Tis' The Season

I have found THE miracle drug...SEASONALE. It is a new form of birth control pills that allow you to have only four periods a year. For someone, such as myself, who would be rendered cripple and deformed once a month ...this is FABU news. I started taking it about a month ago and I am giddy about the possibilities. *wink*

Don't get me wrong I wouldn't trade my lil' bambino for a truckload of Manolo Blahniks (now that's love). But I am not quite ready for another one.

So now when people say: "Oh he is so advanced." "He is moving so fast, You know what that means don't you?" "He is getting out of the way for another one." Now I can respond "Not unless it has a star fighter and a lightsaber, another one ain't gettin' through."

Yummm Bubbalicious

slysmile
Originally uploaded by aleigha.

Unfortunately, we are battling an ear infection- Henderson had a doctors visit yesterday afternoon after a night of crying for 2 1/2 hours straight. I was a looney-tooney all day...but I guess I made it through on mommy-adrenaline. The doctor prescribed Amoxicilin.....and my first thoughts were--Oh my Lord, I am going to have a hellified 10 days on my hands trying to get Henderson to take this medicine.

We have been here before, he had an ear infection at around 4 months of age -I remember because this was when I stopped breastfeeding and of course I blamed myself for the fact that he had an ear infection. (whole other issue) Hubby and I were virgins at giving medicine to a 4 month old - Heck how hard could it be??? I begin to get loads of unsolicited advice (go figure) on how to get him to take the medication. Some say just hold em' down and squirt in his mouth, others swore that putting it in a little water or formula would do the trick. I figured we would try them both.

But of course given the fact that I have a "Baby Boy Extraordinaire" none of the above worked. If you tried to hold him down more than likely you would get sucker-punched in the eye because he would swing like "Smokin Joe Frasier" before he would let you squirt the medicine in his mouth. And when it came to the bottle --he just flat out refused to open his mouth and NOTHING was getting in there!!

So now you see my anxiety about giving him the appropriate doses he would need to start to feel better. After sending hubby to the pharmacy to pick it up we both gathered around Henderson and tried to come up with a plan - "What if we try to trick him and put it in his food? " Nah, that probably will work the first couple of times, but not the whole 10 days. "What if I put some on my finger and try to sneak some in that way"---Heck No!! That's not going to work --plus it could take 3 days just to get 1ml into his mouth and we have to give him 5ml."

As we toyed with different aapproaches to get just 1 tablespoon of Amoxicilin into a 7 month olds mouth -- I could hear the theme from "Mission Impossible" playing in the background. I filled up the syringe and I watched Henderson-- who is oblivious to the fact that we are about to ambush him with this horrible pink, pseudo-bubblegum flavored concoction.

As he happily plays on the floor, he pulls up on my knee to investigate the new gadget that mommy has in her hands---and of course with his own way of exploration he tries to put the syringe in his mouth. When he clamps down on it I squirt a little of the potion in. Hubby clams up with fear--I begin to bob and weave and we wait for his reaction. He is startled at first and then begins to smack his lips... He goes off to play with the Tickle Me Elmo then comes back to my knee pulls up again and opens his mouth ....I squirt a lil more in , he savors the flavor and takes off. We do this about 3 more times and all of the medicine is gone. We didn't endure a scene from WWF, he didn't scream to the rafters and no injuries were incurred. DO YOU HEAR ME? ALL THE MEDICINE IS GONE!

Hooray for bubbalicious amoxicilin and we are on the road to wellness.

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Ok I know the comment section is not working...and I have searched all over "Blogger Help" to find out why!! So if you know how to fix the comment section...leave me a comment telling me how to do so. LOL

This reminds me of a principal I once had in high school that announced on the intercom. "Teachers, if you cannot hear this announcement, please send a student to the office." *Cracking up*

Just.........DAMN

Yesterday was a hellacious day at work meetings all day---I didn't eat lunch until 2:30 and I stayed late at work--finally I just got up and left because I had a headache the size of Texas. I had to get my sis to pick up the BBE because I knew I was running late and she said she would pick him up for me, I couldn't find hubby he lost his cellphone (an irritating story). So I came home got the BBE into his routine and I let Dh put him to sleep. Normally, I do just about everything with him when I get home from work-- feed him, play with him, read a story, get him dressed -- you guys know my routine.

