Will I ever get enough sleep?

I am still so tired. It doesn't seem to matter that I'm getting a bit more now that I'm not pumping in the night. I'm so far behind it feels like I'll never get it all caught up. I can't believe it's morning when it's time to get up. At least this didn't hit me as a surprise; I know from the first two kids that sleep is nearly non-existant the first three months.

Lots of things are getting behind. Last night I left a bunch of dirty dishes all over the kitchen. First we went to one grocery store after dinner. Then we had to leave before the shopping was done because Mr. K had stomach problems. Then I had to put the groceries away. Then Mr. K fed K while I gave N and J baths. Then I put N and J to bed. Mr. K worked on paperwork for his business while I went to another supermarket (closer to home) to finish the shopping. When I got home and put the groceries away, I was just to tired to worry about the dirty dishes.

I need to pay bills. I think I did it recently enough that everthing is still current, but they are stacking up again. I'd do it now, but I'm taking a break from paperworkish stuff. In between feedings and entertaining N and J, I've been working on paperwork for Mr. K's business, getting some checks ready to deposit tomorrow, and planting seeds in seed starter things. I got N and J to go outside to play by giving them an old package of Kentucky Wonder pole bean seeds and letting them plant them anywhere they want in the yard (with no guarantee I won't kill or move the sprouts if they come up in an inconvenient spot).

Mr. K is at our rental house. He had to be there all day to meet the person who switches the gas to our name (instead of our previous tenant's). The gas people took several weeks to tell us they couldn't put the gas in our name unless we were there to let them in to see the meter in the basement (which is reached from the outside of the house), and they were unwilling to enter the basement unless we were there even though we offered to keep the basement door unlocked.

Then Mr. K is having another open house today in hopes of finding another tenant. I've had a couple people call about it today, and I told people about it last week. Only two or three people showed up yesterday to see the place, but Mr. K really liked a couple of them and hopes they'll fill out the applications they took and return them to us. Who knows? I'd be surprised if we could find a tenant this quickly, but it would be great. Mr. K is so busy with his regular job, he'll be unable to even schedule showing of the unit by appointment for a week at least. He'll just be holding two more open houses in the next week.

I'll never be able to show the unit. First of all I don't have any idea what Mr. K does or tells the people, and the reason I don't know is that I'll never have to show it since I'm always watching the kids and won't be hauling them there for a showing. They behave very badly whenever we go to the duplex, even if we are only going for a few minutes. They find it very boring.

Playgroup

I, J, and K (ha ha) made it to playgroup today. It's the first time we've been there in at least a month. My last few doctor appointments fell during playgroup. It was great to see everyone and to get to show off K. She's much smaller than the other two babies who were born during my pregnancy. Her smallness won't last.

Pumping was very inconvenient. We had to be sure to leave right after playgroup so I could get home to pump. Hopefully it will be over soon. I'm not making as much milk, and I'm down to pumping every four to five hours instead of every two or so as I was doing in the beginning.

I need to come up with a short form of my husband's name. He was K, but now Katie is K. Keith takes too long to write. Anyway, Keith has to show our rental unit to a potential tenant tonight. He had two appointments on Tuesday, and only one of them showed up. So far we only have one scheduled for tonight.

Tomorrow N isn't going to school right away. He and K have physicals (or whatever happens to babies at the doctor's). If the appointments run into his lunch time, I'll have to get him a lunch before I return him to school. He's likely to be home all morning. In theory he could go to school for about 40 minutes before I have to pick him up for the appointment, but I don't see the point.

Not much happening

My friend with a kid at J's preschool has been taking J to preschool for me this week and last. Since I've been able to drive, I've been running errands while J is at preschool. Today I don't have anything I need to do, so I'm planning to try to nap after I feed K next time.

We've put the ad in Sunday's paper for our duplex, though (the side the tenant abandoned--the side from which we evicted the tenant is still going through a lot of renovation). Anyway, the phone rings a lot, which will make it a bit hard to nap.

K was up to eat every two hours in the night. I'm trying to get her to go three hours between feedings in the night, but it's not working well. Perhaps when she gets more Similac she'll be able to sleep longer than just with breast milk. Right now I'm producing slightly less than she eats, which is good because last week I was making more, and I'm trying to go for a less painful slow drop-off in milk production.

