Sleeping by yourself at night can make you feel alone.

A side effect of Darrick's shoulder surgery is that he's not able to sleep in bed. The first night after his surgery, he was up and down between the recliner and the couch, and even tried to prop himself up in bed...to no avail. Add a teething Luca to the mix, and suffice it to say no one got much sleep that night. By about 4 am, he discovered that the couch was the most comfortable, and that's where he been every night since. He has an arsenal of pillows down on the couch, as well as a thin sheet (for when the pain meds make him sweat) and a comforter (for when he misses the feeling of my fluffy ass next to him?). In the morning, they get piled up on top of Luca's chalkboard table, and in the evening he has to fight the dogs to get possession back of 'his' new bed.

So we're essentially living like Lucy and Ricky, sleeping in separate beds. The first few nights I'd wake at 3 am startled and worried he wasn't next to me. I've since adjusted now that we're a week into this arrangement. Truth be told, while I miss him, I am relishing a few things about this change. One, Darrick is a wretched snorer. He snores pretty badly on the couch, but I have the luxury of being able to shut the bedroom door and shut the snoring out. Two, I now have a California King bed all to myself. And, really, what could be better?

Well...actually...I know what could be better. My hubby. Next to me every night, and feeling all better.

Some random updates.

I'm officially in my 5th month of pregnancy now. Holy shit...when did THAT happen?!?! I had an appointment with my MW last weekend. It was a busy day, so Darrick ended up staying home while Luca and I went. Everything is going well; weight gain is low but fine, blood pressure and all past bloodwork are normal, and baby Sprinkle seems to be growing just fine. Sprinkle's heart rate was 163, and he/she was moving like crazy when our MW put the doppler on to listen to the HR. We talked about whether or not we will get another ultrasound (most people have one between 18 and 22 weeks to check the baby's growth, location of the placenta, amniotic fluid levels, and baby's brain and vital organs). A lot of moms who homebirth skip u/s entirely, unless there's a medical indication one is needed (less fetal movement, trouble finding heart beat, growing too fast or slow, etc). However, my MW told me a good number of the moms she works with do the u/s around 20 weeks, both to see the baby and to find out the sex. Since we're not planning on finding out the sex and we had an u/s and pretty in-depth bloodwork at 13 weeks, she left it entirely up to us to decide whether to have another u/s done. We're leaning toward not having one...everything indicates both baby and I are healthy, growth is on target, and the previous u/s and bloodwork show us things are very likely to be just fine. It's a decision we still have time to make: the MW can give us a referral at any time for an u/s, so we have time to change our minds.

I sometimes get random questions from friends and family about what care under a HB midwife is like. One question I get is, "Do you have to pee in a cup?". Indeed, I do. The only real difference is that I pee in the cup, dip my own test strip in, dump the pee, and hand the strip off to my MW. My MW did give me shit for not eating or drinking enough that day (apparently those pee strips you do tell a LOT more than I knew), so I need to be more conscientious about my food and drink intake, especially when I get busy.

Another question I get is about whether I have to weigh in at every appointment. I do, but it's not as strict as most MW/OB practices. She has a normal bathroom scale, and I step on and report to her what it says. At my last appointment, I forgot to step on the scale, but she asked me about my weight gain and I told her what I'd gained, and she was happy with it. It's kind of nice to not have 'scale stress' at every appointment!

Also on the baby front, I am really feeling this baby move now. I've been feeling 'flutters' and 'bubbles' since I was about 12 weeks along, but now it's real movement I am feeling. I forgot how awesome this part of pregnancy is! It really drives home for me that I need to take more time to focus on myself and prepping for this birth.

In other news, Darrick underwent rotator cuff (shoulder) surgery on Tuesday of this week. Back in mid-August, he tore a ligament in a jiu-jitsu tournament, and he needed to have it repaired. He's on fall break right now, so he thought that would be the best time to do it. The surgery went really well, and the Dr was confident he'd recover quickly and fully. In the meantime, though, he's going to have to take it very easy and he's dealing with a significant amount of pain. It's been rough on him to have to get help with things like putting on a shirt, and Luca's had to learn that Daddy has an 'owie' and be gentle with him. But he's doing pretty great and I have no doubt he'll recover like a champ. :)

These things, they happen.

