Wow…20 June 2003 - Mommy's Perspective

It’s funny; we can’t believe she’s here, but we can’t imagine life before her, either. I don’t think I’ll try to sum up the last 48 hours in words—the pictures do a pretty good job of it. We went to the doctor on Wednesday hoping to hear “you’re REALLY dilated—looks like you’ll be going into labor any second now!” We were getting a little impatient waiting for Friday to come…typical of James & Kristi. Anyway, that’s not what happened. Dr. Thompson was concerned because we were dilated to 3 cm, but she couldn’t feel a membrane (there was a possibility that the membrane had ruptured and was leaking fluid). I hadn’t noticed anything, and I’d been watching like a hawk for ANY signs of labor. We went immediately over to the hospital to Antepartum Testing, where they monitored Kayci and me. Her heartbeat was great, and I was having fairly regular contractions (not the earth-shaking kind, thank goodness!). We went over to Ultrasound so they could look at Kayci, check the amniotic fluid level, and do a biophysical profile. Kayci was pretty active and showed off for the technician, but absolutely refused to show us her face. Between her hands and her feet, we couldn’t even get a peek, and believe me, the technician tried EVERYTHING. The ultrasound results were kind of iffy; the fluid level was on the low end of normal and she scored 6 out of 8 on the biophysical profile (whatever that means). The radiologist and the Antepartum nurses spoke with Dr. Thompson, then I spoke with her, and she decided it was best for Kayci to make her debut pretty quickly. They started a penicillin IV, and away we went…

We got upstairs to Labor & Delivery right at 7. We got to know our nurse, Jennifer, and she took down our vital information. She hooked both of us up to the monitors again, and between the monitors and the IV, my nervous tummy & I had a heck of a time running back and forth to the potty! Daddy was pretty excited (read, nervous!). He distracted himself by getting out the video camera to film the beginning of our labor & delivery adventure. I was not into the whole camera thing—I was just beginning to come to grips with the fact that I was about to a) have major surgery and b) they were going to be removing Kayci from my body, and I’d be a “real” Mommy forever and ever. That’s a lot to take in all at once; I still had really mixed feelings about not being pregnant anymore (I LIKED having Kayci with me 24/7 and being able to touch her & talk to her whenever I want…I wasn’t ready to face the thought of being away from her for any length of time). Anyway, I had a 20-30 minute freak out while we were waiting for an operating room to open up. Once Jennifer came in with Dr. Miller and said the room was open and it was time to go get the epidural, I was fine. James had to wait in the room while they got the epidural going, and a nurse would come and get him in 20ish minutes. I went to the OR and they started the epidural. It didn’t go exactly as the anesthesiologist wanted it to; he had to skip the spinal block (or something—they skimmed over it, I guess so they wouldn’t make me more nervous). It took longer than they expected for the epidural to take effect; I think they finally went to get James an hour later. Once he came in, everything went FAST…the next thing I knew, somebody was pushing on my tummy and Dr. Miller said “She’s definitely a girl!” and then James and I were both crying. I didn’t get to see her right away, but James went over and took pictures of her and showed me on the digital camera. She cried while the nurses were working on her, but calmed down when James leaned down and talked to her—she knew Daddy’s voice because she’d been hearing it since the day we found out we were pregnant! They brought Kayci to me as they were taking her out of the room, but I was numb up to my throat (once the epidural kicked in, it REALLY worked!) and my hands and arms were numb. I couldn’t hold her, but just looking at her and talking to her and touching and kissing her were more than I ever imagined. James didn’t get to hold her at all in the OR, but he was able to accompany her up to the 4th floor to the nursery. On the way, the nurse stopped so that Kayci’s fan club could meet her. I don’t really know what happened after that; I know that she had to be tested and all kinds of stuff in the nursery, but I don’t know any specifics. They stitched me up and I went to Recovery to be monitored until I was ready to go to my room. It took about 3 hours for the epidural to wear off (what a weird feeling to be basically paralyzed; it really freaked me out). James came in with the video camera and showed me some of the footage of Kayci in the nursery and our family’s reactions to her. Since I wouldn’t get to see my parents until the next day, James filmed me telling about our evening. I thought I was pretty “with it”, but watching the video I look like I’d been on drugs. I think it was just exhaustion and coming down off the nervous energy/excitement. In Recovery, we got the bad news that no private rooms were available Thursday night. Our nurse tried to talk the Charge nurse into letting us skip ahead on the list, but no dice. So, at 12:45 they escorted us up to the 4th floor to a semi-private room. 

Wow…continued 29 July 2003

Long story really, really short now…Kayci came in at 2:45 am on 6/19 and James and I spent several hours just holding her and looking at her (and I learned to breastfeed). Thursday was a long, but great day of visitors and nurses and just BUSY. Kayci had a meltdown right after we moved into our private room, and we realized we’d overdone it. So, Friday & Saturday we only took a few visitors and didn’t really let anyone hold Kayci. Things went MUCH better! We even sent her to the nursery in between feedings at night so we could all rest. By Saturday, we’d worked out the breastfeeding thing (we thought) and decided we could go home. Then the Baby Blues kicked in, and I think I spent most of Saturday morning in tears. I couldn’t explain why—I wasn’t in TERRIBLE pain, I wasn’t sad…I think it was just the realization that this was it—it was time to take Kayci Clara home and become a family. What a lot of pressure on someone who’s just had major surgery and not much rest! So…

We went home. And we had a couple of rough days with a screaming banshee because I wasn’t producing milk (it didn’t come in for over a week). We started what would become weekly visits with Dr. Byrd the Monday after we came home. She put Kayci on a formula supplement, and it worked like a charm. I had a UTI that started that Sunday, also, so there was a lot of unhappiness in our house. After Kayci could rest with a tummy full of formula, things got better than we ever imagined. We had lots of visitors, of course, and just spent lots of time sitting and holding Kayci or just looking at her. (That’s what we STILL do…) James and I adjusted pretty quickly to working as a team to take care of Miss Kayci 24/7. There are no breaks, and nurses don’t come around offering fresh ice water and food…or to take Kayci to the nursery so we can rest. There IS no nursery…

Kayci Journal 6-18-03 - Daddy's perspective

So we went in to Dr. Thompson’s office this afternoon at 3pm for our final prenatal appointment. After sitting in the little room for what seemed like three hours (it was actually on two and a half), Dr. Thompson came in to see us. She did her thing down there under the sheet and said that Kristi was 3cm dilated. Cool. But she was concerned because Kayci hasn’t been very active the last couple of days and there was something about a lack of membranes. 
Then all of a sudden an ultrasound machine appeared. Dr. Thompson looked inside and said that there wasn’t much fluid left in there and that there might be a slow leak. She couldn’t tell much so she decided to send us over to the hospital to monitor Kayci’s heartbeat and to do a more precise ultrasound.

So we went over to the hospital and they hooked Kristi up to some machines. It was like a little baby seismograph. We watched Kayci’s heartbeat and Kristi have some little contractions. The best part was that we got to watch VH1.

