is finished so I'm less stressed about the whole daycare thing as she may be able to help out and keep an eye on Jane if she needs a little longer to transition (hah, Nanc, this is me letting you know you might have to do that, k? ha ha ha). Who knew it would take three weeks to transition to daycare?!?! And it's completely unrelated to actual daycare - but combine teething plus a cold AND daycare and it equals disaster.

Jane was miserable this morning but then, after I gave her a bottle, she started to smile and chipper up again. So, we thought, ok lets bring her in to daycare and tell them to call me if she has a meltdown and I'll come get her. But, as we drove Dan into work, I kept looking at her in the mirror and couldn't do it. It would be completely selfish - what's best for us vs. what's best for her. Plus the daycare gals would likely less-than-love me for dropping a cranky, sick, miserable child off and saying "see ya later". I brought her up to her crib as soon as we got home, she tucked her legs up under her little belly and passed out. So cute.

Hey! I forgot to share! I was trying on all my work clothes last week to see what I needed to buy - thinking basically all pants because none of them fit the last time I tried. HALLELUJAH! All of a sudden all my work clothes fits! WTH!! I have a whole new wardrobe! Contrary to what I thought, I need tons of tops and no pants! YIPEE!

Sick Day

Jane woke up with a fever today of 38.8 (Celsius). So, we're headed to the docs at lunch time. Poor little thing. And, of course, I'm stressed out (aside from the fact that my baby is sick) because she was supposed to have two full days of daycare today and tomorrow so that she'd be totally ready to go on Monday as I'm starting back to work (yes, I got a job - yipee!). So, now, I'm a little stressed because daycare's been going well but she still won't take a bottle from the daycare gals which means she's her typical happy-go-lucky self until after her afternoon nap when she wakes up and gets upset for the last two hours. I was planning on not giving her her AM bottle at home this morning and going with her to daycare so that the gals could give it to her while I was there in hopes that me being there would make it work. I guess I'm not so much stressed right now but I will be on Monday thinking about her sobbing all afternoon because she wants a bottle... maybe she'll be fine. Maybe the doc will give her some antibiotics today and tomorrow she won't have a fever and we can give it a go tomorrow and POOF stress gone (well, partly gone - never fully goes away).

We're driving Dan to work this morning when I had this realization... (a little late) that - Geez, you better hope you work for an understanding company who "gets it" when your child is sick and you have to take the day off"... I mean what other alternative do you have? Most people don't have the luxury of an on-demand babysitter who can drop everything and be at your house at 8am on Thursday morning. Nor do most have the luxury of paying $10 an hour on top of daycare fees for said babysitter. Do the other Mommas have experience with this? Any suggestions? I mean, thankfully, I'm not at work today but, you know me, I like to have a "plan" for these types of situations so that, when they occur (which is inevitable) I don't stress and I know how to handle it. With all of that said, we obviously aren't the only parents in the world and obviously other people have had to call in sick because their child was sick before.

And my guess is, it's usually the Mom who stays home as, Jane's only a year old and she wants Mommy when she's not feeling well - can't imagine that gets any better with age and understanding. This is likely just another reason why it seems it's more difficult for women with children to find employment post-baby (not even touching the subject, there's WAY too much there).

Anyways - I'm off. Had tons of things to do today that I have to sneak in now between naps. I will say, I'm not too "disappointed" to have my little lady home with me today as I had thought yesterday was our "last day" together (obviously not ever but last day on maternity leave).

Lions and Tigers and Bears! OH MY!

We went to the wildlife park on the weekend. What a blast! I probably enjoyed it more than Jane but she seemed to be quite happy herself. I wish there were more things like that where we live - zoos, aquariums, etc. That's the problem, sometimes, with living in smaller areas - none of the luxuries of "big city" life. With that said, that's also why I love it! :)

Jane was sick as a dog but happy as a lark (enough sayings for ya?) - upon arrival this gigantic peacock greeted us and she was sold. Combine that with some cheerios to keep her busy in the stroller for an hour and it was a great day! :)

