last night, around 1:30 am, jeremy jumped out of bed. i groggily woke up and he was quickly getting dressed. i was very confused and asked him what was going on, and he said that zinni was barking and then he woke up and saw flashing lights outside, then he said it smelled like a fire. i said, “yeah, but it always smells like a fire” (our neighbor has a woodstove and we often smell it even inside of our house). but then i realized that this fire smelled different.
we looked out the window and there was a fire truck and fire SUV in front of our house and we could hear more sirens in the distance (but they were very quickly getting closer!). jeremy ran downstairs – he was afraid it was our house that was on fire. we were so disoriented. in my sleepy state, i tried to be logical thinking that if it was our house that was on fire our smoke alarms would be going off, and the firefighters would be banging down our door.
i really, really had to pee (thanks pregnancy), so after i quickly put on warmer clothes i ran to the bathroom. i figured that if it WAS our house on fire, i would soon be stuck out in the cold and didn’t want to have to go to the bathroom (not very smart, but i was half sleeping!). meanwhile, jeremy was downstairs trying to figure out what was going on.
i heard voices outside and looked out our guestroom window and saw smoke pouring out of our neighbor’s garage, which is right next to our house. it smelled awful in our house.
i went downstairs and jeremy and i looked out the back window and got a better view of our neighbor’s garage. there were flames shooting out of the garage, and it was very smoky. our neighbor has a very large garage which is made up of several different rooms. he is a bit of a loner and has many cats (how many there actually are is unknown to us and we haven’t asked because we really don’t want to know) that live in the garage and he uses a woodburning stove to keep them warm in the winter.it appeared that the woodburning stove set the garage on fire since most of the flames were in that area.
by this time, there were at least six firetrucks on our street, they were shining very bright lights on the garage, and there were numerous fire fighters walking around. we saw a lot of them yawning. jeremy went outside, but i had a good (and warm) view from our back window. and zinni was pacing around nervously, so i was trying to assure her that everything was fine.
we watched them hack down one of the garage doors, and they were using the hoses and ripping the garage apart, and then we saw our neighbor and we were glad to know he was okay. but he was a little peeved that they axed up the garage door. he looked a little shocked and was just walking around aimlessly.
we were impressed with how quickly they got the fire under control. we had just watched the news right before going to bed and the last two news stories we saw were about two local fires which destroyed two houses yesterday, so that was a little strange.
anyway, we finally headed back to bed around 2:30. jeremy fell right to sleep, while i laid there and tried to relax and rest. the smoke smell was so strong and it smelled so badly that it made it hard for me to sleep. and the firetrucks were still outside and it was loud, and there were bright lights shining in our windows. i finally fell asleep and dreamed about fires. the fire truck came back at 7:30 this morning (firetrucks are loud!), and apparently everything was fine.
i dropped jeremy off at work this morning and headed to a local bookstore for a bit so i could escape the smell. when i blew my nose this morning, the kleenex was black from the smoke (and i never even went outside…i think we really do need new windows)! i was frustrated last night that i couldn’t sleep because of the smell and it was making my head hurt…but i was trying so hard to keep perspective, and it wasn’t hard once i started thinking about it. i was thinking, “it could be worse…i could be in haiti right now smelling dead bodies” or “at least it wasn’t something of ours that burned, and at least it was our neighbors garage and not his house, and he is okay”.
there are numerous cats roaming around today and they all look a bit bewildered. the garage is completely ruined.
i went down to the basement this afternoon and found it flooded! it’s not too bad…but definitely a disgusting mess to clean up. i think the flooding might be somehow related to the fact that they were using the fire hydrant, which is right outside of our house and probably connected to our water lines somehow. the water and sewer lines around here all seem to be very sensitive.
anyway…that’s the big news for today. hopefully tonight will be less eventful.
i guess it’s time for an update around here!
here’s what we’ve been up to lately…
- visiting lots of family
- GROWING! (well, baby and i have at least):
(this pic was taken at 34 weeks…we’re at 35 now)
- painting (not so fun or easy to do at 32 weeks pregnant!) and preparing the baby’s room:
we got this dresser that we made into a changing table at a thrift store for $60!
- birds! i sewed them and made this “mobile” that is attached to the wall. there is more to the room…but it’s still in progress (about to be finished!)…so the rest will have to wait.
