Day 12. . .but who's counting?

Last night, after having my BP readings stay the same for the 11th day and having my labs come back perfectly fine, Peter and I decided to talk to the Dr about monitoring me at home. I had already bought the BP cuff, my mom is here to take care of Oliver, and I have much, much, much better TV at home. Not to mention being able to sleep in the same bed with my husband again. Or take a shower in a space that is bigger then 2'x2', can maintain a normal temperature and not fluctuate between scalding and freezing, and has some water pressure. Oh and eat normal food.

Amazingly the Dr was highly receptive to what we had to say. He said he's gotten some calls from our insurance company about why I was still here and he made his case to us about why I should stay but said let's talk to everybody and see what they all have to say. Of course also mentioning that he's just my Dr and not a police officer and he can't MAKE me stay.

So I got a wheelchair ride to the Perinatologist for an ultrasound to make sure the high BP readings were not causing the baby any growth issues. It's not. He's gained almost a pound in the last two weeks so he's being estimated now at 5 3/4 pounds which is big for 33 weeks. The Perinatologist was of the same mind of me staying here. He also said we could do an Amnio next Tuesday to check for lung maturity and make some more decisions with that information. Oh and he called me a bright and intelligent patient and that it wasn't a false compliment.

I agreed with both Dr's at this point. From being upright in a wheelchair for the past 45 minutes I felt HORRIBLE and while I can get totally normal pressure readings (126/77) by working the system and laying on my left side with the cuff on my right arm, if I am reclining upright in bed, my numbers are much worse (160/94) on average. Those numbers are super close to the cut off for inducing just for Hypertension. Another big concern is how quickly my BP readings can change between ok and not ok.

But the real reality check came this evening. My Ob came in to see what we had decided and to tell us what the insurance agency Dr said. You know it's serious when the insurance company says, keep her there as long as she needs to be there.

Right now it's at least 8 more days. If the amnio comes back with mature lung development then we will most likely induce my labor. If not, then we're going to have to figure out a new plan. I am absolutely getting tired of being in here. I've done what I can to make my room as comfortable as possible. I have my own super nice sheets on the bed and I covered the stupid checkout signs with a large poster board Oliver painted and tons of pictures of him and our family and friends. I wear my own clothes, I have my Ipod dock, my laptop (with streaming Netflix), visitors scheduled so I'm not alone all day every day, etc. But it's still not home and I miss Oliver so much it's crazy.

Tonight Peter's going to bring me pizza. I haven't had pizza in weeks. I am very excited, heartburn be damned!

Looks like I'm going be in here for a while. . .

After meeting with the Perinatologist and discussing everything with my OB, it looks like the plan is for me to sit and bake this cookie as long as possible or at least until 35 weeks.

I think the decision was an easy one when I realized I can lay here in bed for two-three more weeks or Small-Fry could be in the NICU for two-three weeks.

Of course all of this is based on how moderate my pre-eclampsia stays. If my pressures go up or I start having other problems Small-Fry is going to have to come and join us on the outside.

35 weeks is only 16 days away. I can do anything for 16 days.

This is not the birth you are looking for. . .

Go back and read the title with a Jedi Mind Trick voice.
That's the way I keep hearing it in my head and for some reason thought you should too.

I had a really simple plan with this pregnancy.
Step one- get pregnant in the spring so I wouldn't be giant and pregnant all summer long like with Oliver.
Step two- have baby at home.

Well 50% is pretty good right?

I was seeing a midwife for regular prenatal care until 29 weeks. At that point I had had three separate elevated blood pressure readings, and three large fundal height measurements, and she wanted me to get an all clear from an OB that I was safe for a home birth.

Well that went bust pretty fast. My BP was even more elevated at the first OB's office and I was spilling a little protein in my urine. Enter in Labs, 24 hour urine catch, and meeting with a Perinatologist.

Labs and urine were perfect, Small-Fry was perfect but big averaging 3 weeks ahead in measurements. Most doctors would question my dates but I know when we got pregnant and I have two early ultrasounds backing that up, Small-Fry is just a big little guy.