Along the lines of the "big city" life... there's a lot of development going on in our area lately. New subdivisions, new highways, and so on. No surprise that we've been hearing rumours of coyotes in a few subdivisions around town. How are they supposed to know to go North? :p Their just pulling a Tu-can Sam and "following their nose" to a buffet of garbage-y-heaven. Coyote would scare the heck out of me, but not shock me. Bears on the other hand do both. If I went out on my patio one day and there was a bear there, I'm pretty sure I'd be calling out for Ashton Kutcher waiting for the PUNKED crew to show up (because I am, obviously, that big of a celebrity - DUH). That would be the "cool" thing to do. In reality, I'd probably SCREAM my head off, cry, pee my pants and lock myself and Jane in the house for the entire summer until I was pretty certain hibernation season had kicked in.

Well, that's ALMOST exactly what happened yesterday. And by almost I mean, I didn't see a bear at all but my neighbours did! ha ha ha. Holy Crap! WHAT? I live in the city. I live in a subdivision! Bears? WTH? Seriously? The odd masked rascal (raccoon for you slower folk) destroys our garbage pile but that's it. Raccoons I can handle. If they didn't reck and ravage your home, I'd want one for a pet - so cute! But bears?

So, I'm putting Jane in her car seat and my neighbour yells from her window "Jen, we saw a bear in Brenda's backyard this morning." What? Brenda lives next door. First of all, I'm strapping Jane in her car seat so I'm kind of stuck otherwise I'm pretty sure I would have ran back in the house. As fast as possible I hop in the car. Probably should have asked "when this morning" instead of freaking out but I was freaking out so... I mean we have a garbage pile the size of the pyramids this week from Jane's birthday. I completely expected to see a huge bear with pink icing all over it's muzzle coming at me at that point. Regardless, I forced Dan to drive up the street to see if we could see it because I was so excited! :p ha ha ha. I guess animal control picked it up down the street. On the radio they said is was a Momma bear and cub. AHHHHHHHH. All of a sudden the tone changes. I'm like "I get it, she's just trying to take care of her baby". What a sin. I hope they gave her a snack when they dropped her off in the middle of freakin' nowhere with a hungry child! Jeepers, can you imagine if you and your babes were hungry and someone picked you up and dropped you in the middle of nowhere with no snack in sight? HELL! :p Of course, when it comes to my child, I'm a Momma bear too so, yeah, I'm glad the other one is outta my subdivision. Still, I feel bad. We're totally taking over their territory and they are obviously completely lost. A little heart-broken actually. And still a little freaked out. I'm definitely watching my back out on the patio these days which just seems insane to me. The thought of a bear in my backyard seems as likely as running into Flipper in Jane's baby pool. Crazy.

Anyways, made for an exciting start to the week. Was super cute to see the kids walking home from school yesterday freaking each other out by calling out "BEAR!" every time they passed by a yard. And then hearing them fib about it to their pals that "I saw it and it was HUGE" - typical "fishing stories" (it was THIS big). :p

Dropped Jane off for her first FULL day of daycare today. I think she's starting to catch on that when we go there, Mommy leaves as today she kind of cried a bit when the girls took her away from me. But the gals know how to handle it - immediately taking her to the CD player to turn on some tunes - distraction is a Mom's best friend!

Update - Daycare

Jane didn't end up going to daycare longer than a half-day last week. Between the cold, teething and transition, come Friday, I think she'd had enough and the girls called me at 11am to come and get her.

Today, on the other hand, went awesome. I planned to pick her up at 2ish, showed up and got to sit around for an hour talking to the daycare gal as all the 7 of the little 'uns were passed out. Nothin' happier than a Momma who knows her babe's comfortable enough to have a two hour nap! :) Then, when she woke up, she gave the daycare gal a snuggle, Mommy a snuggle and then took off to play some more as if I weren't even there! ha ha ha. Relief. Such relief.

Tomorrow we'll try the full day. Definitely feeling more confident about it after today vs. last week! YIPEE!!

Funny... but not really.

You know what's weird? Jane's at daycare right now but I keep hearing her. I keep hearing her cry through the monitor. It's eerie. I think because, usually when I am by myself downstairs I have to keep my eye on the monitor because she's napping. So, it's strange because even if though the monitor is not on and Jane's not here, I hear her.