Anwyay, I popped a tylenol PM and went to bed - this morning I wake-up renewed!!!! I start a blog entry then to my dismay I lose it...but I feel like that is not going to stop my beautiful morning. Dh is getting ready for work the BBE is still asleep, so I fig heeyy I should go work out!!!! And yes, I am one of those people with an entire workout room downstairs and complain about how I don't have time to get to the gym. When I say workout room it is complete with treadmill, punching bag (the stand up kind), Ab Cruncher,Strecher something???, PILATES MACHINE (don't know how it works), exercise ball,jumprope, arm workout machine, free weights and weight bench; there is even a couple of tennis rackets hanging on a nail down there.LOL Hubby is really into this stuff -- how he married me I have no clue---but I do like to work out when I finally get going.


So I squeeze into an atheletic bra, pull out some stretchy pants and grap the ipod on my way downstairs. It's a little creepy at first, but I start to warm up to it's familiar surroundings. I hop on and start the treadmill while Justin Timberlake sings Cry me a River (WHAT! I love that song) good beat to get you motivated. I proclaim that I will do 25 minutes on the treadmill and then the Ab Saucer, cruncher , stretchy thingy --Beyonce's "Crazy in Love" chimes in a few minutes later and I am realling "working-it", heart pumping, a tinge of sweat begins to glisten, I am singing (out of breath), eyes closed, arms flailing in the air.......and when I open my eyes to check that I only have 5 minutes to go.. to my surprise hubby and the BBE are staring right at me--and I think WTH, what the freak do you want?????????????????????????? Dh says he just woke up - I thought you may want to see him........NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO I DON'T WANT TO SEE HIM -- I want some friggin ME time for a change ----- give me a friggg-nabbit- break!!!!!!!!!!! I Can't believe that you are standing here, I can't beleive that I am having a conversation with you right now, I can't believe that you think it is ok to bring him down here and it's 6:00 in the damn morning. And for anybody who knows me-----it's a stretch for me to even be awake at this hour! GO THE HELL AWAY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

So he tries to put him playfully on the treadmill - YES I AM STILL ON IT!! and begins this whole play routine in the workout room with H - NO OTHER TIME WOULD HE HAVE BEEN DOWN THERE WITH THE BABY -- Why now? He normally lets him play in the crib while he gets dressed, then he later gets the baby dressed, then they head out of the door---SO WHY IN HELL are you standing here in front of me.

Then he hands me H's shoes and says could you put these on for him. I need to run upstairs- WTH -- I snatch them out of his hands put the shoes on the bambino and he heads upstairs. There I am SITTING on the weight bench -not lifting weights- but holding the BBE and a shoe in my hand while Dh runs around for about 10 minutes - no more glistening sweat, no more singing, no more Beyonce'..........JUST DAMN!!

Calgon take me away.....

When you feel like you just can't take it anymore....when you really begin to get fed up with schedules, oatmeal, and Dr. Brown's bottle parts. When you feel that the moment you walk in from work--you are watching the clock to make sure that baby gets sufficient play time, a bath, some cuddling and good book (because you want your kid to be literate). When you really feel like you have had enough.......WATCH SUPERNANNY!!!! and you will feel a heck-uva lot better. LOL

How Henderson came to be.....

henders1_edited
Originally uploaded by aleigha.

I am going to start this after the two trips to the hospital when we were kindly sent back home - I remember once I just knew I was in Labor - the contractions had started and I was in a heap of pain.....the nurse hooked me up to the monitor and my little ant hill contractions were showing up on the screen--she kindly said to me "ummm sweetie your contractions have to be sky crapers before we will admit you." I thought to myself - Crap it's gotta get more painful than this............got a shot a stadol and was sent home.

I want to make a distinct difference between my pregnancy and my labor- my pregnancy was wonderful, I had the typical glow, didn't have that much weight gain, I went on a cruise, hiked through mayan ruins, went to numerous social events and even went to see his Purple Badness(PRINCE) in the musicology tour!! fun times!!! I didn't even get all the crazy symptoms you hear about during pregnancy like the nose spread, hair thinning, or the dark neck - OH GOD PLEASE..NOT THE DARK NECK

I would be pregnant ten times over but the labor part is where I have to put the brakes on.

