Category: Stuff (Page 32 of 65)

Right now all seems well. We’re at home. The Kid is in the bed reading some books (reading is a funny term for her right now, but that’s what she calls it) and The Wife and The Other Kid (I need to work on some new names for the children) are asleep on the couch together. I’m on the computer while listening to Miss State play Syracuse. We’re up 4 right now.

But I’d said earlier that the doctor had wanted to induce Tuesday night. Based on a sonogram performed on Tuesday the baby (by estimations) had only grown roughly 3 oz. That wasn’t good. But it checked out great on the bio-physical test. But The Wife and I wrestled with it lot. He, the doc, said he’d wait til Wednesday morning at the latest.

We try some “natural induction” methods Friday night. Then I prayed a lot. And I know we had a lot of other people praying for us too. The Wife seems to get a few contractions passing through her body, but they appeared minor. She goes to sleep and I can’t sleep so I get up. I come back to bed and sleep til the morning. I thought The Wife got up and down a lot, but the next morning (Wednesday) she tells me that she went for a walk between 3am and 4am. The cleaned the house after a nap.

So morning came and I was disappointed. I thought that things were still like they’d been. I figure we’ll go and have to induce around lunch time. I was thinking it would still go quickly though once The Wife’s water was broken. So I go to the office for a while and then go get a haircut. Then come back home.

I get a few things in order that I’ll want to take w/ me. The Wife is feeling some pretty tense contractions by this point. But still not on any regular rhythm. But they’re now becoming intense. So I say let’s go. We’ll drop The Kid off at the Grandmother’s and then head to the hospital. But she tells me to go and then come back and pick her up. I leave her standing next to the bed with her head down on the bed w/ a slow moan. She’s thinking that we’re still a few hours off. That’s the way it was with The Kid.

I come back home, grab some pillows and try to get her in the Explorer. She can’t at first and then she can. So she hops in and leans way back in the seat. We’re about 3/4 of a mile from the hospital. Piece of cake. We hit a red-light soon. No cars coming. The Wife tells me to run it. I tell her it will change in a few seconds. She tells me to forget waiting and go. I can tell she means business. So I scoot on through. Then her water breaks. I call my dad and then my grandmother on the way while that happens. This was at 12:46.

I pull up to the door where you go in to the Labor and Delivery part of the hospital. I run around and open The Wife’s door. I ask her if she can make it in. But she’d just been telling me that it’s so close to coming. All she could say is that she feels she needs to push. I run in and tell them at the desk that they’re expecting us and my wife is in labor in the car just outside. She’s wanting to push and thinks the baby is really, really close.

They probably thought, “Yeah, sure.” because they see frantic husbands all the time. I wasn’t frantic, but determined. Anyhow, they come out there w/ a wheelchair. The Wife has pulled her pants down to her thighs. The nurse walks up and says, “Hey, honey….how are we doing?” then I hear her voice change and she says, “Uh-oh, I see the head’s out already!”

I’m trying to process all of this in my head. If the head’s out how will she be able to sit in the wheel chair to get inside. I walk up close and peek over the nurse’s shoulder to see what things are looking like down there. Then I see head…shoulders….arms waving…then the whole thing slide out. I was able to get a good peek and see that IT’S A GIRL! Most people had guessed it was going to be a boy. But they’d already clipped the cord and all that stuff that I thought I’d get to do. This is at 12:50. Four minutes earlier I was telling people on the phone that we were on our way to the hospital.

But they whisk the baby away inside and I see the, um, mess that’s in the seat with The Wife. But the nurses help her out and into the wheel chair and get her in. They bring the baby back after wiping it down. The Wife nurses and delivers the placenta and they stitch her up. Then we’re home free.

Last night was peaceful. The Baby slept fine. I didn’t. But I was trying to sleep on what amounts to a long ottoman. But I think it was more from my mind being crammed with tons of stuff. But they let us go home around 2:30 or 3:00. Everything’s been fine since we’ve been here. Everyone seems sleepy. I should be. But I’ll get my rest.

It’s crazy the timing of it all. If we’d been just a little earlier, it could have been messy in the parking lot of the wheel chair. Later and I would have had to pull over and do it myself or something. People asked me if I was freaking out during it all, and I said no. I didn’t have time to freak out. But I would have been out of my mind if I had to do it myself. I mean, I would have had no boiled water (that’s what they always did on Little House on the Prairie when someone was having a baby…boil water).

Thanks to everyone for the prayers. They were needed and appreciated. Don’t let up. Pictures to come soon. Oh, and Miss State is losing now by 9.

