Well, it took 4 days but Duende finally made her entrance today at 1:01 p.m – 8 lbs., 5 oz., and 20″. Everyone is tired but doing great. I drove home tonight and having 4 days with adults only enhances the pain of listening to bickering, whining, and yelling. I need to have my orange earplugs permanently embedded in my ear canals.
Here are some pictures of our newest family member, my niece, Duende Bloo. She’s even prettier in person!
The bad news…we’re still waiting for Duende to make her entrance. We’re all trying to take naps whenever we can, and Rachael spent some time in the tub. She’s now on an IV to get her some fluids because she has had some trouble keeping stuff down. Actually, that’s an understatement. She seems to be sleeping between contractions. At this point our goal is to get her rested and then do whatever we need to do to keep the contractions going. We’ll see how it goes.
The good news…there’s a new episode of “You’re Cut Off” available for online viewing while we’re waiting. This show is so bad, it’s SO GOOD. I just can’t believe that this is reality for some people. The show is about these 9 women who are disgustingly rich, and their families cut them off. They’re on this reality show and they have to live together in a regular house (which they think is totally ghetto). In the current episode they have to go shopping for clothes at a thrift store. I don’t know if they’ll be able to be rehabilitated by the end of the series, but it’s pretty comical, especially when the alternative is to watch an IV drip.
Click the photo to watch the trailer for the show.
This morning I got the call…my sister-in-law Rachael was having contractions. Adlani was in the middle of his Taekwondo test so I told Josh (my bro) that I’d call him when it was over. I ran home and threw some clothes in a bag and headed to Portland (Maine). I think I arrived around 2ish, after stopping to load up on snacks (and beer). Rachael was looking way too happy to be having a baby, but I thought she might just be hiding it well.
We hung around until the contractions were 5 minutes apart, and then called the hospital as instructed by the doctor. They told us to come in and get checked out, so we took our time but eventually ended up at the hospital at 6 p.m. The contractions were regular but not much was happening “down below,” so we asked if we could leave. We went to Margarita’s for dinner and then went home for a nap. I have a deadline Monday and I was able to finish my work and hit the couch at 11 p.m.
At 1 a.m. Josh woke me up to say it was time to head back to the hospital, and here we are. It’s 3 a.m. and Josh & Rachael are walking the halls because there hasn’t been much change. The baby is doing well and Rachael’s feeling sick which is a good sign. I’m wishing I had a pillow.
Update: Rachael just lost her enchilada (literally) so things are moving along. She has a room and a cup of tea and she’s looking like we’ll be here for the duration. I’ll keep you posted.
We started the first week of summer vacation off with a bang, when Aliya had 6 baby teeth pulled to make room for her adult teeth to slide right into the right spots (or close enough that her braces can pull them right into place). I was picturing the baby teeth that we see when they fall out naturally, but in this case the roots had not been absorbed so they looked more like adult teeth – just smaller. She had 4 shots of Novocaine and then the procedure went really quick. She was very brave and had nothing but ice cream to eat for the whole day.
When we looked for her teeth at bedtime, we couldn’t find the little plastic container that the dentist had sent home. Aliya wasn’t too concerned, having already negotiated for a tooth fairy-sponsored manicure and pedicure instead of a few bucks under her pillow. The next day after R & R (Rest & Reading), Adlani handed over the teeth, after putting them under his pillow at bedtime and again at nap-time to see if the tooth fairy would think they were his teeth and leave him some money! What a cheater!!!
Someone asked me recently if Norah is “like that” because I’m tired out from the other two. I didn’t bother to ask what she meant by “like that”…anyone who has met Norah knows that she’s what you might call a “spirited” child.
I’m sure it’s at least partially my fault that she’s “like that,” but I think being the 3rd child has something to do with it too. She is extremely independent, because we’re not always hovering around to help her like we were when we only had 1 kid or even 2. Today, Norah was trying to get something on top of the entertainment center, which over 5′ tall. I caught her heading in with a second stool to put on top of the first one since she still couldn’t reach. She learned to dress herself and zip her sweatshirt before Adlani did, even though he’s 2 years older. Nothing stands in her way.
Aliya knew at a young age that there were words she wasn’t supposed to say, even if we said them occasionally, and Adlani was pretty oblivious to the “bad words” so he didn’t often repeat them and get us in trouble. Norah, however, has absolutely no filter. If she knows that she’s not supposed to say something, that’s even more reason to say it. Being extremely curious, having no restraint, and being naturally loud is a bad combination (her preschool teacher actually had the nurse check her ears to see if there was a medical reason that she talks so loud).
Recent comments from Norah (all spoken at top volume):
To a lady in Wal-Mart: “IS THAT FAKE HAIR???”
To me in Mel’s, a restaurant with very tight quarters: “WHY IS THAT GUY SO FAT???”
When she drank out of the wrong cup in a restaurant: “WHAT THE HELL IS THIS?!?!”
To random friends and family members: “MY DAD CALLS YOU STUPID.”
Me: “Your hair looks like-” Norah: “HELL??”
I’m pretty sure that someday she’s going to become a well-behaved young lady, but for now all I can do is tire her out and grab the few hours of peace while I can. There’s a song on my iPod with the lyrics, “She looks like an angel when she’s sleeping, but she looks like Charles Bronson when she cries.” I can’t help but think of Norah when it hear it. Or when I heard “Born to be Wild.”
It’s a good thing she’s cute.
