Laura's Miami Blog

2011-05-10T13:46:00.000-07:00

I haven't posted in forever, so I figure with a baby sleeping on my lap, why the heck not?

So, my goals are chugging along. I am probably about the same, weight wise as last, about -6 pounds pre-preg weight, still have some work to do on that department. I have been on the weight wisher program, wishing it would go away without having to exert any effort. I have met a couple friends for lunches here and there, have not really done a single thing regarding my Miami Mommies groups and have actually received a couple "inactivity" notices from some of my meetup groups that if I don't participate soon, I will be deleted from their email listserve. Oh well. I have been cruising through my paralegal program and most of my "spare time" goes to that. I use the quotations because spare time is really far and few inbetween. I would say 99% of my time is spend on this guy:

Isaiah is 6 months old now, and really fun. He is such a good little boy, generally happy and playful. He loves to be played with, to have faces made at him, to growl at us, to screech, to fake cough and absolutely lives to see Mateo our cat. It is sweet. Mateo, however, does not live to see Isaiah and tries to avoid him as much as possible. I get it, nobody likes their ears and fur grabbed by the chunkload.

What else, what else whatelse? It is getting hot again in Miami, we are actually enjoying the first glimpse of the rainy/thunderstorm season. Its a nice contrast to the hot humid sun. We like Miami still, though, there are some real downsides. For me, these downsides have to do with the fauna. As in bugs. Cockroaches are absolutely horrifying for me, and I had the unpleasant experience of going into the freak show I call my garage at night to get some laundry out of the dryer and stepping bare foot on one of the little jerks. I heard a crunch and felt it. It was just the sickest thing ever. Last month we also dealt with rats in our garage. That was a treat. One night I was sitting in bed reading a magazine when Mike came running into the house screaming, "sick, sick, SICK!" I was like, what the hell? He said he saw a rat run up the garage wall. I went into the garage to investigate and sure enough another one went running. I got some traps the next day and in total we killed like 5 or 6 of them. For some bizarre reason those little rodents do not bother me nearly as much as a cockroach. I am glad they are gone though. Yes, they are gone. We have one of those sticky traps out and so far it has caught like 3 lizards and some bugs, but no more rats. Like I said, my garage is a total freakshow.

Speaking of bugs, there are some of the biggest grasshoppers I have ever seen in my life here. Huge and black and green and red. They look like they could eat a kitten they are so big. Really gross. One cool thing we saw, however, was a few fireflies outside the other night. Those didn't bother me, but perhaps if they flew into my face I would also hate them. June bugs are common here, little kamakazie beetles that pelt themselves at you. Somehow they get inside and it is crazy. Yeah, Florida fauna is a bit much for me. I advocate a giant tent over the entire state for a couple days a year. It really would be quite reasonable. Would take care of our statewide ant infestation as well....sigh.

So other than fighting the good fight for control over my garage, working through the world of legal documents and jargon, trying to interpret my son's growls and screams, introducing some peas, carrots and other purees, I have just been enjoying life. Life is good, busy but good.

Hope yours is as well!

Adventures in the last month

2011-03-09T18:47:00.000-08:00

In Feb. we did a treck up to West Palm Beach to get a glimpse of the migrating sharks that had made national news. West Palm is about 40 minutes north of us and a world apart from Miami-Dade. Miami is the lush, unkempt, corrupt, alcoholic, dysfunctional sibling to Broward County. WPB, is the conservative, wealthy, prim, proper one. Needless to say, we did not see the sharks, as they had moved on already when we got there, but we paid $15 in parking for an hour while we pulled over for a blow out diaper and then drove down the very corporate beach front. WPB is full of Gucci, Nieman Marcus, Saks 5th Ave and other designer shops. Not exactly our scene.

