Keira

Our little leprechaun finally arrived last week. I was supposed to go in to L&D at 7am last Thursday, but Kaweah Delta got totally slammed that morning--seriously, they had women delivering in triage--so I got a call at 6:15am that I was going to have to wait. I was not patient about that. Thankfully, I got a call at about 11:30 that some beds had opened up and we could come in, so we left the kids with Mom (she'd flown in the night before) and headed to Visalia.

At two full weeks overdue with baby number four, my body had made virtually no progress; I'm starting to think that if I left it up to my babies, I really would be pregnant for 10 months at a time! Anyway, I got a dose of meds to get things moving, which did very little. So four hours later, I got another dose, with did a tiny bit more. I hate that part--that's what I hate about having to be induced, just sitting in the hospital, waiting. Its so mind-numbingly boring. Anyway, at about 9 that evening, Rita came in and checked and figured I was far enough along that she could break my water.

So immediately after that I started getting real contractions (yay!) and started doing the walking-the-labor-and-delivery-loop thing, which seemed to help things along. About an hour later I was at a 5 (I had been at a 2.5 when she broke my water) and the baby had definitely moved down, so I was hoping I might still get my St. Patrick's Day baby after all. About a half an hour after that, the contractions were at a point that I couldn't really walk or stand any more so the nurse checked and called Rita. She was so cute as she was rolling me to the recovery ward she said, "Rita asked how it was going and I said, 'Well, I don't know--she's at a 7.5 or 8, but there's still a smile on her face.' Rita said, 'Ok, I'll be right there, it'll be gone in a minute.'" A half an hour later, at 11:10pm, Keira arrived. (Side note: I didn't want an epidural after my experience with Kylie, and it was totally the right decision--much better to do it drug-free, in the long run).

When I saw her, the first thing out of my mouth was, "You're so tiny!" She looked like a little shrimp--short, no rolls anywhere, and hardly any cheeks to speak of! I thought she was going to be in the 7 pound range, she looked so little. It turns out that she weighed 8 pounds and 1 ounce, but she was only 19 inches long. There had been meconium when they broke my water, so Rita had to get her all suctioned out and she looked a little grey, but she put her lungs to good use immediately, which pinked her right up. She screamed and screamed, and not that newborn, bleating cry: it was more like an opera wail. This little girl can shriek! Once I nursed her, she calmed down pretty quick, and has been pretty calm since we brought her home, but there's not really a middle ground when she gets upset--she just goes from 0 to 60 in seconds.

The kids are all really excited and fight over whose turn it is to hold her. We're all adjusting pretty well (we'll see how Kylie does once her playmates are done with spring break and go back to school this week!)

Right after delivery--shrieking away!

Photographic evidence that she isn't as shrimpy as I want to think she is.

Yaya with all the girls, the day after we got home from the hospital.

Hanging out on her new quilt from Grandma Umphrey.

My four little monsters:)

Usually pretty calm and content--lets hope it stays that way!

On having a houseful of young children

Dylan: "Where's mommy?"

Doug: "She ran away and joined the circus."

Dylan: "Nnnoooooo!!!!"

Doug: "She was tired of all the chaos around here; she needed some stability."

Baby photos/update coming soon, I promise. . .she's doing very well.

Mixed signals

When Kylie was given a name

and a blessing as a newborn,

we were told that she would be

"quick to smile"

I assumed that was a delightful promise

and it was.

Little did I know

it was also

a warning.

Heaven help me.

Waiting. . .

Curses. Still pregnant. Part of me really, really hopes that she'll stay put until my mom gets here so that Yaya can meet her right away. The rest of me is simply screaming, "GET OUT ALREADY!" I feel like a whale. Everything hurts, but this week I just decided that if I'm going to be physically miserable either way, then by golly I'm going to be productive and at least not be psychologically miserable. I have found that I simply cannot understand people who are content to loaf about in life (at least for more than a week). Accomplishing so little on a daily basis the last few weeks has made me absolutely insane! I don't generally think of myself as a busy person (if you watch people like my mom or my sister or a few of my incredibly multi-tasking friends, it seems like my days are rather simple), but I really hate feeling unproductive. I'm looking forward to moving with ease and lifting heavy things and being able to run. I've kind of run out of space for my lungs, so I'm actually looking forward to being able to take a full breath. As most of you know, I have a tendency to talk way too fast at times, and if I do that right now, I get a little winded. Even if I'm just sitting down. Super, super annoying. So walking to the park with the kids is a fair amount of work, and I just find that irritating. I'm looking forward to being me again soon!