Then we went down to Radiology and they looked around with the ultrasound. This ultrasound was nothing like the last one in February. No real baby parts- just lots of blobby things. That’s not exactly true. We did see her hand clutching her little foot, which was still right in front of her face. In fact, it was so much in front of her face that we couldn’t get a good look at her face.
So the radiologist called Dr. Thompson, and she decided that it would be best for Kayci to be born tonight due to the lack of fluid in the uterus.

WE’RE GETTING OUR BABY KAYCI TONIGHT!!!!

It’s actually kind of weird because in the baby journal on today’s date there’s a little picture of a ladybug. We joked about how ironic it would be if she were born today because of that. Also, it’s Kristi’s half-birthday. Today is the day that she always wished was her birthday growing up and now it looks as if Kayci will have that birthday.

The next several hours are really a blur. It seems like only about 15 minutes, but as I’m writing this, Kayci is four hours old and it’s almost two in the morning.

The nurses took Kristi off for her epidural and I stayed in a little room to watch TV. They gave me some paper scrubs to wear, which was cool. I looked just like a really frugal doctor. I could almost feel my net worth increase as I put the scrubs on. Anyway, they told me that the epidural would take about 20-30 minutes and that they would come and get me when I was time. I had time to watch a whole hour long documentary on Garth Brooks while I waited. I went out to the waiting room at one point to talk to my dad and Kristi’s parents and I honestly thought, “well hell… I missed it. They probably came to get me and I wasn’t there. They’re probably delivering Kayci right now and I’m sitting here missing it, learning about Garth Brooks. As time went by, I started to get really nervous. Finally a nurse came down and got me. It was time! I only remember being flustered. In fact, I was so flustered and shaky the entire evening that I was having trouble speaking in complete sentences. I’m glad the parking attendant spoke Neanderthal because I basically just pointed and grunted. 

Being there in the delivery room was a really strange experience. I walked in and there was Kristi, lying on the operating table with lots of doctor-type people all around her, including one guy sitting behind a big computer and the machine that goes “BING!” It was really weird because no one gave me any instruction at all- not where to stand, not when to take pictures, not to quit playing with the scalpels- nothing. So I just stood there next to Kristi’s head because that’s where the Daddy stood in the video we watched in childbirth class. Kristi was really drugged up, but she was very happy- her eyes showed it. I just hoped I didn’t pass out halfway through.

I watched as the made the incision, opened up Kristi’s belly, pried the muscles apart and opened the uterus. I was told that I wouldn’t be able to see any of that, but from where I was, I got a pretty good look at just about everything. Birthing babies is messy business. Pretty soon they reached inside and pulled out this little white gooey thing. It took me a second to realize that was my baby’s little feet and bottom. They left her head inside for a second or two while they prepared to suction the stuff out of her. I started clicking pictures because nobody told me I couldn’t. When they finally pulled Kayci out, she was this little wrinkled up white thing covered in what looked like cream cheese. She kinda looked like E.T. when he got sick in the bottom of the creek bed. For a long moment, Kayci didn’t make a sound. I’m sure my heart skipped and I know I didn’t breath. Then, all of a sudden, she started crying- strike that- screaming. It was the sweetest sound I had ever heard in my life. I was listening to her little voice- that sweet little voice I had been imagining for the past nine months. I’m sure I was grinning like an idiot. I vaguely remember touching Kristi and stroking her hair and feeling a lump in my throat. I didn’t cry!

They moved Kayci immediately over to a small table where they began cleaning her up and suctioning her out. She was still crying very hard and I followed the nurses over to the table to watch. That’s when the most amazing moment of my life happened. It was like a religious experience and it’s when I felt like a Daddy for the first time. I bent down and looked over her. The nurses were talking to her and trying to quiet her and reassure her. I said her name and then told her hello and introduced myself. She immediately stopped crying, like someone turned off a switch, and just lied on the table looking up at me. She recognized my voice! All that talking to the belly and reading stories had suddenly paid off in one beautiful moment that just hung there in time. So I kept talking, and she kept listening. That went on for about twenty seconds until one of the nurses stuck a tube down her throat to suction more gunk out. Even Daddy’s voice was no match for that. That’s about the time I remembered that my camera took MPEG movies, so I started shooting. That piece is on the video page.

Watching her those first few minutes were truly amazing. I remembered to look over at Kristi, but when I did that had her uterus out and were looking it over, so I didn’t bother looking back any more. I turned all my attention to Kayci. They “pinked her up,” took her footprints and other stuff that I don’t really remember. There was just a flurry of activity. One thing that I remember clearly is that Kayci had her first pee and poop right there on the table, just four or five minutes old. I was so proud of her.

They finally moved Kayci and let her lay on top of Kristi. Kristi’s hands were numb and she was upset that she couldn’t feel Kayci, but they lay there looking at each other for a couple of minutes. I got some good pictures of it. Then they wisked Kayci off and told me to come along- we were going to the nursery. In the hallway I walked next to the cart, talking to her as we walked. She wasn’t crying by this point, just looking up with big bright eyes and sticking her tongue out at me. When we got to the elevator outside the waiting room, my dad was the first one out, followed by Kristi’s dad and then the slowpokes. They all oohed and aahed until the elevator came and we went upstairs to the nursery. I wasn’t allowed to go into the nursery, but we all watched through the window as they weighed her and took blood and gave her a bottle. Her little legs looked like a frog’s- up around her head and out to the side. She had some big feet and long toes; monkey toes like mine. Her hair looked dark, but it was wet and there was a lot of gloopy stuff in it, so it was tough to tell what color it actually was. We all stood there and watched her. I just stood there, looking at my baby- my daughter. That lasted about three hours.

Meanwhile, Kristi was in a recovery room. Her epidural was taking a long time to wear off, so they had to monitor her and keep her warm. I checked in on her and gave her updates on Kayci. Having a digital camera and video camera came in really handy that night because I could show Kristi video and pictures of Kayci and what was happening to her. It was killing her, not being able to see Kayci, and I felt bad too.

We finally went to a room around one-o-clock in the morning. There were no private rooms available, so we had to share a room with a woman who was sleeping very soundly. At almost 3am, they finally brought Kayci to our room. We held her and loved on her and looked at her and loved every second of it. When you don’t have a private room, no one but Mommy may stay the night. Kayci had been in the room about twenty minutes when one of the nurses came in and told me I would have to leave and tried to enforce the no “sleep-over” policy. That made my blood boil and I was pretty ugly to her. She left and didn’t press the issue again. After about an hour we sent Kayci back to the nursery so that we could try to get some sleep. It was 4am, and everyone was exhausted. Kristi slept in her room and I curled up on the couch down in the waiting room. It was cold, and I had forgotten to pack any jeans. I was so tired that it didn’t bother me much. I slept for about three hours and went back upstairs.

Before long, the nurse brought Kayci back to nurse. After she did, she went to sleep and Kristi was still very tired and went to sleep also. So I held Kayci against my chest for over an hour. She was so cuddly it amazed me. She wrapped her little legs around my torso and put her head on my shoulder. As she slept, she sang. I sang to her and cried. A flood of emotion swept over me. It was the best thing I have ever felt- my newborn baby in my arms and just sitting there loving on her. I was a father now and everything in my life- my perspective on everything- had suddenly shifted and nothing else in the world mattered.

