Wednesday, June 25, 2008

Baby's first hostage standoff

So when our newsroom intern and I were sent out on assignment yesterday to cover an incident at a government center about a half-hour away, we had no idea it was a hostage situation at a county board meeting until we were already on the road.

Fabulous.

I'm 5 months pregnant and heading towards a potentially dangerous situation. With an 18-year-old girl. I'm pretty sure Dr. Spock wouldn't recommend that for the baby OR our intern. Fortunately, we found out a short time later that the hostage siege was over and the man had been killed by law enforcement.

We still got ourselves shooed out of two different areas surrounding the building by men armed with AK-47s until we found the designated media sidewalk. We waited for a couple of hours, along with three other co-workers, until I could no longer remain standing in the 85-degree sunshine with a full bladder, so the intern and I took off in search of cold refreshments for the crew and a bathroom stall for me. After another couple hours on the sidewalk, with news helicopters circling overhead, we decided to split up and our intern and I interviewed some random people in the town and headed to the McDonald's in search of food for our now starving crew.

Then my car wouldn't start in the parking lot. Hard to cover breaking news with a broken down Camry. But after several attempts at starting my car it finally gave in and decided to start (fortunately) on the 15th or so try and third trip to the car. We headed back to the office having missed the second news conference because we were stuck at the McDonald's. Bummer.

When I got home my face was badly sunburned and the baby kept doing somersaults inside me, my stomach became tense almost like I was having contractions. I got a little worried — maybe the baby had too much excitement and stress for one day — but she calmed down after a half-hour.

And things have been going well so far since then.

I have started reading aloud to her before bed and she wiggles around a lot to the sound of my voice. I've heard I can grow a smart kid that way, so hey, it can't hurt. I'll hold off reading her today's story about the man shot by police after holding 10 people hostage — that's old news to my lil' bambino — and stick with Dr. Seuss.

Wednesday, June 18, 2008

Happy Birthday, Grandpa!


Today marked my Grandpa Les' 84th birthday had he made it this far...And ironically where did we celebrate his birthday? At another "Grandpa Les'" funeral.

Small world.

My aunt lost her father, Les, on Friday and the funeral was today. So Nels, Erika and I went to show our support. Les also spent his last few years at the same nursing home as my grandpa Les and both my aunts would go pick them up to bring them to family gatherings.

So three of my cousins have lost both their Grandpa Les' within six months.

I saw my grandpa's twin brother, Lut, (shown on the right with my grandpa playing their trumpets together) at the funeral but it didn't even dawn on me until a cousin mentioned it later that it was his birthday too. Duh. It must have been so strange for him to celebrate a birthday by himself. Sad, too, I'm sure.

On my way home from work tonight I stopped by my grandpa's grave and wished him a "Happy Birthday."

It just didn't seem right not to.

Monday, June 16, 2008

To dye or not to dye ...

I had my second doctor's appointment today. Everything is looking great, the baby's heartbeat is fine, my blood pressure is fine, etc. We went over the ultrasound results and everything is right on track and the baby is healthy, no abnormalities, etc.

While the ultrasound indicated my due date is more like Oct. 22 (our third wedding anniversary!!) my doctor decided to stick with Oct. 31 as a due date but said it's likely the baby will be arriving before that anyway.

I asked if I could FINALLY color my hair and he said it would be fine...but since Nels has big issues with this ("Why take the chance?" - He always tells me when I complain about my spreading gray hair) I asked if there was even the SMALLEST chance it would affect the baby... and my doctor said only if I drink the hair dye ... and I don't plan on it.

My next appointment is the end of July, after we return from Canada. I asked my OB/GYN if I could spend a week in the wilds of Canada and he said only if we bring him with fishing. I said sure.

Nels would probably enjoy fishing more with our doctor than his whiny 6-month-pregnant wife who'll have to take many pit stops to pee.

Monday, June 09, 2008

Warning: Spoiler Ahead!!


We had our ultrasound today. It became even more exciting when at 8:50 a.m. I looked at the informational sheet from the doctor's office and realized my appointment was at 9 a.m., not 9:30 a.m. like I thought. I panicked, called the radiology dept and told them I'd be late. They said I could only be as late as 9:15 a.m. (I live about 20 minutes away.) so Nels hopped in the shower and I sprinted to my car, carrying a large glass of water to drink along the way so my bladder was adequately full.