I should preface this with a little Good News/Bad News.
Good news first: Darrick competed in a jiu jitsu tournament this weekend. It was his first in a few years, and he took home two gold medals for the heavyweight class.
Bad news next: He also took home a severely effed up shoulder. He actually injured it in the second competition, the one where they go without their gi (you know, the Karate Kid outfit?) and wrestle in shorts and t-shirts. A giant man landed on his shoulder and - we think - tore a ligament. Of course, being that my husband is more manly than metro, he continued on to wrestle 4 other giant men and jack the shoulder up further. The result is he's practically an invalid who can't move one whole arm, is in pain, and can't even do simple things like put on his shirt or carry Luca.

So all day today, we've been dealing with this injury, meaning he's had to avoid most things he's usually really good about doing: filling Luca's sippy cup (it's a 2-handed job unscrewing the top and cleaning it), putting away dishes, carrying things, taking out the trash, etc. About an hour before Luca's bedtime, he also had to ask me help him record grades for his classes, since sorting through papers and entering scores would not be very efficient one-handed. I agreed to help, but made him take a break about 20 minutes before Luca's bedtime so we could play with her. We checked her diaper before getting her jammies on, and she had a dirty diaper.

****WARNING: If you are offended by talk of baby poop, kindly stop reading here****



So, it's a mom euphamism to refer to a poo-filled diaper as 'dirty'. We all know it's not just dirty, it's also foul smelling, dangerous, and often a very clear reminder of just how balanced - or not - your darling child's diet is. In this case, we were reminded that Luca really likes corn...and that corn essentially looks the same on the way out as it did on the way in. Darrick offered to try to change the diaper, so we both sat on the floor, facing each other, with Luca between us. I had the head end, he had the bum (Which, by they way, happens to be one of her new words: Bum.) end and the wipes. He pulled back her diaper and I did the 'dipe swipe' wherein you attempt to get all poo possible off the bum and into the dipe so you can avoid: (a) having to clean gobs off with a baby wipe, (b) baby getting a foot or hand into the poo, (c) baby rolling away too fast and taking off running with poo bedazzling your floor, and/or (d) poo on your hand. This manuever was successful enough, but with the corn niblets in the mix you can never quite get it all. Regardless, he did the back/booty swipe, also one handed, and moved the diaper to the side.

At this point, it became obvious that Darrick was no longer able to complete the diaper change one handed. I was holding her hands to keep them from wandering into poo-zone, and he couldn't hold her feet and wipe with one good hand. I asked him "Do you need help with the poop?", and that's when Luca decided to chime in by blowing raspberries, mimicking the 'poopy' sound effect her dad loves to make. Laughing, I grabbed a wipe and chipped in, holding her feet with one hand and wiping with the other, all the while my leg being sprayed by Luca's 'raspberry' blowing. I mention to Darrick she's got corn nibs on her bum, and the raspberries stop and are replaced by, "Bum. Bum. Bum. :::rasapberry::: Bum." That kid cracks me up.

So, cleaning done (we nearly had to call in back-ups for that one), we prepared to put her diaper on, which was when she decided to try to make a run for it. This is where my presence REALLY came in handy, as Darrick still had a poopy wipe in hand, and nearly smeared Lu's leg with it as his reflex kicked in and told him to grab her before she took off. I wrestled her back to the ground and we got the diaper on and let her go. Darrick reached across his body to pick up the dirty diaper, and out rolled....a corn niblet....onto my leg...and then onto the floor.

I lost it. There was nothing else to do, so I laughed. And it wasn't just a giggle, but a full on crying, shaking, silent laugh, with Darrick doing the same, and Luca staring at us like she was not sure WHY she had to have such crazy parents. And then, as though startled with the realization of what just happened, our little Sprinkle-Butt pointed to the corn nug on the floor, yelled out "POOP!" and laughed so hard she tipped right over.