The worst, I mean, best week ever

Oh, my friends.  

This is NOT the birth story - please don't hate me.  But I really have to set it up, because the birth story is so for real and it needs to be set up.  Because good LORD, what a story I have for you.  This sweet little peanut blasted onto the scene like the Kool Aid man, making the grandest of entrances.

Only my kid could make busting through my body look so cute.

Because it was that fast and she left a hole that big.

Andrea was born on a Friday.  Looking back, I absolutely recognize the signs that my body was getting ready for labor, but because I'd never gone into labor on my own, I didn't know that's what they were.  I just attributed everything to general stress and discomfort and wrote it all off, just knowing that I was going to have to get induced and I didn't want to spend all of February wondering if 'today was the day.'  So I went on about my business, making appointments and procrastinating like crazy.

Monday February 3rd:  Huge snowstorm.  We spent the day inside just watching the snow fall for hours and hours.  And hours and hours.  I tried to shovel the driveway because it was going to be a mile high by the time Drew got home but I didn't get very far before I had to quit and within minutes you couldn't tell I'd done anything.

It took forever to do that one little strip down the driveway and

by the time I made it back up it was already getting covered.

Thankfully, the neighbors let Drew use their snowblower so he didn't have 

to work too hard to get the driveway clean.

Tuesday February 4th:  Sofia's school is only two hours long and they delayed the start time for an hour so I just decided to keep her home.  I didn't see the benefit of battling with her to get her dressed and brave the weather only to turn around and have to pick her back up.  However, I felt guilty for being lazy so I rallied and took her to dance class that evening.  Drew was at a work dinner so I didn't have to worry about cooking.  I was supposed to make all my freezer meals the Sunday before, but I hung out with my girlfriend instead so I promised myself that *this* weekend (the weekend of the 7th) I'd get my shit together, finish the nursery, make the freezer meals and get stuff off my to-do list.

Wednesday February 5th:  Thank GAWD I procrastinated making the freezer meals and doing the grocery shopping because we woke up without power.  Could you imagine if I'd filled the fridge and freezer only to lose power?!  Sofia and I stayed inside once again and it was actually kind of nice to have no electronics and just be together reading books and playing games.  I really thought it was only going to be a couple of hours, so I didn't start panicking until 3 that afternoon, knowing it was going to get dark and the house started getting uncomfortably cold.  

Sofia is doing really well with potty training, pretty much only wearing diapers at night, which means two things.  One, I'm going longer between diaper laundry since she's only wearing one diaper a day.  However, they're the nighttime diapers, which means they're that strong nighttime pee so when it's time to wash, it's time to wash.  Guess what, Tuesday night was time-to-wash night - really I should've washed them on Monday but again, procrastination.  I was thisclose to putting them in the wash Tuesday night and moving them to the dryer Wednesday morning.  Thank God I didn't because I would've had a washer full of cold wet diapers to deal with and no power.  Around four that afternoon, I called my girlfriend and asked to wash diapers at her house.  I loaded Sofia in the car, braved the weather and threw the diapers in the wash as soon as I got there.  I started the first cycle, which is the one with no detergent, and she lost her power.  Thankfully, it was out for less than an hour, but then when her washer kicked back on, it started the short cycle over again, so that was even more time added and it was already after five and Sofia was started to recognize that she wasn't home and she was out of her routine.  Read:  She started climbing the ceiling and terrorizing my girlfriend's little boy.

The diapers were finally done close to 8pm.  There is a huge difference between putting a load in the wash and getting on with your day, versus pretty much twiddling your thumbs waiting for laundry to finish.  That load of laundry took forever and I was starving.  She had food, but I was in that pregnant uncomfortable place where nothing sounded good and I just wanted to be home, but I didn't want to be ungrateful so I just snacked on grapes and water until it was time to leave.  Drew wanted to put Sofia and me in a hotel, but I was adamant that we stay together and he didn't want to leave the dog.  So I stopped at the grocery store, bought a case of water and some sandwiches and headed home around 9pm.  I was exhausted, Sofia was more exhausted and I was at the end of my rope.  We walked in the door, the house was about 55 degrees and we busied ourselves putting a ton of blankets on the bed.  

I started crying because I was so overwhelmed.  A full day without power, I was hugely pregnant and uncomfortable, Sofia was off her routine, we didn't know if we'd have power the next day and I had no more energy to keep it together.  I put Sofia in a shirt and leggings and put her fleece pjs over that but I couldn't find a hat for her to wear to bed.  

"Where's her hat?"  *sob sob heave cry*

"Babe she's okay, we'll be warm enough together in bed."

"NO!!  She needs a hat!  Where's her hat?  She has to have a hat!  She needs a hat!!"

