She Still Knits!

Hey, check it out, I'm posting twice within eight days- that must be some kind of new land-blog speed record... or something.

I feel so out of practice, I'm not sure I even have any command of grammar anymore... in fact, I was trying to multi-task and watch Barefoot Contessa while I typed this up but I'm having a really hard time concentrating so I had to put BC on hold. Sorry Ina!

On Sunday I went to a baby shower given for my good friend from dance, Jen, and I gave her this:

It's the Geordie Stripe Yoke Jacket from my favorite knitting book (everyone say it with me now) Natural Knits for Babies and Moms. I used Blue Sky Alpacas Dyed Cotton in Periwinkle (2 skeins) and Pickle (1 skein) and Crystal Palace Bamboo Straights (5's and 6's). I adore the buttons... I got them at Acorn Street Yarn.

Love how this sweater turned out, I'll definitely be making another one at some point. It was not difficult at all but was not boring to knit. It took me forever but only because I did not work on it for a couple months at all and then once I had the knitting done it sat around for another month before I seamed it.

I was thrilled when she opened it and the whole party ground to a halt for several minutes with everyone ohhhhhing and ahhhhhhing over it and asking me to make one for them- it is so gratifying when a handmade gift is appreciated :)

I also had a little crafty fit the day before the shower in which I produced this:

A diaper cake! I have seen them before at showers and what-not and I had some newborn diapers lying around so I made a quick run out for some blue tulle and brown ribbon (Jen's theme colors). The cakes I've seen before featured diapers that were rolled up individually and then taped together but that struck me as being difficult to take apart so I experimented... not bad for a first attempt if I do say so myself.

So that's it for now, I have a couple more things to share so you might be seeing me a bit more regularly... and for those of you who might worry that my copy of Natural Knits might get lonely now that the Geordie is done- never fear! I already have another project on the needles... It's almost like a Julie and Julia thing for me with this book- I just feel this compunction to make (almost) everything in it.... too bad "Katie & Louisa" doesn't have a better ring to it...

**note: Blogger's spell check seems to have already gone to bed for the night so I apologize for any spelling errors! I tried to proof but, well, it is past my bedtime**

Meanwhile, back at the ranch...

(Insert standardized statement re: how long it has been since last post, how I've been so busy, where has time gone?, "bad blogger" guilt, blah, blah, blah... you know the drill)

Y'all didn't want to read all that crap anyway and I don't want to type it :)

So. What do you want to know about more? The little kiddo or the knitting?

Aw... that is so sweet, putting my baby ahead of the knitting... though you may simply surmise that there is not much knitting going on- not far from the truth- or you may REALLY want to see the knitting but you're sparing my feelings. For those of you not at all interested in seeing my little guy [heartless meanies ;) ] scroll down- I promise there is knitting.

Either way, allow me to present the obligatory baby photos:

Cute kid but how about that fabulous blanket he's lying on? Yes folks, that is the Albatross!

Does he look like he's appreciating the softness of his organic cotton hand knit blanket? Hmmmm...

Hooray! Mom's done making me model her knitting projects...

All joking aside, it is hard to believe Matthew is already two months old.

Yes. His name is Matthew... I just can't come up with a good nickname for him for the blog so I'll just use his name. And my daughter shall cease to be called Pooh Bear and will be referred to as Gwen from now on (she's a Gwendolyn... Pooh Bear arose from our calling her Gwennie and singing the Winnie the Pooh song to her as a wee baby: Gwennie the Pooh, Gwennie the Pooh, silly willy nilly little girl... yup. we were clearly sleep deprived!)

Anyway, Matthew is growing like a weed- Hubby and I are already placing bets on when Matthew will pass Gwen in terms of height and weight. At two months he already weighs what she weighed at six. Crazy. In his defense she is small for her age but still!

He is adorable and I love him like crazy even if I am counting the days until he sleeps through the night, I can wean him from breastfeeding, etc. It is so much harder to breast feed a second child- you just don't have the "free" time you had with the first to do nothing but sit on the couch and nurse- Gwen always chooses to do something potentially dangerous and/or extremely messy just as I have settled into nursing Matthew. *sigh* Hubby thinks I won't nurse Matt as long as I nursed Gwen because of the time/attention contraints. (I nursed Gwen at least part-time until she was eleven months old- then the double drain of being pregnant and nursing was just too my fo the ol' bod) I explained to him that mommy guilt requires me to nurse Matthew at least as long as I nursed Gwen.

And now Mommy guilt is making me share these:

Diva in training?

But Mom, I need the car to escape my paparazzi!

Helping?

Onward to the knitting!

