The Best Laid Plans

Can go awry...

This morning at 4 a.m. my water broke. I was at work. I didn't realize that was my water that broke until about an hour later when I realized I had a constant leak.

By the time I was checked in at the hospital I was having contractions every 5 minutes. I was 2 cm dilated, and a half hour later I was 4 cm dilated. I was having back labor which stunk. We progressed to contractions every 2-3 minutes and I'm sure I had dilated more as I was feeling much worse. By then my labs had come back - I had signed all consents and I was getting ready to lose my mind.

Samuel David also known as squeaker was born at 11:09 a.m. weighing in at a svelte 5 lbs 15.7 oz and 17 inches long.

We're doing well. Things may be quiet for a bit.

Oh My....

DD tagged me as a Rockin' Girl Blogger... and it made me cry - good tears. Sweet tears. I'm apparently a sap. We'll blame it on the bottoms down child that is currently residing in my uterus. Persistent is apparently his middle name rather than David. Today was doctor's appt day and it was again confirmed that he is still breech. Next week we'll have another u/s. I think he was just a bit upset about not being peeked in on as frequently as he had been used to.

Now on with my tags - of bloggers.


A few of these are not posting as much, but they truly are the blogs I love... (for the record I'd nominate DD as well if I she hadn't already been nominated. My reasons are simple. She's a great friend. She's a great mom. She has not let infertility or recurrent miscarriage be all that she is. She can support others even when it is not the easiest thing to do... when you're in your own personal hell it's hard to stay supportive, yet she does. I'm thankful to have her as a friend. She is great at snark - and goodness knows I love snark.

Dino D A woman who has finally come full circle. A friend... someone who understood exactly what I was feeling and did not make me ever feel bad for having the feelings I've had even when hope was one of those feelings... She welcomed her daughter into this world - probably still thinking it was all a dream. Overcoming recurrent miscarriage is hard and she has done so with class. The scars may still be present, but she doesn't let it rule her world anymore.

Amy Another recurrent miscarrier who is managing to beat the odds. She is going to be a great mom and welcome Ichabod her fellow breech baby on Sept 7. We shared our fears and our hopes and one of these days I'm going to meet this gal and her son.

Mandy She and I have been real life friends for a long time... years! We may not always agree... we may not always be in close contact, but we do alway support one another. My persistent pollyanna attitude could make just about anyone turn away - yet she has always stood by and been there when I needed her. Thank you for being a friend...

Snickollet a mom of twins who has let us into her life as she copes with the loss of her love... it's not easy and it's not always pretty, but it is honest.

Thalia and Kath both of these women are due within days of my due date and both are having daughters... they both bring to the table a mix of humor, knowledge, grace, and class. I can't wait for them to be moms.

My picks are mostly either pregnant bloggers or moms. Most have a recurrent miscarriage element to them. Read their archives if you're still in the trenches. What these women have been through stinks - yet they all have either overcome or are in the process of overcoming those obstacles. Nothing in life is easy... and even when they wanted to they have not given up. It just wasn't an option. They've helped me in ways that I can not even begin to explain... just know that they have helped me stay the Sami that I am... persistent, strong, hopeful, and focused on the end result. They helped to remind me to keep my eye on the prize. How you get there is not nearly as important as getting there. Sometimes the journey is not the way you would have imagined, but if in the end you get to your destination then it was worth the trip.

May your journey be brief and not full of obstacles or heartache. That is my wish for each and every person that reads this blog... that there is a happy ending for everyone. Because damnit that's why I read trashy romance novels - they always end happily. So signing off for now - The Sappy Sami

Power Outage

What do you do when your father in law is visiting and the power goes out?

Pray for the power to come back on of course... fortunately my prayer was answered as my bladder was really beginning to protest my lack of wanting to go to the bathroom, but it was nice the power came on. I doubt it had anything to do with prayer but we'll give this one over to God and say -"Thanks a million!"

Ultimately my fil is here visiting until I think Monday. He came on Wednesday. Jodi his weim is with him and a more devoted pup you will not find. She adores my fil. She used to adore me, but that's okay that she is all about her owner. It's what we hoped for. It's brought a side of my fil out that we hadn't seen - a very very devoted one. He loves this dog and she goes everywhere with him.