"Babe it's fine."

"It is NOT fine!  It's LATE!  She should be in BED!  She NEEDS A HAT!  Stop yelling at me and help me find her hat!!!" *bury face in bed and cry way too much over a hat*

At this point, Drew saw that I was spinning out and took over.  He found Sofia's hat and finished putting blankets on the bed while I put my layers on.  We were in bed a little after 10pm, under the blankets, together and it actually wasn't that bad.  We were warm and we prayed that the power would come on sometime during the night.

Thursday February 6th:  We woke up and still no power.  School was delayed again, but this time I had doctors' appointments so I just brought Sofia with me.  The house was officially too cold to stay in, so I called my other girlfriend and asked if we could hang at her house until the power came back on.  I cleaned out the fridge of the little bit of food that was there, bundled Sofia and headed to the doctor that morning.

First up was the non stress test.  They hooked me up to the monitors and Sofia and I hung out, listening to the baby's heartbeat.  Of course I couldn't feel them, but the tech said I had three contractions while we were there!  That was encouraging, but I still said "See you next week!" when we left because I just knew I was going all the way to my due date.

I bought some diapers for Sofia because even though her cloth diapers were clean, I wasn't going to risk it while we had no power and then headed to my OB for my regular weekly appointment.  We talked about my options for induction because their office uses Cytotec and I wasn't a fan.  After telling her how things went down when I had Sofia she said, "You know, I really think this whole conversation about inducing you is going to be moot.  I just really feel like you're going to go on your own."  I was like, yeah well, you know if we leave this to chance then I *will* have to be induced and I don't want to make decisions and explore options at the last minute so let's chat, ma'am.  

She didn't commit to anything but I wasn't letting her off the hook.  "We can chat more about this when I come in next week.  Would you mind looking into ordering some Cervidil for me for my induction?  I'd really prefer that to the Cytotec.  See you next week!"

We left there and headed to my girlfriend's house and I was about halfway there when I got a call from the utility company saying that the power was back on.  I was too tired to even be happy about it, and I was over this dumb week.  I was over winter, I was over being pregnant, I was over everything.  I turned around and headed home, already planning the curse words I would use when I called the power company if they were wrong and the power was not on.  I rounded the corner and our street lamp was on, so that was a good sign.  I walked in the house and was never happier to hear our appliances beeping, to see our lights on, and to hear the hum of the heater.  I nearly wept, again.  I swear, I've done nothing but cry in these last weeks.  I rushed to finish the laundry and dishes, positive that the power would go out again because that's how life is.

Thankfully, the power stayed on and we spent the rest of Thursday getting back to normal.  We went to bed at a decent hour in a toasty warm house and I was never more grateful.

7:45am, Friday February 7th:  Drew was gone to work, Sofia was still asleep next to me and a period-type cramp rudely woke me up.  Okay, um, ow.  That's not fun.  I tried to go back to sleep but suddenly I was very uncomfortable and had to go to the bathroom.  

Now, I don't like talking about poop; I hate when bloggers do that - I think it's distasteful and there's plenty of other things to talk about.  However, we're talking about childbirth and pooping is sometimes part of it.  So, I'm going to talk about poop but I'll try to keep that part to a minimum.

So.  I pooped.  It was big.  

That's all.  

Moving on.

I texted a few of my girlfriends who had gone into labor on their own. "Hey, how long was it from when you got the first period cramp until you were in full blown labor?"  They said it was between 8-12 hours and they asked if I was in labor, but I told them it was probably nothing, that I wasn't feeling anything beyond that one cramp and I was just going to get on with my day.  Sofia woke up about an hour later and while I had some more cramps, it was annoying but not anything I couldn't deal with.

I had a playdate with one of the little girls from Sofia's school that morning and I made it through without incident.  I fixed lunch for Sofia and even laid down with her for her nap, just feeling like I needed to be with her.  I needed to hold her, feel her near and we slept for about an hour.  But then I woke up with more cramps so I snuck out of her room and tried to lay in our bed, thinking that I was just cramping because Sofia's bed was so small.  But the big king-size bed didn't work and I didn't like laying down anyway, so I got back up and just did busywork-type stuff around the house until she woke up again around three.

And then the hurricane came.

Please please please don't hate me, but it's almost ten and I have to get Sofia to bed so I have to stop here.  Hopefully she'll go to sleep easily and I can finish tonight.  Otherwise, I promise promise I'll finish tomorrow because it was such a great and intense and crazy birth and I really want to share the story.  

So, I'll be back soon.  Promise.  

In the meantime, can I appease you with a picture of 

Drew and his babies?

They're very seriously watching Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs 2

and I was able to take my first shower.  It was heaven.

Life is good today.