The following weekend we decided to go to Miami SeaAquarium in search of sharks. The Sea Aquarium was fun. Mike and I are still getting used to our little child and we have yet to really grasp the massive amount of kids at these types of tourist places. We did like the aquarium, we really did. It was completely full of kids though. Like, kids running everywhere. They were out of control! Screaming, running, tripping, crying, in line, in the bathroom, running up to the display glass, bumping into us etc. It was also pretty warm out. Mike and I figured out where to buy a beer and were like "AHHHH!" This parenting thing is still a giant transition for us. It may be a while before Isaiah gets to see Disney World. It is kind of a shame kids are not more into sports bars. I kid.

In other more calm and fun news, we also started Buggy on some cereal/oatmeal. He seems to think it is just slightly above tolerable. Not thrilled about it, but will sometimes not spit it up. He loves, LOVES his bumbo tray though so that makes the cereal/solids worth it. I love LOVE his cute smile. He makes me so happy.

Here are some pictures from Feb.

Feb goal check in

2011-03-09T18:08:00.000-08:00

Well, I am a little late on this check in-but better late then never. I have been meaning to update my blog for a few weeks now but never seem to get to it.

Anyway, I have been working on my New Years Resolution goals among other things in my life. While I do believe there is a chance to work on one's goals everyday, it does feel like my everyday is pretty busy.

Alas, here are the stats:

Weight goal-

I am 6 pound into my 15 pound weight goal. So, I guess 2 lbs loss for the month of Feb. Not too bad. I do feel, however, that now that I have quit nursing, I have also quit losing weight rapidly. I will need to pick it up a bit in the activity area if I want to eventually meet my goal. With this in mind, I decided that for Lent I would go on walks everyday.
I was doing walks when I first started my weight loss goal but have not been as consistant as I would like at this. I think daily long walks will help. Just have to avoid walking to starbucks and buying the cheese platter:) Not the most productive of purchases!

Miami Mama's Group, and meeting friends-

Feb. was pretty much a failure in this department. I met up with my friend Karen like once. Other then that, I did not plan nor did I go to any meet ups. I did join a few other meet up groups on meetup.com and am thinking of going to a park get together on Friday with karen. Sigh. We went through the 4 month Growth Spurt, and Isaiah did some serious sleep regression this month. And I did some serious social cancelling, nap training. I think things may be looking up on that front, hopefully I do better on the social front in March.

Paralegal Certificate-

I did A LOT on this goal in Feb. I decided on University of Miami to go through the course. I called Sallie Mae, got my loan and registered for the program. I received a package of books and have read about half of the first one. I am officially starting on April 1st but have been trying to get a running start on the curriculum. So far I have found the material very interesting.

I feel pretty good about Feb. There were a lot of things that came up this month, a few personal things, my son's continued sleep challenges, another home that we put an offer on that we didn't get and a few other events. Feb was a good month, however, and I feel as though I just might make these resolutions stick!

2011-02-18T08:44:00.000-08:00

Wow, one year in Miami! Its amazing how quickly it has gone, yet soooo much has happened! Its still weird to me that we live here, all the way in South Florida, but we do really enjoy this area. It is just the strangest place, but totally interesting.

This is a little thing I wrote for an online Miami forum that I belong to.:

One year in Miami!

Here are some of my observations:

1. Miami’s beaches are spectacular. This is one of the first things that I fell in love with when I moved here and to be honest, they still just amaze me. I don’t get out there as much as I used to (pre-baby) but I still try to go at least a few times a month. One of my favorite mornings was when, in the depths of pregnancy hell, I couldn’t sleep so my husband and I got up at 5:30am and watched the sun come up over the beach in the Surfside area. I still love this area and my favorite beach walk is up by the fishing jetty where the Ocean meets the bay south of Haulover Park.

