Ahh, the Early 80's!

Pageboy haircuts - parted down the middle.

Cheesy outdoor background (just 2 Montana girls magically transported to a Southern Plantation)

Wagon wheel - because doesn't EVERYONE go around leaning on wagon wheels?

Matching sweaters. (Okay, I kind of like that part.)

But check out my sister's gorgeous butterfly collar! Isn't it the picture of late 70's early 80's perfection??



I have a whole collection of pictures of the two of us in matching clothes. That could become fun regular posting material...

A Letter to My Sister on Her Birthday

Dear Beautiful Girl,

Happy Birthday to the smartest, sweetest big sister I could have ever asked for. You would be 38 today if you were still with us.

Why doesn't this get any easier?

I still feel your presence often. I know you hear me when I talk to you. So many times, there are things that I know you would appreciate, and I just have to share them with you. I still have times when I will find some funny thing on the internet and my first instinct is to email it to you. I can't pick up the phone and call you, but I can say it to the sky and know it will get to you.

I remember when I made the decision to marry Surfer Pirate. He was definitely more your type than mine, and I can still hear your laughter about that, even though you were only there in spirit then. But your laugh was still as clear as day. You thought that was hysterical that I was marrying a blond. And after watching his new house flipping TV show, I can see you were right - I really DID marry Vanilla Ice!

I wonder what you do up there in Heaven while you wait for us. What fills your time there? Are you playing with my little angel baby? Are you watching with pride while your niece reads book after book - reminding me of you and how many times you had your nose in a book. Did you hug your little nephew and give him advice before he was born? There are so many times that I see his little eyes moving around - looking like he's watching someone that I'm not aware of. I whisper to him "Are you looking at your auntie?"

Four weeks from today, I will be 35 - the last birthday you saw in this life. It's such a strange feeling to know that I'll soon officially be outliving you. That's really hard. We were supposed to be still sharing stories in our 80's. Joking about family reunions and pickles and Perrier, talking about James Madison and how much your student loved him, laughing about how you had to name the one kitten "Indianapolis" just because I thought Gary was a good name for the other kitten, and telling each other "Give me a spoon right now please! NICELY!" This wasn't how our lives were supposed to go. We were supposed to have babies together and visit each other regularly. We were supposed to be able to call each other when things got tough or when we had good news to share.

But I know you were needed in the next life. You had work to do there. But I still have the right to feel more than a little robbed.

This is hardest on Mom. I know you know that. Parents aren't supposed to outlive their children. We cried together over you yesterday. She's having a pretty stressful time right now, and it sure would be nice if we could all be there again - sitting on her bed talking all night long. It seemed like nothing could hurt us if we were all together as a team.

You would be so proud of your niece and nephew. Pirate Munchkin is so smart! I know Heavenly Father knew what he was doing putting that child into our family. I have a hard time believing sometimes that she's not from our own bloodline - she's so much like you. I have no doubt that she'll watch over her little brother as well as you always watched over me. And Pirate Baby is such a strong little guy. Just over 5 weeks old, he's already starting to master having control over his little neck. In looking for a picture for this posting, I found pictures of both of us as babies and realized Hey! He DOES look like us when we were babies! He's not just a carbon copy of his daddy after all!

Anyway, as usual, my thoughts are sort of rambling. If anyone knows how much I do that, it's you. But I just wanted to tell you I love you and I miss you. Life is pretty hard without you here. Tonight, we'll have birthday cake in your honor. Hope you're okay with Funfetti cake and Rainbow Chip frosting. I love me some Rainbow Chip. To use your words "It's the Yum."

But I'd rather be standing in line at Softies with you instead.

9 Glorious Months

Today is Pirate Baby's due date.

Hard to believe that he's more than a month old now.

I just thought it would be good to put down some thoughts today about how I felt about my pregnancy.


I looked forward to being pregnant for 11 years. When I discovered I was pregnant back in May, I was thrilled, of course. Having lost my first pregnancy, the thought of losing another one was terrifying. But I felt cautiously optimistic this time. As the months passed after losing the first one, I'd had the strongest feeling that I would be pregnant in the spring. And sure enough, I was right!