Winding Down… (MOMMY'S JOURNAL - WEDNESDAY, JUNE 18)

We’ve started marking time…this is the last Monday morning before Kayci comes…this is the last time we’ll go to Target before Kayci comes…this is the last time we’ll clean the bathroom before Kayci comes…It’s hard to believe that now, in less than 48 hours, Kayci will be a person, with a face and funny little mannerisms instead of just this “baby” wiggling around inside of me. We’re already so close to her, and to know that that feeling is going to intensify is pretty hard to comprehend for us first-timers. It’s hard to imagine how much love we have inside of us, just waiting for a little girl to focus on. And to think that next time, God willing, when Kayci gets a brother or sister, we’ll have even MORE love…more than enough to go around. 

As we’re winding down, I find that I’m not worried about the hospital (now that I’ve got pajamas, gowns, and socks all lined out—I was stressing over what to wear. Typical Kristi!). I’m not worried about pain or any of that stuff—although I might eat those words, and soon. I’m not even worried about the huge lifestyle change that we’re facing. I guess more than anything, I’m at peace and ready for what’s next. The only thing that’s nagging at my mind is this disbelief that I’m about to be NOT pregnant. I can’t even imagine what that’s going to be like. Part of me already feels lonely; I’ve gotten spoiled being connected to Kayci all the time, and always knowing what she’s doing, always being able to touch her or talk to her. My hope is that God will take care of this the same way he takes care of everything else, and that once I see her I’ll forget about being a pregnant Mommy and just rejoice in being a Mommy, period. 

On a lighter note, I find myself thinking about food a LOT this week. A few minutes ago I saw a teacher with a McDonald’s bag advertising McGriddles (love ‘em) and thought, “hmm. I should have one for breakfast tomorrow. It’ll be the last time for a while.” Lauren stopped by for a few minutes and we talked about getting together for a meal tomorrow, and I find myself wondering what I’d like to eat…pizza, Chinese, Mexican? I think deep down I must be gearing up for the weeks that we’ll be pretty much homebound. And I’ve been soooooo hungry this week—that’s been a big change.

It’s been kind of fun to see people’s reactions this week when they ask, “when are you due?” I’ll say “any time now” but James says “Friday.” I like to see them squirm a little! We’ve been running around doing last-minute errands, taking care of the things we’ve been putting off, getting ready to “hibernate” for a few weeks. Because I’m me, I had to make sure that we had EVERYTHING we might need at home—toilet paper, paper towels, pet food, etc…all we need is food for us, and I think the grandparents have pretty much cornered that market.

Yesterday we met Kayci’s pediatrician for the first time, and liked her immediately. Of course, last night I started Kayci’s binder to keep track of her medical records, etc. If you don’t know about her binders, don’t ask! I feel better—I didn’t have a lot of questions to ask, but she answered them all before I could even ask them, and answered several questions that we didn’t know enough to ask. We have a lot to learn about parenting, but Dr. Byrd seems like someone who will lead us gently, and make sure we know what’s happening every step of the way. After we left her office, we visited James’ mom in the hospital (I’ll let him explain how she’s doing, but we’re hoping she rallies so she can be at the hospital with us this weekend!). Then we went and visited the neighborhood where James lived with his Mom & Dad when he was 4-12, I think. We’d been there before, years ago, but it was really cool to see where he went to school, which trees he climbed, where his friends lived, the pool where he practically lived during the summers. It was a nice break, and I know it made James happy. Times have changed; I can’t even imagine letting Kayci go to a public pool by herself. In our day, it was just what kids did. Not anymore. 

Today we go to see Dr. Thompson for our final prenatal, and to get our hospital orders. I can’t wait to see how dilated/effaced I am. There’s been a lot going on in there (contractions, pressure, etc.) so I just want to know what Dr. Thompson has to say about it. Kayci hasn’t turned the way she needs to turn (head down) but she sure moves her head up and down quite a bit. Sometimes it’s level with my belly button, sometimes it feels like it’s sitting right in the middle of my chest. I think she curls up the most at night when I’m sleeping; when I wake up to roll over, she’s usually in a tight ball right in the middle of my tummy. I was wondering today if she’s going to be a gymnast or a cheerleader—she seems pretty limber and flexible! We’re pretty excited about today’s visit—who knows, maybe she’ll say “hey, looks like she’ll be here sooner than we thought!” That’d be okay…I’m just ready to see that little girl’s face! And James is tired of me “hogging” her, or at least that’s what he told me at bedtime last night when he was ready to read to Kayci and I was finishing up her laundry and having a snack. He said “just wait; pretty soon she won’t be on YOUR schedule and I can read to her any time I want!” Alrighty. Just make sure you change that diaper while you’re at it, buddy. 

You’d think I’d have something wonderful to say in what will probably be my last journal entry while I’m pregnant with Kayci. I don’t; I’m just tired and hungry. This chapter in our life is coming to a close. It’s been a great one, one that couldn’t have been any more perfect. We’ve been blessed with health and happiness—God has really revealed Himself to us through Kayci and the blessings He’s bestowed upon us recently. I think it’s a lot easier to face being a first-time parent since we’ve learned (just in time, I might add) that we’re not in charge—God is. Now let’s just hope we remember that when Kayci’s crying, or sick, or just not happy with the program. I know we’re about to be tested, but I think we’ll all come through just fine. I can’t wait to see what’s next for our little family, but I also don’t want to “wish” our time away—I want to enjoy every moment!

Babies and Brisket

The weekend went well for the most part. We had a good time playing with the kids. I’d say the highlight was playing in the back yard and eating “cool cups.” The low point is a tie between Reagan getting sick and throwing up all over the couch and trying to go on a picnic at the San Jacinto Monument and being swarmed by mosquitoes while the kids stood there and argued with me about why they should run back to the car.

Father’s Day was interesting and just a little surreal. Technically I am a father now, but I don’t actually have a baby yet so it kind of seemed like I was cheating. Kristi got me a “Best Dad” t-shirt and Kayci gave me a “Daddy’s Girl” onesie. We had the kids make cards for craft time on Saturday and I took the chance to make cards also. I instructed the kids to draw a picture on the front of their card with a fun time they had with their daddy, then with Grandpa. On my cards I chose to draw my dad and I camping when I was a Boy Scout. Good times… And I drew the entire thing with my right hand, so it looked as if an eight-year-old had drawn it. From Kayci, I drew a picture of my dad putting her changing table together. They haven’t had a lot of time together yet- mainly because she’s still in the womb- but I know they’ll spend plenty of time together later. For Kristi’s dad’s card I chose to draw a picture of the two of us running my remote control car in the dirt on a trip we took to Round Rock. Getting a hand-drawn card from an adult who’s a cartoonist may seem like a goofy thing or may seem to get old, but it made me happy and I enjoyed doing it. It made me stop and remember some really good times I’ve had with my father figures. I don’t care what Hallmark says- that’s what Father’s Day is all about.