I am knitting but progress is veeeeeeeeerrrrrrrrrrryyyyyyyyy slow. You just don't get much accomplished at a 2 row per day pace. I have a few things on the needles but I'll get to those in a day or two, right now I want to reveal the finished objects that have languished in my photo file, just waiting to be seen.

And yes, they are baby knits: two pairs of booties and two hats.

These are the Angora Booties from Last Minute Knitted Gifts.

Obviously not in angora. I made these using Debbie Bliss Baby Cashmerino in Baby Blue (#202). Here they are in action:

Unfortunately, this blue pair is now too small for not-so-little Matthew. So I made another, slightly larger pair but no picutres yet so someday you might see those. Maybe. I actually like the second pair better because the toes are not quite so square looking. This problem wouldn't show up so badly if you used the called for fuzzy angora but I can't quite justify a non-washable yarn for a baby knit so I guess I have to deal with the square toe, don't I?

Next up, Simple Hat #1 from Itty Bitty Hats.

This was knit from Rowan Hand Knit Cotton in Linen. As you can see, Matthew's not terribly itty bitty head has already outgrown this hat. Not a problem though. I actually knit this hat twice. The original one was bigger- too big for a newborn, so I knit the second one. I'll try to get a picture of the larger version. It really won't be very exciting or different. I knit it in a different yarn (DB Baby Cashmerino) but the same basic tan color.

Big sister Gwen thinks the hat is hers...

And then I have another project from Natural Knits for Babies and Moms which I have decided is my favorite knitting book (at least for now)- I've knit five projects from it so far (I think, maybe I missed one), I have one more on the needles, and I have the yarn to make three more- I'm obsessed, it seems. But I digress...

The Beanie Hat and Boy's Booties! Knit from Louisa Harding's Nautical Cotton which I really liked. The braided quality of the yarn gives the finished knits a nubby texture that adds to the visual interest of the piece. The colors are Chocolate and Sand. Love 'em! So cute. If I had more knitting time I'd make several more pairs in different color combinations but alas, minimal knitting time at present so I'm moving on to other things.

This hat and the booties were my hospital knitting projects. I finished the hat while in labor (about half of the hat)- my doctors and nurses thought I was nuts. I figured it was the last free time I would have for a while. Besides, I had an epidural... I was just waiting to get to the magic 10 cm mark. The booties I knit while recovering. Since I had a c-section I was there for a couple days.

You know, I really need to get Matthew to model more of his knits... I got so used to photographing things sans baby before he was born I didn't even think about taking a picture of him in the hat and booties. Duh.

Oh, that reminds me. Remember the bonnet I knit for Gwen that she refused to wear? Now that it is summer and really too warm for a wool blend hat? On her head, every time she sees it. If it is in her line of sight? Much pointing and "Ha! Ha! Ha!" (she has issues with final consonants- what do you want from a nineteen month old?). I'll have to snap a picture sometime... it requires stealth right now. If she sees you with the camera she comes running over and points at it, wanting to play with it. Consequently I have many pictures of her index finger or thumb. It's a cute thumb, but still...

Whats-apalooza?

Good grief. Has it really almost been a month since I posted? Is anyone still out there?


Life in the land of dirty diapers and baby spit-up is predictably hectic and challenging. I won't bore you with the gory details. Those of you with two or more children will just smile knowingly and tell me "I told you so" and those of you with one or no children will just be either a) frightened or b) disbelieving. Let's just suffice to say that my knitting time has been curtailed exponentially and I don't remember the last time I had five minutes by myself that didn't involve a cubicle or room requiring toilet paper.

My middle sister and parents were here this past week and it was nice to have them around to lend a hand. Todd's dad flies in tomorrow for a long weekend. After that we are on our own. Or I should say that I will be on my own since Hubby will be starting to work again for the first time since the little one was born and I will running a zone defense on my two kids instead of he & I covering them together in a man-to-man set. Actually I have had them to myself the yesterday and today. It wouldn't have been too bad (I took them for a loooooooonnnnnngggg walk at Green Lake both days) except that Hubby has conveniently had evening commitments. I start to lose it around seven in the evening...


Enough about that, no one wants to hear me whine about being a mom.

So.

I hear there is this cool sock swap happening this week called Sockapalooza 4 or something. Sounds really neat.


What's that you say?

I signed up for the swap?

Really? Hmmmmm.... socks.... deadline.... massively overwhelmed website... I think I remember something like that but are we at the end already? Seems like it was so far in the future... Like August 2nd or something.

Pardon? I didn't quite catch that last bit.


Today is August 2nd?


Oh dear.


