Poop and circumstance

Jon and I were finally christened. Not by pee, mind you, although we've experienced the firehose several times. As it were, Jordan has quite the range when it comes to poop.

They don't tell you that newborn poop is really watery and yellow. That sh** stains. And had somebody told us that, I'm sure we would be constantly wearing plastic body suits. But que sera, sera.

The first incident happened while we were all contently watching Project Runway the other night. I had missed the premiere but fortunately there was rerun, so I wasn't about to miss a minute. Well, that's what I get for putting off changing Jordan's diaper, because next thing I know, just as Heidi was about to announce who's out, I hear an explosive poot come out of Jordan's nether regions. Jon and I looked at each other incredulously (how could such a tiny being make such a huge noise?!) and next thing I knew, I felt something warm running down my leg. Equally repulsed and in awe, I realized Jordan's poop had shot out of his diaper and propelled itself a good inch or two onto my leg. He almost seemed pleased with himself.

The second incident happened to Jon today. Again, we were both contently watching tv, when again, we hear the explosion come out of his diaper. When I say explosion, I'm talking Fourth of July fireworks out his butt. And after each time, I swear I see him smirking.

Poor Jon got hit on his shorts but this time, he wasn't taking any prisoners. He immediately stripped bubby (that's my nickname for Jordan, btw) down and drew a bath. Take that, pooper!

You know what they say--s**t happens! We just didn't expect to be wearing it all the time.

First day alone

Jon went back to work today. It was a fast two weeks! Needless to say, I was a nervous wreck. Would I have time to take a shower? Would Jordan cry inconsolably? Would I remember to feed him???

We did ok, afterall. And I did manage to take a shower (around noon, after I was sure he was good and asleep). But even then, it was like a camp shower--fast and furious. The whole time, I was afraid he'd wake up and start bawling. Alas, all that worrying was for naught, because he slept through the whole thing and even slept through my hair drying.

So, I'm sure many of you are wondering what motherhood is like. It's remarkable and scary. And painful. Painful, you say? It's like a Chinese torture camp. Just when you start to fall asleep, you're awaken by a shrill. And then, you have this tiny little being sucking at your boob despite the fact that your nipples are cracked and sore. Sorry for the gory detail, but I've gotta tell it like it is.

But with the bad, ineveitbly comes the good. Looking at Jordan makes me realize how lucky we are, given all the circumstances surrounding his birth. Things could've gone a lot worse (and how weird is it that I had this worst-case scenario after sailing through nine months of pregnancy?) I am so in love with him. I could just stare at his big eyes all day.

Speaking of eyes, we're all waiting on pins and needles to see what color his eyes will turn. Right now, they go between gray and brown. It's hard to tell whether or not his eyes will go dark blue or brown. I'm really holding out for blue.

JORDAN HAS ARRIVED!!!

This is Jon by the way, for some reason I can't post under my log in.

But anyways . . .

So after several months of anticipation, Jordan is HERE!!!

He is a healthy, beautiful baby boy. He was born at 5:08pm, July 2, 2008 (duh!). Weight was 5lbs 9.9 ounces and 18.25 inches long. He was 2 weeks earlier, so he is a little on the smaller side. He is doing great and so is Mommy G.

So a little back story to his birth. . .

Typical Giselle fashion, there had to be a little excitement and drama. It started on Monday night with Giselle having a really bad headache that kept her up most of the night. She took some Tylenol Tuesday morning and went to work. The headache went away around lunch time and she seemed to be doing better. That night it came back with a vengeance. The pain was overwhelming, she was hardly able to sleep at all, the only comfort was to get up and walk around. Again, she went into work on Wednesday, and after a lot of pain from the headache she was finally convinced to call the doctor. They wanted to see her ASAP.

So I picked her up and we went home to get our bags and other things, just in case. We went to the doc for our 2:30 appointment and they ran some urine and blood pressure tests. The final diagnosis was that she had preeclampsia.

