slow teeth (a riley story)

dominic arrived early and quickly. impatient, that one.

andrew arrived with a roar and let the entire world know he was here. determined, that one.

makenna arrived with a fever and a whole slew of unnecessary tests. dramatic, that one.

but riley?

riley arrived upside down through the emergency exit. unique, that one.

this baby is closing in on 20 months. it's an exciting time in our family because as our last baby gets through all these final milestones, we're saddened of course, but mostly p and i are just like...

WHEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!

we've been in the baby having, baby changing, baby feeding, baby non-sleeping business for five years now (yep, that's how old andrew is, friends) and we're tired. tiiiiiiiiiiired.

safe to say i'm excited as we check off each milestone with our babiest of babies. yay! no more umbilical cord. EVER. yay! no more meconium. EVER. yay! no more formula. EVER. yay! no more pacifiers. EVER. yay! no more sleeping in our room an inch and a half from my face. EVER.

her older siblings were in a rush when we weren't. dominic had his own entertainment center and nightime ritual by the time he was a year and a half. andrew was walking at 10 months, makenna at 9 months. Both were ordering online papa john's pizza by their second birthday.

but roo?

roo waits. she was almost 14 months before she figured this whole walking thing was worth a shot.

and her teeth? oh, dear god, her teeth. she's consistently three to four months behind the pediatrician's timetable for teeth sprouting and i've already tossed that stupid brochure in the trash and lit it on fire. LIES!

with each tooth that doesn't arrive on that lying calendar, my selfish mind calculates just how many more months we are to a full head of teeth and a restful night.

right now we're on one tooth in on the terrible canines. the three holdouts make an appearance once in a while like a little tiny white dot on her ravaged gum and then disappear. giving us one night of rest before four nights go all to hell with her aching mouth.

at this rate, she's going to be 25 by the time her  molars start coming in and i'm sure that when i hit 49, i might get to sleep in peace the whole night through.

so, while we may be ready for our babiest of babies to skate through this baby age into preschool age, Riley sure isn't.




this is part of "forty stories." a fun little lent challenge where i show up and write a story (of any nature, i guess) on internet paper. 

Sketchbook: Riley's Pink Pajamas

lol. i laugh at this one. doesn't exactly look like riley...but it captures how much i absolutely LOVED her pajamas that night. love you, riley!

Life in L&D

Hello, world. I sit here writing this with a cup of cold hospital coffee next to my laptop, a ginormous scar across my abdomen that I refuse to look at for fear of vomiting, and the 2012 Olympics casting a nice light from across the room while the neat little soundbox is perched next to me. (Don't those things smack of the drive in speaker boxes that you'd hang on your door? Yes, I went to drive ins a time or two before they went extinct!)

Here I sit. Thinking about how our family is now a family of six. How our newest little girl, Riley Makaila, made her entrance yesterday via C-section and is doing wonderful. How she's the exact spitting image of her older brother, Boo, as a newborn. (It's kinda crazy how identical they look!)

My delivery story with Riley is so very different from her siblings. I was scared the entire week leading up to the surgery and had a hard time hiding it the past few days. She was breech and refused to turn the past few weeks and, so, the section was inevitable.

We arrived Tuesday (July 31, a wonderful day to have a birthday!) morning and I was all smiles and chatty until they started poking me with needles and talking spinal blocks. Barf. Our doc was in a particular rush to get the surgery underway, so they sort of rushed P and I through all the paperwork and medications and clothes changing until POOF!...I'm sitting on the OR table leaning on a stranger while the anesthesiologist is drilling for oil in my spine. (I was actually really upset that they made P wait outside during that part...I'm particularly terrified of needles in my vertebrae and do better when he's with me!)

The minute the numbing medication is in place, you have to lie down immediately and that sense of immediacy must have made me panic, because I started to hyperventilate, cry, and get sick from the rush of medication. Let's just say I was a little less than dignified those first few moments. Barfing up the nasty medicine shots they had me take before the OR room. Crying because I couldn't move enough to NOT panic (see of that makes sense...it sure doesn't to me now that I look back!) and the general feeling that my heart was beating so fast it was going to explode in my chest. It was hell.

The doc must have felt sorry for me or was sick of hearing me and my wailing death keen, because he knocked me clean off my butt with some wonder drug and the next thing I know, I feel a huge weight lifted up and off my chest (eww!) and then there was Riley. And she came out swinging and squalling and telling all those doctors and nurses all about themselves. Honestly, she's scored the highest on the Apgar test of all our babies and I think it was based purely on the loud trash-talking she was delivering. It was great!

I slept for the next 13 hours, I'm pretty sure. P said I was in a zombie-like state and that basically sums it up. I remember itching a lot because of the morphine and I was a sweaty sort of mess in the afternoon. But that's about it. Oh, and I was hungry. Damn hungry and resentful that they somehow though lime gelatin and chicken broth was anything less than an insult to a formerly pregnant chick who hadn't eaten in 17 hours. Really, people??

But day two? Well, it's much better. The whole "sawed in half" thing really makes hopping out of bed and dancing the can-can difficult, but I'm working on it. I love laying in my hospital bed on my butt (until my butt goes numb and I have to try to move without activating the deactivated core muscles) waiting for the next food tray. (Yes, I had chicken fried steak tonight. Woo hoo!)

There's hope I can go home early tomorrow and get back to my beloved, busy life with my beloved, busy family. I truly hope so. Riley's siblings are impatient to have her home and I'm impatient to be home with P and the minions.


Hope everyone is enjoying the rest of their summer!