Alright, so maybe I'm not quite that screwed but I am woefully behind in my sock manufacturing process. You see, several Sundays ago I was all set and ready to go: had the pattern, had the yarn, had the needles, ready to cast on. I just needed to finish the hat I was working on and then it was go time. I figured I'd finish the baby hat during Pooh Bear's nap and then I'd start the socks that night. A perfect plan. Only one teensy problem. The next day, a Monday, yup, you guessed it- I went into labor. Now the hat got finished but the socks... let's just say their inception was, um, delayed a couple weeks. And since that time, not a whole lot of knitting happening. The most progress I made was when my parents were here but I managed to negate that by making a mistake and dropping several stitches necessitating a large amount of ripping from which I have not yet recovered. Luckily Sasha wrote me to let me know I had until the 7th to mail my socks especially since my socks are just going for a short trip down I-5. But still... I think I need major tinkering with the time space continuum in order to finish.

And to make matters worse?

The socks from MY pal arrived today. I'll post a picture as soon as I find the time to take one.

So I should go- I feel guilty typing when I should be k2tog, k3(4), kf&b, kf&b, k4(5), ssk-ing.

Hey, let's have a CONTEST!!!! I'll send a fabulous Prize to the commenter who correctly identifies the sock pattern from the above. If more than one person gets it right I'll pick one winner at random. No idea what the prize will be but I'll make it a good one.

(See I've been gone so long I'm resorting to a contest to get you guys to read!)

Hey..... Wait a minute....

That's not a baby knit...

It's a baby!

Our little Piglet finally decided to join us Monday, July 2nd at 5:28 pm. At 8 lbs, 3 ozs and 20" long he was bigger than I thought he would be, and yes, he had an even bigger head than his sister. I'll post more about the actual birth later (yes, there was knitting during labor), for now I give you these pictures to enjoy while I go feed the ravenous little monster!

Holding Pattern

I'm still here. The bun is still baking.

My frustration is getting to me. *sigh* I am chasing the carrot but someone keeps moving the stick. When we went to the hospital last weekend they told me to come back when my contractions were 2-3 minutes apart and they were strong enough that I had to stop what I was doing until it was over. That occured last night so we went back. I had charted my contractions for 3 and a half hours before I decided to call Labor & Delivery. I gave them the run down and they told me to come on in. Hubby and I put Gwen to bed leaving one of my good friend's to hold down the fort and we hopped in the car. Neither of us had much hope that this trip would end with a baby but we had hit the milestone the hospital prescribed so we followed directions. End result of the trip: no baby. I am still 4 cm dilated but I am also now 50% effaced so that is some progress. They also "stripped my membranes" which isn't as bad as it sounds- it is a simple procedure that can release hormones to stimulate labor- we'll see if it has any effect, so far it has just made my contractions somewhat more painful. This time, when we left the hospital, they told us not to come back until I was having regular, close, white-knuckle contractions. So there you have it- the new carrot.

And in non-baby related news (yes! there is some!)

I finally finished the Knit Puffy for my Secret Pal:

Here it is in its natural habitat :) Pattern is from OneSkein. Knit per the instructions from Aloo yarn. I know I complained about knitting with the nettle yarn but in the end I was really pleeased with the results. I might even make another one. But not anytime soon. I sent the package off on Monday and my pal, AJ, received it yesterday. I really enjoyed Secret Pal 10 and will most likely do the next swap.

I have also been the lucky recipient of a couple of fun and fabulous packages in the last couple weeks.

First up, a prize from an SP10 group contest, courtesy of Robyn, my fantastic hostess!

This is a really cute cross-stitch kit. The balloon reads, "Who are these kids and why are they calling me mom?" For those of you who don't know, cross-stitch was my first needle art love so I am looking forward to tackling this project. Thank you Robyn :)

Next I received a treat from Sasha of free wool as a prize for a contest she ran:

All sorts of good things. Three vintage knitting pattern booklets (I swear I think my grandmother made me one of the sweaters in one of the books- it looks so familiar!), a Japanese booklet of little animals (the correct term escapes my brain at the moment and I am too lazy to look it up) to needle felt, recent copies of BabyBug (Pooh Bear loves this!), mothering, ReadyMade and Bust- all of which is really more inspiration than I can handle right now. My crafting/knitting to do list is multiple pages long and I know that my time will be limited to non-existent soon. The bag included some whistle candy and a Fran's Macadamia Gold bar which was waaaaaaaayyyyy too tasty. Last, but certainly not least, is a really neat skein of Noro Sakura which is a really unique yarn. Fabulous bright colorway and it periodically has these sections where the yarn is wrapped around the base in a way that totally reminds me of the friendship bracelets I used to make with my friends from embroidery thread back in the day -So fun! Thanks Sasha!

