One Month

We survived a month of being parents.  This is almost unbelievable to me.  Being completely sleep deprived for three days BEFORE the baby even arrived didn't make for an auspicious beginning.  I was completely overwhelmed and incredibly depressed and only made it through because of:

Robb, who stayed awake for five days straight in the hospital to make sure I and the baby were okay,
Bethany and Tiffany "mom-and-baby-sitting" in the hospital so Robb would sleep,
Robb, bonding with and constantly watching out for Farren and I,
Heather and Shaine,
Robb, seeing I needed to sleep and making me do so,
Ryan - bless you a thousand times over for driving up and taking care of us for those early days,
Various ward members for delicious dinners,
My mom - you are amazing and I wish you could have stayed forever,
Robb's mom - who, among other things, volunteered to stay up with the baby at night so we could sleep,
Robb, pointing out all the good things and helping me keep perspective,
More ward members and work friends, for visits and dinners,
Lots of family and friend support via in-person visits (Carrie!), telephone, and prayer, and
ROBB, for being a pillar of strength, patience, and calmness.  He has kept our little family on its feet this last month and I have never loved him more.

Heavenly Father blessed us with a very mellow baby and I am SO grateful.  I can't even imagine what an anxious wreck I would be if he were super fussy.  Farren has already grown more than two inches, he's passed the 10 pound mark, and is wearing 3 month clothes.  I boxed up his newborn things yesterday - it was so strange!  Unfortunately, our little guy has also come down with his first cold, so here's hoping we can get him well quickly and that his second month is even better than his first.

One month - 30 days - a million changes, lessons, and adjustments.  I can only imagine what the coming months will bring.

Farren RobertMichael Thurmond

So after trying to induce labor for two and a half days the doctors told me I could keep trying for 24 hours or go for a C-section.  There were various signs that he just wasn't going to come naturally, so we opted for the surgery.  (Turns out that was the only choice:  his head had been trying to drop into my pelvis but his skull was too big [he actually had a little bruise on his temple when he came out], and HAD his head somehow fit his chest circumference was even bigger, so he most definitely would have gotten stuck.)  At any rate, Farren RobertMichael made his entry into this world at 6:45 pm on November 21, 2011.  He weighed in at 9 pounds 5 ounces and 19 inches, and we are so happy to have him!

Having a baby

Well, we've been at the hospital for about 24 hours now and the doctors told the truth:  getting induced takes a LONG time.  I've been having contractions now for about 18 hours but my body is still not exactly ready for active labor (i.e., minimal dilation is going on.)  They're about to try something new, so hopefully it works.  We'd love to see our son sooner rather than later!

Happy Thanksgiving

We just got back from our latest perinatology appointment/ultrasound.  Turns out the baby is big (what a surprise - NOT) and they want to induce me early.  They'll do a test on Tuesday, November 22 to see if his lungs are developed and, if all is well, I'll be induced Tuesday evening or Wednesday.  Robb thinks I'm a little weird for wanting to wait until after school Wednesday, but it's the last day of school that week and it's a minimum day, so I figure - why not?  It's not like I'll be living it up on Thanksgiving either way (at least not in the traditional, eat-till-you-pop way.)  At any rate, thirteen days max and we're parents!!!

Work and Pregnancy

So working while being pregnant hasn't been TOO bad, up until the last few weeks, that is.  As a teacher, we don't get normal maternity leave.  We don't pay into disability, so I only get paid for as many sick days as I have saved up (in this case, six weeks' worth.)  These last two weeks have been very difficult and I imagine the next few will be the same, HOWEVER, there have been some unexpected perks.  I don't know if it's because I taught these same students last year or if I just have truly fabulous parents in my classroom, but they are all over their children about treating me well (which they do) AND several of them have given me gifts for the baby.  These were all totally unexpected, and I'm touched by their generosity and love.  Blessings come in many forms, and these are definitely helping make my last few weeks a bit easier.

Feeling sexy much?

Having a baby brings all sorts of new experiences.  The latest would be the acquisition of my first-ever pair of compression knee-highs.  Oh yeah, baby - I'm feeling sexier all the time.

Baby Shower

So Saturday was my baby shower for the "locals."  I say that jokingly because the main party planner (who else but the fabulous Shaine Klima Athey?) is only local to San Jose in that she lives in the greater Bay Area.  And my sister-in-law came and also helped out a bit too, and she lives 2.5 hours away.  At any rate, Shaine and another friend (Tiffany) planned and executed a fabulous Very Hungry Caterpillar-themed shower.  It was awesome, and I am increasingly impressed by Shaine's mad baking/decorating skills.  Unfortunately, I neglected to take pictures, so we'll have to wait and hope Shaine got some good ones.  I am greatly blessed with some truly amazing friends!!!!!

