Hey all I just wanted to write a quick note about last night to keep everyone I love in the loop. I called my mom early last night because I noticed a little bleeding and asked her to (please!) help me be calm! I've had an irrational fear the past several weeks that Jackson would try to make his entrance before Jordan got home, and this seemed a little too questionable! I talked with my Dr. as well as my wonderful mother-in-law and decided to go in to the hospital with my friend Carly about an hour later. They set me up on fetal monitoring and determined after a little less than an hour that I was having contractions that appeared to be getting stronger and more regular, and was dilated 1cm. They also checked me to see if the bladder infection I'd found out about earlier in the week was still going on since that can cause contractions. Carly said a prayer for me since I was getting pretty worried about all of these things, and afterwords I really felt much calmer. A few minutes after that the nurse (who was a wonderfully patient and kind woman) came in and gave me a shot in the arm to try to stop the contractions.
I have to add in here that contractions can be a normal thing before a woman's due date, especially in the third trimester. Both Jack and I were completely safe and fine, the only threat was Jack coming early...which I would've felt much better about had Jordan been here!
I really thank God because I didn't have another contraction after they gave me the shot! I also found out that I didn't show signs of infection in my bladder, which is definitely good news, but makes the contractions somewhat of a mystery. They could've been because of stress, or from the parade-walking I had done earlier in the day (oops) or any number of other things. I had a little hospital food (which wasn't too bad!) and they monitored me for the next couple of hours. Since Jack was doing well, I hadn't progressed past 1cm and the contractions stopped, they released me!
My plan is pretty much to stay in bed until Jordan gets here just to be on the safe side! He'll be here in about 24 hours now, though, so that's also a blessing! I'll keep you all updated on any changes, but for all we know this could be the end of the commotion until Jack's due date!
Sunday, June 20, 2010
Friday, June 18, 2010
Me and the Four Star Generals
Growing up with lots of family in the military sort of made me oblivious to the whole rank structure. My dad was a chief when he retired and I figured that was no biggie. I mean hey, he was my dad! Not really that scary. As a teenager I even felt a little indignant towards those pushy military Dr.’s with lots of rank. Who did they think they were anyway?
It didn’t take me long to re-adjust my thinking once I got to basic training. I soon realized that EVERYONE, including lowly airman schmeperson over there who’s only been in the military for six months, had infinitely more power and authority than dingy little me. Now compare airman schmeperson to an officer. Most of my basic training flight would’ve wanted to run away and throw up in a corner if they saw one coming towards them. What about a four star general? This person has attained the highest rank possible in the military. May as well just die on the spot right? Luckily I never had to meet one of those personally or talk to them, or even make eye contact. Even after I got used to the military I think that would’ve been too much for me.
Now bear with a random change of subject for a few minutes. Most reserved parking in the civilian world isn’t anything significant. You’ve got handicapped parking…maybe some “10 minute or get towed” parking. That’s pretty much it. Other than that you’re on your own finding a spot in the back 40. Not in the military. Those four star generals? They’ve got at least one spot at darn near every building on every base in the world. It’s right next to the door and no one ever parks there other than them. (Well, their driver anyway). There’s also parking for Chiefs. Turns out they're a little more important than I thought….Ahem. Sorry dad.
Here’s where it gets good. You’ve got all these special parking spots for all the really scary people in the military who could smother you with a look, and guess who else gets a spot up front? Pregnant women! Pretty much since I’ve been old enough to think a Chief isn’t scary I’ve been hoping that one day I would get to park in one. Is that creepy? I didn’t want babies. I just wanted the cool spot. I even waited until I was quite visibly pregnant to start parking in them lest some passerby accuse of me of using the spot illegally! (I only feared this because I’d questioned many womens’ pregnancy status under my breath while driving by them to my far away parking location in years past).
So yea, all of that was to say…it’s me and the four star generals now, baby. Thanks, Jackson.
It didn’t take me long to re-adjust my thinking once I got to basic training. I soon realized that EVERYONE, including lowly airman schmeperson over there who’s only been in the military for six months, had infinitely more power and authority than dingy little me. Now compare airman schmeperson to an officer. Most of my basic training flight would’ve wanted to run away and throw up in a corner if they saw one coming towards them. What about a four star general? This person has attained the highest rank possible in the military. May as well just die on the spot right? Luckily I never had to meet one of those personally or talk to them, or even make eye contact. Even after I got used to the military I think that would’ve been too much for me.
Now bear with a random change of subject for a few minutes. Most reserved parking in the civilian world isn’t anything significant. You’ve got handicapped parking…maybe some “10 minute or get towed” parking. That’s pretty much it. Other than that you’re on your own finding a spot in the back 40. Not in the military. Those four star generals? They’ve got at least one spot at darn near every building on every base in the world. It’s right next to the door and no one ever parks there other than them. (Well, their driver anyway). There’s also parking for Chiefs. Turns out they're a little more important than I thought….Ahem. Sorry dad.
Here’s where it gets good. You’ve got all these special parking spots for all the really scary people in the military who could smother you with a look, and guess who else gets a spot up front? Pregnant women! Pretty much since I’ve been old enough to think a Chief isn’t scary I’ve been hoping that one day I would get to park in one. Is that creepy? I didn’t want babies. I just wanted the cool spot. I even waited until I was quite visibly pregnant to start parking in them lest some passerby accuse of me of using the spot illegally! (I only feared this because I’d questioned many womens’ pregnancy status under my breath while driving by them to my far away parking location in years past).