I got a different story from my regular doctor than the one who discharged me from the hospital about my birth control pills. The doctor who discharged me told me if I was nursing fewer than five times a day to use the estrogen/progesterone pill. If it was more than five, use the progesterone-only pill. She told me the estrogen might reduce my milk production. I called my regular ob/gyn's nurse to be sure, and she consulted with my ob/gyn and called me back. If I take the estrogen/progesterone pill, I have to dispose of the milk and not feed it to the baby. Also, it probably wouldn't do much to slow the milk supply. Only reducing the feeding frequency would do that.

Anyway, dumping my milk is unacceptable to me, so I'm on the progesterone only pill. As far as using it for birth control, it's not much of issue. I'm not up to needing any, and if I were, I don't trust the pill during the first month I'm on it so I'd be using something else, too. I do not want to be pregnant again. Hopefully I'll have the milk supply dried up long before I start the next pack of pills, and I'll just take the estrogen/progesterone combined pill at that time.

I hear K crying so I need to go warm a bottle and feed her. Then perhaps I'll get a nap :)

Still tired

I'm still very tired. I got a little more sleep last night because I was able to persuade my husband to do the 5:30 a.m. feeding. I did have to get up afterwards to quiet Katie because she isn't used to being fed by her dad at night and it upset her, but I didn't have to turn on the light or anything; I just held her quietly on the loveseat until she calmed down and went to sleep. Right now I'm about three or four bottles of breast milk ahead of Katie so my husband is able to help with some of the feedings.

I've got a lot of errands to run tomorrow when both kids are at school. Right now I need to go because my son is trying to read over my shoulder and the kids are fighting too much.

Stuffed like a sausage

That would describe my jeans.


For the first time since some time last fall, I'm wearing my real jeans again. I tried last week, but the zipper was nowhere near closing. I tried again today, and I was able to squeeze everthing in and zip it into place. They aren't very comfortable, and I might not be able to wear them all day, but it sure feels good to be wearing normal clothing again.

Later this morning (after my next feed and pumping), I need to go to my husband's office and pick up a deposit and run it to the bank. J has already asked if we can get a doughnut at the doughnut shop. I told her we probably could. I really should get out of the car at the office and show the office person the baby. Then we should go next door to the dentist's office and show K off there (K my daughter, not my husband). They sent me flowers a couple days ago in honor of the new baby.

Out and about

I'm able to drive again! It's been a week since I was released from the hospital.

I made a run to Target and got bottles and diapers. I went to the bookstore and got Four to Score on CDs and a decaf coffee. The clerk at the coffee counter (barrista?) was very kind. Because I was carrying Kate, she put the cream and sugar in the coffee for me. Usually they just leave room in the cup and the customer puts it in himself.

The weather is beautiful It's about 77 °F. I was out for a little with my girls. N is still at school. There has been a huge truck in my driveway that is cutting down tree limbs that are touching the power lines. It's been very noisy, and I feel funny with my shirt off trying to pump knowing there are a bunch of men running around in front of my house.

Everything is greening up beautifully from the little bit of rain we've had in the past week. My heels still hurt a lot, and it is keeping me from going outside to enjoy the weather. When things settle down better with Kate, I'll need to contact my family doctor again to see about more treatment for my heel spurs.

My friend took J to school with her daughter today and yesterday. I had so much running around to do today that I didn't get a nap. Then my friend called and asked if she could take J to the park with her daughter after school. I was so glad because I was able to get a half-hour nap in. I couldn't nap as much as I wanted because I had to feed the baby, pump, etc., and then sterilize the new bottles I had purchased.

Kate exploded this afternoon. She got that mustard-yellow runny poop all over her pajamas and bedding. I'm running the load in the washer right now. Surprisingly, that's the first huge mess she's made of that nature. I think N and J had them a lot more frequently.

Television

I don't have cable or satellite TV. I get what comes in on my rabbit ear antennas. I get NBC, ABC, CBS, Fox, and two PBS stations.

I have rented an electric double breast pump. It takes both hands to hold the parts to my breasts, which keeps me from being able to hold a book or magazine to read while pumping. TV or the radio are my only options. Pumping is very boring. Usually there is very little worth watching on TV. Yesterday I hit so horrid a combination that I just pumped with the TV off. Ellen was up against The View and a game show that might have been The Price is Right (I didn't stick around to confirm). PBS was showing kids shows. Fox was awful, but I don't know what the show was.