One down, a bunch more to go...

So I had my first non-stress test (NST) today.  I get to go in twice a week from now until the baby comes and sit in an armchair for 30 - 60 minutes with sensors strapped to my stomach.  One measures the baby's heart rate, and one measures me for contractions.

Turns out Scrapper is great.  I, on the other hand, was apparently experiencing very mild but very regular contractions.  The nurse (and I) are hoping it was due to the extra hot day today and me being active and on my feet a lot at school.  She told me to drink more water and rest up.  I'll try, but I'm honestly not sure how much more "rest" I can get while teaching.  Here's hoping Thursday's NST is contraction-free!

My Coworkers are Fabulous

I love working with friends.

There's a committee at our school in charge of showers and parties and TGIFs, etc.  They planned a baby shower for me, but a few of my close friends asked if they could order the cake.  What did I get?  An homage to Cakewrecks.com.  Loved it!!!

Because I should probably record this somewhere...

If you're a reader of Shaine's blog, feel free to skip this one.  It's just my version of the Jack in the Box "adventure".

Shaine and I decided to meet up for a brief visit after the general Relief Society broadcast, because we hadn't seen each other in a month or so (which is entirely too long).  I'm too tired to do it after work, and her weekends have been absolutely insane, so we made a plan to meet in Fremont, which is halfway between Livermore and San Jose.

We met at a Jack in the Box that's a couple of blocks from the freeway, and had been chatting for at least an hour.  It was a little after 10 pm at this time, and there were a few other people in the dining area with us.  My back was to the main door, but I heard it open, and some people came in.  (This next part all happened REALLY fast.)

Shaine's eyes got wide and she said "They have guns!"  I was confused, but at that point the two young men had walked in far enough that I could see them.  They were all in black with black hoodies, and one jumped on and over the counter, followed by the other.  For a second I thought maybe they were employees and they were messing with their friends who were working, but then the cashier saw them (she'd been facing the drive through window) and she screamed - most likely because they pulled a gun on her.  I watched them back her into a corner and then I looked at Shaine and said "What do we do?"  I mean, they were armed.  It's not like you want to make any sudden movements when someone might actually shoot you.

By that point the other 2 - 4 people in the dining room ran for the side door, so we followed.  Shaine got on the phone to 911 the minute we were out the door, and we walked out to the sidewalk on Mission Blvd.  I wasn't even sure where we should go.  We didn't want to go to our cars, which were quite close to the restaurant, but standing around on the dark sidewalk didn't seem like a great idea, either.  While we hovered anxiously Shaine stayed on the phone with the police, describing what had happened as well as their exit and vehicle when they came out a few minutes later.  They drove right by us and I yelled out as much of the license plate as I could to Shaine, who passed it on to the dispatcher.  Within seconds police cars were chasing them and we saw their SUV head for the freeway.

We had to hang around for a while to give statements, but they let me go since I didn't ever see anyone's face.  Since Shaine had seen them, however, they asked her to stay and do an in-field identification.  (I guess they caught them a small way down the freeway.)  I don't think Shaine got home until 2am or so.

CRAZY!  And stupid.  I didn't ever really freak out - adrenaline rush once we were out of the restaurant, yet, but falling apart, no.  Shaine had a rough time for a couple minutes - she seemed to be a little shocky and couldn't speak clearly to the 911 dispatcher for a minute or two, but she was fine quickly thereafter.  I'm thinking my lack of reaction was because I didn't see nearly as much as she did (as in the freaking BIG gun(s) these guys were toting), or maybe I'm just one of those people who gets numb when crazy stuff happens.  Either way I'm grateful, because I'm sure getting really worked up would have been too good for Scrapper.  I think part of my brain just kept asking if the situation were for real.  I mean, what a truly stupid crime.  They had to assume no one would call 911, no one would be able to ID them, no one would get their license plate number, and that the police wouldn't catch them.  Dumb!

Obviously I'm grateful we were safe.  And I'm very grateful for my brave heroine, Shaine.  Still, the whole thing is beyond my comprehension.  I guess it's like Robb said:  If they were somewhat intelligent, they'd most likely have some sort of job and wouldn't be robbing Jack in the Box at 10pm on a Saturday night.  Good point honey! ;-)

Woohoo!

My mom is going to be able to take a break from her mission and come when I have the baby - HOORAY!!!

Are you serious?

Warning:  This post is all about me venting.