I got about 2 blocks when I knocked the water over, spilling it all down my pant leg. Fabulous. Raced to town and got to the Radiology Dept. about 9:17 a.m. or so, which turned out fine. Nels even got there before I was called in from the waiting room.

The baby was very active, jumping all over the place. So far everything looks great. We have one long-legged kid, a future track star.

And while the technician said she can't say with 100 percent certainty, there was definitely no man business shown on the ultrasound. Meaning, we're having a little GIRL. :) You can see her performing some ballerina moves in the ultrasound above. Erika was so excited and Nels said he's happy about having a girl. He told me that girls can go fishing, too. He's going to be a great dad and Erika's going to be a protective big sister.

Life is good...at least until this little one reaches her teen years. I've experienced that teenage girl drama (twice, really) and it's frightening every time.

Sunday, June 08, 2008

What, it's not all about me??

I hung out for a while Sunday afternoon at my husband's family cabin, which is owned by him and his two brothers (this also includes me by default as his wife). The cabin has been in his family for 3 generations.

My other two sisters-in-law were there today so it was fun to sit on the dock and chat with them. One of my sisters-in-law, who is trying to conceive, was telling me how she was talking with our mother-in-law yesterday and a neighbor (who is my husband's dad's cousin, or something like that) and they were saying how much fun it'll be with a new member of the family joining us. It was exciting, she said.

That's when I realized that this baby isn't just mine, or Nels'... he/she already has TWO families who can't wait for him/her to join them. I'm not just giving birth to a child on my side of the family, but to a grandchild, a niece/nephew, a cousin, etc., for my husband's family, too.

It was a little strange wrapping my brain around that one. I guess it's not all about me.

My 9-year-old nephew, Luke, was crossing his fingers, toes and legs today, saying that he's just hoping for a boy cousin. So we'll see at Monday's ultrasound. I'm so excited for that. My brother and dad both said they think it's a boy. We will see.

On a related note, my husband told me Saturday that I have to stop reading stuff to him out of the pregnancy books I have because he's having nightmares. The night before we'd been talking about the delivery and birth, etc., and talking about some things I've learned recently about natural births. I'm working on a story on home births. I interviewed two sisters-in-law last week who gave birth in birthing tubs in their living rooms, three weeks apart. One of the women gave birth so quickly that the midwife wasn't even there yet. She got there 20 minutes after the baby was born. The woman, her husband and sister-in-law basically delivered the baby themselves. (It's true, I watched the tape.)

One of the moms loaned me a book about gentle birth options to read. It also has a DVD with six birth experiences to watch. (And yes, I forced Nels to watch them all with me.) Well, I think I believe in many of the theories behind a gentle birth but when it's time for me to give birth, I want to be in a hospital. I'm going to aim for a more natural birth, forgo an epidural, etc. (I didn't have one when I had Erika.) but that doesn't mean I won't refuse other medications or medical interventions if need be.

So the book says that it's important that the mother nurses the baby right away after the baby is delivered and criticizes how nurses take away the baby in hospitals to get it cleaned up, etc...The gentle birth way is to have the baby nurse within moments after he/she is born. Nels and I talked about this and I told him that that's what I want to do, to make sure the baby nurses right away.
That night Nels dreamt that the baby was taken away by the hospital nurses for an HOUR and he was running around telling them that they had to bring the baby back, that the baby needed to latch on RIGHT AWAY. He woke up freaked out. Too funny.

On a lighter note, the baby seemed to enjoy watching Sex In The City on Saturday. Either that or he/she liked the popcorn and milk duds I was eating because he/she was moving all over the place.

Thursday, June 05, 2008

Swim little fishie ...

I was sitting at my desk, vigorously tapping both my feet, like I have a nervous tick or something, and the baby just WHACKED me.

It felt like a walleye had hit the front side of my uterus (as if I'd have a walleye swimming in my uterus, but you get the idea) and then it turned against the side of the "tank." I think the baby was doing a somersault and vaulted off the side ... pretty funny feeling but made me stop tapping my feet like a nervous freak.

Apparently the baby was trying to get my attention. Or maybe he/she had to puke.

I have my ultrasound on Monday, which will be our 20th week of pregnancy, the halfway point. I can't wait to find out the results. Erika wants a sister and Nels wants a son. Unfortunately, one of them isn't going to get what they wish for. So we'll see...

Stay tuned...I'll post the results here.