The timing was awkward, at best. We had decided to move to North Dakota, without ever having visited the area. While that seemed crazy enough, we would now be making the move with a baby on the way. The baby would be coming during the peak of the arctic temperatures. It was certainly nerve-racking. Surfer Pirate was going to be moving a month before we were. We had never been apart for more than a day, and now I was going to have to deal with a month of first trimester sickness and exhaustion without him.

Before he left, we were able to get an ultrasound. It was very reassuring to both of us to know there was a tiny little heart beating inside of me. We hadn't gotten that far with the first pregnancy, so knowing things were going well made the time apart a little bit easier.

The nausea was no fun, of course. Neither was the exhaustion. Most frustrating of all were the hormonal surges that made me semi-psychotic during the entire pregnancy. But through it all, there was the amazing joy of knowing there was a child growing and progressing inside of me.

After all the years of trying, I had started to feel like pregnancy was a conspiracy - that it didn't really happen. No one really got pregnant. Babies came from somewhere else. Big pregnant bellies were fake, and everyone was in on it except me. So as I progressed through my pregnancy, everything felt like a dream. I have to admit even now that I have a hard time processing where this gorgeous little boy came from.

And then I started feeling the little kicks. They were so amazing! It really is an incredible experience to have movement inside your body that isn't coming from you. Someone else is having hiccups - you feel them, but you're not having them. I could go from feeling perfectly fine to feeling incredibly nauseous just because he was pushing on my stomach. I could tell where the little hands and feet were as he would stretch diagonally across my uterus. When Daddy came home and started telling me about his day, Pirate Baby would start kicking like crazy!

I felt so incredibly lucky to finally have been blessed with a child that was half me, and half my wonderful husband. Was I right in feeling like this was a boy? What would he look like? Would he be blond and blue-eyed like his Daddy? Would he have the platinum blond hair most of the boys on my dad's side of the family were born with, or would it be red like mine was when I was tiny? Or would he take on the Native American genes that don't show in his father - dark eyes and hair? I hoped for that the most. Pirate Munchkin, being adopted, has dark hair and eyes. I don't want her to look out of place in family pictures, so it would be nice if our baby had similar features to his sister. (It looks like he may have a nice mix of both. His hair is dark blond - although I suspect it may change eventually. His eyes mostly look like they will go brown, but it's too soon to know for sure.) Would I love him the same way I love his big sister? (While it feels different to how I love her now, I think I do love him pretty much the same as I did when she first came into my life.) Would she love him, or would we have a lot of sibling rivalry? (She adores him!) Would he share our love of music? Would he have his father's mind for math? Will he be a daring little monkey, always breaking bones like his father? Or would he be more like me - loving reading and history, preferring to use his imagination to play rather than the more physical things?

But most of all, I am overwhelmed by this amazing gift. Right now, he's sleeping on his tummy stretched out across my legs. His gorgeous little mouth (his father's) is slightly parted and his little cleft chin (also his father's) is twitching while he dreams. I can't believe I get to be his mother. I get the privilege of watching him learn and grow. The eight months of pregnancy were definitely a roller-coaster, and I got quite the prize at the end of it!

Don't Wanna

Surfer Pirate is sick.

Which means he's home with me all day.

I get nothing done when he's home during the day.

I need to clean my kitchen. I need to straighten the living room and dining room. I have more laundry to finish. I need to go to the butcher shop because we don't have any meat in the house. I need to pick up diapers because I don't think my Amazon order will be here before we're out. Pirate Munchkin has the snacks this week for school and I need to get tomorrow's snack done. Plus, I had planned on making cookies today.

So far today, I have done.... um.... nothing.

Well, I've fed my son and that's important.

And I wrote a little in his baby book.

But yeah. That's pretty much it. And aside from the fact that I REALLY want cookies, I don't feel like doing anything at all today.

But Surfer Pirate is taking a nap. It would be a good time to pretend that he's not here and get something accomplished.

Or not.

We'll see.

New Toy

The Story of the (previously mentioned) Big Ass TV:

Last week, Surfer Pirate came home from the store in a super-excited frenzy. Our favorite cashier had introduced him to her mom, and the conversation came up about a big ol' TV she wanted to sell.