I'm also not good at reading while feeding a baby a bottle. Sometimes I watch TV, and sometimes I watch the baby. Feeding her is much more fun than pumping.

I've also now seen a television commercial for Trojan condoms. At least it was on in the middle of the night. Things like that weren't shown during my last two pregnancies. I see commercials for Ambien in the middle of the night (makes sense).

Anyway, I'm thinking of stopping by the book store tomorrow if/when I am out and about while J is in preschool. Tomorrow will have been one week from my hospital release, and my driving restrictions will be over. The last two pregnancies had a two-week restriction, but they were delivered at a different hospital. I need to get a few things from Target (such as more bottles since I'm bottle-feeding breast milk now and will use formula soon enough). At the bookstore, I'll see if I can't find a book on tape that might make pumping pass more quickly. I don't listen well, but if I get something I've already read and enjoy (such as a Stephanie Plum book by Janet Evanovich), my lack of listening ability shouldn't matter.

It's about time to feed Katie. I'm getting very sleepy. I just pumped so if it isn't too close to J returning from preschool, I think I might get a nap.

Here I am

My mom left early yesterday morning. My kids didn't have school. Yesterday was a very long day.

I've failed at getting Katie to latch on to breastfeed. We've quit trying. I've rented a pump. I'll probably pump for most of the rest of the month for which I've rented the pump, but I might stop sooner and switch her to formula.

Next Monday (baby two weeks old), I can go on birth control pills. If I'm breastfeeding (or pumping), I use progesterone only. If I'm not, I can take the combined estrogen/progesterone pill (like I was before trying to get pregnant). I think my milk is still fine for consumption with the second type, but it will dry up. I need to call the ob/gyn office to confirm this, though. That would be ideal if I'm certain I'm done pumping. I pumped for a month for my son, and then I tried quitting cold turkey. That was a horrid mistake. The pain, redness, swelling, mastitis, etc. was horrid! I'd be much happier if my production just slacked off on its own until almost none was left.

If I have time, I'll try posting later. Right now my breasts are swelling and need a good pumping.

Mom and daughter

Mom and daughter
Originally uploaded by greycharleigh.

K brought the digital camera back in the evening and took this picture of Katie and me at the hospital the evening she was born.

Someday I'll get a better picture of the baby up, but right now I'm too tired to pursue it.

Katherine Elizabeth is born!

She was born Monday, April 10, at 3:52 p.m. She weighed 7 lbs even. I have no idea how long she was. I'm home, very tired, and trying to learn to breastfeed. Katie is fine. We were released from the hospital this morning. I'll try to post a picture soon, but I'm uncertain when that will be. I need to feed Katie and go to sleep if I can.

Insomnia

I'm up an hour earlier than I meant to be. I'm too nervous to sleep, and my hips ache no matter which side I try to sleep on. It's been a common problem in the past month, and not the first time I've been up in the night over it, but usually I can fall back asleep after being up for a while. Not today; it's now when I planned to get up anyway, but I've already had a shower.

I can't have breakfast today. I'm feel a bit ill. Then there's the terror. I'm not just guessing how much it will hurt to get out a baby; I know. At least my last one was an induction, and the pain killers began as soon as I needed them, and the epidural worked fine. Still, there is a lot of pain afterwards, too. Oh, and the lack of sleep.

It's below freezing this morning (30.8 F) on our deck's thermometer. I think it's supposed to get into the mid 60s today. Usually I follow the weather report quite well, but it doesn't matter that much since I think it will be Wednesday before I am outside again.

My mom's not so excited about the next couple days. She's got both kids by herself during the day since it is spring break at school, and my kids aren't the best behaved. I'm not sure how she will keep them entertained; perhaps by sending them to their rooms alone most of the time so they don't fight.

Well, I guess it's time to plug in my curling iron and finish getting ready.

My last night pregnant

By tomorrow night, I won't be pregnant any more. I suppose I could still have the baby this evening, but what are the chances?

I was able to take the kids and my mom to our rental today to see the unit that we did have a tenant in. My husband has decided to put new vinyl tiles on the kitchen floor, so it won't be ready to be rented until next weekend, and we won't be putting it in the paper Easter weekend, I don't think.