2. Living on the Beach (or Bay Harbor Island in my case) is a lot different from Mainland Miami. I live in Miami Shores/North Miami area now. I remember Matt wrote something about real life in Miami or something like that and it is true in my experience. The vibe just seems less vacation oriented. My neighbors get home around 5 or 6pm, have kids and that kind of thing. It feels much more ‘real life’ to me living over here, but then again when I lived in BHI, I didn’t have a baby nor a job and could just go to the beach everyday. So, perhaps my life was sort of a vacation…but in a run down apartment…which leads me to housing…

3. Housing in Miami is difficult. I find the neighborhoods in Miami economically and to a real extent racially segregated. Our first apartment, we took sight unseen. It was in a safe and good location, but the apartment left a lot to be desired. It was old, slightly dirty feeling, carpet was ugly and old, utilities were very old and it just had a stale feeling. We were locked into it though and made the best of it. Looking for real estate, I found difficult due to unmotivated agents and a complicated market. Plus, it is a large feat to get to know the areas of Miami. All in all, housing here is DIFFICULT. We will try again to buy a house in a few months.

4. I love Haitian food. Never had met a Haitian before moving here, never had tasted the food. I love going to Tap Tap Room.

5. Much of my experience in Miami was wrapped up in my experience of my first pregnancy and all the medical services that brings. I delivered and had my medical needs taken care of by the University of Miami and Jackson Memorial Health System. I think my care was pretty top notch, despite my first impression . Jackson is not in the best location, but it is a teaching hospital and has some fantastic doctors and nurses.

6. Politics here are just nutty. Enough said!

7. Unless they are driving, I actually find most Miamians pretty friendly. Unless they are working in customer service, that is.

8. The Florida Keys are a piece of heaven.

9. I have had a lot of fun tasting the different food here. All the tropical fruit, the different fish especially Stone Crabs and Spiny Lobster are great.

10. The driving here is ridiculous. I still can’t believe I haven’t been in an accident yet.

So, my first year was great. Notice I don’t even mention the job scene, which wasn’t part of my life this year. The people that I know that are looking for work here say it is very hard and I am sure that will be part of my second year experience of Miami. I think Miami is what you make of it, much like everywhere else. For me, Miami is not the club scene, late night bars and dresses made out of vinyl. It is a far tamer life of year round good weather, tomato plants on my porch in February, friendly neighbors (for the most part. We do have a douche bag that lives next door, but that need not concern me). It is trying to fit in a beach trip every other week or so, finding other mamas to go on stroller walks (I have already found a couple that I met online who were also looking for friends). For this life, I find Miami to actually be pretty compatible so far. Cheers to My One Year in Miami!

http://forums.miamibeach411.com/living-relocating-here/8621-one-year-miami.html

Here is the link in case anyone wants to see some of the responses.

End of the month

2011-01-31T11:55:00.000-08:00

Well, January flew by!

I decided that to try to keep myself accountable for my resolutions, I would do a run down of my progress at the end of the month. So, without further ado:

15 lb weight loss goal:

in January I lost 6 lbs. Then I gained 2 back. 4lbs isn't too bad so I am pleased with this. The first 5 lbs of weight loss seem to go up and down up and down. I think it also depends which time of day I weigh myself and if I have eaten yet. Anyways, 11 more to go; I could, at this point, just lose 1 lb a month at this point and still reach my goal.

Mommy and Me group, i.e. making friends in Miami:

So far in my online google Miami Mama's Group I have 8 members. All 8 are moms that live in the area and are also interested in a Mommy Group. All have emailed or indicated a desire to be part of this group.

This month I planned 3 get togethers and 2 of them worked out. This counts a lunch date with a new friend and her baby as well as our first Mommy group meet up in which 4 women (myself included) and their babies showed up. It was at a little park in Miami Beach and it was really cool to meet some other moms and share some stories. Isaiah was the oldest, and the only little man.

The next meet up I had planned was at a Botanical Garden, where us moms could walk around with our strollers and take a tour of this garden. I have been wanting to do so since we moved to Miami and thought it would make for some good scenery. Well...nobody RSVP'd. I got a lot of "that sounds great- I would love to go there..." etc but schedules were off, people were sick etc. One mama said, "I would totally love to go but the idea of being in the car with my baby girl makes me want to shoot myself, so I have to pass." LOL! Maybe as our infants begin to get a little older it will be easier to get together....