Cheap.

We have been looking for a new TV for the living room. Surfer Pirate's Man Cave has been seriously lacking without a place to watch sports and movies. A new TV in the house means he can watch marathons of Pawn Stars without me having to watch the annoyingness that is the condescending way Rick treats his customers.

And I can watch my wedding shows without him changing the channel when I leave the room for a second.

So he went to look at the TV, and then brought this gigantic beast home.

In seeing that it wasn't a 52" like she'd originally said (TV screens are measured diagonally, not by width, in case you didn't know), I was a little concerned with how it was going to even fit in our small rooms. That's right people! This is a frickin' 60" television!

And then he turned it on. And it was fuzzy. REALLY fuzzy. If you wear contacts and have ever accidentally slept in them and have experienced waking up to eyes full of goop, you'll understand what this thing looked like.

Needless to say, I was NOT happy about the purchase. I told Surfer Pirate I would give it a couple days to see if I could get used to it - knowing full well I wouldn't. So I did. And I still hated it. He'd promised me if I hated it he would move it downstairs.

For the record, that would be really funny. First of all, I have serious doubts about it fitting down the stairs. And if he could manage to get it down there, it would completely dwarf the room. The Man Cave is a small room, and to top it off, it's also very strangely shaped. Watching that TV down there would make you feel like it was getting ready to roll across the floor to eat you!

So yesterday, Surfer Pirate had some errands to run before he came home for lunch. While he was out, he ran into Favorite Cashier's dad. He asked how we were liking the TV, and when he heard it was a little fuzzy, he wasn't surprised. This is a projection TV, and apparently they just need to have their little projectors cleaned every once in a while. He explained what to do, and last night Surfer Pirate brought home the tool we would need to take the back off. (Of course, they can't use simple screws so I could have done it myself while he was at work. But being married to a mechanic means the man has tools. Lots of tools. Note to self: get a set of nut-drivers for the house.) We took the back off, cleaned the projectors and the mirror inside, and voila! Almost perfectly clear picture! (We can't expect perfection. This thing is at least a decade old, but it was a HUGE improvement from what it was when we brought it home.)

So today I'm moving furniture because as you can see from the picture, it covers up my beautiful fireplace, and we can't have that. (You can also see the smaller TV and its stand on the floor in the background of the picture.

Pirate Baby's Birth Story

I figured Blogger would publish postings based on when they are finished, but apparently, they are posted based on when they are started.


So scroll down to December 31st to read Part 1 of Pirate Baby's interesting birth story.

I Have Fought the Battle, & I Am Victorious!!

I am happy to report that the powers that be that make blog templates have finally caught up with all the pirate lovers in this world, and I had a PLETHORA of backgrounds to choose from!

FINALLY!!!!

It took me a while to remember how to change a background, but I got it!!

I love, love, love, love this!!


And with so many others to choose from, I may change backgrounds more often!

Cheap Entertainment

I'm feeling too lazy to look for an appropriate picture of my dogs tonight. So, I went looking on the internet for pirate dog pictures, and got completely distracted by this adorable Lobster Dog.

Enjoy.



Ahem...

Anyway. The pirate puppies did something really funny the other day, and I had to share.

Both dogs were sleeping on the couch (like they always do) when the following source of entertainment occurred:

1. Pirate Puppy was having a puppy dream and was growling.

2. Said growling woke Pirate Wench Puppy.

3. She assumed the growling meant there was danger afoot!

4. So she barked.

5. Which woke Pirate Puppy.

6. Both dogs immediately go into High Alert and in Ultra Protective Mode.

7. They go charging together to the back door to save the family from unknown threat.

8. Where they discover there is nothing out there and have to sheepishly return to the couch.


All because Pirate Puppy had a dream.

Content

I spend so much time feeling like I'm not doing enough. My house has looked like a tornado hit it for so long that I start to feel like it always looks like that.

And then I recognize that I have a brand new baby in the house and it's no surprise that my house looks like crap. It's a good excuse, but it still doesn't make me feel very good.

But just now, I was sitting here in the silence, reading websites, procrastinating going upstairs to sort all the laundry that needs to be done, when I realized something.

