Labor Day

This was started on March 31st. I'm going to finish it tonight and share with you all.

A year ago today I labored to give birth to my 4th child. And I mean labored. In my other deliveries I never sweated or at least it never poured off me like I had run a marathon. I remember how the sweat just kept coming. My labor was induced. The waves of contractions never let up. There was no rest. I did the most during this labor. I sat in a rocking chair. I bounced on the labor ball. I did the labor dance with PF. I don't have fond memories of the birth like the others. This one really was difficult. I shouldn't complain because so many other women have harder times than I have had. But compared to the other 2 births this one was harder for me.

When it came time to actually push I had to wait for my doctor to make it across 2 parking lots to attend. They had me panting. I panted for so long that my whole body started to tingle. I never felt anything like it before. I kept thinking to myself that "I didn't need any stinking doctor. I had given birth before without one I could do this again." But they all kept forcing me to pant. When my doc finally made it into the room I was so ready to push. She wanted me to move further down the bed. I just didn't want to. I wanted to push. Anyway she got tough with me and I finally did as they asked and moved my butt down the bed. I pushed and out she came. I remember my doc saying, "You're no longer pregnant." Then came the other stuff that's really not all that fun and most don't want to hear about it but I have to say that her partner is much better (gentler) at cleaning up the afterbirth. It must have been gauze that she put up there but it felt more like a wire brush. And when she went to stitch the small tear that occurred she ran the cat gut back and forth before actually making the sutures. So I guess in away I wish I had her partner there after all. Doc O, delivered all the others and this was the first time that my doc made it to one the births.

I took a shower after the birth. I was so icky feeling. I forgot how messy labor and birth is. I surprised my nurse. She came into help me shower and she found me all done. My older children came by that evening to meet their youngest sibling. They were all so proud and excited.

Toilets + baby=Interesting times

Imp drives me to hate toilets. I have 3 older children who don't seem to be able to remember anything except whether I treated their siblings better than them.

Here is the problem: Imp can raise the toilet seat. Imp loves to play in the water of the commode. Yep, splashing is the best. Of course then things progress to putting things into the toilet. One night I came into the bathroom and there in the toilet sat a frog. Ok. A toy frog. But still it took me a back for a moment or two.

Although, I have to admit this is much better than some of the other things I've found in the toilet. Use your imagination folks. It's gotten to be quite a chore at times cleaning up after Imp. I'm living in dread of when Imp discovers how to flush the toilet. Don't you know I'm going to have some really fantastic plumbing bills in the near future.

Oh I can hear you now... "Buy one of those child safety products that lock the lid." Need I remind you I have other children in the house? They tend to leave the chore of pottying to the last second. I still hear some of my kids saying to their waste on the way to the toilet, "Hold on pee pee. Hold on." I don't think a lock on the toilet is the answer. For right now closing the door is adequate.

When Imp progresses to opening doors then we'll put those door handle covers on them. Hopefully by the time Imp can disable those covers she will not be playing in the toilet.

All I can say is Imp is horribly attracted to toilets. I'm hoping that this is a good omen that potty training shall be easier than it was with the others. I can only hope, right?