Three Weeks Ago...

.....I had just painted Mikey's room the Thursday before


(Sorry, the pictures are blurry and the room is messy and the chair railing isn't up yet...but it's the best I've got)

and now it was Saturday, so it was time to grocery shop, weed, pick up dog poop, walk the dog, clean the house, etc...My normal schedule. I was going to bed at 11:30 and my normal braxton hicks that I'd been having regularly since 15 weeks started feeling like they were hurting more than normal. I ignored it and went to sleep.

At 1:30, I was awake and in pain. I laid in bed for two hours talking myself in and out of thoughts of whether or not I was in labor and then decided that if I took a bath and they went away, then I definitely wasn't in labor. When that didn't take them away, I walked around for a while, thinking if they went away after that, then I wasn't in labor. When they still didn't, we called Michaels parents to come to be with Mikey and we went to the Women and Infants Pavillion.

We checked in at 4:45 and at 5:30 they checked me and I was dilated to a 5/6. My doctor was out of town for Memorial Day weekend so the doctor on call decided that at 35 weeks she would rather just stop the labor. So she gave me some medicine to stop my contractions and for an hour I got used to the idea that I was going home. Then they checked me and I was a 6/7.

So I thought that maybe I had a chance, but they kept giving me the medicine that made my contractions very random and far apart. At 9 in the morning, the doctor said that there was not stopping my labor and took me off the medicine. Then I had my regular contractions back. It was actually the best labor because that was the hardest part and it only lasted just over an hour before I got my epidural.

The nurse checked me at 11:30 and told me I was at a 10 and was going to call the doctor. I didn't believe her. With Mikey, when I was at a ten, I couldn't NOT push. I didn't even know I was a ten this time. The doctor came and asked if I was ready. I said, sure. She said, wow, you're pretty calm. I said, ya, I know. Weird. (It really was wierd)

(WARNING: gross part coming up, but it's Michael's favorite part...)

The doctor told me I could push and so I pushed once, not even full out and my water broke and shot four feet ahead and soaked the doctor's hair and face. I was pretty embarrassed, but by the time I stopped laughing and two pushes later, Riley came out.

He didn't pass his APGAR for breathing so they took him to NICU for four hours, but then I finally got to hold him and really, he hasn't barely let me put him down since. Pretty easy day, really. I feel like I cheated. One month less of being pregnant, barely any pain (during or after labor) and a really good baby.

Riley relaxing while on his billirubin lights...he's a blue ET

With his early arrival though, I had an unfinished list of things to do that I've been working on slowly, but it's still looming over my every day tasks. These include:

Finish a quilt from the material my mom sent me. And cover my burp cloths.



Cover my bumper that I got for a dollar on ebay and hang the stars and vinyl in the nursery

Finish my bird mobile that looks like this

But is supposed to look like this

(Insert random nursery shots....)

Figure out how I'm supposed to fit in the walking the dog and playing with Mikey and excersizing and cleaning and cooking all while holding a baby and getting by on a nightly schedule that hardly varies from what happened last night:

11:30- Go to bed

12:30- Get woken up by Michael going to bed

1:00- Feed Riley

1:30- Get in bed

2:15- Comfort Mikey who is getting over a cold and the flu (along with me and Riley-yucky week)

3:00-3:30- listen to the blasted dog whine for food (why so early? I wish I knew)

4:00- Feed baby

5:00- Change fussy baby

5:30- Michael works in LA today so his alarm goes off

6:15- Mikey wakes up

Rest of Day- I walk around as a zombie making food, cleaning, grocery shopping, going to library, etc, etc, etc...other moms, you know the drill.

Will I ever sleep again?

Will someone nice take the dog off my hands so I don't have to feel guilty that I can't play with her or walk her like I used to?

Will my to do list ever end?

Things I have to say I love about having a new baby though:

Mikey loving "Baby Liley"

Mikey playing by himself more

Mikey flying like Buzz...

Mikey painting Mickey. My parents got him a bunch of stuff to do while I'm nursing the baby and as you can tell, he LOVES it.

Riley's soft little face that is getting chubby already (he's already grown over two inches too!)

The smell of Pampers diapers

The excuse to see family more

My sons with my husband

Saying "my sons"

Life is good....