Feb I think I will try suggesting meet ups at a couple farmers markets, some more park dates and one Mama had a good little Mommy and Me class that sounds fun.

Paralegal Certication:

Well, I think I have narrowed down where I am going to do it. Florida International University has an online program, as does University of Miami. They are roughly the same price, and either way I think I will start at the beginning of May. The next step is getting my Financial Aid application filled out and then getting the loan process started...joy! more student debt!!! But this time, my debt should lead to an actual job, as opposed to a piece of paper that is stuck somewhere in my file cabinent that says I am a college graduate....

Anyways, Isaiah is waking from his little nap now, so this is all I have time to bang out today. Hope your resolutions are going well!

Discovering Miami-Fontainebleau Hotel

2011-01-19T15:19:00.000-08:00

Whenever celebrities are are reported to be staying in Miami Beach, usually they are staying the Fontainebleau hotel. This is one of the most luxurious and exclusive hotels on the beach and it is actually really, really beautiful. Mike and I decided to take a walk through to see what it was like. Mike had an interest in this hotel because it is one of his union UNITEHERE's shops and I just have a real appreciation for great hotels!
The Fountainbleau Hotel's rooms (which we didn't get to see) start at $429 for a standard room on a weeknight. For the nicest room, a one bedroom ocean view suite, it is $1159.00 a night. For the pleasure of staying here on a weekend a guest must shell out between $529 and $1,650.00.

In addition, according to their website, upon check in the hotel will authorize (reserve the funds) $150 per day for incidentals-or- you must put down a $600 deposit if you do not have a major credit card...ouch! Its not cheap being fabulous!

Fountainbleau's six pools are really beautiful. The hotel is right on the beach, but sometimes the beach gets a little...sandy, crowded, full of undesirables? Haha, if that is the case for the elite guests at this hotel they can choose between several beautiful pools, some adult only, some with private cabanas with flat screen televisions and private waiter service. While some of the hotel is a little over the top, I must say the pool area is pretty much to die for! If it weren't for security roaming around and a little human strapped to my chest, I may just have jumped into the eternity pool for a taste of the good life!

So beautiful!

Fountainbleau hosts the hot nightclub LIV. Miami Beach as a whole has some pretty exclusive nightclubs, the kind that only admits the young, the beautiful and the rich. LIV is on this scale, at the top of the line. Even the website mentions, "Liv management reserves the right to refuse admission to anyone, at it's sole discretion." Celebrities are always at LIV ordering bottle service and partying into the wee and not so wee hours. Typical of Miami Beach, LIV closes its doors at 5am, not the 2am last call that California and other tamer states are used to. When we visited, LIV was closed (we are more of the 3pm as opposed to the 3am type and the only line I am waiting in seems to be the check out line at the grocery store lately!) but one time a while back I drove by the Fountainbleau the night that Lady Gaga was playing and boy was it packed! For those looking for a great Miami Beach Nightlife Experience, trying to get into LIV would be where it is at. If you are denied, you can always stroll down to Mansion, which I have heard is a little less classy, a little more crowded but also appears on MTV and E! Entertainment TV frequently.

It was fun to visit this hotel. Though I think it is way too much money per night (I would rather a few days in Key West then 1 night in Miami Beach), it is a beautiful place. I can totally understand why J.Lo and the Kardashians love the place:)

playtime!

2011-01-08T13:00:00.000-08:00

2011-01-05T14:03:00.000-08:00

I wish there was a way to rotate this video right side up but anyways, its a kind of cute one that we took on New Years Eve. Rocking the Prince!

New Years!

2011-01-03T10:10:00.000-08:00

2011 is upon us and I really do believe that each New Year is a chance to reform and set new goals. In a way, it doesn't really matter the failures of the past resolutions, the real point is to reevaluate and get oneself back on the path to contentment. I don't remember what my goals were last year, and I have deleted all my past blog posts so I am left to only surmise that they were all met and that I did fabulously! :) Here's to hoping!

