a thanksgiving post

Friday, November 23, 2012

let's have a chatty-chat about a few things i'm exceptionally thankful for this 2012:

boom: this gal

oh my. she rocks my socks off. and who knew a pair of bebe tights could be so stinkin' adorable.

and who knew that a hat with a ball on it could look this good. and might i add...this chica can rock some polka-dots. that's for sure.

boom: binkies (*please reference the photo above*)

the day i get that bink to stay in her mouth is the day i've won the mothering gold medal. they say that a bebe who sucks a bink at night has a reduced risk of SIDS.

(SIDS being that terrifying anomaly that nobody is quite sure what causes it, but manages to terrify all new mothers on a nightly basis.)

so we work on getting that bink in her mouth each night. we've tried three different brands but the soothie seems to be the ticket. she'll get a disgusted look on her face for the first 20 seconds and if you rub her cheek the entire time, she'll keep it in.

boom: mild sleep deprivation

she sleeps. i cuddle. i know i'm supposed to sleep when she sleeps...but moments like this make it difficult. i mostly just want to lay there with her and relish in the cuddles and feeling her breathe. who knew i would be this person??? not me.

boom: this guy

he wins the husbandry/fathering gold medal already.  each night i'll try to hit the sack around 9 pm to get my eyeballs shut for an uninterrupted three hours until she starts grunting and thrashing (ie. ready to eat).

seriously...no tears. no crying. just a lot of grunting, thrashing and back-arching. similar to what i do when i'm hungry...interesting.

so my farmer will swaddle her, entertain her, bounce her, and cuddle her until about midnight or midnight:30. it's a little routine we've settled into. sometimes it works like magic and the three of us wake up well rested. then about 25% of the time all bets are off and she's on her own schedule and i'm somewhat of a monster the next day. that's another lesson for another day.

regardless...my farmer busted out 7.1 million pounds of combined corn seen here:

from what i understand, corn harvest is ridiculously stressful. but my farmer, that guy...he's something else. he can do the jobs of five guys all while letting miss kaye and me ride shotgun:

(pardon the face. she's working on her camera-ready look.)

boom: hats with animal ears

my gal can pull off a hat...including this little towel that looks like a lamb. am i right or am i right?

i'm right.

and lastly, for now...

boom: two thanksgiving dinners!

my farmer and i are lucky to have both our families close enough to enjoy holidays with both of them.

farmer's parents were wonderful enough to cook us dinner on wednesday and then we headed out yonder to spend the actual holiday with my family.

anything to get me off the hook from cooking. the three hour round trip drive was well worth it.

happy day-after thanksgiving, y'all!

pardon my broken neck and awkward smile. i guess kaye and i are both working on our camera-ready faces.

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that one day when i really DID have a bebe

Monday, November 12, 2012

10.29

it was a monday. guess who STILL hadn't gone into labor? i was 10 days overdue and having yet another non-stress test to see how the fluids in the ol' ute (uterus) were doing. they had decreased. not to dangerous levels, but decreased which meant it was probably time for bebe to make an appearance.

that's when le doctor said, "you're going to have a bebe tomorrow."

"whoa whoa whoa. pump the brakes!" i declared.

i mean...i had been complaining A LOT about how uncomfortable i was. i think i even said, "i'll do anything to get this bebe out."

but when le doctor said that tomorrow was the day...i was panic-stricken. scared. sweating. lots and lots of sweating. mostly in the armpit area.

my farmer and i drove back to the farm to wait out our sentence. on the way back we rented a few movies and he bought me some frozen yogurt. i was feeling better and in complete denial. nothing like a little fro-yo to make you forget.

fast-forward to 4:30 am on 10.30

it was bebe day. at some point on tuesday, we would be meeting our child, cuddling our child, naming our child, and all that other new-parent stuff.

i showered, ate some toast, and loaded all 153 pounds of myself into the car. this was actually happening.

as we drove the one hour and 15 minutes to the hospital we discussed politics, the weather, what we would have for dinner that evening...

nope. we discussed none of those things.

we actually got busy about naming our bebe. now, this is usually quite a point of contention for farmer and me. it caused some pretty intense "silent-treatment" moments over the past few months.

(basically, i would get so fired up at his suggestions i couldn't talk about it anymore so i chose not to talk at all.)

but, as we approached le big city we had decided upon not only a boy name, but a girl name too! this was going to be a magical day. we were off to a great start.

we arrived at the hospital and quickly greeted and whisked away by the most amazing labor and delivery nurse EVER. ever. EVER. my dearest, most sweetest, most talented - cathie.

i couldn't be more thrilled to inform you that not only was she a bridesmaid in our wedding, but she was also going to be there for the birth of our bebe. it chokes me up just thinking about how lucky we were to have her there with us. (sheesh. so dusty in here. get it? the dust makes the eyes water? inside joke.)

okay, so i had my pillow, my farmer, and my cathie. i was ready.

boom - hook up the pit. (pitocin.)

boom - contractions begin. ouch.

as i experienced each contraction they have this funny way of breaking you down mentally. they get closer and closer and harder and harder. as they get closer and harder you obvs. have WAY less time to recover. your confidence is shaken. your emotions are rocked. you're hard-pressed to stay focused on the fact that the pain is temporary. that sucks.

when i arrived at the hospital that morning i was dilated to a two. five hours later i was only a four.

enter the tears. i felt like a failure, but this girl needed her epidural.

boom - hook up the epidural.

boom - guess who had a smile on her face?

boom - i puked. a puke well worth it for the relief from contractions.

what i  learned? be flexible with the birth-plan. if you need the epidural, swallow your pride. you are your own worst critic. you'll be hard-pressed to find someone who will judge you for going for the drugs. 

the following hours zoomed by and all of a sudden it was 4:30 pm. nurse cathie was going to begin prepping our room for the delivery.

*cue the sweating from my armpits*

at around 5:30 pm i was prepped and ready to begin pushing. and push i did. bebe was on the way.

after a few pushes my nurses had me pump the brakes. bebe was coming and le doctor was still at his kid's parent teacher conference. he had given me explicit instructions to NOT have bebe until he returned.

the nurses jumped on the phone and made sure he had some giddy-up in his giddy-up. he needed to get to the hospital.

enter le doctor.

boom - i felt like i was a successful pusher.

boom - doctor told me to pump the brakes on the pushing. so i have him some 1/2 pushes.

boom - the news at 6pm was on channel seven.

as everyone was looking at me and coaching me through the pushes, i was looking at the news between the contractions. and this is what i saw...

meet lisa holley. she was accused of faking cancer and pregnancy to get money from a fundraiser. would you like to read the article? click here.

so miss lisa was on the news and i couldn't help but say something. i was in between contractions and pushing so i said something along the lines of, "can we all have a look at this lady's mug shot?"

doctor, nurses, and farmer turned to have a look. i think we'll all remember miss lisa. how do you forget? seriously...can someone help me forget?

actually, we all laughed. comic relief for sure.

boom - a few minutes later, our little kaye bell schiermeier made her debut.

she. was. here.

cue the ugly cry. i have the ugly cry perfected...

7 pounds, 14 ounces.

19 3/4 inches.

beautiful, lovely, a little alien-looking, very cone-headed, quite blotchy, one blood-shot eye, a few stork bites.

but really? i've never seen a more insanely gorgeous bebe. i think that's just how it goes. perfection in a mother's eye.

instant love.

love love love.

love oozing out my eyes. we also call those tears.

love oozing out of my farmer's eyes. more tears.

love oozing out of nurse cathie's eyes. tears!

best day ever? i. think. so.

meet kaye bell...

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