In other news I apparently have hit my own power outage. As someone who is generally fairly active I have slammed head on into the wall of fatigue and let me just say it sucks. I hate it. I'm tired of being tired. That's my biggest complaint. I'm used to occasional fatigue, but this is bone crushing I could nap for 2 weeks and not be awake kind of thing. I've been told this is normal. In the hopes that this is normal and not because I haven't taken prenatal vitamins with iron - instead going for a different vitamin with low iron I've switched to the ones with iron.

In other news - this baby is still breech. He apparently has no sense of direction and does not appear to want to move anywhere. I believe the term - "I'm comfy" comes to mind. At my next appt if he is still breech we'll schedule an u/s and from there a version and well you get the idea.

I've also kind of hit panic mode. Panic as in... what the hell were we thinking having 6 dogs and a baby. I know this too shall pass and my fatigue is not helping with this thought process. If anyone wants to boost my spirits about 6 dogs and a baby - go for. If people want to point out it is ludicrious to have 6 dogs and a baby keep it to yourself PLEASE... discuss amongst yourself if you feel this way. I need support now, not any not so helpful points of - who in their right mind has 6 dogs and a baby. If anyone has $4000 laying around to help out with a fence for the 6 dogs then hell send it my way :) I'm good that way. I'll even send a thank you card. D doesn't seem to realize constantly harping about a fence to someone looking at the idea that my STD decreases my wages to 70% of my normal take home pay just isn't helpful. I hate to harp back at him that he's no millionaire.

In other news - he fell in love with a kirby vacuum cleaner. He stupidly let the sales people in. I had to go to work. We fortunately already have a kirby of my mother's from the mid 1990's. I firmly left to go to work stating "WE WILL NOT BE PURCHASING A KIRBY!" They of course did the whole presentation including vacuuming our mattress and most of the living room, the baby's room, and well anywhere else D could get them to vacuum. So at least he got some extra use out of them. He also had them take a look at my kirby and we found that for $30 we can have it back in tip top shape, so for now... he's quit mentioning buying a kirby, but has become quite the vacuum user. Everytime I turn around he's got the kirby out. No - I'm not kidding. It's quite comical as he hardly ever vacuumed before. The Hoover now has a RIP sign on it. He's sold on the kirby.

That's what's been going on for the last 9 days - fun fun fun.

Joining The Club...

As most of you know - my dad meant a lot to me... and it sounds like to a lot of other bloggers their dads meant a lot to them.

So it was with great sadness that I read of another fellow blogger joining the ranks of the dead dad's club. You know the one you never want to be a member of... Julie joined our ranks and I'd love to refuse her membership, but just as membership in infertility is something we all would like to be able to veto members, this is a club that the members don't get a vote in who joins. I'm sorry for her. I'm sorry for Paul and Charlie. A dad's death, a fil's, a grandfather's death is awful... and I'm so very sorry that she joined our ranks... My heart goes out to all of them during this difficult time... and it just sucks. Sucks is about the best word I can use to describe knowing that your father won't be there for the weekend, special day, birthday, Christmas, etc... it just sucks.

Bottoms down?

For those of you playing the at home version this post will have more crap about pregnancy and less about life in general - though there is a bit of life coming at the beginning of this post.

Waking up to the sound of heavy machinery is never a good thing. Especially when your neurotic weim (aka Ernie) thinks it's "cute" to stare at you half the night waking you up at 530 in the morning so he can get a drink of water. Yes - he stared at me for 30 minutes before I gave in and got up. My goal for today was to sleep since last night's sleep was seriously sucky and I need to get back on the night shift schedule. However my neighbors or the new neighbors work crew had different ideas about this. Heavy machinery moved in around 9 a.m (30 minutes after D left for work) which sent all dogs into chaos. I hope I like the new neighbors - if it's the nice old couple that we talked to then I'm excited if it's another group like the ones next door well then not so much.

Oh yes and my diaper bag was finally delivered it's by Loom and I love the thing it's great. Now to stock the thing... probably will get on that next stretch off.

Onto pregnancy stuff...
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Seriously does SD not know that I'm more a bottoms up kind of girl? Apparently he did not receive the memo. At yesterday's appointment it was confirmed that he is breech. I called it didn't I? Fortunately my doctor didn't poo poo my questions and answered them with appropriate responses. He didn't even give me the "smile". It was a good appointment other than hearing what I feared that SD was heads up rather than bottom up.

