Going to the Hospital and...Gonna Have a Baby!

Well, it would appear today is a beautiful day to bring a baby into the world. Yep, Jalal and I are at the hospital. We checked in yesterday for observation after tests showed low amniotic fluid. So we've had a lovely date night in the hospital getting prepared for a morning induction. Despite the fact that I was the one given a sleeping pill, I have been up for some time now. Jalal peacefully sleeps on. As he should, since I'm going to need him a lot today. Everything surrounding this situation has come together. Mom is here, despite having to wait at the airport while we were stuck at the doc's office having tests, watching Quinn. Trish arrived late last night and will be coming up to the hospital in the next hour or so. All we have to do now is wait for the doctor and do what needs to be done. I'm so anxious to meet my first daughter. She's going to be amazing--at least, if her brother is any indication. Well, I'm not sure I'll sleep anymore, but I'm going to at least try to get some rest. I'm sure you'll hear more from us later today. This should be better than the last time. When Quinn was born, at 3:00 a.m., I attempted to send my first ever text message at 10:00 that night. I was delirious and confused and not very capable. But look at me now! By text, by email, by phone, by blog, or by Facebook, the world shall know about the arrival of my darling Madigan Ruth Halaby. And hopefully all without the slightest freaking out by one worn-out Mama. Hope your day is not as exciting as mine will be! Lots of love, Us.

Tough Choices--Oh, and Brownies

Warning! This blog may tend to ramble a good bit, considering how long it's been since I posted and how much is going on in our lives. What? Stuff going on? Have I mentioned that today I am 39 weeks and 1 day pregnant? If it hadn't been for a strong conviction that Maddie and I weren't ready and a tough decision to do what was right for us, she would probably be here right now! That's right. We almost scheduled an induction for today. Our options for inducing were today and Thursday the 25th. There are so many "good" reasons to induce, from Jalal's time off and scheduling convenience, to having my mom here both to watch Quinn while we're in the hospital and to be here when the baby comes home, to knowing that Trish would be here for the birth, to not having to worry about going into labor when Jalal was stuck at work 40 minutes away and the roads were icy (we actually had almost 3 inches of snow Friday night and ice again yesterday morning). It would take a lot to counteract all those "pros." But the single biggest "con" was that I wasn't all that excited about checking into the hospital at 5 a.m. and getting hooked up to all the crap and machines and, my least favorite, the Pitocin. I hate Pitocin. I was on it for about 5 hours with Quinn, and it was no fun. Well, I guess it was a little fun in hindsight for Trish and Jalal (and probably the nurses) to laugh at all the things I said and did. ("I'm sorry I pushed!!" is still a big joke around here.) But I was so looking forward to avoiding it this time around if at all possible. I was (and still am) convinced that a second labor will be easier and shorter and totally doable without pain meds--as long as I don't have to have Pitocin. That's my goal, and my plan. Hopefully Maddie will come on her own in the next 8 days and we can avoid all that mess altogether. Another issue is that yesterday was my deadline for editing a 500-page economics book. I finally finished it after a sprint to the end at about 7:00 last night. If I had to then get up before dawn to be at the hospital, my mood last night would not have been relieved. As it was, I have been feeling great today! Catching up on my QT with Q-ball, going to the bounce house today and then playing an exciting game of Candy Land, taking a long nap without setting an alarm, painting my fingernails and reuniting with Facebook, which Jalal had parental blocked me from for the past week so I would get my edit done. Granted, I still have a lot to do, from baby laundry and writing thank-you cards, to paying the hospital bill in advance (seriously?) and charging the camera battery, to cleaning the bathroom and vacuuming the stairs (yes, it really needs to be done even though I am 9 1/2 months pregnant--blame the hormones). And of course, there's the Olympics to watch. Can't forget that. I guess what it comes down to is that I finally (agonizingly) made the decision that I felt was right for me, even if it means Trish and Mom can't be here and even if it messes up everyone else's schedule and even if it happens in the middle of the night. So be it. So there.

Something that is bugging me right now is the stupid Marriott. Jalal took Thursday and Friday off this week to prepare in case Maddie came as those are his last two days of his work week. Now it turns out he has to go in to work at 6 a.m. on Thursday to suspend someone and for a couple of hours on Friday because the general manager is doing an audit of his departments. That sucks!! My mom is flying in this Friday just after our very last OB appointment, and I was so hoping maybe Jalal and I could get away just the two of us for a little bit, maybe for lunch or a movie. Guess not. Oh well. I'm sure we'll get back to our biannual date nights in a year or so. :(

Last Friday afternoon, we got some snow, real snow! The last wintry weather we had in Greenville was all slush, so it was great to see the fluffy snowflakes falling fast and furious from about 3:15 until around midnight. We went outside twice to play in it, and Quinn discovered just how fun it is to throw snowballs at Mama and Dada. We could barely get him back in the house and had to bribe him with hot chocolate. We had a really great time, made a couple of small snowmen, and even took some pictures of the baby bump (pretty bumpy at this point), which are so overdue and which I will post at some point when I find the camera (I think it's still in the pocket of the coat I was wearing that night). I can't believe we got almost three inches in that short time, and that it was all melted off my car by about 3:00 the next afternoon. We did go through a ton of firewood, though, and now have just about half a dozen logs left from our whole truckload. Let's hope winter is close to over now!