Lastly, a big hug and thank you to everyone for the kind words and good wishes you've sent my way as I have been making my way way through the slowest labor ever recorded, I really appreciate it... you guys are keeping me (somewhat) sane.

Next time: Baby Knits - the longer BtB stays in, the more I get done...so that is the bright side of this whole thing. BTW, generally a bad sign when the nurses at your doctor's office take a look at you and say, "Man, you are going to drop that baby any minute!"

Young man, this behavoir is unacceptable...

Where to start?

I finished objects to share.

I have fun prizes from blog contests I have won recently to show off.

I'm still pregnant. Barely. Annoyingly. Frustratingly. Painfully. Crazily. Still. Pregnant.

So much to cover, so little time and really, I want to skip the knitting stuff and go right to the baby kvetching.

So I'll compromise: a little knitting and then I get to bitch share my story.

So here's a shock, I have baby knits to show. Knock y'all over with a feather, right?
Ah, yes. Another rendition of the Bib O'Love (full size this time) and the Baby Genius Burp Cloth from the indispensable Mason-Dixon Knitting. I knit these from Lion Cotton (Lion Brand's version of kitchen cotton) in the Wedgewood colorway on size 6 Crystal Palace bamboo straights. It took me a little more than one ball to make both. I love the way the variegated yarn made a cool x pattern on the bib. Unfortunately, you can tell where I switched to the new ball of yarn on the burp cloth. I thought they were both the same dye lot but I had misplaced the ball band for the first skein so I couldn't be sure... In the end I figured it, screw it, it's just a burp cloth. These two cuties will be winging away to Rochester, NY as part of a gift for our good friends who had a little boy a couple weeks ago.

I swear, I am actually going to make some of these for my kiddos at some point- hopefully before they graduate from college.

OK. Enough knitting for now. I will share my fantastic blog contest prizes next time... I have to get the ridiculousness that is the last week of my pregnancy off my chest.

BtB, he is a troublemaker.

I may feel 500 times better at this point in my pregnancy than I did with my daughter but he is causing me grief nonetheless. As y'all know, I have been having contractions for over a week now, and at my doctor's appointment last Thursday I was 2 cm dilated so I was making progress. Thursday night the contractions went from 20-25 minutes apart to 10-12 minutes apart. Hooray! More progress.

Friday night arrives. Contractions are now 5-6 minutes apart. When they had been consistently at this pace for 3 hours we called into the hospital to check in and see what our next step should be. Come on in, they told us, but need to rush or hurry since the pain was still completely tolerable for me. So we call our sitter to come watch Pooh Bear and we finally arrive at the hospital around 1:30 in the morning. We are put in a triage room in the Labor & delivery wing, hooked up to all the fun monitors and then we wait for a doctor to come around to check on me. At 2:00 the doctor comes in, checks me and says that I am 3 cm dilated and she feels I am still in latent (early) labor. She goes off to check with her chief to figure out what to do with me. They decide not to send me home but to see if I can walk myself into active labor. Hubby and I are told to go walk the hospital and to come back at 4:00am to be checked again.

Walking at 2 in the morning. For two hours. fun. Did I mention I had slept maybe two hours the night before? But I will prevail. I will do what they ask and get to active labor. I have rarely met a physical challenge I couldn't overcome and this is no different. I am going to have a baby dammit.

A hospital is very boring between the hours of 2 and 4am.

At four we are back in labor & delivery and my contractions are now a) 2-3 minutes apart and b) more painful. Both good signs.

A quick cervical check shows that I am now 4 cm dilated. Yes! I have accomplished the tasks set before me. But wait, the refs throw a penalty flag and put the baby game on hold.

My cervix is not thinning like they would like, maybe I am not where I need to be. The doctor leaves to consult with her chief again.

Minutes drag on and finally at 4:30 am the doctor comes back with the good news that they have decided to admit me. Hallelujah! I am going to have a baby.

We are assigned a room for which Hubby is very grateful- even the horribly uncomfortable sofa/bed combo they have for family members in the labor rooms seems like a feather bed at this point- we are both exhausted.

I get my IV put in- the nurse chose a horrendous location- as soon as it was in I realized that it totally restricted my hand/wrist range of motion and that there would be NO KNITTING possible as long as it was there. At 5 am my fuzzy, sleep deprived brain thought this was a crisis and I almost asked her to move it but it was pretty painful the first time and I am not quite psychotic enough to go through that again (in retrospect it really was a bad location, I could barely change my clothes). They told me to try to get some sleep so I did.

Fast forward to 8:30am. The doctor comes in and wakes me up. My contractions have slowed down to 7-9 minutes apart so she wants to check me again to see what, if anything, is going on.

You know what's coming don't you?