Sunday evening we got a little excitement. I happened to look over at Kristi sitting on the couch and she had a contemplative look on her face. I asked what was wrong and she said that she though she might be having a contraction. Of course, I became very excited and wanted to know everything she could tell me about what was going on. The contraction wasn’t very long- about 30 seconds- but she said it felt like a cramp. It also turned out that it wasn’t the first one she had had either. She had had one about ten minutes before and hadn’t bothered to tell me. I was pretty mad at her at this point. First of all, this is the one thing I’m able to help with and really be a part of during the actual birthing process and there she was, sitting on the couch, stealing all action for herself. Second, since Kayci is now breech if Kristi starts having regular contractions we have to get her to the hospital.

So we timed the contractions, but they weren’t consistent at all. She had another one after twenty minutes, then nothing else (that she told me about.) In any case, that spurred us to go ahead and finish packing the hospital bag (Kristi packed already, but I still needed to put some stuff together.) We did that and watched a video on breastfeeding. I got my camera and video camera ready to go. I’ve got eight blank tapes ready. At about 90 minutes per tape, I figure I can accurately chronicle the entire three days we’ll be in the hospital. 

Kayci was active and seems to be moving her head around in there, so I have no idea what she’s up to. As I write this on Monday evening, Kayci’s head is down low and off to Kristi’s left side. I bet she’s trying to turn back around. It figures she would since we already dismantled the labor bag we had prepared.

Tomorrow we interview a pediatrician. I know, I know. We waited until the last second. This is James & Kristi style, and we’re okay with that. 

In any case, it’s a little weird to know that by the end of the week we’ll have a Baby Kayci. We’re both very anxious and excited. It’s going to be a long week, but luckily I’ve got a project to work on so hopefully that will help pass the time more quickly. I’m already betting that sleep will be hard to come by on Thursday night. 

It’ll be like Christmas Eve- the anticipation of finally getting to that special day when you get that one little thing you’ve been wanting for what seems like forever, and all you have to do is wait until morning. To this day, I still rarely sleep on Christmas Eve and I’ve never in my life slept past 5:30am on Christmas morning. This has definitely been the hardest present ever to wait for. There’s no peeking (unless you count the ultrasounds- which if followed through with the current analogy- would be like trying to figure out if you’re getting a He-Man or a Skeletor action figure based soley on the size of the package and an X-ray of the box that shows SOMETHING inside with moveable parts.) There’s also no opening the present early. If I had my way, God would have designed a pregnant woman’s belly with a flip hatch so that Daddy could take the baby out, play with her a little bit, then put her back in to cook. Waiting for nine – almost ten – whole months to play with this baby has been like a kid with Attention Deficit Disorder trying to cook a brisket in an EZ Bake Oven. It’s taking an excruciatingly long time, especially at the end.

Then there’s the whole “no return” policy. Not that I already have one in this size, shape or color. Santa doesn’t accept returns and neither does the stork. There are some kids in the world –I happen to know some – that would be prime candidates for return. They’re obviously broken. Some are just plain evil. Unfortunately, putting them back in isn’t an option. They’d just mess up that room, too, within five minutes of getting there and blame it on someone else.

I don’t really know where I was going with that. I’m getting a little loopy here at the end waiting for my brisket…

Thursday, June 12 - Little Miss Muffett

We went to the doctor yesterday expecting to find out that Kristi was a couple of centimeters dilated and other such good news. However, we should have known what was coming- it’s almost a full moon after all.

Dr. Thompson felt the bottom of Kristi’s belly and immediately said, “that feels like a butt.” She felt around a little bit more and said that it looked as if Kayci had turned around and was now head up. An ultrasound confirmed it. In fact, not only is Kayci in breech position, but she’s also doing a “pike” in there, too. Her butt is basically covering the cervix and her feet are out in front of her. Little Miss Muffett is sitting on her cervix eating her gelatinous goo. It’s not a serious situation, but it did change things significantly. We had two options- 1. go to the hospital and have the doctor try to turn her around by pushing on the outside of Kristi’s belly or 2. schedule a cesaerian section.

There’s some risk involved with trying to turn a baby and our doctor said that in the position she’s in and for a first child, it’s very unlikely to work. We decided not to take any unnecessary risks with Kayci or to put her through that and just to schedule the c-section.

So as of right now, she’s scheduled to be born on Friday, June 20 at 8:45am. All the news yesterday really hit us hard. We weren’t expecting anything like this. It was a lot to take in all at once, but once it began to sink in it was all very exciting. We finally know exactly when she’ll be here. 

Of course, if Kristi goes into labor before that or if Kayci turns on her own, things will change again. But it just shows that this is definitely our baby. She’s not even born yet and she’s making things interesting for us… I bet she still has one surprise in store for us.

So we made the call to all the parents yesterday and told them what was going on and not to schedule anything else for next Friday. They were all very excited, but perhaps most excited of all was Adam, my little brother. He was really pumped about the prospect of finally being an uncle. Of course this is from the same kid who, when we told him on Halloween that we was going to be an uncle, only said “puh.” And walked into the house.

Kristi and I are very excited about meeting Kayci, and all of our family is chomping at the bit as well. We’re keeping our nieces and nephew- Keely, Reagan and Gavin- for the weekend beginning today. We’ve got all kinds of fun things planned for them- summer stuff like water gun fights, playing in the sprinkler, planting a pumpkin garden and camping in the back yard. This Sunday is Father’s Day and we’ll have my dad and Adam over for lunch, as well as Kristi’s parents and probably Ronny and Amy (the kids’ parents.)