My "official labor" started on August 31, 2004 -(I was not due until September 6th) I had already been off of work for about a week because I believe I started back labor earlier that week and it was too much to sit in Atlanta traffic and then work 8 hours and head home in traffic --so I did some work from home a couple of days before things started. The morning of the 31st my hubby got up to head to the job as usual and I was completely exhausted from the hospital run the night before and not sleeping well. The pain was very intense through my back and lower abdomen. I was peeing like there was something wrong with me - I don't know why that stuck out but it did!!! Around noon - I felt like it was unbearable, but I refused to go back to hospital and have them send me home again (that would've been the third time). So I concentrated on counting the times in between each contraction - which as far as I am concerend is a steaming load of bovine crap because it ALL hurts!!!!!!!!!!! There was no gap in pain! :<

So of course, I am home alone and I refuse to go through this by myself so I summoned hubby home to agonize with me -- I made it until early in the evening and I really could not rest. After doping myself up on tylenol PM nothing was working so I did not call the nurse like times before I just procIaimed at the top of my lungs that I cannot take this any longer and something has got to happen. So off we headed to the hospital! Hubby was so nervous that he stopped at a Wendy's which was 5 minutes from the house to go to the bathroom - I was dazed and confused because did you not have to go 5 minutes ago when we were at home - why in hell do you have to go NOW!!! Can you not wait until we get to the hospital which is probably 20 minutes away - I digress....We did not call any of the "fam" because they had already made two - bogus trips before, so we wanted to be sure that this was the Real Deal.

We get to the hospital and you have to go through all the stinking paperwork, which I didn't understand because we were just in here last night I KNOW YOU STILL HAVE THAT SOMEWHERE!!! We give them all the answers to every single question and I got hooked up to the monitors in the "holding room." A nurse would come in periodically to check on me...I am being checked for dilation because apparently they won't admit you unless you are 3 cm dialated. A crazy nurse from hell tells me to that I am not quite at 3 so maybe I should get up and walk -- Well that wasn't happenin' so I told her she needed to come up with another plan because I was not going to get up and walk!!! We played the "waiting game" and finally called the family to let them know that we were here at the Hospital and that we were not going home without a baby!!! The crazy nurse came back and told me that she could not put me in a room quite yet because I still wasn't 3 cm. I thought to myself what is with her and the friggin 3 cms!!! Can't you see that I am writhing in pain - doesn't that count for something??? My family begins to arrive and my best friend Pammy, they all come back to see me - My sis is freaked out and doesn't want to see me in pain - I actually don't see her again for a while???? Pammy comes to see me and she begins to cry - I remember that because I thought it was so touching - and my mom was in "Get my daughter a doctor and make her feel better immediately" mode.

I finally get a room - and a new nurse and I thank good because I am still mad at the crazy nurse because she is being very terse with me and my patience was already worn thin. I guess a shift change happen and a west indian nurse comes in and she immediately starts punching buttons on the monitor next to me - she tries to make me comfortable and she calls my doc. The nurse midwife comes in from my docs office (which is across the street) and says that Dr. B is going on vacation and she will deliver me - OH MY GOD...I AM SURE THAT SHE IS A NICE PERSON , SHE HAS BEEN VERY SWEET TO ME SO FAR --BUT WHERE THE HELL IS DR. B!!!!!!!!!! of course I get very anxious and that seems to make the pain worse. I am given a pitocin drip because I am dilated only at 3cm and they want to get things moving. Watching too much of a TLC's a baby story - I knew exactly what Pitocin was and I just knew that it wouldn't be long. The midwife said we should have the baby by 8 a.m. But a few minutes later the pain becomes blinding --your limbs don't even exist anymore--you just feel like pain is the only element in the world - damn oxygen, damn carbon dioxide, pain is what is sustaining your body right now. I felt like It had completely taken over me!!!! The west Indian nurse is right beside me still punching buttons!!! I want to ask her what she sees but she seems to be engrossed in the screen and I can't remember how to move my mouth and speak because the pain seems to be controlling my vocal cords as well. The nurse asks if I would like an epidural and I just nod!!

The anesthesiologist comes in and tells me to lean forward, blah blah, and my mom comes in so that I can lean on her - I don't know what the epidural felt like but I do know that within about 20 mins I felt the blood begin to rush back into my veins - now I remember what my body is supposed to feel like - now I can breathe and even talk. But, I feel as if I have fur in my mouth - I get some ice chips and begin to suck on those periodically. My nurse tells me that the baby's heart rate seems to be dropping a little and she wants to put me on oxygen--fine I think to myself - bring it on. I feel like I can handle anything right now. The nurse exclaims -" O.K. we should have this baby by 10 am." They even begin to break down the gear to get ready for the delivery. But then something weird begins to happen and my body begins to shake - at first it was slight tremor, then it begins to shake a little harder - I feel it but I can't do anything about it... The nurse tells me to relax and breathe in the oxygen - but what the hell is with this shaking!!!! Apparently I am having some sort of reaction to the epidural. I can't get myself under control!!!!! My mom comes in and she is trying to hold my hand but nothing seems to work. Everyone begins to come in and you feel like they are looking at you like a coma patient as if to say - Oh it's so sad!! Poor girl. And I really didn't have the strength to say anything to them so.... I felt like a coma patient!!!!