My dining room is clean. And come to think of it, the living room looks pretty darn clean, too. And after yesterday's productivity, the kitchen is also clean. There are things on my stairs that I need to put away, but that won't take long. There's a TV and TV stand in my foyer, but I can't do anything about them right now (don't even get me STARTED on the big ass TV in the living room - that's a sore spot at the moment). The mud room is a little messy, but it's a mud room, what do you expect? The beds need to be made, but that won't take long. The upstairs bathroom is mostly clean. So really, the only issues in the house today are Laundry Mountain and getting the guest room ready for company (my mommy will be here in 13 days!!!!).

Not bad for a woman with a 3 week old baby!

And to top it off, the TV is off (again, big ass TV issue). The dogs are asleep on the couch. Pirate Baby is asleep on my lap. Pirate Munchkin is at school, and Surfer Pirate is at work. The house is SILENT! I'd say it's pretty darn peaceful around here!

I don't think I've felt this content in a while. I almost don't know what to do with myself.

He's All Boy!!

You can see the mischievousness in that smile, can't you?

I'm nursing this cute little guy, and a couple days ago, I was holding him after a feeding. My shirt was open a little more than normal (I was home, who cares), and there was quite a bit of cleavage showing.

Suddenly, I felt a little hand snaking it's way across my skin, settling into my cleavage.

I looked down at him, just in time to catch him watching me out of one eye. He quickly closed it. I said "Yeah, I just caught you copping a feel." He smiled and rolled his eyes.

Just over two weeks old, and he's already a sneaky little bugger!

Even More Changes

A new year is a good time to make changes.

I read a lot of different blogs that manage to stay fairly anonymous while still posting actual pictures of their families. I've been considering doing it for a while, but it wasn't until Pirate Baby was about to be born that I started seriously considering it.

And now that he's here, I owe it to the world to show off his adorableness!

Real Pirate Life is soon to come!

2010: The Year of Change

I'm working on Pirate Baby's birth story for this blog. I'm being very detailed with it, and I'm not sure how far I want to go with it. I apologize in advance for the size of it because I'm mostly writing it for me, and I don't want to forget any details.

Meanwhile, I saw a questionaire on a friend's blog and thought it would be a good thing to do for the most life-changing year I've ever had.

1. What did you do in 2010 that you’d never done before?
Gave birth and moved to North Dakota

2. Did you keep your new years’ resolutions, and will you make more for next year?
I don't do resolutions. I try to make a regular attempt to improve my life, but I don't do it on a year-to-year scheduled basis.

3. Did anyone close to you give birth?

Lots! This was definitely the year of babies. Just from one side of the family, there were 6 of us cousins who had babies - mine was the only boy. Plus many new friends. I also have several more friends and family members who have babies due in the next couple months.

4. Did anyone close to you die?

No one close to me (at least that I can think of - I'm still dealing with Baby Brain), but a wonderful man who I've always respected and loved died just after Christmas.

5. What countries did you visit?
None. Although Small Town North Dakota does feel like a different world sometimes! LOL

6. What would you like to have in 2011 that you lacked in 2010?

No financial stress.

7. What date from 2010 will remain etched upon your memory, and why?
December 22nd. The day my beautiful little boy was born.

8. What was your biggest achievement of the year?
Again, the birth of my baby.

9. What was your biggest failure?
Getting my household packed up for the move. I had plenty of time, but I was dealing with first trimester morning sickness and exhaustion. But I still feel bad that I needed more help. I should have done more by myself.

10. Did you suffer illness or injury?
Normal pregnancy-related illnesses. I never really got a cold or flu or anything like that when I was pregnant, but I got a NASTY cold from being in the hospital after he was born.

11. What was the best thing you bought?
Our gorgeous house

12. Whose behavior merited celebration?
My little family. Surfer Pirate for all his hard work and his support of me, and Pirate Munchkin for putting up with a hormonal mess of a mom who wasn't very patient most of the time.

13. Whose behavior made you appalled and depressed?
My dear friend's former employers. The things they did to her were disgraceful! Technically, their behavior was all from 2009 and earlier, but she is still dealing with the repercussions.