MOMMY'S JOURNAL - June 7

The Big Slow Down…
Well, it finally happened. Actually, it happened a couple of years ago when I fell off a desk at work & tore up my ankle so I had to learn how to ask for help and let other people do things for me (which was a blessing because that’s when my friendship with Lauren REALLY began!). Here we are again, only this time it’s high blood pressure, not a desk. Last Thursday evening when I went to the doctor my blood pressure was high, and I was put on immediate bed rest—no last day of school, no baby shower, nothing but mandatory horizontal until I went back to the doctor on Monday. I was very good for the WHOLE time, and believe it or not I followed doctor’s orders. I thought it was just a reaction to the end of school craziness and that we’d be fine when we went back on Monday. Well, I lost 5 pounds of fluid and that took care of the swelling, but my blood pressure was still elevated. So, we kind of compromised. I get to work Summer School, half days Monday-Thursdays. I can get up, go to work, then it’s straight home to lay down. Some people might think it’s crazy, but it was really important for me to do Summer School because a) I didn’t want to pack up my classroom, b) we definitely need the money and c) I don’t think ANYONE would want to be around me if I had to lay down 24 hours a day. So far James is still talking to me, so I assume I’m not too grumpy…yet! We went back to the doctor yesterday, blood pressure’s still up, I gained 3 pounds (we don’t know why…probably not a good thing!), and she said I can continue Summer School but absolutely positively nothing but horizontal resting when I’m not at school. That kind of put a kink in our weekend plans—I was hoping I could get up for at least a few hours every day (like I was at school, it seemed reasonable) and get things done. She shot that down pretty quick. We ‘fessed up about the 2 showers this weekend and even though her first word was “no”, Marlene agreed to the shower at our house on Friday (Lynn’s Ladybug Book Shower) and to Jennifer & Denise’s shower ONLY if I go straight to Denise’s, lay around while we’re there, and have somebody else open gifts. I figure I can do that. I know I was up too much yesterday (we went shopping a bit after we left the doctor’s office—I’m a sinner!) so I’m being very good today. It’s almost 11:00, and I’m laying on the couch in my pajamas. I promised James I wouldn’t get up until it’s time to get dressed to go to Denise’s. It’s a little rough to be down today; I’ve got several things I’d like to do in Kayci’s room, not to mention laundry and all of that stuff. James has been WONDERFUL about taking care of stuff, and I couldn’t ask for anything more from him. He’s really shown his true colors this past week, and now it’s a fact—he’s going to be a GREAT daddy; he already is! But, for Type A’s like myself, there’s quite a bit of guilt involved in having someone else do all of the stuff that I feel like I should be doing (laundry, housework, etc.). Lynn came over earlier this week and unpacked all of Kayci’s goodies from the church shower. My Mom will come over next week and wash Kayci’s new clothes (I was caught up on everything, and it’s KILLING me that she has a basket of clothes in there that need to be washed and put away). This is all a God thing, and I know it. Right now I’m exactly where and how He wants me to be, and I would have been too stubborn to stop and rest if He hadn’t forced the issue. So that’s the silver lining, that I’m able to see that this time is a blessing. And it really is; I’m able to focus on Kayci and James and this special time that will never come again. The laundry can wait! (Big talk; I’m sure I’ll be bugging James about clean clothes before lunch!).

Pregnancy Journal, Misc... Part 4

The New House
Getting into the new house was also fun. First, everything had to be cleaned. It’s not that the new house wasn’t pretty clean to begin with- the old owners seem to be pretty clean people- but it wasn’t Kristi clean. Also, in getting the house ready to move into, my “honey-do” project list kept getting longer and longer. First, Kristi found out there are hardwood floors under the carpet. Kristi doesn’t like the color of the carpet, so she wanted to rip up the carpet and polish the wood floors before we moved in. Also, the bathroom has maroon and grey tiles. As you find out if you’ve ever been in many houses older than 10 or 15 years, people used to put some way groovy colors into their houses- and especially in the bathroom.

So, we finally got all out stuff into the new house. Now came the part I hate- unpacking and putting everything away. It became very clear while we were packing up our house that we had accumulated a whole lot of crap in the past five years. Now we had to figure out where everything went. Of course, some things were easy. Kayci’s stuff went into her nursery. Duh. But other things- such as pictures and the abundance of knickknacks we have was more difficult. By the way, in Kristi’s journal, she did give me credit for packing up the knickknacks. However, what she failed to mention is the sheer number of knickknacks that we have in our house. Anyone who’s ever been to our house knows that we just have crap sitting everywhere. Bricks, clocks, trophies, jars full of various stuff. It’s not junk- most of this stuff is stuff that we either have some connection to personally, think is really cool or is a family heirloom (such as Kristi’s grandfather’s lunchbox.) So I packed the knickknacks, but the knickknacks actually accounted for about 2/3 of the move. We almost needed to rent two trucks because we had so many knickknacks and keepsakes. I think we were both descended from gypsies. It’s a good thing that our ancestors didn’t come to the New World on the Mayflower. It would’ve taken three trips- “Yes, milady, it is true that thine home shall soon be in America and they have an abundance of gourds and cookery there with which to make delectable meals. But perchance thou art forgetting that there may arise a need for this pot with the huge hole in it that was handed down from thy grandmother’s grandmother. And verily I say unto thee, we shall surely need this brightly colored macramé potholder and thy George Foreman roaster…”

Once we moved into the new house Kristi decided that, as I had been telling her, the carpets were fine and they didn’t need to come up. Luckily, we also found out that the stuff we were going to use to redo the bathroom may cause birth defects in California. That’s what the label said, really. That explains a lot about California.

Anyway, after moving in it was a whirlwind of unpacking and getting ready. We had a goal. On May 17 some of Kristi’s friends were throwing a baby shower at our house and it needed to be ready. It was kinda rough, but we got the house ready in time.

Birthing Classes
Ever since about the beginning of the year, at every doctor’s visit they had been asking us if we were taking our birthing classes yet. And we always said, “No- but we will.” Well, in typical James & Kristi fashion, we waited… and waited… and waited. Finally, we got off our butts and started taking the class at the very end of April. It was a one-night a week class for four weeks.

At the first class we walked in and I felt like it was the first day of a new semester all over again. The room was full of chairs and couples were scattered around the room in various places. Now, this is important- Kristi and I were two completely different kinds of students in school. She was the one on the front row of class taking notes and listening intently and actually trying to, you know, learn something. I, however, usually sat in the back of the classroom and drew cartoons. Every now and then- if my grades were seriously in jeopardy- I would sit in the middle of the class and take notes. I once was forced to sit in the first row by a teacher who assigned seats. I hated every day of that semester and blocked most of it out, and to this day I can’t remember anything about that class except the uncomfortable feeling I had. I did get an A in the class, though…

Those are the roles we fell right back into in the birthing class. Somehow I got to choose where we sat, so we naturally sat toward the back middle of the room, since I wanted to learn something. Birthing class was actually cool because you’re sitting in a little room with about 15 other pregnant couples. Each one of us was sitting there with the confidence that we were the cutest couple in the room and would surely produce the cutest baby. I could just feel it.

Anyway, birthing class consisted of just what you might expect a birthing class to cover- how to make yourself hyperventilate. We learned all kinds of breathing techniques. I think, looking back on the class, that the class is actually designed as a cruel joke amongst the doctors and nurses. I think it’s actually a way for a pregnant couple to look ridiculous one last time before having the baby. It’s not bad enough that a pregnant mother has ballooned to the size of some post-WWI European countries and now has to fend off men with pickaxes trying to climb her “because she’s there,” but now she spends the majority of the most special day in her life making completely ridiculous “hee” and “puff” sounds. And the faces that go with that are just as embarrassing. I’ll bet somewhere in the deep recesses of the hospital, the doctors and nurses are sitting there having a huge chuckle about every last one of them as they count their stacks of (well-earned) money.