So the plan... if he hasn't turned by the next appointment which is at 35 weeks and change we'll schedule an u/s for the next appointment. Where it will either be confirmed he's heads up or bottoms up and then at the appointment after that or at 38 weeks we'll do a version. Yes - I signed on to the version bandwagon. I've tried the old wives tales and home remedies and truthfully he doesn't really give a fig about any of that stuff. A light has been shined at my lower abdomen and he just kicks it. Some would say stubborn like his mother... I would say stubborn like his father personally. Directionally challenged like his father as well, but shhh don't let my in laws here that. My fil's suggestion of riding the cork screw at a populat amusement park was met with laughter though I would consider it if they allowed pregnant women on the things. Since standing on my head really hasn't worked I doubt that that would either.

You know me always willing to try something once!

What the Hell was I Thinking?

Introducing D to the joy of blog readers? I apparently am insane and did not learn my lesson when I let him discover forums...

Forum wise he reads forums on single serve coffee (you know K-cups and pod coffee makers), fire arms, cops, more fire arms, more cop stuff... etc etc. Now he's reading via a blog reader because I thought hey that will be quicker than him surfing to the various sites and hogging my computer - cop blogs... I'm so overjoyed. NOT.

In my defense I thought it was a good idea to introduce him to the joy of a blog reader because of the speed factor... what I hadn't calculated was my husband's desire to read more and more and more. We're both addicts like that... we love information which is probably why I have about 50 blogs I read and why D now has 7.

In other news - I believe SD formerly known as NN is still heads up. I'm going to talk with my doc about versions because my biggest fear is we'll get to 37 weeks and he'll say no to it. I'd rather know now that he's up for the challenge or see another one of his partners - there's 10 of them one of them would be willing right? It's not that I have anything against c-sections I just would rather not have one unless I absolutely need one kind of thing. I've also put a lot of time, effort and money into the whole hypnobirthing thing and would like to give that a shot. The only perk I see about a c-section is the ability to plan and b) the 8 weeks off that are paid rather than the 6 weeks for a regular ole delivery. Otherwise I'm not getting the perks out of it. Surgeries and myself tend to get ugly and well I'd rather not have that occur on the day we greet SD. It just isn't my idea of a fun time kind of thing.

In other news the diaper bag was delivered TO OUR NEIGHBOR rather than to us... now I have to track down my neighbor and ask for my diaper bag which I REALLY want to just sneak into her house and find the damn thing since their kid was one the one who accepted the package... I learned this this morning.

Doctor's appt this afternoon - fun fun fun. It's just me - no D for this one as he's at work whining that the light is too bright. Gosh does he hate days or what!

Washing...

Yes, that wirrr sound is our washing machine having a field day doing laundry.

A few asked what brand we have which is G E and the model was purchased last year. I love the thing with a passion and now that it is actually draining water I'm back to actually loving the thing again. Ours was purchased at the irritating store A B C warehouse... yeah I know I can't believe we went there, but we got the best deal and somehow ended up with free installation and delivery. We had been tempted by the folks at HD, but ended up at A B C when the HD people could not show me the money. If you want actual model number I can look it up for you just leave it in the comments.

Ultimately we did not get the pedestals and right now D is lamenting that particular fact as that would have made things easier to access that stupid drain pump filter thingie that was clogged. However it wasn't a necessary item and still is not a necessary item. I of course win out on the "need" vs "want" game of chance.

Yesterday was spent shopping... we landed at the outlet mall and spent a small fortune on clothes for NN aka SD and D kept picking up things with firetrucks. No SD will not have a fire truck room as all the bedding I was able to find with fire trucks on it was absolutely awful and the one that was cute was way too pricey for this thrifty gal. I win out again on that whole "want" vs "need" game.

I was able to win a diaper bag on ebay that I am excited at seeing and hope is as great as the reviews I've read on it are. D still wants a bag that is more a work bag then diaper bag. He's losing that particular battle as no way jose' are you buying a bag that's $80 to cart diapers, bottles, and clothes around - even if you can use it again once the kidlet is out of diapers for work. The likelihood of this occurring as he'd have found another bag at that point is slim to well none.

Oh - the pens in the pump filter drain - most likely mine, the change most likely D's, the hair - well that would be all the puppies including the ones that have gone to new homes! So here's hoping the next time we clean our drain pump filter - which truly rolls off the tongue - it won't be quite the awful mess it was this time.

Oh yes and the area where he was able to find the information on how to clean it was located on epinions... I can post a link once he tells me what it is if there are those of you who need to know!

Standing water

Quiet - yes, it's been quiet here at the 6 dog house... mainly due to a work stretch.