Have to admit, I'm missing her today. I think it'd be different if I was at work right now but seeing as I'm just cleaning and doing some work-related stuff, I miss her like crazy.

Obviously...

Here's a shocker for ya... after Jane's first week of daycare, she's sick! WOW, big surprise right? :p I'm not one of those freakin' out cause my baby's sick type of Moms so no biggie - a cold now is one less later, building immunity is a good thing. On the other side of things, Jane's sick and teething. Awesome combo. I got a call from the daycare gals this morning at 11 saying it's probably best to come get her because she's been crying since I dropped her off. Course, I show up and she's sitting in the "kitchen" eating a snack, happy as a lark... well, maybe not happy (she looked exhausted, miserable and sick) but she wasn't upset by any means! :p


My sis warned me about the first few weeks of daycare and sickness. Friend of hers reported the worst colds in history the first month of daycare and then POOF, they are fine. Being exposed to all those new germs, it's no surprise. So, she's yet to stay the entire day but next week should be better. She's done two half days this week. Next week, we'll try a day until 3ish and then a full day. Fingers crossed.

I will say that when I got the message to come and get her today, God was with me that I didn't get a speeding ticket as I'm pretty sure I made a 15 minute trip, 5 minutes. What cop wouldn't understand my reasoning? ha ha ha.On the other side of things, for newer Moms, knowing she had been upset since I left didn't completely break my heart like I thought it would 6 months ago. Yes, it made me feel bad, but the thought of her crying a year ago broke my heart so much it hurt... now I know that despite the whole being upset thing, ultimately, she's fine and she will be fine.

It's supposed to be a beautiful weekend here so I'm looking forward to getting outside with my little munchkin. Happy weekend to y'all! :)

Did you know...

Did you know that teething causes cold-like symptoms? I did not know this. Here I am thinking that Jane's been sick once a month for the last 4 months and not understanding why she's regularly getting this running nose (clear fluids only) with no other cold symptoms (cough, etc.). Her first cold was obvious - running nose, cough, red, watery eyes, etc. It was visible how miserable she was. Since then, what I thought were her "colds" have just been runny noses that seem to last for 5 days and nothing else. No looking miserable (excluding the constant boogers hanging out of her nose), no cough, nothing.

So, I'm down at the playground two weeks ago and a Grammy shows up with her 18 month old grand-daughter. I immediately give her the stay away from my child - she's sick warning to which she agrees is a good idea as they have a 6 week old at home. A few minutes later, Grammy asks me if Jane has a cough or any other symptoms, I say no. She asks about a fever - slightly the day before but nothing now. And she says "it's teething, not a cold" - what? Apparently (I've looked it up - research geek remember), cold-like symptoms (fever, runny nose, cough, etc.) may be symptoms of teething. Obviously, if your babe is not prone to any of these symptoms, it's worth getting him/her checked out by the doc, just to be safe. But, I'm learning quickly that the runny nose means a grouchy Jane who doesn't sleep well and needs the "tranquilizer dart" (a.k.a. a dose of advil) to get to sleep in the first place.

Daycare was great today. Jane had an AM nap there, which was a relief as shes not slept anywhere except for her crib since she was 4 months old... I was worried she would resist sleeping at daycare for the first little bit. I picked her up pretty much right after her nap - one of the daycare gals "retrieved" her from the crib room for me and I could tell right away that Jane was comfortable with her, which is great peace of mind. The gals seem to be pretty fab which is awesome and I love that they get lots of outside time in the playground as well. Tomorrow she stays until lunch so it will be a nice break for Mommy in the AM - much needed as I'm pretty sure I'm getting sick (my throat feels like it's burning and it hurts to talk, not that that stops me from talking my face off all day to whatever poor adult makes the mistake of saying hello to me :p).

Other than that, today sucked. Jane only had a 45 min nap at daycare after a crappy night's sleep last night, so I fully expected a nice 2-3 hour long break this afternoon... yeah. right. dream on. She didn't have a nap at all. I put her up in her crib at noon and she sat up there playing for a half hour, then I went upstairs to check on her as she was starting to get upset and then she started screeching. So, I took her out and laid down with her and she slept for 20 mins on my chest but then woke up, smiling and laughing at me. So we went downstairs and I thought, I'll try again in an hour. An hour later, put her up for a nap, left her there for 45 mins and same thing. So, I gave up. Then, at 3:30, I thought, maybe if I leave early to pick up Dan, she'll fall asleep in the car and I'll bring the flyers and just sit in the parking lot while she naps... Moms will do anything for their babes. She chatted and laughed the entire way to Dan's office, so we went shopping instead.