I got the sales tax for my husband's business done last night so I'm caught up on the stuff his office person wants me to get done before the baby is born. If I'd gone into labor first, she'd have had to finish it. We didn't have accurate numbers until last Friday so I didn't get it going sooner.

It was Palm Sunday and we made it to church. It will be at least a couple Sundays before we go back. I know from experience that I'm not able to attend church when a baby is only a week old. We tried taking J to church on Christmas the year she was born. She was exactly a week old. I was in too much pain. We had to leave.

I guess I should unpack and repack my bags this evening to be sure I have everything I think I'm going to need tomorrow. I'll probably need to get up before 6 a.m. to assure I'm ready to leave by 6:30 a.m. I need to be at the hospital by 7 a.m.

Waiting (probably until Monday)

I've still got just two kids. Right now I feel like a blimp, but I don't feel like I'm anywhere near going into labor. I think it's likely I'll hold out for Monday's induction, but things can change rapidly so I just have no way of knowing. Right now I'm planning what I'm going to do today and tomorrow, but of course if I do have the baby, I'll not do it.

Later this morning I'd like to go to Home Depot and get a pot in which to transplant the key lime plant my husband got me for our anniversary (it arrived March 30). I'd also like to look at annuals. I'm hoping either my mom will watch the kids or they'll behave if we all end up going.

Later in the day, I'd like to try out my new sewing machine again. My mom used it yesterday to shorten some curtains (sheers) we got for my son's bedroom window. I've tested the machine on scrap fabric, and so far I'm impressed. My mom did the curtains because she can actually sew straight, and I'm not so coordinated. I wanted the curtains to look good.

Yesterday we went to our duplex. I had never seen the unit from which we evicted the tenant. I didn't have the key to the finished side so I couldn't show my mom the better side. Maybe I'll be able to do that today or tomorrow. The side that isn't done is in horrible shape (and I was aware of this). It will take my husband a long time to get it ready to rent out. I'll be too busy with the kids to help out.

Tomorrow is church and doughnut day. I'm not sure what's up in the afternoon.

Not yet

I saw the ob/gyn this morning. I'm still 50 % effaced and 2.5 cm dilated. I admit to being disappointed about the dilation because I've had a lot of contraction in the past week, and they are hurting more than before (but still not bad). The baby has dropped lower, though, so there has been some change. The doctor refuses to guess when the baby will come or if I hold out for Monday's induction. She says every time she ventures a guess, she's wrong.

I did find out the when and where details of the induction on Monday. I need to go to admissions at 7 a.m. and not eat or drink after midnight the night before. I'm hoping my husband will take me because if my mom does, someone will have to get the kids up and dressed at 6 a.m., and that would be very unpleasant. Monday is the first day of the kids' spring break so they'll be home all day with their grandma while I'm at the hospital.

My mom, J, and I went to a sewing machine store today. I bought a Huskystar basic machine. It was more than twice the price of Target's Singer that we took back, but the quality (and service) is much better. Like the Singer, it weighs a lot less than my old Singer. It's price was almost at the limit of what I was willing to pay, figuring I could repair the old Singer for less (but I don't even know what that would cost). Right now, assuming I am happy with the Huskystar, I'll be putting the old Singer up in the attic in case any of my kids ever want to use it. It does forward and backward just fine--only no zig-zag.

Hopefully tonight or tomorrow I'll have the chance to try to figure out how the new sewing machine works.

Not much longer

I see my ob/gyn tomorrow for my regularly scheduled appointment. It's the last one. I will be induced Monday if I haven't already given birth.

It's been great having my mom visit. I tried to get a cheap, Singer sewing machine at Target. We tried it out today, and were unable to get the stitch tension right so I took it back. I guess I need to try a real sewing machine store, but I only need a simple machine. I'd like a good-quality but not a great-quality machine. It only needs to do forward, backward, and zig-zag (plus with a zipper-foot attachment, and button holes would be nice). Anyway, if I'm still up and about tomorrow after my doctor's appointment, I would like to try to find a machine at a sewing store.

Still up and around

My contractions don't seem to be leading to anything. In fact I have had a lot fewer today than the last couple days. Right now I'm guessing I'll hold out for Monday's induction (but how on Earth would I know).