I just found out (at 6:30 pm - I suppose it's a good thing I decided to check my school e-mail on Sunday - something I don't normally do) that since I have a whole THREE fourth grade students in my 3/4 combo I have all sorts of interesting scheduling hassles to jump through and a bunch of extra stuff I need to have ready for the start of school tomorrow at 8:28 am.

I am so upset right now.  No one thought to mention any of this earlier???  I guess I should have asked, but I've never taught fourth grade and didn't realize their instructional minutes are so different.  Grumble grumble grumble grumble GRUMBLE!

It's not that major (they start 5 minutes early and don't have an afternoon recess - which means I not only have to figure out what to teach them in those 15 minutes, but also means this pregnant lady won't be able to use the restroom at that time) and I need to calm down, but you're telling me NOW - and hoping I see it before Monday morning?  Are you serious?

Movement

So at my ultrasound three weeks ago I was told I have an anterior placenta, which simply means it's in front.  The technician said everything looked good, but she also told me it may be acting as a shock absorber and that may be why I hadn't been able to feel the baby move.  Well, I think I'm finally starting to feel Scrapper bouncing around in there.  Weird - but in a very cool way.  :-)

The results are in...

...and it's a boy!

He's also a little further along than anticipated, so my due date has now been moved up to December 10 - which means December 3, since they told me if I haven't gone into labor by then they'll induce me.

And there you have it - the most up to date news on our newest family member.

5 More Days

We find out if it's a boy or a girl on Thursday!  Check back then for the big reveal.  :-)

Sick

So I had a pretty good day today, especially considering it was the first day back at work after a long weekend.  School went fine, and I flew out of work to go to a doctor's appointment, which also went very well.  After we were done at the doctor's, Robb and I headed to a nearby pizza place to use a Trubate (and avoid heating up our house cooking dinner.)  I was feeling worse and worse.  Finally, right as we're in the car with our food, I realized I wasn't going to make it back inside to the bathroom.  Maybe now I'll be able to better empathize with drunks throwing up in bushes?

Anyway, we made it home, only to have me run out of the car and straight to the bathroom.  Soda wouldn't stay down, nor popsicles, nor lemonade (which usually settles my stomach), nor Vitalyte (an electrolyte drink).  After about four hours I called the advice nurse, who pointed out that a) my self-treatment didn't seem to be working, and b) since it was just after 5pm I was pretty much guaranteed to NOT get any better at home.  It's like Murphy's law or something.  She suggested I go to the E.R.  Robb and I talked it over and decided we'd wait to see if I could keep down the latest hydration attempt.

I couldn't.

Busy E.R. + not truly urgent case = a long wait in the lobby.  After an hour and a half or so we got into a room, where they ended up giving me an I.V. for saline (three liters) and, eventually, some Zofran (an anti-nausea medication.)  After about eight hours or so we got to go home.

Things I am grateful for tonight:

1.  Health insurance!
2.  ROBB
- He looked up and told me jokes for about an hour straight, just to make me laugh and feel better.  As one nurse said "At least he's not grumpy!  You got yourself a keeper there; he's trying to make you feel better!"
- He sat in various uncomfortable chairs and amused himself most of the night, while I got to lay down and sleep for a bit.
- He shared interesting information with me (after his game got boring he passed the time by looking up and/or watching various random things.)
- He helped tuck me in every time the nurse had to uncover me to get at my I.V. and/or pressure cuff.
- He took me to get food as soon as we got out of the hospital.
- He didn't complain about anything, not even once.  (Me, not so much.)  :-)
- He was fabulous, and I'm grateful to have had his company!

Cravings

Top Ramen.  Random, I know, especially since it's not a food I normally eat more often then...I don't know, once every four months or so?  Nevertheless, when nothing else tastes good and nothing (other than watermelon) is remotely appealing, for whatever reason Top Ramen does the trick.  I try and make it "healthier" by adding a bunch of vegetables and an egg...that's not too bad, right?  Whatever.  Now I want to go make some!

Prove me now herewith...

Due to the fact that school is out and I'm not tutoring and also since Robb hasn't been able to land a summer job yet, this month we will be about $500 short of our typical monthly income.  Next month we'll be fine, because I'll be teaching summer school and Robb will - hopefully - be working, so for these 30 days we're broke.  Now, we knew this going in to June and we decided one thing we could do to make it through the month was to not spend any money on groceries.

Lest you think we're nuts (I mean, everybody needs food, right?) we have three months of food storage and we actually LIKE rice and beans.  However, above and beyond our admittedly-boring food storage options, our ward has gleaners who get massive amounts of groceries from Whole Foods twice a week.  So we figured between our storage and what's available at church on Thursdays and Sundays that we'd be able to eat pretty well.  With that cleared up, let me get back to the story.