Since this first OB was on the way other side of town, Century City for those in the know, I switched to a new OB, Dr. Dwight near my house downtown. My first appointment with him went like my last appointment with the midwives I used with Oliver or you know the Hotel California, you can check in anytime you like but you can never leave. So I was wheeled over to the Maternity ward and have been here since. Really I should have packed a bag last week. Maybe if I was prepared for this it wouldn't have happened? At least this time I had washed my hair in the morning.

My labs are still great, my urine is still low in protein, my my blood pressure readings are slowly, slowly creeping up to Danger, Danger Will Robinson levels! Yesterdays top read was 156/94. So while there is no such thing as moderate pre-eclampsia that's what Dr. Dwight is calling me case. Mainly because he wants to keep me prisoner in this hospital pregnant as long as possible to give Small-Fry the best beginning possible.

I have had two steroid shots to help mature his lungs and he's being monitored every 12 hours and is doing fantastic, he doesn't care that I'm stuck in bed, he's still a dancing fool.

Today I meet with another Perinatologist, get another ultrasound, review my labs and numbers and discuss the pros and cons of an Amniocentis to see if his lungs have matured enough for delivery but at this point I think we're just waiting for me to be too sick to stay pregnant.

The nurses are lovely, there is round the clock juice available, and I am allowed to go to the bathroom and shower on my own provided I am not dizzy. Staying in bed totally sucks, my back and hips are bugging me but I did get an amazing massage yesterday.

I am also getting pretty good at crocheting. I've already made Small-Fry a ridiculously cute hat and if the dizzy spells and headaches stay away today I'm going to try another pattern.

Dream Day at an awful time

I am home ALONE. ALONE without having appointments, without having to worry about the school calling for me to come get Oliver, without any real responsibilities at all.

The boys are out for the day. They went to the Long Beach Aquarium.

This would be awesome if I didn't feel like death warmed over. Which to be fair is loads better then feeling like death, which is where I was yesterday. (Mommy brain for the win! I just typed wear and were before I realized the correct word was where!)

I have a "want to- do" as opposed to a "have to do" list 30 miles long and really I think the only things I can do it sit here on my computer, read another book, or watch more TV.

Hopefully I can find the energy to shower today.

I'll be home ALONE one day again. Right?

Oh the weather outside is frightful. . .

but the Air Conditioning is so delightful!

I love it when a plan comes together, even if it comes together a year late.

Last year I bought a super cute pattern for a Christmas stocking for myself from Sew Lola . I never got around to making it because of all the construction going on.

Fast forward almost a year. . .

Since it's almost 90 degrees here today, what could be more fitting then sewing Christmas stockings? Mainly because we no longer have our window AC units in the house and my sewing room is one of two rooms with air conditioning (Oliver's is the other).

A quick trip to my mega mart sewing emporium for some cute fabrics for the boys and some inexpensive felt and I was all set.

TAA DAA!

I'll let you guess which one is for me.

I still need to embroider names on them, I still need a name for one of them, but that is something I can do while hanging out with Peter watching TV.

Test

Tf

September sewing stash game

So I did it!
I went an entire month without buying any new fabric, just some thread and zippers, and made things from my stash only!

The List:
Ice Giraffes t-shirt
teapot tunic
2T cord pants (2)
maternity skirt
maternity pj pant
Jalie 2806
prudent baby minkee eye mask
Ottobre hoody 4/2007

Total yardage sewn 10.45
I may have been able to do more if we had not all gotten sick. It threw off my sewing mojo when I had to sleep all day. I also took a day and cleaned up my sewing room. I refolded and organized ridiculous amounts of fabric.

What I learned is that I have a lot of fabric and I can probably create a lot more clothing for myself, Oliver, Small-Fry, and friends with only minimal purchasing of finishing fabrics. For example I'm totally out of brown rib-knit and I use that for collars and cuffs on lots of my fabrics. I have to buy more in order to use up the awesome prints I have.

So you can pretty much expect just handmade gifts coming from me for the foreseeable future.

I can't wait until my co-op velour order arrives, I have some baby sewing to do!

The new and improved Walk of Shame

Grocery shopping with a two year old is hard. I have to pack copious snacks and distractions and yet we still end up opening something before it's purchased to avoid the screaming melt-down.

But today was even more awesome.