Usually Jane "hits the sheets" at 7ish after bath and so on. Tonight we went up at 6:30... she was looking exhausted and I am looking worse. She fell asleep upon impact but I've had to go up twice already (within 45 mins) because she's woken up screeching. Did you know that teething, specifically molars, suck big time? BIG. TIME. God love her though. I wish I could know how much pain she was in and find a way to take it away.

Let's pray, for us both, that due to lack of sleep last night and no naps today, that she'll sleep well tonight (although I fully expect the opposite)... what a mess! :p

Oh yeah, yesterday Jane had her one year vaccines... yeah. That sucked too. Two shots, one per arm and she's smarter this time. This time, when Dr. P swabbed her arm (pre-needle in view), she started losing it. She KNEW what was coming. Awesome. As usual, a few minutes post she was fine and dandy - especially after we left the exam room and went back out to where all the "fun" people were in the waiting room.  Still, sucked. On a brighter note, she's tracking perfectly along the "curves" - 50th percentile for weight, 95th for height and head circumference. So she's tall and skinny - must get that from me! ha ha ha! :p

Birthday Breakdown

I have no time anymore.

Here's the quick version of what I learned about birthday parties:

(1) If your child isn't walking, don't bother with an expensive birthday dress - Jane wore hers for 20 minutes and was getting super pissed that she couldn't crawl in it. I took pictures, let everyone see how pretty she was and then changed her.
(2) Plan party activities around naptime. If your party is scheduled from 2-4 and your child usually naps at 2, do the whole cake and gift thing right away to avoid potential break downs. Jane was due for a nap at 2pm and by the time we got around to cake time it was after 3pm and she was just on the cusp of starting to let everyone know that she was not happy she was still awake... thankfully, we caught her just in time and the giant birthday cake and icing was enough to distract her from a meltdown. By the time she got for a nap it was after 4pm.

(3) Assign someone "birthday photographer" who isn't Mommy or Daddy. Thankfully I have a fab bro-in-law who's into photography, so he was happy (or didn't complain) about being our photog for the day. With that said, you're so freakin' busy running around taking care of your child and all the guests, you don't end up in many pictures anyways. Take the time to get at least one family picture.
(4) Let the child eat cake. I'm annoying anal about Jane eating nutritious foods but I let her go at in on her birthday - did it kill her? No. Did it screw up her sleep? No. Did she get sick? No. Did it effect her in any way but to make her happy as heck? Nope. Did she have more sugar in two hours than she's had cumulatively in her entire life? Heck yeah.
(5) Don't go overboard on food and snacks if you're doing an afternoon event. I always do a 2-4 thing it seems and buy tons of candy, snacks, cakes, and we ordered pizza last going off on Saturday. We were left with tons of candy, snacks, cakes, and pizza. Have enough on hand to keep people occupied but it's likely at that time of day that guests are between meals and not so hungry that a good piece of cake wouldn't fill the void. Save the $$.

(6) My giant cupcake went over pretty well I think - was a lot easier (once I got the recipe down) to make than expected. If you go with the giant cupcake pan, here's my advice - only fill each side (top of cupcake and bottom) 2/3 full, and bake the bottom part of the cupcake for at least 15 minutes before putting the batter in the top part otherwise your bottom part stays raw in the centre and you have to throw it out - like I did. 

K, that's all I got. I'm sure I'll think of fifty more things in the next few hours and will update in comments as I remember.