14. Where did most of your money go?

Paying bills, trying to get caught up. This big move and Surfer Pirate's employment changes are going to fix those problems.

15. What did you get really, really, really excited about?
Being pregnant and anticipating the birth of my little boy.

16. What song(s) will always remind you of 2010?
Can't Take My Eyes Off of You by Frankie Valli. Years ago, I changed the lyrics a little to make it into a lullaby. I finally got to use it this year!

17. Compared to this time last year, are you:

i. Happier or sadder?
Definitely happier. All the financial stress that we've been under is going to be easing up soon, I've finally got the baby I've waited 12 years for, life in our little town is much more peaceful. I could go on and on.

iii. Thinner or fatter?

Pretty much the same. I didn't put much weight on with the pregnancy, so I'm almost back to pre-pregnancy weight now.

v. Richer or poorer?

Basically the same, but we'll be richer pretty soon.

18. What do you wish you’d done more of?
Sorting through all the junk we've got stored in boxes! We got rid of a ton of stuff in the process of the move, but there are still WAY too many boxes in my basement!

19. What do you wish you’d done less of?

Being a big hormonal mess. I had very little patience with my daughter, and that makes me really sad.

20. How did you spend Christmas?

(Edited because the original question was to be answered before Christmas.) We spent Christmas in the hospital. We were all together, but it wasn't a lot of fun. Thankfully, Santa found us and made sure the kids had plenty of gifts this year.

21. How many one-night stands?

Never in my life.

22. What was your favorite TV program

Probably Big Bang Theory. I don't really have favorite shows that I watch all the time, but that one never fails to make me laugh.

23. Do you hate anyone now that you didn’t hate this time last year?
While there are certainly people I don't care for, I don't really hate anyone.

24. What was the best book you read?

The Art of Racing in the Rain by Garth Stein. Although I didn't actually finish it until today. It was such a great story! I highly recommend it.

25. What was your greatest musical discovery?

Not so much a discovery, but my greatest musical experience this year was the concert we went to in October. Surfer Pirate and I are STILL talking about it!

26. What did you want and get?
My baby to arrive safely and in good health.

27. What was your favorite film of this year?
I've seen lots of great movies this year, but I think my favorite was How to Train Your Dragon. So much fun!

28. What did you do on your birthday?
I seriously do not remember. That was a loooooong time ago.

29. How would you describe your personal fashion concept in 2010?
Will this shirt fit over my big belly?

30. What kept you sane?

I have two main things that keep me sane - peace and quiet and time with Surfer Pirate. As long as I get those two things on a regular basis, I'm good.

31. Which celebrity/public figure did you fancy the most?
Meh. Don't really care.

32. What political issue stirred you the most?
Politics - Blech

33. Who did you miss?

My sister. I miss her all the time.

34. Who was the best new person you met?

My fun new friend who says I'm a bad influence on her. She reads my blog and knows who she is.

35. Tell us a valuable life lesson you learned in 2010: Moving (especially when pregnant) is horrible. I never, ever want to do it again!

Miracle

It's 5:45 in the morning, and I'm sitting here with my 9 day old baby boy. There were certainly times where I doubted this would ever be able to happen. But it DID finally happen! He's here, he's beautiful, and I couldn't be happier.

This blog is slowly evolving into something more personal. At first, all I did was blog about stupid criminal stories. They were fun, I enjoyed them, but it just seemed like there should be more of me to this. As I have blogged more about my life and the world around me, it's seemed a little empty without pictures that were actually part of that world. It was also very hard to find pictures that actually worked with my topics, and I've worried about copyright issues. If I use my own pictures, that's not an issue.

I've found so many blogs out there where people use actual pictures of their kids, they just don't use their real names. I was still debating the issue when I sort of accidentally posted a picture of the new kitten. I didn't even think about it, and didn't realize what I'd done until a couple hours later.

So consider yourselves lucky that you get to see real pictures of my real family now. :)

And isn't that little tiny person up there just plain adorable??

