Pumpkin Carving 2011

False Labor

I didn't get to labor at home with Oliver because I was induced. Thus, I don't really know how this whole labor thing really starts out. It's Friday. I'm 38 weeks pregnant (full term), and I'm in pain. All week, I've been having incredible back pain and occasional pressure down low. At the grocery store yesterday, I could feel "pop, pop, pop, pop," with every step I took. I kept thinking, "Maybe this means I'm close."

Today, I was reading something funny online while Oliver napped. Every time I laughed, the low pressure would increase, sometimes to the point of being almost painful. Was this a sign? I don't know.

It's nearly 7pm. At 5pm, I started to feel sharp pains every time I stood. It felt like I was getting a pap smear over and over again. I'd read that one of the ways to tell the difference between labor and false labor is to change positions. If changing positions makes you feel better, you're not in real labor. Well, every time I sit, I feel fine. Sometimes, I feel cramping, like menstrual cramps, but that's it. As soon as I stand up, the sharp pains start up again, and they take my breath away. I can't walk normally. I have to slowly waddle to cover any ground. I'm hunched over as I walk. Surely, this has to mean something, but I have yet to feel an actual contraction (as I know them).

I keep thinking about calling my mom. I want to talk to her about how I feel, but I don't want to get people falsely excited that I'm in labor when I'm not. Part of me wants to ask her to take Monday off, just in case I'm not in labor. Both yesterday and today, I had tremendous difficulties making it to the end of the day. I feel like Oliver is neglected from about 3pm to 6pm, when Andrew gets home. Then, Andrew wants to tend to me and make me feel better physically, but all I want him to do is give Oliver the attention he needs that I haven't been able to give him. It's really hard on me emotionally to know that Oliver isn't getting what he needs these days. You know, I've wanted our baby girl to wait until November to arrive, but now I can't help but just think I want her here so these pains stop and my neglect of Oliver can stop.

This is really tough. I keep thinking, "What if this pain continues for weeks? What if she waits another three weeks to arrive?" Based on how I've been dealing this week, I don't think I can make it. The pains get so bad sometimes that I start crying when Oliver takes too long to do something, like push the button on the coffee pot. I'm forced to stand there, and it's more than I can physically bear.

I keep thinking about how cool I thought it would be for our girl to arrive on 11/11/11. I keep thinking how I hadn't wanted our kids to share the same birthday (Oliver's birthday is Sunday). I keep thinking how I thought they'd have separate birthday months. All of that is out the window right now. I just want to feel better. I'm so glad it's the weekend. Having Andrew home to help will allow me to rest a lot more. Even if I don't go into actual labor, I'm hoping the physical rest will help the pain subside.

I don't plan on posting this entry to my blog for some time. I don't want to get friends and family too excited about the possibility of me going into labor soon. So, for now, these are just my thoughts.

At the moment, I'm actually starting to feel a lot better and less panicked from resting by sitting. It's nice to not have to deal with these false labor pains!

First Snow of the Season

It snowed all night Tuesday and all day Wednesday. Oliver was finally well enough to go out to play today (Friday). Most of the snow was melted away, but it was still fun to explore.

Cooped Up

My son has been cooped up in the house for a few days because he was so sick. I think he's feeling better. Also, I think he might have cabin fever.

Last night, we tried to wind down the night with our usually night time routine. Oliver wouldn't stop running from room to room, and then he basically started break dancing on the floor. He was rolling around, spinning in circles, having a great time! Instead of going to bed around 7:30pm or 8pm, he didn't go to bed until almost 9pm.

My husband is watching Oliver at the moment, as he gets dressed for work. All I hear upstairs is my son's footsteps running from room to room as he makes all these bizarre, calling noises.

I think he's feeling better. Also, I think we'd better get outside today. I'm thinking it's time to play in the snooooow!

100 (Attempted) Ways to Entertain a Young Toddler, Day 56: Snow Chef

Oliver was sick and miserable all night last night. Even though he seemed better this afternoon, I decided not it and didn't take him outside to play in the snow (even though I really wanted to). Instead, I decided to take the snow to Oliver!