Preeclampsia is a narrowing of the blood vessels, is a dangerous condition unique to pregnancy. Because of this narrowing, women with preeclampsia can have decreased blood flow to the kidneys, brain, liver, retina, and placenta. Symptoms of preeclampsia include high blood pressure, swelling of the hands and face, and protein in the urine. Preeclampsia can cause fetal complications such as stillbirths, premature births, and low birth weight. The only definite cure for preeclampsia is delivering the fetus. (Taken from WebMed)

So the doctor recommended that we head straight over to the hospital and that they would induce Giselle using pictocin. Giselle was not very pleased to hear this because she heard that pictocin causes contractions to be even more painful.

After calming down a little at the doctor's office, we started to leave but Giselle needed to use the restroom. I got on the phone with David, G's brother so he could start getting the family notified. A woman then rushed out of the restroom asking if my wife was in there and if so then she was having a seizure. I hung up on Dave and ran into the bathroom to find Giselle on the floor of the stall, wedged between the toilet and the wall and convulsing and making gagging sounds (Damn, this is even hard to write about, it was the scariest thing I've ever seen). The woman who got me also ran next door to get the nurses and doctor from the office. In no time 3 or 4 nurses were in there followed shortly by our doctor, Dr. Smith. They immediately called 911 and began assessing Giselle's condition. She was completely out of it and wasn't responding to any ones questions. Three nurses were able to unlodge her by getting a blanket under her and pulling hard. She must of hit a couple of things during her fall because she was a little banged up.

The EMTs showed up and Giselle was slowly starting to come around. They hooked her up to some IVs and loaded her up for the quick ride across the street to the hospital. During the commotion, Dr. Smith determined that Giselle was going to have to have an emergency c-section. After getting her to her room in the hospital, the nurses began prepping her and getting her stabilized. I was handed a bunch of releases to sign which I did without even knowing what I was signing.

After getting her stabilized, she was taken into the surgery room and I was given my hospital issued "bunny suit".


Jordan was delivered at 5:08pm without any further complications.

(Sorry, a little long; just a little more)

When Giselle was a little stable after the delivery, she was finally able to hold her beautiful baby boy.


During the night on Wednesday, Giselle was losing a lot of blood and in a lot of pain. A doctor finally came in and helped with some blood clots and got her some really gooooood pain meds.
The next couple of days went well in the hospital with G's blood pressure and bleeding getting under control.

We were finally released on Sunday after 4 nights at the hospital, and let me tell you, those damn fold out beds for the dads really suck!!!

Again, sorry for the long blog, but just wanted to fill everyone in on things and let you know that mommy and baby are doing well. G is still a little weak from her blood loss but she is recovering nicely.

I'm going to take a break now and get back in touch with all of you and let you know how the first few days and nights have been . . . .

The incredibly growing woman

I feel like I'm getting bigger and puffier by the minute. I'm now officially walking like the Michelin tire man, waddling every chance I get.
And the record-breaking heat isn't helping matters any. It's making me more swollen and way more uncomfortable. That's what I get for saying back in the winter that June and July won't be so bad. (How was I suppose to know Austin would hit 100 degrees every day in June?!)
Aside from the swelling, my hips feel like they're being ripped apart. It hurts to walk around. As a result, I'm walking like a pachyderm.
But what's worse are the legs and feet. Holy cow. My legs look like tree trunks and my once-slender feet are now the size of large Russet potatoes. Check out the photos. Yep, I have cankles. Which means, no more heels. Say it ain't so!!!!
I've been wearing wedges and espadrilles, but even those are starting to feel uncomfortable. Soon, my wardrobe will consist of muumuus and flip flops.
Oh! But here's one bit of good news--we bought a bassinet! I found one on Craigslist for $30. It's hardly used and it looks really cute! So as far as baby gear goes, we're all set! I'm very excited about that.
I think I can safely say, I'm ready. Well, except for the whole actual labor pain part. But who in their right mind is ever ready for that??