- sitting on the birth ball…it helps with those sore hips:
we have certainly been keeping busy around here. i am VERY low on energy these days, but, when i can summon the energy, i am trying to find time to get the house in order before baby arrives. jeremy is so helpful.
we just spent friday and saturday at a childbirth class, which we found to be very helpful. i found it interesting that out of the eleven couples in the class, jeremy and i and one other couple were the only ones who raised our hands when the instructor asked who was hoping to not have an epidural during labor. we learned a lot of helpful pain management strategies, as well as some of what to expect during the whole experience. i’ve also been researching on my own, and talking with our midwives. since the class ended, i’ve been feeling like i’m ready to just get this thing going! we’ll try to give baby a few more weeks to grow though.
we are very excited to meet our baby, but we’re also trying to soak up the last few weeks of having just the two of us. we know that we’re in for a HUGE adjustment when she arrives!
jeremy has been in the kitchen washing dishes and cleaning (he told me he would do that if i would rest), and he just surprised me with a piece of chocolate and a mug of tea. i think he is truly the best husband i could have ever imagined.
we’re settling in for a blizzard that is supposed to hit overnight and get worse throughout the day tomorrow. we have food in the fridge, gas in the car, the glow of the christmas tree, and movies and hulu to keep us company if we have a snow day tomorrow. i’m not-so-secretly hoping that jeremy’s work is closed tomorrow because i would love to have a snow day with him.
unfortunately, i have to work tomorrow night and will most likely be having to drive to work when the blizzard is supposedly going to be at it’s worst.
winter is here and it is COLD! we never put our thermostat higher than 64 degrees during the day, and our drafty old house gets pretty cold. i have two warm sweaters i’ve been snuggling up in, and we’ve been drinking homemade hot cocoa almost every day.
jeremy’s glasses broke last friday and today we picked up his new glasses – two pairs for the price of one. they are pretty dang sexy, if i do say so myself.
i’m seriously in nesting mode. my energy levels don’t always measure up to all the projects i have in mind, but i’ve been keeping busy. i recently sorted through all of our files and paperwork and labeled and organized them, and i organized all of our budget information into a binder. today i just about finished painting the soon-to-be guest room (baby is getting the former guest room), and i also painted the window and door in the upstairs bathroom. i’ve been wanting to do that since we bought this house! my next major project is to paint the soon-to-be-baby’s room, and paint the doors and windows in our bedroom, and then i will be done painting! i’m hoping to paint the baby’s room on monday and then be done. i’m getting too big and low on energy to be tackling these painting projects!
christmas is coming fast. and so is this baby. december is flying by, and i’m 26 1/2 weeks along. we’re feeling the pressure to really get things ready for this baby and it seems that’s keeping us even busier than christmas is! we got a great deal on a carseat and stroller the other day. i’ve been researching all kinds of different baby-related things…like how to sterilize bottles and how to wash our cloth diapers. tonight i’m going to continue making cloth baby wipes. there’s just so much to do.
more importantly, and most excitingly, we are preparing our hearts and lives to become parents. we love being able to call our daughter by name, and we love that she starts kicking when we start talking to her. although we are totally willing to wait until she is done cooking, we are very excited to meet this little one and see what kind of a combination of the two of us she is!
we hit the 25 week mark yesterday. the following list is some of what i’m experiencing in terms of pregnancy these days. (this is not meant to be a place to complain, but rather to record this experience so i can look back and remember. believe me – i gladly take all of these mild discomforts to bring this little one into the world!).
…lots of stronger kicks. i can look down at my belly and see her moving around. yesterday it felt like she stretched out inside of me because i felt her on both sides at one time!
…heartburn every single day. no matter what i eat.
…difficulty breathing…it feels like my lungs are getting squished!
…i just started sleeping propped up on three pillows. that helps with the lung and heartburn issue! (i’ve been sleeping with a body pillow for at least 10 weeks now…but adding the three pillows under my head definitely helps me breathe easier!).
…i feel braxton hicks contractions every so often.
…i have to pee all the time! seriously…all the time.
…the baby moves more when we talk to her. it is fun to interact with her like that!
…when i’m not exhausted…i’m in serious nesting mode. i feel like i need to organize EVERYTHING! today i went through all our files and reorganized, and created a more efficient and helpful budget binder. i’ve been sorting through everything and getting rid of stuff we don’t need.
…we placed our order for cloth diapers last week and they came in the mail today. i never knew i could get so excited about diapers.
…jeremy is scheming ways to get another ultrasound because he wants to see his baby girl again. i keep telling him it’s good if they don’t do another ultrasound because it means everything is going well!
…work is starting to be more difficult. i get worn out, and it doesn’t help that the bed rails hit me right in the belly when i lean over to care for a patient.