Zero progress. Nothing. Zip. Nada.

*sigh*

They discharge me and send us home.

So disappointing. So close and yet so far.

Since Saturday morning my contractions have bounced all over the place. We have been walking everyday trying to to get to active labor. I can get close. Last night the contractions were 2-3 minutes apart and they were pretty painful but clearly I am still here so....

I know I still have three weeks until my due date so everything is fine but it is just the frustration of being so close and going home empty handed. The constant contractions and everything else is just making me uncomfortable so I am Ready.

Seriously, the concept of walking around dilated to four cm while my insides play Twister for more than a few more days makes me crazy.

So listen to your mama little boy and come on out, we want to meet you!

Hey look! Knitting!

Another day done and BtB is still cooking :) It will be interesting to see what my OB says tomorrow afternoon- if things are progressing or if they have come to a standstill. Go baby, go! Mama is tired of being pregnant.

Tonight I actually have knitting to share... Here is my finished baby blanket.

This is the Baby Blanket from Natural Knits for Babies and Moms. Knit from Blue Sky Alpacas Organic Cotton in Willow on my trusty Addi Turbos (Size 7 & 8). It matches the hat I knit a couple weeks ago. Here they are as a duo:

This blanket was a super fast knit- it has been done for well over a week (it is a small blanket, 18" x 24", good for car seats or use in a swing or bouncy seat). I cast on for it on a Tuesday night and wove in the ends on the following Saturday afternoon. I would definitely make this again and I think it would be a great gift item.

That's it for tonight. I need to put the finishing touches on a couple things and then I need to do a little housework before bed. Sleep is good.

I'm pooped.

So excuse the lameness of this post. I have lots of goodies to share but it will have to wait for another day... I am just too tired tonight.

I have been plugging away on my two gifts. My bib and burp cloth are done except for the button that needs to be sewn on the bib. And I now have 21 of 29" complete on the bath scrubby. After I finish the tube I "just" need to do 19" of i-cord.

I have two baby projects that are eating away at me, crying out to be cast on but I am being good, holding them at bay until the gifts are done.

And speaking of the baby-to-be (BtB), he is certainly giving us a lot of hints that he will be putting in an early appearance (those of you who are only interested in knitting can turn away now, this post is taking sharp left into Babyville). I have been having consistent low-grade contractions since Saturday night with a journey into some pretty intense contractions Sunday night (as in I thought we were headed to full-on labor intense). As a result of Sunday's fun and games Hubby decided not to make his scheduled trip to San Fran this week. So of course, with that decision made the contractions let up and have been pretty mild and less frequent... Typical. You know that I would have gone into full blown labor the minute he stepped on that plane but now.... :)

And just to keep us on our toes, BtB decided to take a looooooooonnnnnnnngggg siesta today and not move or kick for hours, freaking us out. One trip to Labor & Delivery later everything is fine. As soon as the nurse hooked me up to the fetal monitors he "woke up" and his heart rate was everything it should be. I was grateful he was fine but somewhat chagrined at making a wholly unnecessary trip to the hospital. At least I found out that I am now 1.5 cm dilated (half a cm more than on Thursday) so things are making slow progress. My doctor has said she'll admit me when I hit 3 cm so I am halfway there (since I was induced last time we have no idea if I am a fast or slow laborer so they will admit me a little earlier than they would with some women just in case I am fast).

BtB will be 37 weeks (technically full term) on Saturday so he can feel free to put in an appearance anytime after that. I hope he doesn't dawdle. Stick a fork in me- I'm ready to be done.

The stash not flashed...

Well, I was going to snap some pictures of the yarn stash this evening after Pooh Bear went to bed but it isn't going to happen (sorry Robyn, I'm an SP10 Contest Slacker). Why not? Let's just say climbing up the two flights of stairs to my craft disaster room holds little to no appeal when your are sitting on your couch experiencing false (I hope) labor. Oh the joy! Oh the amusement! Oh wow, that hurt. Better now. Still not climbing any stairs until I have to...

I can tell you about my stash... A picture may be worth a thousand words but words, well, they are worth 1/1000 of a picture.

Seriously, my stash is not all that exciting even if it has enjoyed exponential growth since the beginning of the year. Kind of like my belly.... hmmm. Stash enhancement justification! Katie's First Law of Pregnant Yarn Acquisition: One's stash must grow in proportion to one's pregnant belly. Kind of like men gaining sympathetic pregnancy weight. Pregnant knitters of the world rejoice and unite! You really need that yarn. (I am nothing if not an enabler- don't say I never did anything for you) For those of you who aren't pregnant- sorry. But give me time, I'll be un-pregnant here shortly (please lord, let it be really shortly) and I'll have to come up with the Corollary for Non-Pregnant Stash Acquisition.