I was out shopping this morning. I got N a new trash can for his new bedroom. I got some more diapers (size 1), and I got a set of cream-colored sheer curtains to place over N's window. I also picked up a new sewing machine (bottom-of-the-line Singer) since my sewing machine from my grandma (Singer, 1960s vintage, is so heavy, and the zig-zag and needle position moving feature don't work anymore and it would cost too much to fix). Hopefully this machine will work okay and last for a while. Even being bottom-of-the-line, the new Singer does more stuff than I need. Pretty much all I need is forward, backward, and zig-zag. I don't sew straight enough to work with fancy stitches for decoration. The machine is still in the box, but I hope to take it out later today.

J is at lunch bunch today so I have an extra hour-and-a-half child free. I'm using the computer, and I think my mom is reading the paper. I'm planning to change my sheets and mop the vinyl floors when I get off the computer.

Sunday

We made it to church today! It's been a long time since we've gone two weeks in a row. Except for J, we are mostly over our colds. She seems to be coming down with another one. If I catch it before the baby is born, it will be six colds this pregnancy.

My husband took the kids to the airport to get my mom. We live about half an hour from the airport. They should be home in about half an hour. I got the house vacuumed while they were gone. Then I ate a mint-chocolate ice-cream sandwich. Then I had some jelly bellies. At least I started the day with orange juice and a Lean Cuisine.

I know my mom prefers I don't have the baby until at least Tuesday so she learns the kids' schedules, but as far as I'm concerned, once she walks through my front door, I'd be happy to deliver any time. It's getting exhausting and driving me nuts worrying if each contraction I have might be real.

Daylight Savings began last night so it felt like getting up an hour early for church. I'm hoping to squeeze in a nap today. My mom might want one, too. She had to get up at 4:30 a.m. to go to the airport, but with the time change, it must have felt like 3:30 a.m. Ow!

Life, Pregnancy, and Landlording

I had trouble sleeping so I got up and watched some TV for a while in the night. Just after 8 a.m., the telephone rang, forcing me to get out of bed. It was she sister of our tenant (who paid March rent) that we believe has abandoned the place. We sent a letter to him there indicating we have reason to believe he's abandoned the place, and that we'd be taking possession of the place and his belongings as of tomorrow if he didn't let us know he was still living there. As far as I know, he's living half way across the country. His sister has already removed the stuff from his unit and will leave the key on the mantle for us. She doesn't know what his plans are, either. I'm so glad she's got his stuff out of there.

Now we need to assure that apartment is clean enough to rent and start advertising it. The problem is, I'll be in the hospital for a couple days (if induced on a Monday, I'll be gone Monday, Tuesday, and part of Wednesday), and so we can't put the ad in the paper the Sunday before (which is a week from Sunday) because we don't want to stick my mom with having to deal with the phone calls while I'm not home. Also, I'm going to be exhausted and won't want to be bothered by the phone ringing a lot at first when I get home from the hospital. Meanwhile, the apartment will sit unrented, costing us money (and producing none) while it's vacant. Fortunately it is getting warmer so we shouldn't have big heating bills while we wait to fill the apartment.

Last week we evicted the tenant in the other half of the duplex. That's vacant and will be costing a fortune (we expected this). My husband thinks it may take him three months to get the place fixed up enough to rent it out. He's there right now working on it. It had nasty animal-peed carpeting (but he thinks good hardwood floors beneath), and the plaster has lots of cracks and such that he's been fixing. It also will take at least two coats of paint to make the walls look okay. I think he's using textured paint on the walls to help hide the poor condition of the walls (we ought to do that places in our house). I think he'll need to re-do the kitchen flooring. I'm not sure he's even evaluated everything. I still haven't seen it. It's possible I'll run the kids by today, but K says it smells so bad I'll throw up, the kids don't want to go, and it's getting a lot more uncomfortable for me to drive.

All this, and my husband would like to try to get another rental property this summer. I understand why; long term they will be a good investment. Right now we just need to hope they will pay for themselves. I don't want another property until this first one is under control.

Now to switch to a much less overwhelming topic. My husband cleared the empty bed frame from J's room last night and assembled the crib in it's place. I put a matress pad and sheet on it, so that is ready for a baby. I cleared N's shoes and belts off the top of his old dresser (from before we moved him upstairs), cleaned the dresser top, and put a diaper changing pad up there.