The highlight of the entire birthing class for me was the first week when we got to take a tour of the hospital and go to the nursery and pick out a newborn baby to take home for a couple of days and “try out.” That was fun. I guess it’s a pretty standard thing. And I guess that if our baby gets picked, that we’ll be good sports about it, too. I just hope they bring her back in as good a shape as they got her. We didn’t get our deposit back on our baby. We decided that instead of experimenting on Kayci, we’d use little Raul as our guinea pig. We found out that babies don’t like strained brussel sprouts, cat food or being hosed off in the backyard. But little Raul DID like frappacino. Man, that kid could spend some money at Starbucks. He must have had ten or twelve the first day…

Also in our class, one of the couples had their baby in the middle of the class. Well, not actually in the MIDDLE of the class. They moved them off to the side so the screaming wouldn’t disrupt everyone else who was trying to watch the video on “gooey yucky stuff that comes out of your body.” Seriously, though… one of the couples had their baby on the third week of class, so they totally missed the part of the class about how to tell when you’re in labor and what to do afterward. I told them I would take notes and pass it along to them. The couple that had their baby had a really cute baby boy. Some of the other people in the class said they were a Lesbian couple. I couldn’t tell they were Lesbian, but they did look a little effeminate- which I hear is a common trait among people from Lesbia. I told them that I hoped that their little boy would grow up to be a fine Lesbian also.

Leonard - Every Buddy's Best Friend
For awhile, Kristi slept with pillows between her knees when she slept to make her hips feel better. We found out that during pregnancy a woman’s pelvis becomes the consistency of Silly Putty, which accounts for the aching in the hips all the time. So we went to Wal-Mart and bought Kristi a huge body pillow with a leopard print on it. In typical Kristi style, she decided to name it- Leonard. I wanted to find one with a snake skin print and name it Monty, but no such luck.

Sleeping with this body pillow is a very awkward experience. First of all, it’s VERY hot. I guess it has some sort of magical ability to retain heat. We have to turn the AC down to about 55 degrees just to compensate for the heat of this thing. The bad part is when Kristi decided to turn over in the middle of the night and Leonard isn’t between us anymore keeping me warm. I’m getting used to the hypothermia- induced shivering and vomiting, but coughing up blood is a real bummer just to make your wife comfortable.

That’s another thing- suddenly there’s this extra thing in our bed. We had a king size bed for awhile after we got married, but Kristi and I are both cuddly people and it was too big, so we got a full size bed instead. That was perfect until Kristi started getting REALLY pregnant. Suddenly I was having dreams about mountain climbing as I hung precariously off the side of the bed. Now add a whole other body to the equation and there’s Kristi, Kayci, Leonard and me in the bed. It’s gotten very small. I’m getting used to my four and a half centimeters of sleeping room.

And Leonard has a best friend now. Buddy has adopted Leonard as his own and spends most of his time cuddling with Leonard. It doesn’t matter where Leonard is, either. Buddy will follow Leonard around. He’ll go to the couch with Leonard. He’ll climb under the covers. He’ll switch from side to side with Leonard. A couple of days ago, Buddy slept hanging half off the couch just so he could be with Leonard. It’s gonna be ugly when Leonard has to go away. 

Bed Rest
Kristi’s feet and ankles had swelled to Incredible Hulk-size proportions when she went to the doctor on Thursday afternoon. I didn’t go with her because a last minute job had come in that had a tight deadline. That probably just added to the situation. It was the last week of school, so the kids in Kristi’s class were in the middle of losing their friggin’ minds. Kristi had had a rough day, and she got lost on the way to the doctor’s office. So it really wasn’t any surprise when her blood pressure was through the roof. So the doctor put her on mandatory bed rest for the entire weekend- including Friday. When Kristi got home from the doctor’s office, she was pissed. I hadn’t been griped at nearly that much in almost three days, so I knew it was really bad. Just kidding, honey. We were supposed to go to Beaumont for the evening to visit with some of my friends and that was obviously out of the question. Disaster (and divorce) was narrowly averted when Kristi told me to go ahead to Beaumont anyway and I refused. Instead, I went to the movie store and rented eight movies for us to watch over the weekend.

So we watched movies all weekend and layed around. It was actually very nice. I think it was sent by God because we wouldn’t have slowed down and taken time to relax like that if the doctor hadn’t ordered her to do so. We always say we’re going to take it easy and have a quiet weekend, but we never do.

Kristi on bed rest means that I’m basically waiting on her all the time. Suddenly I had my normal everyday work stuff and routine to do in addition to Husband stuff and Daddy stuff and Mommy stuff and Son stuff and Son-in-Law stuff and Friend stuff. It literally took all of my time. It’s been a blur- even more of a blur than normal. 

But Kristi was really good and stayed on her back all weekend like she was supposed to, with the occasional exception of getting up to pee or to flip over. When we went to the doctor on Monday morning, Kristi’s blood pressure was mostly back to normal, she had ankles and regular-looking feet again, and she had dropped five pound in fluid weight. The doctor said she could teach summer school half the day and then spend the rest of the day resting. All was right in Kristiland. 

The Amazing Traveling Baby Shower
On the Sunday of the weekend that Kristi was put on bed rest our church had scheduled a shower for her. Kristi obviously couldn’t get up for it, so I filled in and pulled Daddy AND Mommy duty. It was actually only my third shower EVER, and the first where I actually had to do anything but walk around taking pictures, so I was scared to death. But I had some good help from one of our good friends, and that made it a lot easier. It was actually pretty fun, but I really appreciate Kristi for all the stuff that she does that I have no idea about- such as showers and gift receiving etiquette.

My mom and grandma came to the shower and shot video and photos, respectively. When I got home I played the video for Kristi and as I opened a present on the video I handed the bag to Kristi for her to open, so it was sort of like bringing the shower to her at home. People have since told me that it was a great idea and very thoughtful. Unfortunately, I can’t really take much credit for it- I was just being lazy and figured that it would be easier for her to hear who the present was from as I read the card on the video than trying to remember and screw it up.

The day I almost punched the nurse in her stupid mouth
One of the nurses at the doctor’s office is not my favorite. She’s very gruff and doesn’t have a great bedside manner. When we went to the doctor’s office last week, of course we got “the bad nurse.” When she put the little baby sonar device up to Kristi’s belly so she could hear Kayci’s heartbeat she was a little rough and had the machine turned WAY up. She poked around for a little bit trying to find Kayci’s heartbeat. She found it, but the machine was turned up so loud that Kristi’s belly was jumping in time to Kayci’s heartbeat. Since they’re actually using a little sonar device, we’ve read that Kayci can actually FEEL the sound waves bouncing off her little bones and that it’s not the most comfortable thing in the world for her. So with the machine turned up as high as the nurse had it, Kayci must have been miserable and she jumped with every heartbeat she heard coming from the machine.

Then her heartbeat began racing. The nurse said, “oh- I must have scared her.”

The very thought of my little unborn baby being scared- terrified of something- and having no idea what was happening to her made my sick. I caught myself moving toward the rear of the table where the nurse was standing. I suddenly had this incredible primal urge to SMASH! It was my job as Daddy to stop was hurting my baby and I’m glad I stopped myself. I’m not a violent person at all, but I suddenly had the urge to smack that nurse.

I didn’t, but I wanted to. Even sitting here writing this in Starbuck’s I want to. I may smack the unsuspecting girl at the next table anyway. At least she won’t refuse to birth my baby.

