August 21, 2003. Welcome to the world, Henry!
Henry was born at 1:01 a.m. on Tuesday, August 19, 2003, just a week past his due date. He weighed 7 pounds, 8 ounces and is 20.5 inches long. We're all doing really well -- Henry pretty much eats constantly and I feel great. Dave is doing some post-birth nesting and cleaning the entire house right now.
More updates to come as I get more sleep. Oh, and for those who were aware of The Great Middle Name Debate 2003, we ended up going with my maiden name.
August 15, 2003. Well, this isn't going to help me to relax and go into labor. Last night I let both cats outside. About half an hour later I opened the door to see if Theo wanted to come in, and he was lounging in the front yard. He started to get up, and flopped over. He tried again, and flopped over to his other side. I ran out to him, and he wasn't crying or complaining, but was obviously having trouble putting weight on his back legs. I brought him inside and poked at him for a bit. He could move his back legs, and didn't complain when I poked at him, but couldn't put any weight on them. I called the emergency vet to tell them we were on our way.
As I was bringing things out to the car (I was planning on just putting a towel over the car seat, since I didn't think I could really wrestle with our huge cat carrier in my current state), Peatie came around the corner. Limping. He, too, flopped over. At first I couldn't tell if I'd really seen him limping or not, and if he was lying down because he couldn't stand, or just because he wanted to have his belly rubbed (both cats tend to automatically flop over when they see me, because they assume they're going to get scratched and rubbed). I tried to help him up, and he went inside, and while he could walk, he was very obviously limping and favoring one leg.
So I loaded them both into the carrier, and off to the vet we went. We had to wait a while because there was some poor dog with respiratory issues (this actually made me feel a little better, that they determined the cats were ok enough to wait), and then the vet poked and prodded and x-rayed them and came up with a diagnosis of: complete mystery. The vet had no idea what the problem was. They have no broken bones or visible wounds or any kind. Their "color is good" (how you tell a cat's color is good is beyond me), so it's not an allergy or anything. And there are things that it maybe could be if it was just one of them, but that wouldn't make sense to have it happen for both. I mean, they were completely fine all day, and then I let them outside, and half an hour later, neither of them could walk properly. Unfortunately, I'm worried that someone intentionally hurt them, but I really can't think of who, since they never stray far, and we live in maybe the most cat-centric neighborhood in all of Maine. I don't know. If I run into any of my neighbors today I'm going to ask them if they saw anything.
Both cats are in better spirits this morning (they were pretty sullen and exhausted last night), but their legs don't seem to be any better. Theo seems to be enjoying the fact that I'm bringing his food and water directly to him. I'm giving them an anti-inflammatory, and really hoping that by the end of the day they'll be at least a little more mobile. My poor babies.
Well, at least we have power.
August 14, 2003. Update: still no baby. I'm really hoping for today so he can share a birthday with Steve Martin. I've even listened to two of the three Steve Martin albums I have, hoping to laugh the baby out. Saving the third for this afternoon. I'm going to go out and distract myself by buying some school supplies and new toner so the birth announcements will be all crisp and clear.
August 10, 2003. Here are the beautiful bookshelves that Dave painted blue. I'm not sure when the whole blue/yellow with stars thing started happening in the nursery, but it wasn't on purpose, and I'd like to be fairly adamant that it's not a theme. So, if you are someone who knows me in real life, please do not feel the sudden need to go out and buy a million things related to blue, yellow, and stars. That said, I'm pretty pleased with the way the bookshelves and dresser look together.
Sorry I couldn't get a better photo of the shelves, but it is now fairly uncomfortable for me to get down to shelf-level to take a straight-on photo. Sorry.
Things are going ok here, though at this point I'm definitely ready to be done with pregnancy. We're totally ready for the baby's arrival, and I'm getting sick of not being able to bend over or be comfortable, ever. I honestly think I'll sleep better after the baby's born, because at least I'll be able to sleep when I lie down. Right now I just feel achy and wide awake, no matter how tired I am.
Ok, enough whining. My due date (Tuesday) is a full moon, so we're doing what we can to help the birth be on that day, figuring the moon's pull might help us along. On Monday night, we're having a big spicy Mexican feast with a couple we met in birth class, then I think I'll drink some Tension Tamer tea (which has some labor-inducing herbs in it) and watch a funny movie. Tuesday I'm having a massage where I'm going to have my "go into labor" acupressure points stimulated. If none of that works, then I think I will officially give myself permission to lie around all day eating bonbons and reading Cosmo, since that's about the only thing I haven't done.
August 4, 2003. The yellow dresser/changing table is finally done (it was done on Friday, actually, and I've been waiting for a sunny day to take a good picture...but they've predicted rain this entire week, so I just went ahead and took a picture anyway). I'm really happy with the way it came out. Dave put a ton of work into making this little unfinished dresser into something great. And I think the blue star drawer pulls really push it over the edge into completely adorable.
As soon as I had set it up, I realized that I needed a bookcase of some sort to organize some other baby things (plus for the little library that this baby has already accumulated). I went back to our favorite unfinished furniture place, bought a bookcase, and got some blue paint (which is similar in color to the changing pad on top of the dresser). Dave has been put back to work painting the bookcase, and I'll post a picture of that when it's done. It also promises to be adorable.
