Station Break

We interrupt the miniseries currently in progress to bring you this special announcement.

The management apologizes for any delays you may have experienced in the delivery of the Road Trip story. It's just like when there was that writer's strike, except in this case, there's only one writer, and the laptop that she always used to write while nursing her baby comfortably on her couch went on permanent strike. We are seeking creative resolutions to this problem, which currently involve pretending that a desktop computer is a laptop and setting it up in the living room. Unless anyone wants to give me a laptop. Anyone?

Hopefully, the couch/desktop configuration will be up and running soon. Until then, you can always cheat and peek at Flickr to see what I am hoping to eventually blog about.

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Welcome, Valerie Jeanne!

Dear Internet,

I'm sorry it has taken me so long to post this ever-so-momentous news. I was hoping to write up a nice long entry about the whole experience, but I have found myself to suddenly have very little time for such things. In the meantime, here are some very brief details that I wrote a couple of days ago for an email announcement. If I don't fall asleep immediately after posting this, I might just be able to post an update on her progress since then.

Love,
Mama Jule Ann.

Welcome, Valerie Jeanne!
Born August 5, 2008 at 1:06 pm (37w 1d)
7lbs 5 oz. 20" long

I was induced on Monday morning because of some weird liver thing that apparently is only an issue if the baby goes all the way to 40 weeks. After 28 hours of prostaglandins doing practically nothing other than making me feel icky, a strong contraction or kick from the baby broke the water and labor suddenly started. That was about 11:45 am. Valerie popped out at 1:06 pm. I sustained a lovely third degree tear, which required something like 700 stitches. I am doing alright, though. Valerie was checked into the NICU because of some rapid breathing and fluid in her lungs, but she is doing light years better today, and they even let me start nursing her today. I'm praying that they don't keep her too long after I am discharged tomorrow, because it's a 45-minute commute to the hospital. Besides, she is soooo much happier in Mama's arms than in that incubator thing!

Valerie and Mama immediately after birth


Sleeping in the NICU


The last belly shot (37 weeks even)

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Fourteen Ways to Tell the World You're Pregnant

1. Plan a trip to Canada to surprise your mom and siblings for your sister-in-law's baby shower. Be forced to cancel your trip because of a huge winter storm. Tell your mom over the phone instead. Cry happily.


2. Call your sister, who is also canceling her trip to Canada because of the winter storm. Tell her that you had an ulterior motive for wanting to go to the baby shower this weekend: because she and Trish both had family gatherings to make their pregnancy announcements, and you wanted one, too. Cry some more happy tears.


3. Make a baby shower card for your sister-in-law and email it to your mom to print out and give to her at the shower. Write, "A Special Present for Our New Niece" on the front, and, "You won't be the youngest cousin" on the inside. Cry when you see the picture of Trish crying when she got the card.


4. Take your in-laws out to dinner because you've been craving steak. Take the waitress aside on your way to the bathroom and request a special dessert to be delivered to your table when you're done eating. Watch your in-laws' confused expressions gradually turn to excitement as they watch you top your bowl of ice cream with pickles. Hug and cry and cry and hug. Taste the pickles and ice cream and wonder where on earth that stereotype comes from. Take the pickles back off and eat the ice cream plain.


5. Place a praise request in the offering plate at church thanking God for another new baby that will be coming to the church this year. Make sure to sit at the front so that your little slip of paper gets buried under other things and overlooked when the pastor reads the prayer/praise requests. After the service is over, dig the slip out and give it to the pastor in person, hug/cry, then run around the church telling everyone else in person, which ultimately, may have been more fun than making a big announcement to everyone anyhow.


6. Have your husband call his brother and tell him the story about you ordering pickles and ice cream. Then, after he doesn't get it, because of some sort of generation/gender gap and the failure of the pickles and ice cream myth to be quite as ubiquitous as you thought, explain it to him. Receive a big hug the next time you see him.


7. Plan on telling all of your husband's extended family in two weeks at the Valentine's party. See the look on your mother-in-law's face on Sunday afternoon, after keeping the secret to herself for a day and a half, and decide to make the rounds telling everyone that afternoon instead.


8. Call your husband's sister and ask her whether she thinks her nine-month-old would like a cousin to play with.


9. Come right out and say, "We're pregnant!" Get some hugs.


10. Ask your cousins how they're doing on their babysitting classes, and whether they will be ready to be babysitters by August. Get some hugs.


11. Change your status on Facebook to "pregnant".


12. Post a pregnancy count-down ticker on your forum profile page. Casually point it out to other forum users.


13. Blog about it.


14. All of the above.

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