Actually, my stash is very easy to visualize: just imagine the Debbie Bliss Cashmerino, Baby Cashmerino, and Cashmerino Aran displays at your lys. Yes, the whole thing. Good. Now to that add the RYC Cashsoft display. Toss in a few skeins of Blue Sky Alpacas Hand Dyed Cotton and a few of their organic cotton skeins. Got it? Next add around 20 skeins of Rowan Handknit Cotton and 10-15 balls of various "kitchen" cottons. That's about it. Oh, well, you can toss in a dozen skeins of sock yarn: 3 STR, 1 Yarn Pirate, 1 Sea Wool, 5 Shibui, 2 Lorna's laces, 2 Claudia's Handpainted- ok, so that is more than a dozen, technically 14. That's really about it. I mean, I have other random stuff but really- lots and lots of Cashmerino and Cashsoft- I love the stuff.

OK, I need to dash, I have knitting to so and my post from earlier today did nothing to restore my mojo (I had kind of hoped whining would magically make knitting happen) so I need to get my fingers on the needles or the three pairs of booties I am imagining will remain a picture in Last Minute Knitted gifts and three skeins of baby cashmerino in my stash (off white, light blue and apple green in case you were wondering).

Phew!

Well, I am glad to hear that I am not alone in my bewilderment over clueless women birthing babes for fun and entertainment, I was beginning to wonder.... hmmmm. Maybe I should cut down on my cable tv consumption.

And to address a couple comments- I know the birth of my daughter was an anomaly- there was nothing normal about it and most women never even see a 24th of of labor, let alone twice that, thank goodness. A brief (as possible) explanation: I had pre-eclampsia and had to be induced at 37 and a half weeks. Inductions are not the fastest things ever and mine was no exception. I had two rounds of cervadil (12 hrs each) followed by pitocin. While the cervadil caused contractions I really made no progress dilation-wise until I got the pitocin so I got to experience all the fun of contractions with none of the results for a full day- yippee. My water broke naturally around 32 or so hours (not really sure, it is all a little hazy) and I finally dilated fully and got to push around 40 hours- and then I just kept pushing... I pushed for at least 7 hours which is unheard of but I had really good stamina and there was a complex emergency c-section down the hall that robbed me of my doctor for a while so the nurse and I just kept going (I'm a bit stubborn). It finally became apparent the Pooh Bear was stuck and I was delirious so it was c-section time. I keep saying I could write a book about the labor experience because I literally experienced almost every aspect possible.

This time will be better because I cannot be induced again due to the c-sec (the contractions induction causes are really hard on the uterus and can be too much for one that has been cut open previously). So it is either a naturally occurring labor or another c-section for me. I'm hoping to skip the c-section this time but I'll be happy with whatever method is the safest for #2.

One last comment before I move on to knitting (which is why most of you read this blog, not to hear my ridiculous life moments), so if you're bored hang tight... yarn is coming.

Despite the hours of labor and the exhaustion I experienced, the actual physical pain was not at all what I expected. Yes, I had an epidural but not until I was almost 9 cm so I felt my fair share of contractions... Honestly, and women everywhere are going to want to kill me for saying this, but it was a lot more painful when I blew out my ankle several years ago dancing. It was not as excruciating as I feared, for me anyway. Maybe I am just used to "playing through the pain" from dancing for so long (you know, if it ain't gushing blood or falling off, you're fine, keep pirouette-ing). Or maybe I had so freaked myself out to think it was going to be horribly painful that the actual experience was a "let down." Or maybe I'm just weird...

AND NOW WE COME TO THE KNITTING PORTION OF OUR PROGRAM

I am actually making progress on those WIPs I posted about last week- hooray! I'll be ready for another round of cast-on-itis in no time :)

I finished these three days ago but didn't get around to taking a photo until tonight.

These are the downsized booties from the Royal Baby set I made earlier. I'm just pleased my math worked out and they still look like the intended product. Here's a picture for size comparison's sake.

I also have been working on my baby bottoms.

I'm really pleased that I figured out how to do the foot on the first leg with a minimum of brow crinkling and swearing... not having made socks before this was my first experience with a seamless, sock-like structure. I'd like to complete these over the weekend so I can get to work on the other 200 baby knits I have in mind. Nine months is simply not a long enough gestational period to get all the requisite baby knitting in... I'm ready to be done being pregnant and mentally/physically wouldn't mind if he comes early but at the same time, every day he's in there = more rows completed!

