Sleep? Who needs sleep?

I was never one in college to pull all night cram sessions. I was a strictly in bed by nine type of girl, so I was completely unprepared for the schedule of a new mama. My little one seems to be a confirmed night owl!. She likes to sleep during the day and is awake all night long. She isn't fussy, or cranky, and I have been blessed that she does not have colic, just a touch of reflux, but she is wide awake and ready to go!. As a result I have become acquainted with hours of the night hitherto unknown to me.
These days I am lucky if I get four hours of uninterrupted sleep, I spend most of my waking moments bleary eyed and covered in baby barf (somehow she always manages to miss the burp cloth). I have learned, though to laugh at my self. One night, or rather at 2:30 in the morning, when my beloved daughter had just blown out two diapers in the space of 15min, I leaned over on the changing pad, looked her in the eye and said "Are you done? Seriously, are you done?" and this little blessing  from God grunted, shot stream of poo clear across the room, sighed and fell asleep right there. All I could do, after changing her into yet another fresh diaper, was stand there and giggle. I know I will look back with longing when she is older, but I am not there yet. For now I am still in the trenches.
I say all of this because my husband has noted that my blog posts are riddle with errors and I am supposed to be a writer. So I am asking for you indulgence dear friends, as I go through this season of my life. Right now my thoughts are a bit rambling, and not as precise as I would wish, yet I will continue to post for as long as God will allow.

February Goals

Jess over at Making Home has issued an invitation to set five goals per month here are mine:

1.Pray and read Scripture everyday.

2. Make time to spend with my husband Matt.

3. Play with my newborn during the day.

4. Make and keep a household schedule for cleaning and meals.

5. Lean to crochet a granny square.


Wish me luck and perseverance!
Kim

Bumper's Birthstory

Monday December 6th 2010: It is late afternoon, around three pm, I feel a rush of wetness just as I am getting ready to go to the bathroom. I look down and see a pinkish fluid has stained my underwear.
 "Sweetpea, I am going into labor."  I call out to my husband who has come home early from work to help me with the unpacking.
"Ok, I'll start the car," he replies grabbing the hospital overnight bag.

On the way to the hospital he coaches me on my breathing and keeps me calm. We arrive at the hospital, check in, and find out how much my cervix has dilated.  Several  long and painful hours later, the nurses hand, me a wriggling,, screaming, little blessing of  a  baby girl. My husband smiles at me and says "Congratulations Mama!"
At least that is what I wanted it to be like.

Here is what really happened:


Saturday December 4th, I noticed my discharge had turned the bright red of menstrual blood. Alarmed, I called the after hours number for my ob/gyn. I spoke with the doctor on call. She asked me a few questions, and I let her know I had been lifting boxes and climbing up and down the stairs of our new house.  I should mention we had closed on the house and moved in only three days prior. She assured me that I had probably just torn something by moving around and trying to do too much, and to call back if I soaked a pad in less than an hour.  I didn't, so figured she was right and I took the next day off to rest. Everything seemed like it was getting better, but on Monday afternoon I started bleeding again. Not really wanting to, but knowing it was probably for the best I called the doctor's office again.

This time my doctor told me to go to the hospital, so she could check whether or not I was leaking amniotic fluid.  Feeling foolish, I called my husband to let him know what was happening. He offered to drive me, but I thought I would be in and out in an hour, so I told him to meet me there, grabbed my purse and left.

Sure enough once I got to the hospital there was no sign of the bleeding.  Just to be safe my doctor ordered an ultra sound to make sure nothing was torn. Once again the results came back negative.The baby hadn't dropped and my cervix wasn't dilated. Feeling even more foolish I apologized to my husband for making him take off from work early. I got up to  use the bathroom and promptly began leaking onto the floor. I turned to my husband in irritation, "This is what I was talking about," I told him. My quick witted hubby called  for the nurse .  She tested what had fallen on the floor, and sure enough it was amniotic fluid.

She told me to put my gown back on and get into bed.  I must have been a bit confused because I asked "Can I go home now?".  Through the bathroom door I heard my husband and the nurse call out "No!".
 The nurse looked me in the eye and said "You are not leaving this hospital without a baby."