I went outside and filled up a big bowl full of snow. I brought it to Oliver and proudly set it in front of him (on a towel):

Oliver wasn't so sure about the snow at first. In fact, he wandered off for a bit. I got another idea: food coloring! I busted out the dyes and showed Oliver how to put some drops in the snow. He did it and thought it was OK. Once he figured out how to mix the dye into the rest of the snow by stirring, he got into the activity:

After about twenty minutes (yes, twenty!), I got a little tired of wiping up every green drop. I put the dyes away, dumped out the slush, and refilled the bowl. I decided to give Oliver the measuring cups, too. He had so much fun! He'd scoop and yell, "Plop!" as he dumped each scoop into a separate bowl. OK, so it was a jack-o-lantern bucket. For a good hour, Oliver enjoyed scooping snow from one bowl to the other and back again:

What fun Oliver had playing "Snow Chef!" He hasn't been so thrilled with anything since "Pasta Play." This activity is obviously dependent on the weather outside, and it does make a mess. If you use dye, it can even damage the floors or cloth, not to mention staining your kid's fingers for the day. The entertainment value of the activity really outweighed all the negative aspects of it, though. I give "Snow Chef" an A.

Tales of a Sick Toddler

Oliver doesn't get sick very often, but every time he shows signs of a fever, I think to myself, "I wonder if this will be the big one!" He's had a couple colds that have made him uncomfortable, and one day last month, he vomited a couple of times but was otherwise just fine. Well, let's just say we've officially gotten through our first really sick day.

It all started on Sunday. Oliver was unusually crabby, and we weren't sure why. We wondered if he was teething or if his ears were infected. Monday followed the same suit. Cue Monday night. Oliver would not sleep. All night, he kept fussing. Every time I woke up to use the bathroom, I could hear him flopping around in his crib, whining and groaning. I don't think he slept much at all.

Yesterday (Tuesday), I couldn't talk him into using the potty. He wasn't peeing his pants or anything, but he was holding it for close to four hours straight. I worried he was dehydrated, but he wouldn't drink or eat much. At one point, I started undressing him to motivate him to use the potty, and I realized his skin was quite warm. I got the thermometer. Oliver's ear temp measured 102.4! Now, I believe in letting people run mild or moderate fevers to fight off what ails them, but 102.4 was too high for my liking. I gave Oliver a dose of generic baby Tylenol, which helped drop his fever to ~100.5 for most of the day.

Andrew ran out to the store for us after dinner to stock up on food because we have a winter storm warning. Oliver only wanted to snuggle, so I took him upstairs on got him dressed for bed. We snuggled in bed, and then Oliver passed out next to me. It was so adorable. I waited for Andrew to get home to decide what to do. We ultimately chose to wake him to give him a half dose of Tylenol before bed to help keep his fever from spiking in the middle of the night.

Our plan didn't work. Oliver woke every hour, crying and yelling for us. His nose was stuffed, and he was drooling everywhere from breathing through his mouth. We kept going up and giving him sips of water. It would soothe him for a little while. Around 3am, I woke to Oliver making some weird noises. I shook Andrew to see if he'd be up for giving Oliver more water. He got up, and I heard him say things like, "Oh, Buddy, let's get you out of there." Ten minutes later, he came back in the room and told me Oliver had vomited everywhere. Andrew had changed him and stripped the sheets from the crib.

I took Oliver and laid down with him on his big boy bed, hoping my presence would help him sleep for longer stretches. He snuggled me a bit and wanted to lay on top of me to sleep. After a few minutes, he sat up. I pulled up to an almost, sit, and Oliver leaned in to my shirt and vomited. I re-positioned him to a kneel, and watched helplessly as he threw up water over and over and over again. I called to Andrew because I don't deal very well with vomit. Andrew helped Oliver hold his head over some blankets while I peeled my shirt off. There was vomit in my hair! I couldn't even consider a shower because our only working one at the moment is in Oliver's room. I tied my hair up out of my face.