MOMMY'S JOURNAL 20 MAY, 2003

Backtracking…
Last time I left off without talking about Kansas. We went to Kansas for my Grandma’s 93rd birthday (the famous “Clara” of Kayci Clara). My mom rode with us. The doctor had no problem with us traveling, and just warned us to stop every 60 or 90 minutes and walk 10 minutes. Okay, I just erased about 15 minutes of writing about the trip, about how uncomfortable the traveling was. It was uncomfortable, I don’t recommend traveling this late in pregnancy to anyone, and I have a new set of varicose veins because of it. We’ll leave it at that. As for the weekend itself, it was great to see all of my family. We had a great visit, and my Grandma was in good health and good spirits so she had a good time, too. It was really important to me that we go this time (even though we couldn’t really afford it, I was way too tired, and we should have been moving out of our house!) because I wanted to see my Grandma. It’s hard knowing that I won’t be able to see her again until September. But, what a great time we’ll have to look forward to—I’ve prayed for years that Grandma would live to see my baby, and knowing that she’ll be holding Kayci Clara soon is such a blessing (and an answered prayer!). 

Childbirth Class
Our “Preparing for Childbirth” class has really brought it home—we’re not just pregnant; we’re getting a BABY. It’s really made it all real. And those labor & birth videos are not for the weak at heart, let me tell you. I’ve really enjoyed the classes, and I think it was money well spent because I feel like I know 300% more about labor than when we started. The breathing and relaxation things we’ll do in labor aren’t that far from my yoga practice, so I feel like I can DO this. My goal is to go without an epidural (only because I had a spinal tap a few years ago and have absolutely no desire to ever repeat the process of somebody sticking a needle into my spine, not because I think I’m strong or anything). So, that makes it very important that we’re a team going into this and that James will help me breathe and relax, and basically get through it. We have a lot of decisions to make pretty quick—how long & hard do I labor before I’ll accept an epidural, forceps or cesarean if it comes down to it, if James will be the only person in the room with me…tough stuff. James has a lot more fears about labor & delivery than I do. At this point, I’m not even not trying to think about stuff—I’m just focusing on getting through it and getting a baby. I hate that he’s going to have to watch me be in pain; I know that feeling helpless to help me will be terrible for him. That’s why I’m excited about what we’re learning in class, because James has a VERY important job as my labor coach, and he’ll have to focus on keeping me going if it’s going to work. He’s not “just” a daddy waiting to see a baby; he’s the guy that’s got to keep us on track and in the zone. I think he’s going to be great! :)

EXCEPT for one little thing…James was too excited to sleep after our first class, and he had a really rough night. He was READY for a baby! So, week 2 comes and he’s pretty jazzed up again after watching the videos. At the end of the class the instructor has us get on the floor to practice some relaxation techniques. As we’re getting the mat set up, James says “Man, I’m not going to be able to sleep again tonight!” He sits down, we get ready and as soon as Shirley (the instructor) starts the exercise, I notice that his breathing slows down and becomes very even (usually he SUCKS at breathing, so I was very impressed). I’m focusing on breathing and following her directions, and the next thing I know something plops down on my head. Yep, it was James’ head. He fell asleep 30 seconds into the exercise and slept the ENTIRE time. He denies it, of course, but I’ve had to tell a few people. It wouldn’t have been so funny if not for his declaration right before we started. And for the record, he slept fine—even after the excitement of his class AND his 20 minute nap. 

Showers of Love
Backtracking again…when we got married 5 years ago, I wouldn’t let anyone throw us a shower. I just wasn’t comfortable with being the center of attention and having people bring us gifts for the sake of GIVING us stuff. Let me say that I LOVE showers, love to go to them, love to give them. But I just didn’t know how to be the “shower-ee”. So, when Kayci came around, some of my friends insisted on giving us showers. I couldn’t say no for lots of reasons:

1. I didn’t want to hurt anyone’s feelings.
2. I want people to be able to celebrate Kayci with us.
3. Frankly, we’re poor and we need all the help we can get.

So, it turns out that we’ll be having several Kayci showers. Our first was this weekend. You can go to the PHOTOS page to see pictures. The people that hosted it are Teresa & LeAnn, friends from when I worked at Havard, and Lauren, another Havard friend who is also Kayci’s godmother. Lots of people were unable to attend due to scheduling conflicts, but we had a pretty good crowd. I think there were about 25 people, maybe more if you count babies & kiddos. It was a great shower—it was perfect for us, very laid-back and comfortable. People brought their kids. Some people hung out in the backyard and watched the kids play with bubbles and stuff, and some stayed in and just visited. All in all, it was a fun evening. It started at 4:30, and I was surprised that we still had company after 8. I think people just had fun visiting and hanging out, which is what we hope for when people come over to our house. Coincidentally, this was also the first time we had people over to our house on Laguna (no pressure, we just gave ourselves 3 weeks to get totally moved in AND party-ready. No pressure at all…). I wasn’t as uncomfortable as I thought I’d be; I was kind of awed by the fact that so many people love this little one so much already (and us, too). Kayci is very blessed! Kayci’s nursery is in good shape, thanks to our friends! We are very grateful for everything Kayci received, as well as the thought that went into each gift. 

The Home Stretch
We’ve been sooooo busy since we decided to move. First it was the stress of buying a house. Then it was the stress of moving out of our house, and into the new one (and squeezing in a trip to Kansas). Once we moved in completely (4/30), we had to work HARD to get everything ready for the shower on May 17th. It took us to the very last second (we had floor to ceiling boxes in the guest room Wednesday, picked up the furniture from Mom & Dad’s on Friday, and had a complete guest room—pictures and all—by 1:00 pm on Saturday the 17th). But it was all worth it, because now our house is as done as it’s going to be until we get a lot more time, money, and energy J. Kayci could come any day now and we’d have a HOME to take her to, not just a house. So after pushing so hard for so long to get things done, you can imagine how TIRED we all are. We’ll make it through, but I’m wanting another burst of energy like I had in months 4-7 of this pregnancy. Right now I just feel LAZY.

MOMMY'S JOURNAL - 7 May 2003

Okay, so I’ll be a better Mommy than a journal writer. :) 

So much has happened since I last wrote, it’s hard to know where to start. So I’ll just start…

A Day in the Life (the NEW life, when James has lots of free time!)
James surprised me by contacting BESS, the internet filter we use at school, and having them “open” his website so my friends & I can view the site at school. That was a great surprise! He came to school today to photograph my class doing our science fair project. It was verrrrrrrrrrrrrry scientific—we did an experiment with different shaped bubble blowers. Shock of shocks, no matter what, the bubbles are round. But it was fun “proving” it! It was nice to have James here during such a wild time—Elaine was absent today, so my kids were just freaking out. But to have an “outsider” made it easier to laugh at their antics and see the humor in it. So, thanks to my boy and his visit, I’m having a great day!

Home Sweet Home
We now officially live at 13213 Laguna. I won’t say we’re settled, but it’s nice to have all of our belongings in one location. Things are slowly coming together. James surprised me by unpacking the kitchen Monday night while I was at the District Awards Ceremony (I didn’t win anything, but I did get a $200 check for working 5 years in GPISD. I felt like a winner!). After a long search for the Pop-Tarts this morning it’s clear that I’ll need to do some reorganizing…eventually…but it’s sure nice to have things put away. What a boy! I think I’ll keep him :).

