Saturday, December 8, 2012

Rantings

Currently Reading:
A Feast for Crows - George R.R. Martin
The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks - Rebecca Skloot

Most Recently Watched:
Rise of the Guardians - in theaters
Elf

Current Obsession:
Politics

I'm on vacation.  It is Saturday morning and instead of sleeping in I decide to blog.  The baby is asleep, Dad is snoring softly, yet I can't shut my mind off enough to get more than 6 hours of sleep.

While nursing the baby early this morning, I made the mistake of checking my Facebook.  Usually I nurse him with my eyes closed, head drooping to my chest, ready to go back to sleep once he's had his fill.  But I came across something that I absolutely had to share and it fired up my neurons enough to wake me up for the day.  But it's worth it, even if no one bothers to enlighten themselves and read it.

My husband and I are Democrats.  We are very, very liberal.  We're not crazy hippie liberal--we're not that intense--but we believe in a lot of things that Conservatives would deem "Socialist" (although I doubt that many actually know what the term means, especially those who call Obama a Socialist Fascist Dictator...he's gotta be one or the other, guys.  Come on.).  When did Socialism get such a bad rep?  Them darn Russians...  But apparently since I like to help people, believe that health care is a right and not a privilege, don't mind sharing my hard-earned money with my country and its people, that makes me a Socialist!

Call me whatever names you'd like, but you wanna know what I find funny?

I am unpatriotic because I want to help my fellow Americans.  YOU are patriotic because you don't believe in government handouts (unless it benefits you, of course).

I am unpatriotic because I believe in a country that provides health care for all of its inhabitants.  YOU are patriotic because health care is a privilege and not a right (until you're in need of it, of course).

I am unpatriotic because I believe love is love and everyone should have the right to get married.  YOU are patriotic AND A GOOD CHRISTIAN because the Bible says that marriage is between man and woman (despite the fact that there's a separation of church and state and a whole other list of arguments).

I am unpatriotic because I don't mind giving a percentage of my income back to the country and back to its people.  YOU are patriotic because that's YOUR hard-earned money and no one else should benefit from it but you and those who make more than enough should get a tax break because they worked hard for that money (and it's so much easier for someone who makes $20,000 a year to live on 80% of their income than it is for someone who makes $200,000 a year to live on just 80% of theirs).

So basically to be a good patriot I have to be...selfish?

One of my biggest pet peeves is hypocrites.  I remember when Democrats were upset after Bush's win the second time around, Republicans told us that criticizing our Commander in Chief was unpatriotic.  Now that Obama has won his second term, those same Republicans are doing exactly what they told us not to.  But now they also have the aid of social media sites like Facebook and Fox News Entertainment to further their fear mongering and propaganda.  Bad news and fear spreads faster and farther than intellect and truth.

Which is what started me off on my political rant this morning.

My husband shared an article on Facebook about the 7 things you should know about Obamacare.  If anyone would care to read the article, here it is:

http://socialreader.com/me/channels/82207/content/Fb53T

I then shared the article on my Facebook as well but with a caption:  Unfortunately I doubt that those confused on the issue will actually read this article. Anything related to health care automatically falls under the Obamacare umbrella.

All right, the rest of the group have woken up including my baby.  It's time to put away the anger sharks (as a member of the group would say) and start enjoying my Saturday.  It snowed!  Time for Baby's first Snow Day!

Tuesday, September 25, 2012

Motherhood

Currently Reading:
A Feast for Crows - George R.R. Martin
A Storm of Swords - George R.R. Martin (out loud to Ryan)

Most Recently Watched:
Beasts of the Southern Wild - in theaters
The Dictator

Current Obsession:
Tyler Hansen Aman

I should update this thing more regularly than in quarterly intervals.  Things happen though, like having a baby, that keeps me pretty busy.

So much has happened since Tyler's been born.  He turned 3 months just last week and I can't believe how much bigger he's already gotten.  He's now twice the size he was when he entered this world!