Daycare Day #2 went well. Jane stayed today for 2 hours by herself. I gave her a kiss and left, no big deal, no big farewell, just left. I was pretty proud of myself actually. ha ha ha. However, I did call Dan and ask him to swing by and peak in the window to check on her (Jane's daycare is in Dan's office building - spoiled much?). I don't know if he did or not but just the thought gave me peace of mind. Jane usually has a morning nap (pre-9 am ish) and I told the girls that she may or may not want a nap because of the excitement of all the kids... well, we all learned a lesson. A transition week is for everybody I guess, not just the babes. When I picked her up at 11am, they were playing outside in the playground and Jane was sitting there sobbing - very unusual sight for this Momma - apparently no nap = exhausted baby = sobbing baby. Jane's never been over-tired because I'm always home and I always just put her down when I think she needs a nap - even if she's not acting tired. Soon as she hit the car seat, her eyes were closed. Too cute. So, tomorrow the daycare gals said nap for Jane, tired or not and I agreed.

Daycare Day#1

Ok, don't think I'm going to let the birthday party experience go by unspoken of but my sis and fam are still here today so I don't have tons of time... It's a "must do" for tomorrow! :)

Today Jane started her transition week to daycare. Day one has Mommy and babe coming and staying together for two hours. Jane was totally fine. Immediately she started playing with the other kids and toys like "no big deal". The daycare gals said sometimes they have kids who have never even seen another child before and freak out immediately - so, if you plan on doing the daycare thing, plan on doing the playdate thing too in anticipation.

The hardest parts of today were:

(1) We arrived just as Jane was nodding off in the backseat - basically right on time with her typical morning nap - so I felt bad but as soon as she saw the "new" toys and kids, she got over it!
(2) Snotty-nosed kids... Yeah. They are there. And, unlike the trip to Walmart where you can avoid them like the plague, the snotty-nosed kids are all over your kid and what are you going to do about it? :p
(3) Last going off one of the little kids pulled on Jane's pony tail and that didn't go over too well when combined with the tiredness, but in typical Jane style, the drama ended after a minute or two.

Tomorrow Jane stays by herself for two hours (I think just two hours). The fabulous daycare gals said they'll put her down for a nap this time though so they can start to get her used to daycare life and, probably, to because they fear she'll be a holy terror child if they don't.

K, I'm off - tons of pictures and nonsense to follow (hopefully tomorrow) on the birthday party! :)

One Year Ago Today

One year ago today, this was my post:

Currently swallowing my sorrows in a bowl of frozen yougurt... a large bowl. Docs appt this morning confirmed what I already believed, nothing is happening. The doc couldn't even do a good "sweep" because of the position of my cervix. I'm so disappointed. I wanted to cry when she checked me, I could tell right away that it wasn't "good" news.

So, the plan of "attack" is as follows - Sunday morning we'll be admitted to outpatient "cervical ripening" (sounds like a party). They'll start with Cervidil, prostaglandin gel, to dilate my cervix. I'll be monitored for an hour to make sure baby is OK, then they kick me out for six hours after which I come back to see where we're at. If there's no change, they'll double the dose and try again. What happens next depends on how my body responds. The Cervidil could stimulate labour or I may have to get Pitocin (oxytocin), to simulate contractions. It's really frustrating and disappointing to have to be induced. I feel like I've done everything "right" my whole pregnancy and now my body's failing me. Sorry to whine, but it's just one of those days! I know once Jane is here I will not give a hoot how the heck she got here. We have been very lucky so far, so I am thankful.

In the meantime, I'm praying that, by some miracle, my body decides to kick into gear before Sunday and I'll avoid induction altogether. Unlikely, but who knows! I had some extraordinarily good soup for lunch that my friend says is sure to stimulate labour (thanks Karalynn!)... you'll get full credit! :)

Despite all the crappity-crap above, I am SO excited about finally getting to meet our little girl in the next few days. I know it will all be worth it in the end.
 
Jen


Followed later that night (2am is still that night if you ask me, but technically the "next day") by this post:

It's almost 2am on  Friday - what I would consider Thursday night as I've not been to sleep yet. At 10, Dan offered up the one natural inducer I thought might work in hopes of kicking this baby into gear...I think it may have worked!

I've been having painful (not unbearable) contractions for about an hour now, coming 2-3 mins apart and lasting about 1 minute. My back is aching, my mouth is dry, I'm a bit nauseous and I feel like I constantly have to pee.

Scared to get too excited as I don't want to get my hopes up but fingers crossed this is the real thing!

