Promotion Day!

Thomas is getting promoted to CPT today! I'm excited for him and proud of him! They are planning to do a "ceremony" type thing today so I'm hoping to be able to make it. It's calling for thunderstorms starting when the ceremony will begin. I'll get pictures up later. Funny that it's on Halloween (but I'm sure Tom loves that!).


She didn't quite know what was going on, but she likes to pull his patches off. Everyone in the room went "Awww How cute". :-D

Gabriel and I put his 2LT rank on when he was commissioned after OCS Graduation, so this was Katheryn's turn.

One Week Old

Victoria is one week old today. I have to say she is a great baby and I am lucky. Nursing is going good! She took to it alot better than Katheryn did (we had to work at it).

Katheryn is my helper. She is always looking to see what Victoria is doing and always lets me know when she starts crying (even when I'm in the same room) and gets upset herself. She always says that "baby" is hers. lol She helps me change "baby's" diaper. Gets the diapers, wipes, and throws it away,except the poopy ones. She makes the yuck face while saying yuck. It's so cute.

Gabriel is doing ok. I think he feels "left out", but I think that some of it is the attention the others give to Katheryn. I took him aside and reinforced that I still love him and it will take a little time for me to get to feeling better and then we'd be able to do more stuff.

B-Day

Ok so those of you who have been keeping track of the excitement of my latest pregnancy with Victoria, she finally made her appearance Oct 24th at 12:26pm. She weighed 7 lbs 10 ozs and 19-3/4 inches long.

Well to catch everyone up, I had went to my appt last Wed and was 5cms and 70% and the midwife stripped my membranes. She also set up with L&D for me to be induced Fri if they had a bed. Well, I apparently became famous! I was the lady everyone talked about, how I was walking around at 5cms and not in "active" labor! Every L&D nurse that came in there told me how they couldn't believe I had been walking around at 5 cms and not gone into labor.

Well, I call Friday at 5am and they told me to come in at 5:30. So we go, get hooked up to the monitors and do the normal pre-delivery paperwork (aside from the pre-admission paperwork) and questions. The midwife came in around 7:30 and checked me. I was 6 cms and 80%, but my contractions were sporatic. So she breaks my water. We wait an hour to see if that will be all to make me go into "active labor". An hour later, my contractions really hadn't changed except for getting a little stronger. So she decides to start me on a very low dose of pitocin (in total, they gave me maybe a tsp over the entire time). Well, they are getting really strong and I'm going as long as I can before getting the epidural (yes, I really dislike pain). Well, when the nurse checked me before they gave me the epidural and i was 7-8cms and the contractions were 2 - 3 mins apart. As I was getting the epidural, the shakes started (luckily he was almost finished). I started to get a bit anxious because I still hadn't gone numb in the same area that hadn't gone numb with Katheryn. The told me i might have a "hot spot" in my back that wasn't letting the medicine get that spot. So they rolled me onto my left side and after a while it worked. Not too much longer after I went numb that the nurse checked me and called the midwife. Well, she was in the middle of an exam and when she rushed through that and got there my nurse was in the bathroom. LOL Ten minutes of pushing and Victoria was born. This by far was my fastest "labor" (all of mine had started after my water broke or was broken...Gabriel's was 12 hours long and 45 mins of pushing and Katheryn was 17 hours long and about 30 mins of pushing) and time pushing. I have to say I felt alot better too after this short labor than I did the long ones. The only "bad" thing that happened is Victoria came with her hand up with her head. The midwife thinks that I wouldn't have tore if it wasn't for that. :-( Both of her Bili tests (for jaundice) came back in the normal range and even though she lost 5 ozs, she has already gained back 1 oz as of yesterday.

So far things have been good aside from the soreness.

Eggplant Parm.