Today Oliver went into the store looking fairly cute with his motorcycle t-shirt, brown jeans, and brown sneaker. He might have had blue lips from the popsicle he had earlier but he's getting over a cold and I was ready to defend my blue lipped child from the judgmental parenting masses!

When we left, he was wearing a lot less.

Why? Poop. Lots of poop. All over his clothes.

I made the discovery in the produce section. At first I hoped the stain on his shirt was just left over from his diaper this morning and that I had somehow missed it before we left the house. Closer inspection showed me I was wrong. Really wrong.

After a hasty retreat to the women's restroom (really, I have to pay a quarter to get in!) I discover I have no wipes.

Awesome.

Thank heaven that this is one of the few bathrooms in Los Angeles that actually has paper towels. I cleaned up my kid and cleaned up the mess cleaning up my kid caused but I had no spare clothes for him.

So Oliver left the grocery store wearing only his adorable elephant cloth diaper and his shoes.

And I made the Walk of Shame. Because really, who in that store wasn't thinking something along the lines of "Why isn't that little boy wearing any clothes?" or "What kind of mother can't dress her child before taking him out of the house?" or even "Seriously? WTF is wrong with that woman?"

Oh did I mention Oliver has recently become fascinated with twiddling his nipples?

Awesome.

Wow, more like what we're doing maybe if I actually update

So my SIL is making me look bad by starting a blog Simply Minded Mama and actually posting to it daily. While here I am posting updates about what I eat and where I go on Facebook and not doing much else.

Well, today I entered a sewing stash game. I truly doubt I'll win anything but less fabric in my sewing room and hopefully some new clothes for Oliver, Small-Fry, and myself but I'm doing it.

I came to the realization last night that I have a problem- a fabric problem.

A really big, outta room, spent way too much, fabric problem. So now I need to do something about it.

I can say so far I have kept to my New Years Resolution of making some sort of garment every month. So far I've made:
A hoodie for Sitka
2 tank tops for myself
2 tanks for my mom
1 tank for Jen (I really like this pattern)
3 diaper covers
2 kids t-shirts for O
2 kids t-shirts for friends
1 woven tunic shirt for me
1 knit long tunic shirt for me
1 romper for Sebastian
1 green dress given to Jen
1 woven dress for me
3 woven spring tops
1 Schoolhouse Tunic top
1 sheer top with birds


And I'm sure I've forgotten some things. I should probably start tracking them better, maybe take pictures or something. (Seriously since I wrote that sentence I've gone and added the last 6 7 items!)

But not bad for the past nine months, especially considering June, July, and August saw very little sewing done due to my need to do nothing but lay down on the couch all the time.

So there is a small update on what's going on here.

Oh did I mention my handsome pants turned TWO last week. WOW where does the time go?

Oliver Lukas @ 20 months

Every day Oliver helps us walk the dog, Baxter. Baxter gets two walks a day one in the morning and one in the evening. This day Oliver decided he wanted to take pictures like Mama. So I gave him an old camera that was on display in my living room. Every time I held my camera up to my face he'd do the same. I had to trick him to get this shot without his camera up.



Oliver likes to help, whether it's doing laundry or helping us fix something he needs to be involved. It can be a bit of a pain in the back when it's time to cook dinner, he likes to be held while I stir anything on the stove.


He got his first haircut last month. He doesn't have a lot of hair but where it was accumulating it made him look a little mullet-y. Peter just got his hair cut so Oliver sat on his lap and got a little trim. He wasn't happy about it, but he wasn't screaming either.


Oliver now sleeps and naps in his own room in his own bed. He really was sleeping like that and I thought it was hysterical. Please ignore the remnants of lunch on his face.


We're still nursing and although at times it can be inconvenient (like today in yoga class), we both still really enjoy it. It's an instant soother and can help this busy toddler recenter. During Easter we went to Joshua Tree National Park, this is Oliver taking a milk break from exploring the rocks.

Some Stats
Weight 28 lbs 6 oz
Height 34"!
Shoe size - 6 1/2 W
Teeth- all but one canine and his 2 year molars
Words- Dis- with pointing, Mama- which means I want that, Dog-this is BRAND NEW and VERY EXCITING
Signs:
Milk
Mama
Daddy
Dog
Cat
Bird
Please
Diaper
Train
Car/Bus/Truck(he uses bus for all three)
More
Eat
Drink
Thank you
Potty
Water
Airplane
Baby
Signing


He doesn't talk really, but he recently started doing some animal sounds with prompting- Cow, Sheep, Cat, Dog (he pants).
There it is, a little update on my little man.