So we knew we were broke and that things would be really tight this month, but we also knew we'd be okay.  However, we have been so much more than simply "okay" that I decided I'd better record some of the blessings that have been poured down on us.

1.  On the first weekend in June we drove out to Merced to visit with my brothers and their wives and children.  We had a great visit, and as we were gathering our things to leave my sister-in-law said "Oh - my dad went out to his friend's farm yesterday and brought home dozens of farm fresh eggs and a massive amount of fresh cherries.  Let me give some to you guys, please!"  So we got 18 eggs and a few pounds of delicious, tree-ripened Rainier cherries.

2.  At the church/gleaner food-give aways we've been able to pick up plenty of milk, bread, cottage cheese, yogurt, fruits and vegetables, and tofu.  About every other night or so we look at our truly amazing dinners and are astounded by the quality of what we're eating...especially considering we didn't pay for any of it.

3.  I have been craving MEAT, but there's no budget to buy any, so...time for a blessing!  Last Saturday I was invited to participate in a photo shoot of a (fake) baby shower (for a craft book).  They fed us lunch, which involved a giant tray of wraps, and at the end they begged us to take a bunch home.  Ham, beef, turkey...yum. :-)

4.  Saturday evening we went to a ward BBQ and a friend handed me a card.  When we opened it later that night we discovered a generous present of grocery store gift cards.

I guess I'm just trying to say that my testimony of the truthfulness of Malachi 3:10 has been very strongly renewed over these last few weeks.  We are very nearly running out of room for receiving the blessings Heavenly Father keeps sending our way - really!

Bring ye all the tithes into the storehouse, that there may be meat in mine house, and prove me now herewith, saith the Lord of hosts, if I will not open you the windows of heaven, and pour you out a blessing, that there shall not be room enough to receive it.

Heartbeat

I know I'm pregnant.  I mean, it's a little hard to deny and/or miss with all the weird things going on with my body, but when I can't see or feel the baby it still gives me a little trip each time I go to the doctor and they show me an ultrasound or (in today's case) let me hear Scrapper's heartbeat.  At those moments the reality of the little one growing inside me is more fully evident, and it gets me every time.

News to us

Hello there faithful blog readers!  I figure if you care enough to read this you deserve advance notice that there will be another Thurmond joining our family around December 1.  Finding out we are pregnant came as a complete surprise, but we're excited.  When I went in a month ago they did some sort of measurement with the ultrasound and told me I was 7 weeks along.  The end of this week marks 12 (or 13?) weeks, plus it's the end of school, so I'll be announcing it to the public at large on Thursday or Friday.

So far things are going well - at least as far as I can tell.  I am considered a high risk pregnancy but have been doing pretty well at keeping my blood sugar where it's supposed to be, so here's hoping I can do the same for six more months!  Our estimated due date is actually December 16, but they won't let me go full term because the baby will be big, so...we'll find out more as we go on.  

That's it for now, but advice, product suggestions, etc., are very welcome.  I don't have many friends who've done this before, so I'll take what I can get.  :-)

Hope you all are well, 

Vanessa and Robb...and Scrapper! <-- Result of a random conversation between Robb and I.  Yes, we agree it would make a great dog name.  ;-)

10 Things I Love About Robb

This post is dedicated to my husband, so if you don't feel like finding out various ways in which he is AWESOME, my feelings won't be hurt.

10.  He's a very talented cook.
 
9.  Robb is willing to change to be a better person and helps me see things I need to work on, too.

8.  He puts up with my weirdness (and there's a lot of it!) with equanimity.

7.  Robb comes to sing with the ward choir every time we perform and he helps me figure out how to be a better conductor.

6.  He hates to see me sad or upset and consequently has made it a continuous quest to cheer me out of the doldrums.  He's very good at making me laugh and helps me remember to be silly.

5.  Even when he has lots of work to do for school and has to stay up really late (and/or all night) Robb will come lie down with me when I go to bed and stays until I fall asleep.

4.  He noticed that my blood sugar was getting really low while we were out running errands and immediately found a place we could eat, took me straight there, figured out what would make me feel better and ordered (all of which made me happy because my brain doesn't work well when I'm low.)

3.  When I wake up in the middle of the night with low blood sugar and have to stay awake until it comes up to a reasonable level Robb stays awake with me AND keeps me from eating too much (which is really easy for me to do when I'm half asleep and low-sugar loopy.)

2.  He's in the middle of finals and hasn't slept in the last two days, but made time to come outside to our yard sale and talk to a lady who was interested in buying his old desk.  (A giant, antique, HEAVY, solid wood monster that we really wanted to get out of our garage.)  And she bought it - HOORAY!