Mom is coming over tonight to put the finishing touches on Kayci’s crib; she finished the bedskirt and bumper pads. We’ll do curtains, etc. this weekend. Our goal is to have her room finished by the shower on the 17th. That’s our goal for the whole house, but we know people will especially want to see Kayci’s room. My $200 bonus check will buy her an IKEA dresser; guess we’ll make that trek this weekend. After the dresser and curtains, her room is basically done. Except for all of her stuff, and that will come in time. 

And back to the Mom thing, so far it’s been great living so close to Mom & Dad. They’ve been VERY helpful in setting up our house. Dad’s helped James with the manly stuff, and Mom has helped me with unpacking, etc. It’s great knowing they’re just around the corner and it’s not a big deal to drop in or have them drop by. And, the food is definitely better at their house :). We’ll try not to mooch too much, but it’s shrimp & crab time, so all bets are off for a while!

To defend myself, I think I was very patient and worked my butt off during the move. James did his share (for the record, his share was mostly moving the boxes that I had packed out of my way). And he did pack 2 boxes of knick knacks. And he did clean ceiling fans and polish the wood floor. And pack the refrigerator. And help with carpet cleaning. And piddle in his office, because that’s what it looked like to me. He just didn’t do things on MY schedule, and that was ticking me off. Thank goodness we’re through it. This week he’s really worked hard on unpacking things (the kitchen? I’d have never guessed!) and clearing out the guest room so we can bring in the furniture. He’s having fun with the backyard; he surprised me by planting sunflowers (my FAVORITE) and the fun daisy bushes, as well as some wildflowers. The sunflowers are coming up fast—I can’t wait! He’ll be embarrassed, but I have to tell you about James’ evening last night. After Bible study he wasn’t tired, so he went out and sat under the stars and ate peanuts in the backyard. Yes, peanuts. I thought he was crazy, of course, but it fulfilled some need he had. He came to bed a happy boy :). 

Down Time
This has definitely been a wild and crazy couple of weeks. I’m exhausted inside and out, but I can’t stress enough how BLESSED I have been through this whole pregnancy. All of our family & friends are soooooooo supportive (James’ mom packed my dishes for me—and wrapped every piece individually. She’s practically a saint!). My friends have been great at offering help whenever I’ve needed it, and just letting me vent at other times. Being pregnant has really shown us what a wonderful support group we have between our families, friends, people we work with, and our church family. We’ve felt nothing but loved, and we can’t wait for Kayci to meet all of the wonderful people who have been waiting on her. It’s hard to believe the wait is almost over!

Next time, remind me to talk about Childbirth Class and our trip to Kansas.

How to Buy A House Without Actually Having A Job

As I’m writing this it’s early May and the time since my last journal entry has been a blur, but I’ll try my best to remember what’s been going on.

How to Buy A House Without Actually Having A Job
March was a crazy month. It started out with me getting the news that Goodson, my primary client, was dissolving their in-house ad agency and moving all their TV and radio production to Arkansas. So, basically I had lost my job. But, being a freelance artist, that’s one of the risks so I began feverishly putting together my website and portfolio to try to sell myself to local ad agencies and production houses. That was a huge undertaking. This all ties in to Kayci because the timing couldn’t have been worse. I’m not complaining. I just wouldn’t have chosen for things to happen as they did. Losing your primary source of income isn’t something you’d chose to do with a baby due in three months. But regardless, my cheese had been moved, so I decided to make lemonade (to totally botch a couple of metaphors.)

Also, our lease on our house was up at the end of March, so we had a big decision to make. Do we stay in our house in the Heights and try to tough it out paying a whole lot of rent or try to find a modestly-priced house to buy that’s closer to Kristi’s school and our church (the two sources of most of our driving)? It didn’t take us long to decide that even though we didn’t to, it made sense to move.

I was supposed to go camping in Big Bend with my Uncle Phil over Spring Break, but as luck would have it, he couldn’t go do to a job opportunity. That actually worked out really well for us because it gave my and Kristi time while she was on Spring Break to begin looking at houses. We knew the general area where we would look- on the east side of town near Kristi’s school and our church (and also where Kayci’s babysitter will be.) We also knew that parts of the area we would be looking in were heavily flooded in June 2001, so we wanted a realtor from the neighborhood who would know exactly which areas had flooded and which hadn’t (as it turns out, that was a really good decision because a lot of the homes we looked at online listed no flood damage or no defects when we knew for certain that they were flooded- completely- in one case.)

God must have been watching out for us. We knew of a real estate agent at our church and we contacted her. However, she had recently quit real estate and let her license expire, but she referred us to another agent in the area whom she knew. We contacted the agent, Irene, and began going around looking at houses in the price range we wanted. We probably looked at fifteen or twenty houses in the course of a week. We drove right by several. Most of the ones we looked at were “fixer uppers” that would require quite a bit of work. But they were cheap, and that’s what we thought we needed. One house we saw needed to just be burned to the ground. It was just that bad.

By the Friday of spring break, we were beginning to get discouraged. We had seen some houses that would work, but none that really jumped out or that would feel like home. Now is when the God part that I mentioned earlier comes in. At this point we were looking at houses that earlier in the week we had not even wanted to see. There was one house on a street called Laguna that was kind of a dark avacado green color that was listed in our price range. Right next door was a cute little house that was for sale, but was SO much nicer than the avacado house that we figured it wasn’t even worth looking at because we figured it was well beyond our price range. 

But our agent insisted that we look at this house on Laguna. We said we weren’t interested, but she insisted. So we went to look at the house next to the avacado house. It was a cute little house. The front yard was very well manicured and it looked very well taken care of. We went inside and knew immediately that the house was in MUCH better condition than anything else we had seen. We took the tour of the house, getting more and more excited as we went. It had three bedrooms, a large living/dining room, a good size kitchen, a garage, a large room for me to use as a studio space and then… We went into the back yard. Stepping into the back yard, the first thing you notice is that there are no trees -- only green grass. Next, you notice that the yard slopes gently toward the house. Finally, you notice a tin-covered building, perfect for a pit smoker and some chairs. I could see having barbecues and crawfish boils and birthday parties in this back yard. And a swing set and a barefoot little girl running around in the grass.

We tried to contain our excitement until we got back into the car with the agent. We knew this house would go fast. But why hadn’t it gone already? It has been on the market for about a month. It turns out that reason it hadn’t sold was because the people who lived there were friends with another agent in the office where our realtor worked. They didn’t want to pay a full commission, so they worked out a deal to pay half commission, which meant that the house would only be shown out of that one office and wouldn’t show up on a web search. So only the agents in that office could show the house or even knew about it! We didn’t see it until later, but it was the hand of God working, looking out for us- I’m sure of it.

We made an offer that very afternoon. After a few counter offers, we finally agreed on a price. We were going to be homeowners- and have what I really wanted- a back yard for Kayci to play in.