We had things happen really fast. We live about 3/4 of a mile from the hospital. But I carried my 3 year old to my mom’s house first. I figured I’d call my mom when things got close and they’d come up to the hospital. Then I’d say to everyone, “It’s a ______!”

So I drop her off, come back to get my wife (she told me to leave her while I took our daughter). She was really feeling it. But it wasn’t very regular or in a rhythm. So I get her in the vehicle and we start to drive to the hospital. She’s begging me to run redlights. Then her water breaks. So I park by the door of the Women’s Center. My wife’s saying she feels like she needs to push. I think, “NO! Not yet!”

So I run inside and get some nurses. I tell them my wife is outside and is about to give birth. They don’t seem in a hurry and are thinking, “You’re just a frantic husband who is over stating things. They come out and see that I’m absolutely right when they glance at my wife in the passenger seat. They take a look at her lap and say “I see the head!” and then BLOOP the baby slides right out while my wife is still sitting in the car. So we had our 2nd child, another daughter, in the car right outside the door to the maternity wing.

So now we’re proud parents of a 6 pound, 5 oz girl!

WOOT!!!

Thanks for all the prayers! Keep them up, please.

Pray pray pray for The Wife and the baby on the way. She went to the doc again today (Tuesday) and he measured w/ his little tape measure. Then he ordered a sonogram. Results said the baby wasn’t growing much. Monday was the due date, but that’s no biggie.

But over the last 3 weeks the baby has only grown a few ounces. That’s not normal. But it did score a perfect 8 of 8 on the bio-physical exam (measures amniotic fluid, heart rate, movement and something else). So it’s strange that those don’t match up.

Anyhow, the doc wanted to induce tonight. But it’s nearly 1am right now, and The Wife’s asleep. He wants it to be in the morning at the latest. So we have a decision to make in the morning (unless God puts her in labor tonight.) That’s what I’m praying for. Labor tonight. We do not want to induce, but know we might need too.

So I beg for your prayers right now.

Well, the due date is today for our new baby. Still don’t know if it is a boy or a girl. That means I’ll get to smash through the doors into the waiting room where people are holding their breath …. and I’ll scream, “IT”S A ________!” How cool will that be? But we really want to baby to come on so The Wife will be better for the move down there. So I beg your prayers for Bev and the baby. We’re playing the wating game, right now.

As far as the move itself…we know we’re coming, but not sure what we’re moving into. House here still hasn’t sold. So that could use a little prayer too

And last night was our last “regular” youth night here at the church in Amory. Really wasn’t sad until I went to bed and finally got still. Eight years is a long while. The seniors were in 4th grade when I got here. That’s crazy.

But we knw that God’s got us right in His hands. We’re really, really looking forward to Clinton and the church and all the students and everything else. It’s going to be awesome!

Well, I must admit that I am a Halo lover. Not a Halo geek or addic or anything. But I can dig a good Halo game. I bought it off of ebay this summer. Played it a while, then started playing multiplayer games with guys from the church. I’d beat them. Then they went and bought it and now they beat me. But it’s good fun.

Halo 2 came out this week. I didn’t buy it at 12:01 like some freaks. I didn’t rearrange my daily schedule to go buy it like many people did. But I did manage to grab a copy at Walmart the day after it released (and I LAUGH at you, techno geek from GameStop who told me that if I didn’t preorder from your store I’d have to wait until March to hope to get a copy.

It’s good again. More weapons. More maps. More vehicles. More everything. Yes, there is a little cussing in the Single Player Campaign mode. But nothing you don’t here on an average episode of Seinfeld. But there’s none of that in the Multi-Player mode. No salty Marines there to wag their tongues. And the killing is either on Aliens or semi-robot dudes. Maybe I’m wrong, but I don’t think playing Halo is going to turn a person into a killer. At least not anymore than me playing FIFA Soccer is going to make me able to try out for the US National Team next year. But, I will say that if I ever have a lot of battle armor on and I see a bunch of aliens running down my street, and I happen to have my plasma rifle handy, I might try to take out a few.

I read where Halo 2 will make more money in its first week of release than any movie ever has (including Spiderman, LOTR, Harry Potter, any of them). That’s insane..especially seeing as it has a M rating (which should be a T rating.)

We went to the doctor yesterday. He said The Wife is 3cm and 80% already. He would have induced if we’d have let him. But we want to wait. When the apple is ripe, it will fall from the tree.

So it’s literally any minute now.