His birth was quite an adventure:


Pirate Munchkin had gone to bed, and Surfer Pirate and I were standing in the kitchen talking. It was Tuesday, December 21st. I had finished my last shift for the week, and I was really looking forward to the few days I would have to get things done before Christmas. Originally, I was only going to be working up until that week, but we were still so far behind I had promised to work two more days the next week. My house was a mess because I'd been so tired with my job, so I was looking forward to getting the kitchen nice and clean and doing some baking.

Suddenly, everything was very wet. With just a second's thought, I knew I needed to get upstairs to the bathroom to see what was going on. I said to Surfer Pirate "We have a problem", and took off like a bullet up the stairs. The entire way across the main floor and up the stairs, there was more and more. I got into the bathroom, and the flood really started. (Sorry if this is TMI, but I did warn you that this was a birth story!) Being more than 4 weeks early, I was more than a little concerned that my water had just broken! I picked up my cell phone - thankful that I'd had it with me - and called the midwife. She had told me previously that I would most likely know I was in labor before my water broke. But there were no other signs of labor. She told me that sometimes the cervix can open a little and let some fluid out, but then can close up again. We decided together that I would put myself on bedrest and wait and see. I had already set up an appointment with her for Thursday afternoon, so if nothing else happened, at least she would be there soon to see what was going on. In the back of my head, I knew there was too much fluid for it to be something like that, but I didn't want to panic. That was 8:45.

For the next few hours, I laid in bed and watched TV, had a little snack (a big ol' bowl of Malt-O-Meal's Marshmallow Mateys, thank you very much!), and dealt with a VERY stressed husband! He was basically having a panic attack. He was scared to death that he was going to have to deliver this baby by himself. I finally had to call a member of our ND (surrogate) family over to help him calm down. It worked, and Surfer Pirate was able to go to bed next to me and fall asleep.

At 11:45, the contractions started. It was obvious now between the contractions and the fluid that still kept leaking that this baby was ready to come out now! I called the midwife again, and we decided together that with it being so early, it was best that I go to the hospital. I woke up Surfer Pirate and started gathering up anything I could think of that I would need in the hospital for the baby and me. He went right back into panic mode, poor guy. We found someone to be at the house for Pirate Munchkin, loaded up everything in the truck and left town. I had been timing the contractions since they started. While they weren't intense, they were getting closer and closer together. We were only a couple miles out of town when they became pretty steady at 2 minutes apart. We decided to turn around and go back to our local hospital. They don't deliver babies there, but in an emergency, they're sure better than delivering the baby somewhere along the highway in the truck!

The doctor came in to the little ER exam room and checked me out. He didn't believe me that I was in labor! He kept talking about making sure my water really did break, and he checked to see if the baby was in position for delivery. He was pushing so hard on my stomach with that part that I almost punched him! But then the frosting on the cake was when he checked my cervix! If you've never had that done, you're missing out on one of the most painful experiences ever! Only the heaviest contractions equaled that amount of pain! He declared that I was dilated to less than 1 centimeter, and I would be safe to make the 1 hour drive to the nearest hospital that delivers.

Meanwhile, Surfer Pirate was so stressed and freaked out about the whole thing that he started hiccuping and didn't stop for over an hour!

Back in the truck and back on the highway. The snow was drifting all over the road. There was fog so thick that you couldn't even see the side of the highway. Surfer Pirate was doing his best to drive safely, hiccuping the whole time, while I said silent prayers through the contractions that we would arrive safely at the hospital before the baby was born. I kept my mother updated via text message. She and Dad were scared and worried, and feeling very helpless that they were so far away. Thankfully, the only animals were saw on the road were staying out of the way. We saw four HUGE snowshoe rabbits, and my mom was amused that even in during labor and a very stressful drive I managed to inform her about the bunnies. I saw one deer as he was leaping off the highway, but Surfer Pirate saw a large herd of deer in one of the places where the fog was lighter. Luckily, this drive is one I do to get to church every week, so I am very familiar with the drive. I was able to keep Surfer Pirate (and the parents via text) how many more miles we had to go.