I was stunned. My due date wasn't until the 23rd. I was not prepared. I had nothing. No overnight bag, no change of clothes, no camera, not even a toothbrush.  The nursery was just an empty room with a crib box in it.

My doctor came in and talked with us about having a C-section. I could feel my heart breaking. I had so wanted natural childbirth., but because I wasn't dilated and the baby hadn't dropped my doctor was concerned about the baby's health and safety.  My husband and I talked about it, and prayed, and in the end went with the doctor's recomendation of a C-section. So at 9:24pm 12-6-2010 our little bumper came into the world, and when my husband placed her in my arms, all I could do was thank God for sending us the blessing of a healthy baby girl. It was not the birth experiece I imagined, it was what God had wanted for me. Later my doctor told me there had been a rupture in the amniotic sac, and  my baby  would not have survived a prolonged induced labor. God knows best and I have no complaints.

Priorities

Last night I did something every parent hopes they will never do: I dropped my five week old infant onto the floor.  I had her in my arms and was going to carry  her back to her room. In the town house where we live, the living room is a step down from the dining area and everything is hardwood. I tripped up the step, and she fell out of my arms, and SMACK onto the floor. I was devastated. I felt like the worst parent in the the world. Right away I called her pediatrician, and they told me to take her to the ER.  So int the freezing rain and sleet I drove our little bumper to the hospital. They gave her a head scan and Praise God she was not seriously hurt.

All of this taught me a lesson: I need to slow down, do one thing at a time and TAKE CARE OF MYSELF!
I dropped her because I was sleep deprived, and not carefully watcing where I was going. I can not take care of her if I do not take care of mysel.f  My life is unmanagable and the only way to help that is to pray and take one day at a time

Moving (Part Two)

Hello again!

I have been absent for a while, because of the whole moving thing. The home inspection did not go as well as we would have liked, there were some major problems (Like a broken hot water heater, and HVAC system -- aka no hot water and no heat, a bad thing in December). The good news is the seller has agreed  to do the repairs.:)  We have the final walk through on the 27th, and God willing everything will be fine.

In the meantime my husband and I are trying to decide where to spend our Thanksgiving holiday. In spite of all the stress in our lives, we have a lot to be thankful  for. Since I don't know if I'll be able to post before the holiday I want to share the things I am thankful for:

1. God's faithfulness
2. My husband for taking care of  most of the packing and real estate stuff
3. A healthy baby
4. Friends who come through for us.
5. A roof over our heads, and food on our table
6. Clean water to drink.
7. Our soon to be new home.
8. Our jobs.
9. The fact that my husband can fix practically anything.
10. Being alive and in good health

HAPPY THANKSGIVING!!

Kim

Moving (Part One)

My husband and I have been in a frantic search for a house. Our apartment lease is up on the 30th of November, and we simply can not afford to stay here any longer. We had put in two offers over the past week and within two days there were competing bids.  The first house we looked at, and really liked, we could not afford. We were able to buy it, but not to actually live there! The second place was a really nice home in our price range, but the owners couldn't move out until the 17th  of December and my husband and I would have been homeless  for seventeen days!

Finally we have found a home we can afford and move into when our  lease is up. Yay! All we have to do is work out the closing, home inspections, and other little details.

Keep us in your prayers:)

Kim

The Journey Begins

I made the leap. Today was my first day as a stay at home wife and mom to be. My little jumper has yet to make her arrival on the scene. For months I have been reading various blogs and exploring websites, trying to get a handle on what it means to be a "sahm". What I did not count on was the urge to simply sit and veg-out ( and I don't mean eating lots of leafy greens). Sure I tidied, and did laundry, but mostly I surfed the web and played solitaire. Yeah that is going to get really old really fast, so I guess I need to put what I have been learning into practice. First things first: Get Organized!

I will be the first to admit that I am not organized at all. There is something within me that rebels at the very notion of constant organization. (I am so the opposite of the hubby -- he has spreadsheets for everything).

If any of you out there in blog land have suggestions, I am Listening!