Last night I was so happy to be done with my job for a while that I decided to make brownies at 9:00. When they finished, they smelled so good, and all I wanted was a warm, fresh brownie and a glass of cold milk. I pulled out my trusty plastic knife that I use only for brownies and went to work cutting them almost fresh out of the oven. I got through the first two slices and then the knife pulled up a corner of one of the brownies. I pulled it out to see why, and saw that the tip of the knife was bent into a hook shape. Guess the brownies were still a little too warm. Whoops. Now I have to find another brownie knife. Hah!

So it's crazy to me how different this pregnancy has been than the first one. I started off with Quinn almost 30 pounds lighter, I was working out pretty regularly before and during that pregnancy (dragon boating, walking hardcore, weights, belly dancing), and I worked full-time, so I didn't have constant access to a kitchen full of food (at least, not my own). This time, I am starting heavier, working out less (did I mention I have a 2-year-old?), and I spend most of my time at home, where Jalal reliably buys ice cream and snack foods whenever they are on sale (um, every week!). So how is it possible that I feel so much better this time? I still weigh less than when I delivered Quinn, and barring some crazy binge sessions in the next week, I can't possibly gain enough to pass that number (and no, you don't need to know what that number is). I am surprisingly not miserable. I do waddle, of course, but I can keep a decent pace up walking for a while. I don't groan EVERY time I have to stand up. And most importantly, I don't have cankles!!! This is huge for me, since with Quinn I had to rely exclusively on flip flops (which I hated), and even then they left upside-down V indents in my hugely swollen feet. I was so grumpy and miserable one week before Quinn's birth that I almost refused to go out for my birthday. My sister and Jalal and a couple girls from work had to drag me out for lunch and ice cream cake. Ice cream cake!! I almost turned down ice cream cake, if that tells you how dire the situation was. It makes me pretty happy that I'm not just wishing this to be over.

Well, I think that's all the rambling I have for tonight. Hope y'all managed to stay awake for that. If not, no worries. Have a brownie. I think I will. Night. Love, Us.

Sick and Tired

Oh what a week! Last Saturday was supposed to be my baby shower, but we got nasty sleet and ice the day before and the day of, so it was postponed until today. Earlier this week, Quinn came down with a fever and was miserable for three days. He managed to make me miserable, too. He was either listless and drooling on the couch (about 20% of the time) or screaming and angry (80%), which included lots of "mine!" and "No, Quinn do it!" He did not sleep well, which means of course that Mama and Dada did not sleep well. When he got over that, we all felt better. Then, last night, I woke up at 3:00 a.m. with serious contractions. I didn't want to wake up Jalal until I knew they were for real, so I eventually just came downstairs and tried to relax. After about three hours, they went away, but I couldn't for the life of me fall back to sleep until about 7:30, which means I got a whopping 45 minutes of sleep before the boys came downstairs. Still, I was so looking forward to the baby shower that I wasn't too worried about how tired I was. I managed to get Quinn down for a little over an hour's nap before we went over to Kim's. Everything was so pretty, especially the cake, which was pink and brown and had a baby with a cute little naked bottom on the top. Well, just as we were getting into the second game, Quinn comes out of the playroom and says his head hurt. He said he didn't hit it or bump it, so that was weird. He cuddled on my lap kind of whiny for a while, and then he started crying. Before you know it, he had thrown up all over himself, me, the big upholstered chair we were in, and I'm sure anything else within 5 feet. The poor kid. Everybody was so sweet and helpful, but I just lost it. I guess with all the crazy preggo hormones and hardly any sleep and of course the puke, I got a bit overwhelmed. A couple of women helped clean up Quinn and change his clothes, while Maureen cleaned me up. I insisted that Quinn and I at least move to the tile floor of the kitchen on a wooden chair with a trash can and a towel under us. So we were prepared when he got sick again. Quinn wouldn't go to anyone else, and he was actually downright rude, which bugged me. He's not like that often, but anyone who came near us was met with a nasty "Get out the way." Which means "leave me alone" or "don't touch me." As if him throwing up wasn't embarrassing enough. After making Sarah open up some of the presents for us because I was otherwise occupied, I made the call to just pack up and leave. It was too much to ask Quinn to hang out there when he clearly was miserable. Someone at least had the bright idea to pull out a crib pad from the presents and wrap it around him in the car so he wouldn't make a mess if he got sick again. Ali even followed us home to help me get Quinn into the house. After another round of sickness and a couple hours of sleeping on the couch (both of us), Quinn was feeling good enough to eat a bunch of cheerios and a banana and a half. He was in a great mood until it was time for bed (at 10, since he hadn't woken up until 8:30). Then he pitched a mega-fit until I had to carry him up the stairs, which did a number on my back, let me tell you. Now I'm totally ready for bed myself, and though I desperately need to catch up on my work, I don't really think that staying up past midnight to do it is a good idea. Well, that's enough about my crummy week. Oh, and the baby! We're at 37 weeks and 5 days pregnant. Talk about the end of the line! We're so close now I can taste it! Wish us luck and I will try to keep y'all up to date on the preggo progress. Love, Us.