Finally, the lights of the city were in view! We got into town and found our way to the hospital. (Previously, we didn't even know where it was, so they printed us a map at our little local hospital.) While it was tricky to find the emergency room door, we were thrilled to get there in time. We got inside, answered what questions we needed to to get me admitted, and they brought me a wheelchair. (Thank goodness! That was a LONG hallway to the maternity ward!) I was taken to a very nice, modern birthing suite and introduced to Laura - world's greatest nurse. She told me she actually worked full-time in the bigger hospital 90 miles away. She filled in part-time at this hospital. The doctor checked my cervix (OW! OW! OW!), had me sign a bunch of paperwork, and then he left the room. Surfer Pirate went out to our truck to see if he could take a little nap. When the doctor came back, he told me that after checking my delivery date, I was only 35 1/2 weeks, meaning my baby definitely qualified as a preemie. They didn't have a NICU unit in their hospital, so they would need to send me via ambulance 90 miles away to the other hospital! I was pretty upset about that, but I knew it was for the best. Laura told me she would be working the next night there and would see me then.

For the record, if I had known this hospital didn't have a NICU, I would have gone to the other hospital in the first place!

Surfer Pirate decided that he would go home first so Pirate Munchkin would find out from him what was going on. He was going to see her off to school and bring back the baby's car seat since we'd forgotten it in the rush to leave the house.

I was strapped onto the ambulance gurney and loaded up. The car lover in me was very interested in the hydraulics on the gurney and how it smoothly loaded into the ambulance with very little jostling of the patient. By now, it was REALLY early in the morning and I had been awake for almost 24 hours. The contractions were exhausting, and they were just getting more and more intense. The EMT kept talking to me throughout the ride, keeping my mind moving as much as he could while timing the contractions. I was so tired that I even dozed off between contractions while we were still talking. Let me tell you, contractions and bumpy, snowy, rural North Dakota roads in the dark of the early morning are not a good mix. Most of the hard labor happened on the ambulance ride.

We finally arrived, and I was hurried down the hall and into an elevator. Through the pain, I was still able to see the humor in the people who were waiting to get on, but chose not to climb into the elevator with the woman in labor! Smart thinking on their part because I had a contraction start right as we got on and spent most of the ride screaming. I was brought into a much more industrial-looking delivery room, but it didn't matter because the exhaustion and the contraction pain made it almost impossible to open my eyes. Tammy (a great nurse, but not as great as Laura) told me that all the screaming and moaning weren't helping my labor along and I needed to focus on just breathing through the contractions. She was my cheerleader and my coach through the contractions, and she was there waiting with a spoonful of ice as soon as the contraction ended. When I got there, I was dilated to a 6, and it didn't take long until I was up to a 9 - about 10 or 15 minutes, I think. At one point, the nurse had just given me my ice when the next contraction started. She told me to breathe, but I couldn't because of the ice. I finally just spit the whole mouthful out onto the bed.

Then came time to push. With each contraction, I was to push 3 times. Then, rest. I did that several times. Then at one point, I could hear Tammy telling me to push, and I realized I'd blacked out. A few more pushes, and another blackout. I kept listening to the conversation the doctor was having with the nurses. They kept saying how well I was doing, and how this was a perfect birth. That was really nice to hear because they weren't talking to me, so I knew they meant it and weren't just trying to cheer me on. I got to the point when I could feel the head and I knew we were almost done. Tammy told me to rest, and I said no. She told me it was okay, that if I felt the need to keep going, I should keep going. I pushed 3 more times, and the head was out! One last push, and the baby was all the way out! The little cry was immediate! It was the greatest sound in the world! I sat up and looked at my gorgeous baby. My first feeling was recognition - that I'd seen him before. Someone said "He looks great", but no one had announced if it was a boy or a girl. There were so many hands around him that I couldn't see for sure. I asked if it was a boy, and someone made the announcement official. I had a son!

Pirate Baby was born at 8:59am, weighing 5 pounds, 15 ounces. He was 20 1/2 inches long, but they didn't actually measure his length until the next day.

From there, everything was a blur. H was taken to be cleaned up and evaluated. I kept watching him and all the action around him. I got to hold my baby. I kissed him and talked to him. He was kind of gray, and he kept grunting. They said he was struggling to breathe and took him back from me. I was disappointed, but I knew his health was more important than my need to hold him. The doctor told me I needed to push again because the placenta was coming. He said I had a small tear and would need a few stitches. Stitches were done (OW! OW! OW!). The doctor kept saying "Everything we do down here is painful." I was cleaned up and was able to sit up. I sat there eating my ice with a spoon and watching everything going on around me. The nurse asked me what his name was, and I spelled it for her so she could put it in the computer.