…i’m in the process of painting and moving the guest room into the little bedroom so i can paint the baby’s room. quite a big project. my goal is to have everything painted by christmas.
…we just spent thanksgiving with my family and my dad wanted to feel her move so badly! she wasn’t very cooperative, but finally gave a good kick right before we left. he was so excited!
…we feel like we are starting to know the baby more. it’s so fun that she responds to our voices and kicks us when we talk to her. i think she already has us (especially her dad!) wrapped around her finger.
…a husband who i truly fall more in love with every single day. i am continually in awe of the joy we share in loving each other and living life together.
…the way our marriage has been strengthened in the last year.
…the movements of our precious baby who is growing inside of me and the excitement we share at watching my belly grow and preparing to meet her.
…how we have seen God provide for us during this past year. there were many months when it didn’t seem like we would have enough to make ends meet…but we always had just enough (even one month when we only had 50 cents left in our bank account!)
…our jobs, especially jeremy’s – we waited a long time for that one!
…not moving to san jose.
…our health. i see so many sick people and am so thankful for the health we enjoy (and unfortunately, often take for granted)
…our families.
…my dad’s recent encouraging doctor’s appointments.
…old friends and new ones.
…our home. the joy we find in our house and the comforting place that it is to both of us, and to other people.
…the assurance that no matter what happens, we belong to Christ and He is present with us in our lives.
when we were in seattle last summer, we stopped in at an antique store to poke around. somewhere in the store on three yellowed pieces of paper, written in old cursive, i found the following writing. i bought it for 75 cents. i don’t know what inspired someone to write it down all those years ago…were they copying something they read in a book? did they have a sudden splash of inspiration and feel a need to jot down these words that popped into their head? did they spend days putting these words together only to have them end up buried in an antique store? was the writer facing death?
the name at the end says “bryon” or “bryan”. i tried a google search to see if i could find this poem on the internet, but i could not.
here it is:
Immortality
“If the Father deigns to touch with divine power the cold and pulseless heart of the buried acorn and to make it burst forth from it’s prison walls, will He leave in the earth the soul of man that is made in the image of his Creator?
If He stoops to give to the rose bush whose withered leaves float upon the autumn breeze the sweet assurance of another springtime, will He refuse the words of hope when the frosts of winter come?
Matter, mute and inanimate, tho changed by the unrelenting force of nature into multitudous forms can never die. No, I am as sure that there is another life as I live today.
While in Cairo, I secured a grain of wheat that had slumbered in an Egyptian tomb for three thousand generations and as I gazed on that grain of wheat, the thought came until me, that had that grain of wheat been planted that year in the valley of the Nile, and in all the years following from that time, that until now it’s lineal prodgeny would have been sufficiently numerous to feed the teeming millions of the world. And if that grain of wheat could pass uninjured through three thousand resurrections, I shall not doubt that my soul shall have power to clothe itself in a garment suitable to it’s new existence when the earthly form hath crumbled into dust.”
- Bryon
so…the baby bump is not quite so discreet anymore. this baby is growing! it has been two weeks since the last belly pic we took (see previous post) and it looks like she has grown significantly over the last two weeks!
we just got back from a two-night stay in lansing, mi, where jeremy had a conference for work. i tagged along and relaxed in the hotel room while jeremy did boring things like go to seminars and eat catered meals. aside from the fact that the hotel was undergoing major remodeling (shotty job that it was), wasn’t very clean, was in a rough and ugly part of town, and we would never ever stay there again, we enjoyed our little get-away.
tomorrow it’s back to the office for jeremy…for one day…and then he will spend thursday and friday working on a habitat for humanity project with his work. he will be doing demolition and is very excited about the prospect of wielding a sledge hammer!
i’m gearing up for working…on friday, saturday, monday, and tuesday nights. it’s going to be quite rough on my pregnant body. a thanksgiving break will be well-earned!
baby continues to kick all the time…especially when jeremy puts his hand on my belly. she knows her daddy! we are enjoying having her in our lives and she’s already an endless source of entertainment for us. i have fun lying down and staring at my belly because i can see her moving around inside! she’s quite a little character and we love her already…it’s amazing how that happens…
i’ve never measured my life by weeks before. but…every week matters and every week is a developmental milestone during pregnancy. and then sunday rolls around (very quickly these days, it seems) and i get to add another week to the tally. today marks 22 weeks.
here’s a pic from 21 weeks:
i’ve been told that i’m “carrying the baby very discreetly”, which i think is true…it’s not super obvious yet. however, i’m sure the day will come when it won’t be quite so discreet anymore!