Megamind!

For some reason

Kylie thinks that standing on something high

with a remote control in each hand

and pointing said controls at the dog

or her brother or sister

and yelling

"Megamind!"

in a deep voice

makes her all powerful.

Good news and fun

We found our car! We'd been hunting and hunting and researching and researching online for six weeks and finally yesterday, we bought this little number:

Its a 2005 Dodge Grand Caravan SXT. It has the captain's seats and the Stow N Go seating for all the back seats, a DVD player (we let the kids test it out last night, and it was the quietest ride home. Ever.) Its got brand new tires and has been through the full inspection, new fluids all that that dealers do, and we got it for a great price, plus we have a 36,000 mile warranty on it (which is good, because it does have over 90,000 miles on it). Best part of all, it is 100% paid for. The kids love it, of course, since they have been pretty squished in the back of our Accord the last two years. We took it for a longish drive today and it accelerates pretty nicely (this model has the largest engine available in the Caravan) and handles well. It is sssoooo much more comfortable for me to sit in than the car is right now (when not pregnant I can sit in just about any car for any length of time without much trouble at all--I'm pretty easy to accommodate--but right now I hate riding in the car). Its nice to be able to bring our pooch along with us (especially since she has attachment issues--I swear, we leave for an hour and she acts like we've been gone for days!)--today she snuggled up next to Kylie for most of the trip. And Kylie, of course, was trying to hug her and exclaiming, "Ginger love me!!" She doesn't ever remember not having Ginger, so they're pretty tight.

This next week Doug starts work (he'll be working part time while finishing his project for his Master's Degree and job hunting), and he'll mostly be working weekends and holidays, so we seized the opportunity of a day off on Monday to get out together, all 5 us. Between work and the baby, that probably won't be happening much in the coming months. All our kids love to go geo-cacheing (if you haven't tried it, do! Its a great modern version of a scavenger hunt, and you can do it any time!), even Kylie who has now figured out what it is (more or less). So we hunted and hunted, and they had to show off the little prize they got (its a pin with acorns on it that says, "You don't have to be nuts to cache. . .but it helps!" This particular cache was hidden by a woman that uses the tag "Nut Lady"). Aren't these guys a cute crew?

Cars

We have to buy a car. Soon. Technically, my due date is a week from tomorrow. We have no plans on this baby arriving until 3 weeks from tomorrow. Hopefully she'll cooperate.

In the mean time, our solitary vehicle (yes, until now the job/living situation has been such that we have been able to get by with only one car and a couple of much abused but surprisingly resilient strollers) is already stuffed to the gills with children, and there's no way that we can fit another kid in our car unless we trade in one of the children we already have (which is an increasingly tempting thought the longer I'm pregnant, actually). I have offered to have Dylan ride in the trunk a few times, but since he shares my claustrophobia gene, he does not find that to be an amusing joke at all. So we have to find a vehicle that will accommodate at least 6 people, and hopefully more like 7-8. And we have to do so in the next 2ish weeks. For under the max amount of money we've set aside for obtaining said vehicle.

You know what I've discovered? I feel exactly the same way about car shopping as I do about cooking: with a more or less unlimited budget, all the time in the world, and no children, it has the potential to be a lot of fun. But when you've got a very set, limited budget, a definite timeline, and lots of little people, its mostly just a headache.

*Sigh*

Wish us luck.

(And if you happen to know of anyone looking to get rid of a 2005 or newer Caravan at a decent price [or any other decent minivan or SUV], let me know).