Labor is not a Spectator Sport

So one of my obsessions, pregnancy-wise, is watching the myriad of reality shows on tv dealing with birthing babies. You know the genre: A Baby Story, Bringing Home Baby, Runway Moms (although seeing fabulous looking pregnant women always makes me feel inadequate, I still watch the show- glutton for punishment, I guess), Babies: Special Delivery, et cetera. The premise is the same, follow a mom/couple through the last bit of her pregnancy and her labor/delivery, followed by a brief stint of the life at home post-birth.

With the exception of Bringing Home Baby the focal point of all these shows is the labor scene with all the requisite shots of the mom huffing, puffing, grunting and screaming through the pain. Why do I watch? I'm not sure. But I do... I can't help it.

I enjoy watching but two things do bother me.

Does no one take the pre-natal classes I had to take? Some of the couples are sooooooooooooo clueless. They don't know what to expect other than the general notion that a baby will somehow appear at the end of the day. Now I know that not everyone has access to all the resources I did but seriously folks. Last week I watched one episode where the woman was a mere six hours into labor and was freaking out because (insert extremely whiny, pitiful sounding, sob inflected voice) "nobody told her it was going to take so long."

So long? Puh-lease. You got an epidural at 2 cm- how bad can it be? You just said you can't feel your feet- are you really in pain or are you just bored? We all know that those of us who grew up in the MTV era supposedly have no attention span.

As the woman who had a 48 hour labor episode before they wheeled me in for a c-section, peddle your sad little pity party elsewhere. Really. You have had nine months (give or take) to prepare for this moment- could you not have read a book, a pamphlet, or a website? Asked your mom, hell, asked any woman who has kids- somewhere along the line someone would have disabused you of the notion that labor is a relatively rapid experience (and yes I know that some women have miraculously quick births but thinking about them just makes me jealous and bitter so I try not to think about them).

My second issue? This is probably just quirk of my personality but I do not understand the women who have a bajillion people in the birthing room with them. Yes, birth is a wonderful, magical thing- but folks, no matter how you look at it, it ain't pretty. And call me crazy but the last thing in the world I would ever want would be my in-laws in the room with me. And do you really think your five year old son/daughter needs or wants to watch you give birth? Seeing mommy crying and screaming for multiple hours? My daughter freaks out if I lay down on the couch, thinking something is wrong- seeing me give birth would no doubt result in my paying for years of therapy for her. Sorry, but the only person not in the medical profession who is allowed in the room with me is my husband. He sees me every morning with bed-head and all those other not so glamorous moments we all experience. I think he has a realistic view of me and the vigors of labor won't disillusion him at this point in our relationship. Besides, he had a hand in this process and should be there so I can wring his neck and call him names when the pain kicks in for the miracle that is birth.

I've spent a great deal of my life on stage but ladies, birth is not performance art.

I promise no ranting in my next post, I have knitting content to share.

Ei-yi-yi...

...a week since my last post *sigh* I am a bad blogger (that was just for you Jessica). I have things to blog and post topics in mind but I just don't have the patience to sit down and write anything coherent. I am a woman possessed. the baby-boy-to-be has taken over my brain and it seems he has no intention of returning it anytime soon. Suffice to say I am running around like a chicken with my head cut off, trying to get stuff done pre-baby.

And I am aware that I have eight and half weeks to go, plenty of time, I know.

And I know that whatever doesn't get done is not a big deal... this is my second time doing this, I remember that the world didn't unravel at the seams when I had Pooh Bear and everything wasn't perfect and my to do list was completely checked off.

I know, I know.

And yet. And yet.

I simply have to do this stuff. And it is all stuff: getting my husband's birthday presents, getting father's day gifts taken care of for my dad and my husband, making sure I have my mom and my sister's gifts purchased for their birthdays-all these events take place before my scheduled due date and you just never know, I don't want to be caught out... and there are other things too: picking paint for my daughter's room and the nursery, going through the clothes from my daughter and pulling out the things that are appropriate for a boy and getting them ready (yes, I am one of those moms, I am not going to put my son in pink even though he'll never know and it might build character or something- I just can't do it) for instance- nothing critical but it feels important to me to GET IT DONE. now. if not sooner.

It makes no sense and I feel a bit crazy but...

Anyway. Hopefully tomorrow when I have some things checked off my list (I created a spreadsheet - this is how sick I am right now) I will feel better able to write about knitting. There is definitely knitting going on, it is all a part of the same psychosis.

Until tomorrow, then. I have to update my spreadsheet.

Like I wasn't even here...