The West Indian nurse is still plugging away at the buttons and urges me to keep my oxygen mask on that keeps falling off my face ( HELLO I AM SHAKING LIKE A LEAF OVER HERE!) Then to my surprise my Doctor arrives - Dr. B - I thought to myself doesn't he have to go on vacation??? He checks me and says that I am only 4 cm dialated - ARE YOU SURE?? YOU HAVE GOT TO BE KIDDING ME......By this time it's around 12:00 p.m., and he says that he is going to hang around to deliver me - that makes me feel so much better!!!! (mentally)

Then familiar pains begin to resurface and I am feeling very weird!!!! I let the nurse know and she says I may need another epidural - OMG!! this is crazy - I don't really want one - until the pain begins to crash into my body like a tidal wave. I let her know it's ok to give the second epidural. I get that done ( yes I am still shaking) so it takes EXTRA effort on everyones part to keep me still for the needle. Dr. B comes in around 2:00 and says that I am only 5 cm dilated and we may have to start thinking about C-section. I am like WTF - why, I don't want a C-section!! He says if I have not dilated past 5 cm by 3:00 p.m. he is going forward with a c-section. So In the midst of my intense tremors I try to tell my body to get ready to have this baby...Dilate, Dilate, Dilate. In the meantime all of my family: Dad, sis, mother n law, sis n law, hubby, mom, and Pammy file in and give me these really worried looks. My mom is crying and so is my dad - Wait MY DAD HAS TEARS IN HIS EYES!!! hmm, I think to myself they must really all be moved from this entire experience!!!! At 2:15 p.m. on the dot a gurney is wheeled in with a bunch of nurses and they are preparing to move me for a C-section -- I remember it was 2:15, because I looked at the clock and thought wait a minute it's not 3:00 p.m. yet!! What's going on - I begin to cry uncontrollably and I can't figure out what is going on!! The nurse tells me that only 1 person can go in with me for the c-section...I can't even make a decision because I am distraught and I feel like don't know what is going on. I am wheeled away to this room and my mom joins me she said that hubby thought it best that she be with me. She is rubbing my hair and praying with me and I think to myself this ain't nothing like "A baby's story." The doctor begins the surgery and I feel the tugging - it doesn't hurt but I feel that something is uncomfortable. I am still semi-shaking and my head is killing me. It seems that we are there for hours and I keep asking if everything is OK and Dr. B reassures me! My mom is looking into my eyes and it dawns on me that something is wrong!! The whole ordeal I just experienced is because something did not go as planned. Dr. B stays on from vacation, the nurse and her constant watch on the monitor, the rushed C-section. Now I am in a panic but my head is hurting so bad and I am so exhausted from the shaking I can't even get my thoughts together. I never hear a cry and I ask again is everything Ok - the doc reassures me again and my with my eyes I try to beg my mom to tell me what is going on. She just continues to rub my hair and try to keep me calm. Finally at 3:04 the doctor gives Henderson to my mom and she cries, and cries, and cries and says "oh Aleigha...look what you have given us!!!" I cry to and I look at how much he looks like me -- it's a little mini-me - LOL

After much recuperation I find out that Henderson's cord was wrapped around his neck and they didn't want to tell me for obvious reasons. Whew!! I am exhausted just writing that. This is why it has taking me so long to write my birthing story. But it had such a HAPPY ENDING!!!

Baby Boy Extraordinaire

In the signature line of my g-mail account I always sign my messages Aleigha and Henderson (Baby Boy Extraordinaire). My crew and I are infamous for acronyms. I meet my girlfriend Pammy from time to time on Instant Messenger and one evenings he asked me "How is the BBE doing?", because I have been struck down with mommy brain it took me a second to figure out who she was inquiring about and then I realized- Baby Boy Extraordinaire. So I am proud to say (thanks to Pammy) that Henderson has his own acronnym the B.B.E.!!!!!!

Hendini

Today was the first day back from our Spring Break and Henderson's first day back to the sitter. He has been a very "sprited" baby with me all week. He is sooo active, he learned how to clap our hands this week, he waved bye bye, he got the start of our first tooth, and he even tasted the mushy inside of a french fry this week. As you can see he experienced alot of firsts this week. But he also had his first leap off of the side of the couch, his first semi-temper tantrum in the highchair (refusing to eat his pears), and his first bout with, seperation anxiety this week. I knew that Mrs. D (the sitter) would have her hands full this week with him. I called her this morning after Jonathan dropped him off and to my horror found out that my "Darling Husband" had left the exersaucer at home and the only thing she could sit "H" in was his bouncy seat. Mrs. D reassured me that he would be fine today and she realized she had some "work" to do with him.