This year I have a few specific goals. They are:

I am going to lose 15lbs. I plan on doing this by continuing to nurse for 4 more months, drink a lot of water, go on daily walks with Isaiah and to watch my portion sizes. Hopefully this will do the trick and I plan to add as much exercise as possible although with a baby on my arm all the time i doubt I will be making any trips to the gym. I think my body would feel so much better 15lbs lighter. Plus, I think 2012 will begin another baby making year, and I would like to start off with less weight!

I am going to develop my Mommy's group and make friends here in Miami. I am currently doing this and have already met two potential friends. Forcing myself out of the house and to be social is challenging for me and I can very easily make up excuses for why I can't go do something or put the effort out to meet people. I do believe it is the healthiest thing for me to have social interaction and because I live so far from friends and family, it is up to me to get this going.

Lastly, and most ambitiously, I am going to get my Paralegal Certificate this year. I still really want to one day open a Bed and Breakfast, but for now I need a career that interests me and will be financially stable. Once upon a time, I applied and was accepted into law school and was going to go into Immigration Law. Realistically, I think becoming a paralegal will send me into the direction I want to work in, helping immigrants become legalized and will be less financially and time consuming. I also think that it could be transitioned will into a "Mom Job."

There are a gaggle of other resolutions, i.e. pay off this, pay off that, consume less stuff, downsize the stuff I have already, eat less meat, grow out my hair, read some more books etc. But those need not occupy my blog. These three above I plan to hold myself accountable to and I believe will greatly enrich my life. Most of all, however, I will continue to try to be the best Mom that I can be and to continue to raise Isaiah with love.

Happy New Year!

Christmas 2010

2011-01-03T09:35:00.000-08:00

Well the Christmas decorations are put back in their boxes, the tree leaning outside the house waiting for the recycling service to pick it up and make saw dust out of it. And so goes another Christmas...but this one has to be remembered as extra special because it was our first Christmas with Isaiah.

The Hills made it out for Christmas and Grandpa and Auntie Melanie got to meet Isaiah for the first time. They, of course, loved him and the feeling was mutual:)

Spending three days out in the Florida Keys was great. Isaiah did fabulously, sleeping well during the day (not so much during the night), and being a great sport all in all. Everyone had a good time, however, it was a bit on the chilly side both in the Keys (after this first day where we were wearing tanks), and then when we returned to Miami. The cold spell lasted quite a few days, and even reached as low as in the high 20s. Burr...too cold for this lady! Jimmy Buffett has a song in which he laments the cold weather and says...'I need to go where there ain't no snow...I gotta go where its WARM." That song was written about me:)

Glad to see things are looking up and we are headed back to the high 70s for a while.

This is in Key West. Isaiah was awesome!

I have been working really hard on my post-baby body. Its just my legs that need the help now:)

Two dads and two sons.

Grandma Hill fell in love again.

This is near the big Southern Most Point in the Continental USA landmark. I am the Southern Most Woman in the Continental USA in this picture. I am 89.9 miles from Cuba.

We didn't allow the chilliness of Key West to keep us from drinks on the beach.

Isaiah looks so little here. Its hard to believe that little ball 'o baby weighs over 11 lbs now!

Isaiah was certainly not forgotten this Christmas...his stack of gifts were incredible! Such a lucky little boy to have so many friends and family that love him!

Mike was pretty stoked to receive a new Laker Jersey this year. He wasn't so stoked, however, when the Lakers got their asses handed to them for Christmas. Maybe next time!

It was a nice little Christmas spent with loved ones and one that we will certainly remember. Hope yours was as well.

Key West Christmas Pictorial

2011-01-02T08:43:00.000-08:00

For anyone wondering how you could possibly get into the Christmas Spirit in a tropical environment, here are some ideas. Below are my landscape views of Key West holiday style!