we had the big ultrasound on tuesday. it was so much fun! the best news is that our little one is healthy and strong and as far as they can tell, is developing perfectly. the other great news is that it’s a girl! (well…they are 90% sure anyway).
here are some pics:
we think she just has the cutest little nose. and in this picture her arm is above her head likc she is kicking back and relaxing.
and she’s got some cute little feet, which she kicks around a lot of the time. we love to put our hands on my belly and feel her little kicks and jabs!
we’re settling into a nice routine around here. routine is so good for us! it motivates me to get more done at home. so far, this week, i’ve made scones, mostly kept up with the dishes, made stromboli for dinner on monday, sewed a bunch of cloth baby wipes (there are still more to sew though!), looked at our budget and organized it into a [hopefully] more usable system, kept up with emails, made a batch of applesauce…and that was all on monday because on tuesday i mostly layed around. i felt like i was fighting off a cold or something, and i had felt that way for a few days, so i decided i should take it easy and give my body a rest. it helped.
as i sit here, i feel little baby feet, elbows, and knees bumping around inside my belly. apparently, we have a very active little one in there! the baby’s most active time is at MIDNIGHT! that is a little scary to me and i’ve told the baby that he or she needs to change that before birth! we’ll work on it. i’m sure my crazy work schedule won”t help the baby have any kind of routine.
jeremy has felt the baby move twice. the first time was on sunday when i was exactly 20 weeks along. he had his hand on my belly and the baby gave a really good kick and jeremy got so excited and exclaimed, “i felt it! i felt it! i felt it!” and his eyes welled up with tears. it was so sweet. he is going to be a great dad.
my days at home feel long and a bit boring at times…but i’m trying to remember that in a few months my days will be much busier and i’m trying to enjoy this time i have now.
we’re getting our camera fixed, so hopefully we can be posting some pictures soon. i miss being able to take pictures!
we have the BIG ultrasound on tuesday and hopefully if baby cooperates we can find out if it’s a little boy or girl in there! what do you think…any guesses as to whether it’s a boy or girl?
it looks to be a bad flu season for those of us who work in hospitals!
it feels like influenza and H1N1 suddenly hit around here. the hospital has been very full (like so full that they’re turning private rooms into shared rooms), we’ve been consistently short-staffed, i receive daily updates in my inbox on the status of the flu and the current precautions we are taking against it, and i’ve been consistently dreaming about getting too many patients with H1N1 and not knowing where to put them all! this is a much bigger deal than last year.
i’ve been impressed with the way the hospital has handled H1N1. last night 4 out of the 20 patients on our floor were in isolation for possibly having H1N1, and there were several others scattered throughout the hospital. until we know whether or not they have a confirmed case, all staff wears N-95 respirator masks any time they go into the patient’s room and visitors are required to wear masks at all times they are in the patient’s room. earlier this week, they offered the H1N1 vaccine to pregnant women and a few other high risk groups of staff, and they are now offering it to all staff throughout the hospital.
because pregnant women are just about the highest risk group for complications and mortality, the hospital has said that pregnant women are not to take care of any patients who may possibly have the flu. it gets complicated on the floor where i work, however, because there are so many pregnant nurses! last night three out of the four of us nurses were pregnant – which left one nurse with all four of the H1N1 patients!
i’ve been pretty skeptical of the severity of this illness…until now. the people who have this illness who have been at our hospital have mostly been young women in their mid/late 20s and they get really, really sick. some have recovered and returned home, one is in the ICU and it does not look like she will make it. it is scary.
it’s scary to be pregnant and know that it would be very dangerous for me to get H1N1. it’s also scary to be frequently going to a place where we are treating the people who have this illness.
i’m becoming a germ-a-phobe. last night at work, i wiped down all the computers, counters, keyboards, phones, etc… at the main desk (i was especially inspired to do this after one of our staff went home sick last evening). i am constantly washing my hands (so much that they are bleeding and they hurt). when i’m at work, i constantly wipe my stethoscope, phone, pager, etc…with alcohol wipes. i make jeremy wash his hands as soon as he walks in the house after work – before he kisses me. i keep hand sanitizer in the car and use it whenever i’m out.
i never used to worry about germs this much. i probably wouldn’t be so worried about it if my doctor hadn’t recently expressed some concerns about how well my immune system functions – they did a couple of tests and found out that i’m not immune to some things that i should be immune to. hopefully my immune system is kicking in and responding to the H1N1 vaccination i got on wednesday.
for now, i’ll keep cleaning and cleaning.