1.  Our gas was shut off by accident on Monday.  Whenever this happens PG&E comes out and relights everything BUT our downstairs furnace because there's some issue with the valve only being accessible from below.  Guess they don't like doing crawl spaces.  Anyway, after listening to my teeth chattering for six days Robb decided he didn't feel like waiting for our landlord to take care of things and that he would do it himself.  So he put on his coverall and a headlamp, crawled under our house, and lit the pilot light.  I am warm, I am happy, and I am married to an amazing man!

Easter Surprise

On Saturday I made a cake for our Easter dinner.  I had planned to frost it Sunday morning.  Before I crashed in bed I went around the house turning off lights and noticed a crinkled paper towel on top of the cake.  Apparently somebody couldn't wait and thought a paper towel would either: a) hide the evidence, or b) seem silly enough to make me laugh.  (Which worked.  But still...)  :-)

Too Much of a Good Thing?

I was recently blessed (cursed?) with a blinding flash of inspiration regarding cookie dough.  Now, if you're not a cookie dough lover, you may as well skip this post, but for the rest of us...prepare to be enlightened.

A few months ago Robb and I bought a quart of cookie dough ice cream and discovered it didn't have NEARLY enough doughy goodness.  So I whipped up a half batch of cookie dough to balance the all-important ice cream: dough chunks ratio.  Ever since then I've been trying to figure out how to make very small amounts of cookie dough for snacking (as opposed to actually baking.)  After several months of messing around with sixteenths of a teaspoon and flaxmeal + water as an egg substitute suddenly the light went on.

It's all about proportions.

Meaning, use a tablespoon (or a teaspoon, if you're really aiming small) as your cup, and go from there.  Here's an example using my favorite chocolate chip cookie recipe (from Cuisine magazine, in case anyone cares), to illustrate:

2/3 c. butter
2/3 c. shortening
1 c. sugar
1 c. brown sugar
2 eggs
2 tsp. vanilla
3 1/4 c. flour
1 tsp. baking soda
1 tsp. kosher salt
2 c. semisweet chocolate chips
1/2 c. milk chocolate chips

Using my magic idea of proportions, for small-serving snacking purposes this would be translated to:
1 heaping teaspoon softened butter and/or shortening
1 teaspoon sugar
1 teaspoon brown sugar
skip the egg
a dash of vanilla
3 teaspoons flour
skip the baking soda
a pinch of salt (if you really want - I usually leave it out)
and a small handful of chocolate chips

(If you want a bit more, use a tablespoon as your base unit instead of a teaspoon.)

This works with PB and oatmeal recipes as well, and makes the dough equivalent of one big or two small cookies.  Shaine can testify - it tastes great!  Now, let the sane (?) snacking begin!  ;-)

Ya think???

"For many people, an activated carbon filter bearing NSF Standard 53 certification will filter out most pollutants of concern. But if you've got perchlorate, a rocket fuel ingredient, in your water, for example, a simple countertop filter won't do the job."


www.nrdc.org

In a Black mood

Despite the ominous title, all I meant to imply was that I watched "Groundhog Day" this week in honor and in memory of the Black sisters' tradition.  Good times.  :-)


"This is one time where television really fails to capture the true excitement of a large squirrel predicting the weather."

Hey Baby, What's Your Sign?

A link on Cakewrecks led me to a CNN article about the whole zodiac uproar.  The following comment - and responses - made my day, mostly because I haven't yet succeeded at becoming a 100% nice person.  :-)

razorrozar7

Zodiac is bull anyway. The day I was born controls who I am? Pssh... yeah, right

Katie

Well it's not the day you're born, but the month, for one. Secondly, think of how much things on Earth are affected by astronomical events, such as the tides from the moon. We're 80% water, so to say the rest of the universe has no hold on us is pretty stupid. Sure we can control how we behave, but only to an extent.

Sidvicious03

Katie, what you just said is completely ignorant and is based on no evidence at all. We are in no way affected by the moon phases, mostly because we arent werewolves or a tide. Read a book.

Whisper, whisper

I have laryngitis and am almost completely unable to speak.  The best I can manage is a whisper.  At dinner tonight Robb started whispering, too, because he "didn't want me to feel lonely."  Most of you know Robb is often silly, but I thought I'd record this so I can remember he can also be very sweet!

Fat Vacuums

Me to a couple students who helped clean up after school: "You guys are better than a vacuum!"

Student: "That's because fat vacuums can't fit in little spaces. And then you have to use the tube. Or a kindergartener or first grader."