Everything is fine, just life in general tends to get sucked from you when you do a 6 night stretch. Apparently 6 is my lucky or unlucky number. I've made some arrangements in my schedule for work as this pregnancy progresses, namely so that I can function a bit better. Just breaking up the 6 day stretch seems awful to me. I love having that 8 days off and that's probably why it's taken up until September for me to agree to back off a bit and break my stretches on up. I hate the idea, but with another coworker going on maternity leave shortly the numbers for working in the ICU are awful so I've switched a day here or there to accomodate that.

In other news - standing water... yes that is what I've had to deal with in our washing machine. We tried a few quick fixes and ultimately it lead to me making a service call. Our front load washer and dryer are wonderful - LOVE them love them love them. However no clue how to fix this issue as we could not figure out where a "drain pump filter" was located because the manual had no information other than "clean drain pump filter once every 3 months". It's never been cleaned. It was the most likely culprit.

Somehow D was able to pull a rabbit out of his a*s and thanks the the wonderful world of internet and forums a person who had actually located this filter - the problem was amazingly resolved. In the filter he found 2 pens, change, enough dog hair to last a small lifetime and god knows what else. We no longer have standing water and for that I am thankful. I had arranged on Tuesday for a service call to occur on Thursday between 8-5 and fortunately we were able to cancel that call. It would have been free, but that's not the point. I also called and complained to the company that manufactures the washer and dryer that it would behoove them to indicate "how" to clean that filter. We'll see if an updated manual comes out of this for the drain pump filter issue.

Ultimately I am happy to say we now can wash clothes. We now will regularly clean the drain pump filter. Ultimately I'm just happy to not have standing water.

The next few days I plan on doing some shopping, hoping that the NN has turned his little body head down. (Yes, I know we have a few weeks before this becomes an issue, but early turn is a nice thing right?) Trying to remember to do my hypno lessons so that we can have that hypno birth we would like etc etc.

The NN room is stocked full of clothes... some cloth diapers are present, but more need to be ordered. The breast pump has been purchased and is in the closet and the cradle is finally up in the bedroom so that the dogs could get used to it.

Ernie our resident doofus has healed so his paw is not as big of an issue. Also note to self and others when giving your dog a tranquilizer it's a good idea to ask the vet how quickly it takes affect. In this instance the second time I gave it to him I gave it to him 30-45 minutes before I needed to leave. Wrong move on my part. I had a drunken dog to walk down to the basement and his kennel which resulted in us walking down from the house, into the garage, into the basement and then into his kennel. It was quite comical if poor Ernie hadn't looked like a drunken sailor.

So that is life as we know it... I hope your week has been more fun than mine.

Rearrangements!

One of the things we haven't done since moving into this house almost 2.5 years ago was rearrange our master bedroom. With the addition of a cradle into our master bedroom well - we needed to do this. Figuring out how to house 4 dog kennels in the master bedroom as well as a cradle and a king size mattress - well you get the idea. Not simple.

Today was spent rearranging the bedroom. We also had to take Chance to see the vet to have him cut his toenails. Yes - I pay someone to cut Chance the geriatric crotchety - "I WILL NOT LET YOU CUT MY TOENAILS RARRRR!" dogs toenails. He used to be okay with us cutting his toenails, after the Meg incident - not so much. We were able to do it in June and in July - Chance tried to bite the clippers, the person doing it etc. I'll let the vet do it for $7.50 every 3 weeks. We're frugal people, so this is something that we a) don't feel is wasteful and b) really are sad that we can't do it ourselves. However he was able to get his nails clipped without sedation this time and for that we're thankful. He also milked the vet and the vet techs for all they were worth in dog treats. I swear it was a puppy hold up - he got 3 treats out of the vet alone. Chance is very food motivated. So he has another appointment in 3 weeks.

Anyways - back to rearranging. D is a planner - I am not. I would have gladly just tried different variations and seen what I liked, D had to plan it out. So we had a diagram to go on. Ultimately we moved the bed, moved a book case, added a cradle, traded night stands, and moved a kennel and voila we have a whole new room. D is thrilled. I am thrilled and it's clean. We have filters on the vents as we've had a dust problem and we'll be looking into purchasing a hepa filter for our bedroom and S's room once we get around to it.

So - we accomplished a lot. I also accomplished washing the clothes, and putting the cradle together. It not has a doxie blanket on it from gymboree that a friend gave me at the shower. Lola keeps staring at the cradle - lets hope she doesn't figure out a way to make that her new bed!