Our baby boy was born June 17 at 12:45AM, Father's Day!

My water had actually broke the Friday before but I hadn't realized it.  We were told that if your water breaks it either comes out in a gush or in a constant trickling.  I didn't have either of that.  We had a birthday dinner to attend at Bomb's Away so we decided to go to that and bring our hospital bag just in case my water really did break.  After dinner I went to the bathroom to check and nothing, I was completely dry.  So we figured it was a false alarm.  We then went to Market of Choice to buy some raspberry tea since we heard it could sometimes speed up the process.  Ryan made me drink a large portion that night.  That was unnecessary.

At 4AM I got up to use the bathroom.  More trickling.  I went to bed and said to Ryan, "More water.  Maybe my water did break."

Then we went back to bed.

Got up again at 7, did my business, stood up and pulled up on my pants and this time I felt it rush out.  Once again, no gush, but that definitely wasn't normal.  Excited, I went back into our bedroom and I told Ryan that today was the day...I think.  It could possibly be a false alarm and I didn't want to alarm anyone so we calmly took a shower and got our bags ready (again) and as we were heading out the door we tell Ryan's parents, yeah, we're heading out to the hospital.  We might be having a baby.

I knew that if we did end up delivering that day that I wouldn't get to eat so we stopped by Market of Choice again and I ate breakfast.  Looking back on all of this, I can't believe we were so calm and nonchalant about it all.  I had expected things to be much more chaotic.

We strolled into the hospital, told them that we suspected my water had broke, and they took us up into the maternity ward.

A couple of months before we had done a hospital tour just to familiarize ourselves with the procedures and the facility.  They showed us all of the rooms including the tiniest room they have that they liked to use only as a last resort.  I remember looking at Ryan and saying that with our luck we would end up in that room.  But we were assured that no one had delivered in that room for years.

We ended up in that room.

It was a busy weekend, 5 other pregnant women had come that day to deliver, including one of our close friends!  They had gone in on Friday (she started having contractions while they were in the theater watching "Prometheus," needless to say they never finished the movie...) and baby Declan was on his way!  But that meant we got stuck in the teeny tiny room.

When we got there, a woman was delivering in the room next to us and literally howling in pain.  I had no idea what that sound was at first and when I asked Ryan he told me that someone was singing.  I told him that they weren't singing very well.  Then I heard, "Owwww, owowowowwwww!"  She was having a baby!  It sounded very painful!!!  We were later told that she came in with no seconds to spare so they weren't able to give her anything for the pain, she was doing it all on her own.  If I had any doubts about the epidural, that woman cleared them all away.  I was definitely getting the epidural.

We were still unsure if we we really were in labor so the nurse came in and did a swab.  At 10:00AM she announced that we were having a baby!  Right away we called our parents and everyone began preparing their arrivals.

Despite the fact that I was having consistent contractions, I hardly felt anything.  Even with contractions that registered at high levels, all I felt was a slight pressure.  I thought to myself, This is easy!  Who said contractions were painful?

And then the doctor came in to examine me.  She explained that my water had broken high up, which is why not much had come out.  She decided that it needed to break even further and did so manually.  Now that was a real gush.  And then the pain came.  No more easy contractions for me.

It was 4PM when they decided to give me Pitocin.  4:30PM I got the epidural.  Declan had already been born and we thought Tyler would join his BFF-to-be that same day.  At 6PM I got to move into one of the delivery suites, so much nicer than the broom closet I was originally in.  And there I stayed all night waiting for the contractions to get closer together.  At one point they needed to give me another dose of the epidural and I was given a bit too much and I wasn't quite elevated enough so I had absolutely no feeling up to my neck.

It wasn't until midnight that Tyler was ready to go.  After a quick 30 minutes of pushing, we had our baby.