Meanwhile, poor Surfer Pirate was trying to get to the hospital on nasty roads while functioning on no sleep. He had checked in with his job, made arrangements for the dogs and our daughter, got Pirate Munchkin up and off to school, grabbed the car seat and was on his way. He was about a third of the way there when I called him and told him we had a son. He didn't process what I said at first because he was distracted by hearing Pirate Baby crying in the background. It still brings tears to my eyes thinking about how he choked up when he realized what was going on. I filled him in on what details I could and encouraged him to pull over if he needed a minute to regroup before finishing the drive (he didn't). Next, I called my mom and told her about her new grandson.

Eventually, Pirate Baby was taken to the NICU, and I was taken to my regular room.


*There is much more to the story, since we were in the hospital for 5 days - over Christmas. I'm not sure yet how much detail to include, so Part 2 will continue sometime in the future.

December, the Month of Family Additions

It's official!!! The stork has arrived!

Our baby boy arrived 4 1/2 weeks early on December 22nd, 5 pounds, 15 ounces and 20 1/2 inches. He had a little fluid on his lungs, but otherwise, he's healthy and wonderful! I'll fill in his very interesting birth story sometime when I'm not half asleep.


I'm also thinking I may change how I do things on this blog. More to come.


Oh, and update on the newest furbaby. After 5 days in the hospital with Pirate Baby, we came home to a happy and very healthy kitten! Her breastbone and shoulder blades are still sticking out more than they should, but her little spine has a nice little layer of fat around it. She is one cute little girl!

Our Newest Family Member

Yesterday, we went out to the farm to let the dogs run around in the snow. Since we don't have a fenced yard and our town has strict leash laws, I don't like to let them run around too much in our yard. They do have a tendency to try to check out the whole neighborhood.

While we were out there, we needed to make sure the barn cats had been fed. Surfer Pirate fed the kitties and whistled for his favorite kitten.

We've been told that usually the friendliest kittens don't make it through the winter on the farm, so we were already a little prepared for what we found.

The poor baby was sick, shivering and WAY too skinny!

It didn't take long to decide the baby would be coming home with us. I bundled the kitten up in my coat and we headed home.

Back in this baby's early, early kittenhood, Surfer Pirate had checked for gender and settled on Boy. But after a bath to remove the musty barn smells and renew soft fluffy kitten fur, I discovered our new little one was indeed a Girl.

She's eaten two cans of soft cat food and some dry cat food in the 24 hours or so that she's been here, had a bath (well, technically 3 baths, but I'll get to that in a minute), used her litter box, and has spent lots of time sleeping and snuggling. She's very affectionate. I love the way animals react when they know they've been rescued. We figure she wouldn't have made it through the night if we'd left her at the farm.

She's so very skinny. You can't tell with all the fur, but I could probably count her vertebrae if I wanted to. And her little shoulder blades and breast bone stick out much too far. Poor little thing.

She did have a little adventure earlier today. I took a bath, and had her in the bathroom with me because that's where the litter box is right now. She seemed very disturbed at not being able to snuggle with me and kept pacing and meowing. At one point, she was standing on the edge of the tub staring at what I THOUGHT was the doorknob on the cabinet above the tub. Before I could even react, she jumped over my head and onto the shelf above the cabinet. She landed halfway into the wicker basket that holds all my hair things (bands, barrettes, hair brush, etc). It is a rounded basket and couldn't hold her, so down she came - along with the basket and all its contents, AND my hair dryer! (Bath #2.) She scrambled out of the tub, and while I scooped all the stuff out of the water, she decided that the best place to dry herself off was in the litter box. Yeah. So, once I was done with MY bath, I had to give her ANOTHER bath to get all the wet kitty litter off her lower half. (Bath #3.) Hopefully she won't try that trick again.


Meanwhile, Pirate Baby is due in 37 days! That also means only 39 days until my mom is here!