We'll be heading to the hospital soon. Hoping my next update includes pics of my sweet baby girl!

Jen :) 

 

CRAZY. At that point, the thought of a one year old seemed insanely far away. Time flies. Will write more on Monday post-birthday party craziness. Family flying in tonight - cleaning, cooking and organizing to do.

Two Cakes Down...

Two cakes down, only cupcakes to go... I'm getting in touch with my inner baking-diva today, preparing for Jane's birthday party on Saturday. My kitchen is a complete disaster... and not just from me baking, from Jane playing. She gets into the cupboards and keeps herself occupied while I bake. Obviously, I have the dangerous cupboards locked up but the worst she'll do in the remaining cupboards is get flour all over the place (yes, I will be eating my "the worst" words when this actually happens and I have to clean it up)... regardless, will make for that classic "face full of flour" picture that most of us have of ourselves when we were toddlers after doing the same thing.

I realize it's four days pre-party and you're probably thinking... hmmm, cake's not going to be too fresh Jen. Well, here's what I do that works for me. Instead of baking two cakes and 48 cupcakes all on Saturday - when I'll likely have a bazillion other things to do - I bake in advance and freeze, un-iced, until Saturday morning. Not only does this keep everything fresh but it makes it SUPER easy to cut and ice when it's cold (vs. room temperature or warm post-baking).

I'm curious as to how the cakes have turned out actually because both recipes are not ones I'm used to using. Actually, I never bake anything but cupcakes so the whole "cake" thing is intimidating.

Life just seems to be getting more and more insane. Although, next week, I will definitely have some more free time to, hopefully, "pound out" some great posts. As mentioned before, Jane starts her transition week to daycare next week so post-Monday, I'll have a few hours a day with "nothing" to do. I say "nothing" because I always have something to do - such is life for a Mom and a woman - but I'm pretty sure all the things I need to get done will be done in super-speedy time because I don't have a little rug-rat hanging off my leg... which, honestly, breaks my heart a little! :(

I'm still looking for work. There's an opportunity I am very excited about but waiting to hear back on... so fingers crossed for me as I'm pretty confident it would be a great experience! If it turns out that opportunity is not the right one for me, I've kind of got an interesting situation as Jane will be transitioned to daycare but not needing to go. I don't want to spend the time transitioning her and then not send her there ever because then she'd have to transition again once I find a job. Plus, it'll be one less "to-do" on us both once I start working if she's already comfortable with daycare. So, I'm thinking that, regardless, I will let her go to daycare 2-3 days a week so she stays comfortable with it. Sucks a little as we will still be paying full-time fees even though she's not staying full-time. Daycare for infants until 18 months is so hard to find here that you have to sign up during pregnancy and have to commit to full-time or they can find someone else to fill your spot in a second. I don't want to lose our spot at our daycare either because it's supposed to be great and it's in Dan's office building so if Jane ever got sick or hurt, he's right there which gives this Momma a heck of a lot of peace of mind.

K, must go - cake beeping at me. Happy Hump Day... did y'all see Glee last night. Hump day. Funny. Glee's been fab lately. Jane and I have taken to playing the "soundtracks" over and over while singing and dancing like we know how.

Busy Day

Can't "chat" right now - busy day ahead!

Jane's got her 12 month vaccines today (even though her birthday isn't until Saturday), plus Dan's getting a physical cause he's "always tired" (which has almost gotten him murdered on several occasions :p) and I am hoping to get back on "the pill". I avoided the pill until now because it can affect your b-milk production but, at this point, my little ta-tas aren't required for much besides filling out half of my previously over-flowing nursing bras.

So, I have to drive Dan to work which takes up an hour of my morning - ah, the joys of one car. And, because Jane's starting daycare next week, I have to buy doubles to leave at the centre (for my darling US gals, yes, in Canada we spell it "centre"... we're special) - bottles, soothers, diapers, wipes, formula, etc. Next week should be an interesting week for posts as you'll get to see first hand the intro to daycare from Mommy's perspective.

K, gotta go - baby hanging off my leg because her fav toy that she's not allowed to play with is, of course, my laptop!

Happy Tuesday to ya!