Isaiah

2010-12-16T07:22:00.000-08:00

In a few days, Isaiah will be 8 weeks old...hard to believe so much time has gone by since we welcomed him into the world, yet it does seem like a long time ago that I was pregnant and such a very long time ago that he wasn't even a thought in my mind...life before Isaiah is already becoming a distant memory! Yet, it was not even a full year ago that I wasn't pregnant and we were still in the packing stages of moving cross country...what a difference a year can make.

So, I was re-reading my sister Jenny's 2 month post on her blog wherein she described her daughter's development and stats. When she posted it, Olivia was at 9 weeks and right now Isaiah is 7 weeks and 3 days. At that age, Olivia was rolling from her tummy to her back, holding her head up and doing a lot of smiling and cooing. So far, Isaiah isn't really doing these things, but I can sense a subtle coming of these things. Isaiah is beginning to hold eye contact a little bit, beginning to smile here and there and exercizes his limbs more. He hates tummy time less then he used to, which I take to mean that he is getting stronger.

The big goal for new moms and their babies seem to be sleeping through the night. When a child sleeps through the night, it is this huge victory and a bragging right. So far, we are losing that race big time. We put him to bed around 9pm or 10pm and he gets up around 12-1am, again around 4am or 5am and then again 7am or 8am. If he goes back to bed after 5am at all. So...there is room for some improvement and our mile marker is not sleeping through the night, it is losing one of those feedings. That, to us, would be huge.

I take endless pictures of Isaiah with my camera phone.

Isaiah loves to sleep on Daddy's chest like this.
In his car seat, ready to roll! Yeah, Ive got a duck on my hat...so what?

All in all things are going well so far with our little guy. We are making our routine, trying to build up a friendship group and spending time getting to know each other. Some days are easier than others, but I would say we are quite content.

On another note, Miami is still the weirdest place I have ever lived. I noticed driving down the street the other day that this little shop sells hamburgers, phone cards, Haitian food, cellphones, as well as human hair. Sweet!

Then, as I was doing a U Turn through a parking lot, I saw what I thought was a baby alligator. It was actually a huge Iguana.

and about 100 ft from the Iguana there were some Egrets as well as a vulture. Or Turkey. I couldn't tell but I am darn sure that most people would not find either in an urban parking lot...only in Miami!

ReBirth of the Blog

2010-12-08T16:10:00.000-08:00

Well, my sweet baby Isaiah is sleeping in his swing for the moment, so I figure now is a good time to attempt the rebirth of my blog.

So where to start? So far, i have been a mom for just a little over 6 weeks now. I guess I will start at the beginning, Isaiah's birth story, which was quite a bit different then what I had planned. I guess if there is a theme, or moral lesson to the last 6 weeks, having things not go as planned and just going with it is it.

So, I gave birth to Isaiah Monday, October 25th at 9:40am. But, the Friday before that is where it all began. I was finishing putting away dishes in my little dining room area when I felt something weird happening. Thinking that the show was starting (had some bleeding issues), I got ahold of Mike and off we went to the hospital. We spent 5 hours in the Triage, monitoring contractions which were so so active, nothing too big. We were finally told to go home, the show was not starting after all. However, I had called my mother in law and told her to come earlier that day, just in case the baby was coming, which I felt like it was, despite what the hospital had told me.

My mother in law arrived the next day and on Sunday morning/afternoon we spent a great day at Bayside Park. We listened to some music, ate some peel and eat shrimp and took a long walk around the marina looking at all the boats. I felt good, no contractions, just the usual late stage pregnancy sore hips and the need to go to the bathroom every 2 minutes.

Later that night, around 8:30pm, I was standing in my closet picking out some cute clothes to show Roberta that I had gotten for the baby, I felt that weird swishing sensation that turned out to be my water breaking. So, off we went to the hospital again...