I went to pick him up at his usual time and Mrs. D said she had something to tell me-- I felt like I was being called into the principals office. She began to reassure me that it wasn't all bad but earlier that day she was going to the kitchen to fix "H" a bottle and she left him in his bouncy seat facing the other baby, Kendall, who was in her exersaucer. When she returned after about 7 minutes she found "H" standing up and holding on to Kendalls exersaucer, she claimed he seemed to be having a conversation with her and Kendall was happily paying full attention to him. After she placed him back in his bouncy seat she waited to see just how he managed to get out of that seat. Well needless to say the escape still remains a because he never revealed his secret and Mrs. D is is positive that he planned the escape and would only execute it when she was not in the room!!!

Baby Shower

Today I took Henderson to a baby shower... I had anxiety about the shower all week because they made it a kid-friendly shower so that we could finally meet some of the other babies. I was worried how he would do on an outing because he has been acting loopy from teething all week. Alot of us have not seen each other in years!! So it was fun to finally see the kids face to face as opposed to pictures. Henderson was of course in rare form - he is squirming and trying to pull the gifts off of the gift table (this was the only chair remaining in the room). I knew I was gonna have to move soon.

The mother to be had all of these questions for me...and the truth is I really didn't want to answer anything about labor because my experience was... I hate to even say it...but it was horrible. I loved my doctor he was wonderful, the nurses were exquisite -well all except one, but she left soon after I got there. I can't blame any one person or thing it was just a horrible experience. I have yet to write about it because the only fond memory I have of the entire process is seeing Hendersons' face in the delivery room and my mom saying "Oh Aleigha Look what you have done, Look what you have given us" - everything before and after that was pure-d-hell.

And the mother-to-be seemed so etherreal looking and excited about the prospect of birth and she was firing questions at me and I was dodging them like they were atomic missiles. Everything from breastfeeding to epidurals, to post-pardom to c-sections. I didn't have the heart to tell her that it's all buck-wild out of control. Anyway, I will save the "birthing experience" for the the birthing experience post.

Henderson did pretty good at the shower everyone raved about how much hair he had, how ACTIVE he is and how strong he is. Each person that held him I had to give them the disclaimer that he would proabably wriggle outta of their arms and to be careful because he's a squirmer. It was nice to get out and socialize with other adults but I didn't get a chance to watch her open the gifts because it was close to Hendersons bedtime and I didn't want him to turn the place out.

How Henderson Happened

"Hi Mom I'm Pregnant," " Wait Who's pregnant?""

Jonathan and I decided that once I finished graduate school we would "work" on having a baby...he was totally excited about it and if he had his druthers this baby would have been here before now. So our task begins---and I am the type of person if we say we are going to do something, I research it, google it, come up with a plan and then we begin. So after researching it, googling it, and creating a plan - I had my fertile days charted on a calendar and pronounced.."Let the Games Begin" I have my suspicions on when we actually conceived but I can't quite put my finger on it. In the meantime Jonathan and I took a trip to New Orleans at the beginning of November with our good friends and "travel couple" Cliff and Alicia -- we had a ball and Alicia and I fired up the dance floor on bourbon street -- Who knew this would be my last hoorah!!

I found out that I was preggo (the name my crew would affectionately call me for the next 9 months) Early december - I was acutally in the shower and I JUST KNEW!! No Kidding - I knew that I was pregnant at that very moment. I didn't tell my husband because he was three sheets to the wind and I had no solid proof. By 6:00 a.m. the next morning, I urged Jonathan to run to Publix and grab a pregnancy test. He said your not pregnant GO BACK TO SLEEP. I thought to myself is this the same man that 5 months ago announced to our friends and family that we were going to "work" on a baby at my Graduation party. I poked him and jumped on top of his head...Get the Frik up and go get a pregnancy test--he laughed and snorted and turned over. I was furious, so I get outta bed throw on my coat and tennis shoes- yes still in my Pj's and drive off to Publix--I grab a test and run back home and head straight to the bathroom. In a half-of-a-milli-second a blue line was revealed - I gasp for air because this is the real deal!!! I take the second test and in a nano-half-of-a-milli-second the blue line appeared again. OK breathe again.....I tell hubby and he gets this glazed look in his eyes!! Wow
Let's start making the calls Me: "Good Morning, Hi Mom, I'm Pregnant " Mom: "Wait Who's Pregnant?" We have a good laugh about that later on....