Oliver wanted to drink water. He kept saying, "Wah. Ter. Wah. Ter. Wah. Ter." I remembered the advice I'd gotten from other moms the last time he'd thrown up, although I didn't need it back then. They told me only to give him small sips of water. I decided it was better for Oliver to keep down a small sip of water than for him to chug a bunch and throw it back up. So, I gave him a sip. He wanted more. It was awful. How do you tell a little one that he can't have more water? Urg.

I gave him one more sip, and then we put him back in his crib with a blanket used as a sheet. He fell asleep almost immediately but continued waking every hour or so saying, "Wah. Ter. Wah. Ter. More." We gave him tiny sips throughout the night.

This morning, Oliver was doing much better. He ate a frozen waffle and drank water and kept both down. He had his two-year-old "well visit" today (coincidentally), which Andrew took him to. The doctor said his ears and throat were fine. Even his temperature was fine! Andrew bought him a "potato cake" (McDonald's hashbrowns) after his appointment. Oliver ate it and kept it down as well.

We're into the late morning. Off and on, Oliver starts feeling warm to the touch again, but he's acting more like his normal self and hasn't thrown up since about 3:30am or so. Outside, the first snow of the season is piling up in the grass. We have a good seven inches outside, and it's going to keep snowing throughout the day. Oliver is fascinated with it and keeps asking to go outside. I've held my ground so far and denied him the opportunity, but I'm going to admit that there's a part of me that wants to cave. I keep thinking he's feeling better, and if I put him in his snow suit and only take him out for a few minutes onto the back patio, it shouldn't cause any problems. After all, he was able to go outside to get to his doctor's appointment, and he wasn't in a snow suit for that! On the other hand, there'll be more snow storms, and I don't want to cause Oliver to feel chilled. It's so difficult to do what's right!

We'll see if I cave in. Maybe I'll see how he feels after his nap. We can always follow up the outdoors with a warm cocoa and a warm bath. I bet the little guy would enjoy a bath today anyway.

Let's hope the rest of today goes well, and let's really hope Oliver sleeps better tonight. The poor guy can't continue with this trend of not sleeping at night.

100 (Attempted) Ways to Entertain a Young Toddler, Day 55: Doctor Oliver

Oliver's not feeling well today. We've been cuddling a lot this afternoon and watching a lot of Sesame Street music videos.

I decided to let Oliver play the part if the doctor. I gave him his ear thermometer and demonstrated for him how to work it. He insisted on doing each step every time: making sure the plastic cap was on the ear piece, turning it on, putting it in (or next to) his ear or mine, and pressing "start." He did a pretty good job and got a couple accurate readings!

Not everyone has an ear thermometer, but I imagine children would also like to play with the mouth thermometers. I thought it would also be fun to give Oliver a band-aid to put on, but he wasn't interested.

"Doctor" was a fairly enjoyable game for both of us. Oliver enjoyed learning something new, and there really wasn't any clean up or set up. He was occupied for about 10 minutes from this activity. It made him a lot more open to getting his temperature taken, so it was useful, too. I give "Doctor" a B.

Back to the Patch 2011

Andrew and I took Oliver back to the patch today, this time to pick out a pumpkin!  The pumpkin patch we go to is at Bear Creek Church in Lakewood, and the money benefits Bear Creek High school.

A woman and her teenage daughter were running the stand today, and, I'm telling you, that girl has a future as a used car salesman! She kept cornering me to discuss which pumpkin we were going to purchase, preventing me from spending time with Andrew and Oliver and from taking the pictures I'd hoped to capture. A few times, I thought I successfully ditched her, but she'd pop up again to remind me that she can hold a pumpkin for me while we continue looking. What a nightmare! I wish I was a more assertive person so I could have just said, "Thanks for your assistance, but we've got it from here. I'm going to take some more photos, and then we'll choose our pumpkin." Oh well. We'll get a family shot at the patch next year!