At this point, I was 3 weeks early from my due date. The hospital verified that my water had indeed broken and so I was admitted into L&D. Unfortunately, I was still only at 2 inches dilated and was not having active contractions. In the car on the way to the hospital, I had told Mike that I had a couple wishes as far as this labor went. #1, no pitocin. I didn't want to rush the baby into being born, wanted to let the baby take it's time and had heard bad things about Pit. I had heard that the way it went was once you started pitocin then your contractions started up faster and stronger. I heard they get strong and fast and so painful that you totally need the epidural. Then the epidural slows down the contractions and dilatation. Then you are sucked into a C-Section, which was #2 of what I didn't want. (well, #3 because I didn't want a episotimy if I had a vaginal birth). The #4 thing I didn't want was the baby to be given formula. Ideally, I wanted the baby to be given to me right after birth and begin breastfeeding. That was the plan.

So, I get to L&D. No contractions were happening and the doctor said I needed them to start b/c my water had broken and I had only a certain amount of time after that to safely have the baby. My doctor said I needed to be induced which meant I needed to be started on Pitocin. And so it started...they began the pitocin incrementally, increasing the levels every 30 minutes. The contractions started, and it wasn't so bad. I remember Mike saying to me, "Imagine if this is what contractions are and you are just tougher then most women because you don't think they hurt that bad." yeah. I am a badass at contractions when they are really mild. Speed up about 5 hours and several increases. Holy. Shit. Epidural. Please.

So, after 5 or 6 hours I got the epidural. Much. Better.

But after 12 hours and several progress checks I hadn't progressed past 4 cm and I was completely beat. The last 2 checks, 3 hours apart, I remained at 4 cm. The doctor said I could try for 2 more hours but she strongly believed I was not going to progress any further. Perhaps I would have tried the 2 more hours if I had gone into labor in the morning after a nice sleep. But I had been awake for more than 24 hours, I was exhausted physically and emotionally. I wanted to have the baby. So, I agreed to the dreaded C-Section. And I was whisked away....

The C-Section was easy. They went in, cut me up and took out the baby. I was so excited to see my baby boy, to find out it was a baby boy, and that moment between myself, Mike and Isaiah will remain in my mind and heart forever.

And then the moment passed and I was once again whisked away. This time, I was in the recovery section of the hospital. I was tasked with recovering sensation in my lower body. I needed to be able to wiggle my toes, move my legs up and lift my pelvis up and out of the bed before they would let me see my baby and to also be able to drink water. Both needs, the baby and water, were extremely pressing. I was patient at first. It took me 5 hours before I could move my lower body and its a good thing I did at that point because I was getting extremely close to total meltdown, full blown yell at the nurses, beyotch mode. I had been up almost 30 hours. I hadn't had anything to drink in a very very long time. I was so thirsty and my skin itched so bad from the anesthesia. But mostly, I WANTED TO SEE MY BABY!!!

And I finally did. And he was beautiful, so beautiful. It was love at first sight.

The rest of the stay was good, but difficult. I felt like i had been hit by a truck after the numbing went away. I continued to itch a lot. I took perocet and that helped and high doses of benedryl for the itching. I held and loved my baby. We were all so tired but didn't want to give the nurses Isaiah but were finally convinced to do so in order to regain some sanity. He was born with a heart murmor, which went away after one day and then he developed jaundice and that scared the hell out of us. He ended up staying one day longer then I did, (the nurse said, " you came as one patient, but now you are two. You are being discharged but your baby isn't. Insurance.") So, that was just as easy as anyone can imagine. Torture, but we got through it and baby came home healthy. Isaiah was healthy and seemed happy. I was scarred, felt terrible, but was over the moon about my baby boy. I am pretty sure I asked Roberta if she didn't think that Isaiah was just the bee's knees. He was, and is, for sure.

And that is where the birth story ends. Yes, I had the pitocin, yes it led to the epidural and finally, yes, a C-Section. And because I had a 5 hour recovery time, hungry little Isaiah had to be given formula.

Well shit. He was born, he is healthy and so am I. And 6 weeks later, it doesn't seem like such a big deal. So it goes...