Friday’s Feast

Appetizer
Name 3 cosmetics/toiletries that you use on a daily basis.
Deodarant (Old Spice High Endurance), AquaFresh toothpaste, and whatever shampoo The Wife has bought lately.

Soup
Approximately how much exercise do you get per week, and what type of exercise is it (walking, running, swimming, etc.)?
I aim for about four days of exercising. Be it lifting weights or running or something. Don’t always get it though.

Salad
Write a sentence including your favorite color and your favorite food.
I love eating chocolate chip cookies while wearing a maroon shirt.

Main Course
What famous person/celebrity do you think you look like?
The godzilla.

Dessert
Name 2 simple things that never fail to make you happy.
My daughter’s laugh. Snuggling w/ The Wife.

Okay, so I completely redid my blogroll down there to the left. It is supposed to be a list of blogs that I visit regularly. But some of the old ones on it had gotten a bit outdated or the links didn’t work or whatever. So I’ll just say go and check it out and click around on the new ones. Some are the same.

All this is done with the fact that I’ll probably be changing to WordPress and stop using MovableType soon. We’ll see how all that works out. I just hope to be able to maintain some of the same desing I’m currently using.

Technology.

I guess I like Caller ID. It’s handy to come home and check the Caller ID and see who’s called you since you’ve been gone. But do you automatically call them back even if they didn’t leave a message on the machine? I don’t. I don’t because if I call someone and don’t leave a message I don’t expect them to call me back.

People have called me and said, “Hey!” I respond with a hey of my own. “I saw where you called me. What did you want?” I think that’s usually a bit rude. If I’d have wanted you to call back…I would have left a message like you asked me to do on the machine.

I’ve also had people call me and say, “Why didn’t you call me back yesterday? Did you not see my number on Caller ID?” What the heck? Did they leave a message asking me to call them back? Noooooo.

As cool as Caller ID is, I’m sure glad it wasn’t around when I was a teen. I mean, you may be trying to call a girl…but she’s not home. So back then you could call every 5 minutes and hope to catch her when she comes in. But if you did that now, your phone number would show up on her Caller ID 27 times since lunch. That’s no good. That scares them away.

OR…with Caller ID now…maybe she really is home, but doesn’t want to take a call from you because she’s hoping a cooler guy will call and ask her to the game. So you try to Star 67 your call. But any self respecting girl knows not to answer a call from “Caller Unavailable”. And most have figured out that you can Star 77 your phone and it automatically blocks those anyhow.

Cell phones use to be behind the times with Caller ID, but now they’ve caught up as well. Or at least you can see the # calling you. Pretty soon they’ll have the names on them too.

Technology is a good thing (I say as I type on a computer to post to the internet), but it can complicate things sometimes as well.

We went looking at houses again yesterday. Better luck this time. Something might have to do with the fact that we’re looking up a little bit. Meaning that we’ve looked a little more in a high pricing range. But we’d really have to figure things out with finances and how things would settle out at the end of the month, dollars and cents wise. But we also looked at an older home that would need a little work (more cosmetic than anything structural) to get it where we’d want it, but it’s a lower price and a nice neighborhood with a lake right across the street. It has a nice back yard and some expansion potantial if you ever wanted to add on.

We had two more showings of our own house. Still some nibbles, but no hard bites. But we had a roofer come and start cleaning our slate tile roof. It’s messy. A little water gets up into the attic if you’re not really careful. So he put a lot of plastic up in the attic to catch some of the drips where the water sometimes gets shot straight up under the tiles w/ the pressure washer.

The roofer leaves and his #2 guy is finishing up. I thought he was done. Cleaned off the patio and all. Then moves around to the other side of the house and starts spraying. It’s at a harsh angle. And it’s over a part of the attic that’s uncovered w/ plastic. I start to worry. Then my worries are confirmed when red water starts streaming from the heating/cooling vent in our ceiling. My 38.5 month pregant wife runs out side screaming at the guy to stop. Then a sizable water spots appears on my bedroom ceiling. Not good.

The main guy is supposed to come back tomorrow (Monday) to finish up and see about it all. He said he’d fix everything. But I crawled up there last night and there’s lots of damp very wet insulation above our bedroom. So I’m thinking that might need to be replaced too.

Yes, The Wife is now 8 days away from due date and we went on a road trip yesterday. We didn’t ask the Doc about it before hand because we knew he’d strongly advise against it. But oh well. Baby is a touch smaller than last time at this point. So I don’t know if that means a smaller baby or more distant due date. We’ll see. The Doc said he would induce next Thursday if we wanted. We don’t want to.

When the apple is ripe, it will fall from the tree.