So yea, all of that was to say…it’s me and the four star generals now, baby. Thanks, Jackson.
Thursday, June 17, 2010
Deserts are ugly
I just spent way too much time looking through every background available to me on this little blog, and guess what? There were no pictures of the desert. Well, I take that back. There may have been one with some sort of sandy oasis. Palm trees and clear water surrounded by sand. But, that's not what I mean when I say "the desert". This is what I mean....
Nice, right? As many of you know, that's where I spent a good part of last year. That is where my husband is now. It's generally a pretty safe deployment location, and we're blessed for that. I wrote many many emails home during the time I spent in the desert and I've had a lot of people tell me I should write a book. Or even just write more emails. Well....a book sounds really overwhelming! Emails seem sort of presumptuous on my part. I don't want to assume anybody cares what I'm doing or thinking...especially since I don't have any exciting tales from the desert anymore.
Some of you are probably wondering where the diapers part of this blog comes in, and it comes in here. I just recently separated from the Air Force because I'm planning on becoming a stay at home mom with our new son, Jackson! Now, there's a good chance that this new path of mine won't include satanic supervisors or painful and awkward massages, but I figure it's bound to have some interesting parts that I could write something about. So here it is. My blog.
I have to tell you that by reading the tales of my attempt at becoming a domestic icon (....choke, sputter) you will also be exposed every once in a while to updates from mom and my's new shop on Etsy, "ItsAJoi".
Call me old fashioned (or crazy) but I decided early on in my pregnancy that I wanted to cloth diaper. Maybe it's because I came from a very "career" type of job, but I feel like being a stay at home mom should be just as much of a job as any other. The only difference here is that I am my own boss. I can define my job responsibilities as widely or narrowly as I want! While I probably sound somewhat like a soldier marching off to battle, I have to say that I'm determined to hold myself accountable, stay structured, and be disciplined in my new job. Part of that includes saving our little family some $$. Hence the cloth diapering. If all it costs me is extra time and effort, I'm for it. So after all that I'll include that I'm a little nervous. haha. What if I give up and start using disposables, serving previously-frozen mush for dinner, and watch soap operas all day?! (seriously...I'm afraid. lol). Wow I went off the path there for a second...cloth diapering.
Mom and I started coming up with ways to make cloth diapering even MORE affordable, and that resulted in sweatshop-like production rates on hand sewn diapers (yea! I did that! I couldn't even sew a year ago. Granted I was listening to terrorists at the time. But still.) and all things diaper. Long story short, we've got a shop on Etsy that has some intricate crochet work, baby blankets, sewn cloth diapers, knit diaper covers and some random cloth diaper accessories. We'll see how that goes! (http://www.etsy.com/shop/itsajoi).
The end for now
Nice, right? As many of you know, that's where I spent a good part of last year. That is where my husband is now. It's generally a pretty safe deployment location, and we're blessed for that. I wrote many many emails home during the time I spent in the desert and I've had a lot of people tell me I should write a book. Or even just write more emails. Well....a book sounds really overwhelming! Emails seem sort of presumptuous on my part. I don't want to assume anybody cares what I'm doing or thinking...especially since I don't have any exciting tales from the desert anymore.Some of you are probably wondering where the diapers part of this blog comes in, and it comes in here. I just recently separated from the Air Force because I'm planning on becoming a stay at home mom with our new son, Jackson! Now, there's a good chance that this new path of mine won't include satanic supervisors or painful and awkward massages, but I figure it's bound to have some interesting parts that I could write something about. So here it is. My blog.
I have to tell you that by reading the tales of my attempt at becoming a domestic icon (....choke, sputter) you will also be exposed every once in a while to updates from mom and my's new shop on Etsy, "ItsAJoi".
Call me old fashioned (or crazy) but I decided early on in my pregnancy that I wanted to cloth diaper. Maybe it's because I came from a very "career" type of job, but I feel like being a stay at home mom should be just as much of a job as any other. The only difference here is that I am my own boss. I can define my job responsibilities as widely or narrowly as I want! While I probably sound somewhat like a soldier marching off to battle, I have to say that I'm determined to hold myself accountable, stay structured, and be disciplined in my new job. Part of that includes saving our little family some $$. Hence the cloth diapering. If all it costs me is extra time and effort, I'm for it. So after all that I'll include that I'm a little nervous. haha. What if I give up and start using disposables, serving previously-frozen mush for dinner, and watch soap operas all day?! (seriously...I'm afraid. lol). Wow I went off the path there for a second...cloth diapering.
Mom and I started coming up with ways to make cloth diapering even MORE affordable, and that resulted in sweatshop-like production rates on hand sewn diapers (yea! I did that! I couldn't even sew a year ago. Granted I was listening to terrorists at the time. But still.) and all things diaper. Long story short, we've got a shop on Etsy that has some intricate crochet work, baby blankets, sewn cloth diapers, knit diaper covers and some random cloth diaper accessories. We'll see how that goes! (http://www.etsy.com/shop/itsajoi).
The end for now
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