It is such an intense feeling holding your baby for the first time.  You get such a rush of emotions--instant love, a flutter of worry (is he okay?  What if he doesn't like me?  Why doesn't he stop crying?), relief that it's all over...  It's pretty amazing.  Sometimes I look at Tyler and I can't believe that he's the same baby.  Like right now.  As I'm writing this, Tyler is hanging out in his "bed," sucking on his thumb, and making funny little squirmy noises.  I have such a vocal baby!!  It's crazy thinking that just three months ago he was a tiny little guy, super scrawny, who slept most of the time.  Now he's plumped out and so much more interactive.  He's just perfect.

I didn't think that I would blog about the delivery today.  But that's what my fingers wanted to type.  But now I'm going to play with my baby and change his diaper.  Apparently the squirmy noises were to help move his BM along.  I'm not looking forward to that diaper...

Thursday, March 22, 2012

Baby


Currently Reading:
American Gods - Neil Gaiman
The Girl Who Played with Fire - Stieg Larrson
(and several other books...I really need to finish what I start)

Most Recently Watched:
Dr. Seuss' The Lorax - in theaters
Pleasantville

Current Obsession:
Tyler Hansen Aman


It's been a while since I've updated this blog. Nearly a year, actually. A lot has happened in that almost year.

- Ryan graduated from OSU with a degree in Environmental Science
- He is currently working as a Project Manager for his dad's solar panel company and working at a pediatric clinic
- We moved out of our beloved townhouse, bid adieu to our many roommates, and moved in with Ryan's parents
- We went to Maui with some of our closest friends and had one of my most favorite vacations ever

And we're having a baby.


That's the first picture of our little Tyler. He was a cute little sea monkey! There are more ultrasound pictures but we did not take pictures of them so I can't upload them now. The most recent picture is hanging up on the fridge but I'm too lazy to get off the couch to snap a photo. I have a good excuse. I'm pregnant. :)

So far everything has been great! The first trimester was awful, I was sick for most of it though I only threw up once. But the constant nausea was horrible and I relied on ginger and saltine crackers. I'm not too fond of either now. I couldn't stand the smell of garlic or cooked onions, thank goodness that's over. My love for garlic has returned!

The second trimester has been much nicer. Though my skin hasn't gotten the "pregnancy glow" that everyone keeps talking about. I break out a whole lot more. I feel like my skin has reverted back to its middle school days. Maybe it'll go away once I hit the third trimester.

Tyler has been kicking a whole lot more. I didn't feel much until week 16 or 17. I was getting a little nervous since my other pregnant friends had very rowdy babies and were moving around a whole bunch. But I guess Tyler is a calm child, which will be nice if he continues to be nice and calm when he gets here. I hope that means he'll sleep through the night!

But Ryan and I are super excited for him. Hopefully we'll be able to move out before Tyler pops out. I want my own space to decorate, have our things out, get Tyler's nursery ready (it's a sailboat theme since his Daddy likes to sail so much, and it's super cute!)...I think the nesting feelings are kicking in. We would love to buy a house but with Ryan's job prospects still up in the air we'll have to put those plans on hold. I don't mind renting for a while but moving out definitely needs to happen. It's been wonderful living with Ryan's parents, we all get along nicely, we have family dinners and family time often, and it's definitely been a help financially. But once again, I really want my own space. I miss my couch, my kitchen appliances, my books that I've put in storage...I want to hang up artwork and pictures...I want to buy a house. But I'll be patient. Patience is a virtue, so I've been told.

So that's basically it. We're just waiting for Tyler to make his way into the world and looking to set up residence somewhere, even if it's temporary. He's been cooking during the strangest winter season that Oregon has seen. We have nearly a foot of snow today and it's March 22nd! We shouldn't be getting this much snow so close to April! But I don't mind it. It's beautiful, I took a day off, so now I get to stay home and enjoy the winter wonderland with a cup of hot chocolate. And some episodes of "The River."