An Oasis in an Urban setting

At least that's my ultimate goal. We have this tiny side yard with a plot of dirt that has to legally be able to be used as a parking spot.

It's a bit beat up from the construction gang and general lack of care. I really want to get a vegetable garden planted this year, I have grand plans! But first I need to clean up my yard.



It's pretty bad.

But I got a ton done today! I filled up both my trash bin with left over construction detritus and my green bin with random, large, freaky weeds. Tomorrow is trash day so hopefully I can fill 'em up some more.



Some of the left over construction junk


The tiles are actually left over from our bathroom remodel years ago, but they were stored in the yard and the boxes they were in turned to mush around them


Now all I need to do is figure out a way to make brightly colored children's toys = oasis for me.

Just for good luck here's one of Oliver playing half in the yard.

Adventures in Cooking- CSA style

Last week I bought a box of CSA (communtiy supported agriculture) vegetables from the South Central Farmers.

Holy lotta greens Batman!

It was a bushel box, think large cooler, full of greens that I had never cooked before let alone seen.

Thank goodness there was identifying information on their website. They had a handy little "What's in the box this week" link with a list of the vegetables that might be in your box and links to pictures of almost all of them.

I gave away a fair amount, there's just no way two people can eat that much food before it goes bad, and today I had to throw away some Purple and Green Mustard Greens (or at least I think that's what they were) because they were just gone.

Cooking took a little imagination and got some tasty results!

Greens and Grains Quiche- mustard greens sautéed in olive oil and garlic,combined with pearled barley, and a ton of Parmesan in fantabulous quiche form.

Pureed white bean soup with Red Russian Kale (so far my favorite new green, really tasty and not at all bitter)

Stamppot Van Boerenkool- a tasty potato and kale dutch dish that is one of Peter's favorites. Traditionally served with sausage or bacon, but we had it with soy hot dogs. Although a Bratwurst or anything from Wurstkuche would be amazing. . .

I also made some Beet Crisps- tasty but too much work for too little output and Oliver wouldn't eat them even though he loves anything salty and chip like usually.

Coming up this week, I still have Swiss Chard, some sort of lettuce, beets, teeny tiny carrots and red onions, and radishes.

I have plans for all but the radishes. Maybe just serve them raw with a salad? Anybody else have any ideas?

Gotta go my toaster oven just dinged, my roasted garlic is done. Yum!

Pattern Challenge: McCall's M6016

So I did it. I created a piece of apparel in the month of February. Actually I completed three! But so far I only have pictures of one.

The pattern overall was pretty easy. I made view B with the fold down collar and no contrast cuffs.
I made the extra large which could be considered an 18-24 month or maybe a 2T.


My biggest issue with the entire pattern was the fact that the instructions had you baste every seam, sometimes twice? before sewing. I skipped the basting for the most part, or just used pins to hold it in place.

I thought the collar application was easy and that had me worried, and although it did turn out a little wonky due to seamstress error, I didn't sew it at the correct seam allowance and it ended up being slightly too big, I'm really proud of it.

And my little man looked super cute in his Valentine's Day Shirt.

Trying something new

By 4 o'clock, Oliver is usually done. He wants a lot of attention and playtime with Mama.

Problem is by 4 o'clock, Mama needs to start thinking about dinner.

The horrible solution- Sesame Street.

O is usually in  a great mood late morning. Today he's been running around with the cat, a lunch box, and a pull toy. So I'm trying something new. Prepping for dinner.

I like to try new flavors and recipes. I like to cook. But with a whiny toddler around and all sanity gone, we often end up with frozen pasta.

Tonight's dinner. . .Creamed Fennel with Quinoa and a side of Roasted Butternut Squash. The fennel and onion needed are already chopped and hiding in those plastic wrapped bowls, now in the fridge.

It might not be slow cooker easy, but I'm excited!

Never wake a sleeping baby. . .

It took three days.
Three days until Oliver "got it." Now he sleeps, (almost) through the night, without crying.