Well, I decided not to make the recipe I posted below because I found a small single serving size at the Commissary today. Plus, I didn't want to waste all that money on something I might not even like. Well, I ate the "frozen eggplant parm" today for lunch and liked it. So, I'm sure I'll LOVE the fresh one when I decide to make it. The only problem (which I thought of a solution for) is that it will probably only be me and Katheryn eating it. So I figured I'd just buy some individual dishes that I can bake and freeze individual servings for later.

Oh well, so we'll see how it goes today. *fingers crossed*

Semi-rude Awakening

Ok so to start off, I have NO idea what I was dreaming about, but Tom thinks I might have been dreaming I was in labor. I woke up at about 5:30 this morning pushing (as in trying to push the baby out when the doc tells you to start pushing). I know I did at least twice. I felt the extreme pressure (which prolly woke me up) and I guess I was still half asleep because I remember feeling a second "push" then was like "OH S***" and just laid there. I checked to see if my water had broken (nope..ok), was I having contractions (nope...ok), and so I just laid there a little bit longer to make sure nothing was going on. LOL

Well, didn't think anything of it until after dropping Gabriel off at school and driving home from the Commissary and I started feeling a strange "down there". I get home, go pee, and when I'm walking into the living room look down and I swear I think the baby dropped some more (mom confirmed my suspicion). Sooooooo....Could today be the day? I hope so! Or at least tomorrow! Well really, any day before Wed (my next appt).

What Pregnant Ladies were they talking to????

Ok so, I got my weekly pregnancy e-mail (for week 39). This is what it said (I put what struck me as odd in bold and italics):

..in Week 39

Your Body

Although your tummy is larger than you could have imagined, you may actually feel more comfortable in your body than you have in a while. That's because your baby has dropped further down into your pelvis, relieving additional pressure. This change has also caused your center of gravity to shift suddenly, so you may lose your balance more easily or have difficulty standing upright, particularly when getting out of a chair. Take extra care of yourself – you have a baby to deliver very soon!


WHAT?!?! Hello! Who were they talking to? LOL Yes, you get rid of the discomforts of the baby being so high, but it is only replaced with the baby being so low. Having to run to the bathroom everytime I turn around because the baby is pushing on the bladder or the increased pelvic pressure from the baby getting lower. Ugh. I want to be one of those "pregnant ladies who don't have the discomforts". LOL I just hope I have the baby before my next appt. Having my membranes stripped isn't something I want to go through again (I had it done with Katheryn...not by choice mind you).

I'm tempted to do the jumping jacks Tom keeps telling me to do. LOL jk

I might go pick up stuff to make the Eggplant Parm though. Even though it will probably make a whole bunch extra...it will be worth it if it works. lol

Scalini's Eggplant Parmigiana

I found this recipe when I was pregnant with Katheryn and had thought about trying with her (but the midwife helped us out so I didn't have to). Supposedly pregnant women have been eating this for over 20 years and most of them go into labor within 48 hours of eating it. They almost guarantee it and if you don't they give you a gift certificate to come back and try it again if it doesn't work in 48 hours. Just click on the picture to be taken to the restaurants site for the recipe.

Rock Hard Abs

So I was sitting at lunch with Tom today and I had a contraction (which has become "normal" lately). Then the thought came to mind which made Tom and I laugh. I told him that this was probably the only time that I can say I have "rock hard abs" (due to the contractions). LMAO!


I'll post a comparison picture later when Tom gets home to take one.

Light at the End of the Tunnel?

Well, I had an unexpected appt yesterday. I say unexpected because we got a call Tues evening from the hospitals appt reminder line telling me that I had an appt the next day. So I called and explained that I didn't think I was supposed to have an appt until around the 10th (they were supposed to call me when they had a cancellation because they were booked for 4 weeks. I kept the appt because I was curious to see if the contractions that I had been having Tues did anything. Well from Friday to Wed I went from 3 to 4 cms and the baby went from the -2 to the -1 station. I had also gained a pound (yay!). So the midwife believes that I'll probably have the baby within the next couple days (we'll see). I'm more excited and anxious about it.