Howdy folks! I'm blogging but this really won't be anything to write home about... just a quick drive by. Just throwing something out here so I don't feel guilty about not blogging for a while :)

I'm hard at work on the Baby Bolero from OneSkein and I need to finish it and a hat before 8:30am on Saturday when they will be gifted to a friend at a baby shower. I only started the bolero on Sunday so I'm a bit stressed. I've been told it is a quick knit but you never know. So far so good progress-wise (I am halfway through the second sleeve) but I'm a bit nervous about the whole "zipping" away of the provisional cast-on thing... I'm also not sure my finishing skills are up to the seaming. I'm signed up for a finishing skills class but ironically enough, the class starts 2 hours after the baby shower is over. A lot of good that does me, eh? Oh well, future projects will benefit.

I'll be sure to take pictures of the finished product but I don't have time to mess with any WIP pics... In addition to my project with a deadline I also just found out on Sunday that my father-in-law will be visiting us on Sunday and Monday so I need to whip the house into shape, as well.

I also need to post a couple of finished objects but again, no pictures yet. Soon. Yes, soon... a nice vague term that could mean tomorrow or three weeks from now. I wouldn't hold your breath for tomorrow.

Oh, and by-the-by, as of Saturday I will only have twelve weeks to go in my pregnancy and for some reason this is FREAKING ME OUT!!! Up until now I've been really lackadaisical... do ti do, plenty of time, not much to do, this is the second kid after all, we have most of the stuff we need, dum te dum... But now? Holy crap! I have so much to do... my daughter's room needs to be painted and decorated, we need to get her a toddler bed, the baby's room is not done, at all. No paint picked, I'm still sitting the fence on my choice of linens for him. I need to pick a new, double (ugh) stroller- this is going to be a pain- none of the choices really thrill me. I need to finally finish unpacking everything and putting the house in order because I know this will not get done once there are two bambinos running amok. And then there is the knitting- a million little projects I want to do. Oh yeah, and the damned Albatross. I have to finish that.

Look, I'm still Here! and I can still ramble...

Howdy. Been quite a while... I intended to write regularly but, um... not so much in practice. I have excuses (who doesn't?): we moved, we had the whole family here for Thanksgiving... Ok, that really only covers November doesn't it? But wait, just like Ginsu knives - there's more! At the endof November my hubby was offered an interesting job opportunity in California so we planned to move (again). Beginning in December he was commuting between Seattle and California each week so I was Pooh Bear's sole caregiver and I just couldn't find the energy to post (the idea being that Pooh Bear and I would move down to CA late February to mid-March).

*A quick aside here - I have SOOOOOOOOO much respect and admiration for single parents now. I have no idea how you do it. You must be stronger than I am! Actually, I've been impressed by single parents ever since my daughter was born but now my admiration has increased a hundred-fold.*

At any rate, life felt unbelievably crazy and I was anxious about picking up everything and heading down the coast. I felt overwhelmed by being with my daughter every moment of practically every day. I felt guilty for feeling like I was going to lose my mind if I spent one more minute with my daughter who is so cute and adorable, who I love dearly, and who really is well behaved. I just felt trapped. I was mad at my husband for putting me in a situation that made me anxious, depressed and guilty. Then I felt more guilty for being mad at him for seizing a great career opportunity - how selfish could I be? I was not a happy camper. My poor husband. I nearly tore his head off every time I saw him. It was ridiculous. All week I couldn't wait for him to come back home and then when he arrived I was a woman possessed. I was not nice. I yelled, I screamed, I pouted. I was a three year old (that might be an insult to three year olds). I was stressed and depressed and handled it extremely badly.

And then, an end of January miracle. The clouds parted and the sun appeared. After a meltdown involving a multitude of tears on my part and some job dissatisfaction on Hubby's part, we changed our minds. California was not going to happen. It was like flipping a switch. I'm happy to say I am now a normal person again. Seriously. Like it never happened. I am ecstatic. I can now really unpack and settle into the beautiful new house we purchased in October. I can plan Pooh Bear's room decor (pink! gotta get it in before she gets older and hates one her mom's favorite colors).

Even better, Hubby is transitioning out of the CA job which means he is AT HOME, ALL DAY! We can all spend time together! It is fantastic! Last week, the three of us went shopping downtown - on a Thursday. During the day. What a concept! It was a blast :)

So there you have it. My excuses. Moving, Family Holiday, Moving Again, Meltdown. But now: Rebirth. Which brings me to my last mitigating circumstance for my slackness over the last three and a half months...

A baby! That's right. Pooh Bear will get to be the Big Sister. A little brother is expected in mid-July. Very exciting! I feel so trendy as many of my favorite blog writers are also pregnant. It is kind of neat to follow everyone else's progress as they go on this incredible journey.

Anyway, I'll go now. Maybe tomorrow I'll have some knitting content... There has been knitting - at least in the last couple weeks, post-January miracle :)