Last night he actually was so tired that after book and boob he reached for the crib, pretty much saying, "That's what's next and I'm sooooo ready Mama!"

We're also working on naps and that's not going so good. He wants me there holding his hand until he falls asleep. I tried to be tough yesterday but ended up in sobbing hysterics after an hour of his sobbing hysterics. The hardest part was having an audience, Oliver's Oma and Opa were here.

I'm still in a state of disbelief on his new sleeping skill. I'm so glad it happened, it's nice to sleep the whole night undisturbed (except for my own bladder, I feel that's something that'll never be normal again.)

The past couple of days have been adventurous, grandparents mean lots of fun.

Here's a few fun photos.

Swim class with Oma!

Valentine's Day Popcicle in his Awesome Mama made shirt!

Posing with Mama and Dada

Oma and Opa took me to McDonald's for breakfast!

Sleep Training, Volume one.

Oliver has slept with us pretty much since he was born until about a week ago. We're talking 17 months of all night access to Mom and Dad, but more importantly the boobs.

Peter and I have had a lot of reasons not to sleep train him, the two biggest ones were:
1. It is was easier to co-sleep when you are nursing a newborn. Getting out of bed when you only get to sleep in two hour increments, if you're lucky, sucks.
2. We didn't have a room for him to go to because of the construction and of course that took 4 months longer then it should have.

So while Oliver got to sleep with us, I didn't get a whole lot of sleep. I'm a bit cranky when I don't sleep well and I haven't been sleeping well since I was 4 months pregnant. We're going on two years here where I haven't had more then 4 hours in a row of sleep and that 4 hours only happened twice.

It was time. It was way past time.

After one night of success, we all got super sick and Oliver came right back to bed with us. Last week we started again. The book says if you're transitioning out of co-sleeping into a child's own room and crib (that'd be us), to spend a couple of nights soothing him however he needs and be prepared to spend some time on the floor in his room.

It was a long week. There were lots of wake-ups, I went and nursed him the first wake up and then Peter went back each additional time to get him back to sleep. Eventually, Peter spent every night from 4 am on on the floor of Oliver's room with his hand touching the baby. I missed him, but it was nice to have all that space in bed again. But more importantly I felt really guilty that he was sleeping on the floor with the whiny baby.

Last night I decided to re-read the book (Sleep Easy Solution) and we got tough. Oliver didn't like it. He cried on and off, mostly on, for 90 minutes. We,really Peter, went in a few times, told him we loved him, didn't touch him, and left. That just pissed him off. I did it once and seeing my tiny man screaming and reaching for me broke my heart, I delegated that job to Peter, and had some wine. I would have had more but it was the last glass in the last bottle in the house.

Of course Oliver was fine but in my Mom state I feared the worst and it brought me to tears.
What if he was mad at us and didn't love us in the morning? -He was all smiles and cuddles like usual.

What if the world ended, earthquake happened, someone snuck in and stole him, fire, flood, war, etc. and his last memory of his parents was them abandoning him? - Well the world didn't end last night. Oliver was still alive and in his bed this morning.

Overall I think we did ok. He did wake up once and Peter continued with the verbal check-ins and Peter fell asleep outside of Oliver's room. When he woke up about half an hour later, all was quiet on the western front. Our little man woke up for his day at 7am ready to go, we all survived night one of sleep training.

A challenge

I know the New Year happened a little while ago and it's customary to make a resolution. I'm never good at resolutions. Last years to be less self-deprecating didn't go so well, 'cause well I'm a loser. (ha, ha, ha?)

So this year I'm going to challenge myself. My goal, to sew one piece of apparel every month.

12 new garments sewn by me, for the myriad of people in my life.

But wait, it's February how are you going to do this? I'm slightly cheating. I've already sewn a great little hoody for a friend of ours for his first birthday in January. I'm retroactively invoking it into this challenge.

I'm also doing this as part of a larger blogger challenge and I think it's totally attainable.

And so this isn't a text only post. Here's a photo of me in a dress I made in November. It's a Colette Pattern, Chantilly, in a gorgeous satin finish cotton from Sew LA .



Well I'm off to work on the challenge. I'm making Oliver a button down shirt for Valentine's Day. I'll post pics and a review of the pattern when it's done.