Archive for May, 2007

  • 24 May

    Posted by
    Jillian Frank


    Category

    3:43am

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    Well, it’s 3:43am, and I’m awake… kind of. My little guy has been waking up to nurse every 30 minutes or so, so I thought that it was probably time to stop trying to sleep between feedings and just “woman up” and wait for him to be hungry again.

    So! Jude Isaac Frank was born on Monday, May 21st at 8:54am. He weighed 8 pounds, 7 ounes, and he measured 21.5 inches in length! Sadly, he was not born a home, though I did give it the ol’ college try.

    My water broke at around 2am on Sunday morning. Contractions didn’t start for at least another hour or so. 26 hours after my water broke, I was exhausted. I could barely keep my eyes open, and the pain was really unbearable. I decided that I wanted to transfer to the hospital and get something to take the edge off… not an epidural, but something. Anyway, at 4:30am-ish on Monday morning, Josh, Dhyana, Mary, and I hauled butt to Mercy Hospital. When we got there, I agreed to receive fluids and antibiotics via IV since my water had been broken/I had been laboring for so long. After sticking me six times, the nurse gave up on trying to get a vein. Note: then nurse got a vein every time she tried. The problem was that every. single. time. she got a vein, it proceded to blow or bubble. What all that means for yours truely is that I *did* get the drug-free birth I had been wanting… I’m glad things worked out that way.

    Other aspects of the labor/birth (the aspects that occured at the hospital) make me sick to think about. The OB was horrible (as I had anticipated), I was bullied, poked, and proded, and I’m having a really hard time getting over feeling like I/my body was violated. My birth prefererences were ignored, and many a thing was done to me without my informed consent. To make matters worse, I lost a lot of blood during Jude’s birth (most of which may be as a result of one or more of the OB’s procedures) and had to stay in the hospital for 48 hours. Sleeping in a place where you feel you lost a big part of yourself is really hard. I don’t recommend it.

    Anyway… Jude is doing really well. He’s healthy and happy and is nusing like a champ. Now, if he would just sleep for more than 30 minutes at a time… (=

  • 11 May

    Posted by
    Jillian Frank


    Category

    0

    The past two weeks have brought with them both good stuff and bad stuff.

    The Good

    Josh and I are pretty much finished painting Jude’s room. There are a few places where touch-ups are in order, but honestly, I think I have enough furniture to hide them. (= Earlier this week, our friend Jer came over to help Josh move the full bed out of Jude’s room and into the attic. Once that was cleared out, we were able to vacuum and shampoo the carpet. The next night, Josh and I (okay, Josh did it all by himself… I watched) put Jude’s crib together. Not to toot our own horns, but the room is looking fantastic. I’ll try and take some pictures of the room with the crib set up over the weekend. Another cool note… Josh bid on an Ergo baby carrier earlier this week and won! Woo hoo! So, that should arrive either this weekend or early next week. I’m really excited to get it.

    The Bad

    I have had the worst eating habits over the past two weeks. I know I haven’t been eating healthy things, and I know I haven’t been eating enough protein. How do I know this? I know I’ve been eating poorly because I feel like a slob. I know I haven’t taken in enough protein because my feet and ankles are swollen to all holy hell. However, today is a new day. Today I am eating well, taking in lots of protein, and drinking tons o’ water. Tonight I have a date with a bathtub full of Epsom salt.

    The Other

    This weekend is actually looking pretty empty. I have prenatal yoga tomorrow morning, Peacemeal in the afternoon, and a block party (for lack of a better term) later in the evening. On Sunday we have two church services and one (yes! only one!) youth group meeting. We’re planning to spend the afternoon on the couch, watching the Cubs (hopefully) beat the pants off the Phillies. I’m also hoping that we’ll find the time to put together Jude’s bookshelf and toy box this weekend. Wish us luck!

  • 07 May

    Posted by
    Jillian Frank


    Category

    0

    Well, besides having to do a few little touch-ups, Jude’s room is completely painted! Josh and I finished painting the stripes on Friday night. It feels great to have it done. Tonight we’re going to strip the bed that’s in there and wrap the mattress and box spring in plastic so that as soon as someone is available to help him, Josh can take both to the attic for storage. Once the bed is out of the bedroom, we’ll only have to vacuum and steam clean the carpet and put together/set up the crib, bookshelf, and toy box. Last week, Josh and I picked up three pieces of canvas art for Jude’s room. They are super adorable and look great in there. We still have to get one of Josh’s paintings framed before we can hang it, but overall, the room is really coming along.

    In addition to the art pieces, Josh and I found a lamp shade and night light we really like. We also purchased a Pack ‘n Play, mattress pads, sheets and a mattress pad for the Pack ‘n Play, and our diaper bag (the Retro Stripe-Blue style). It’s not the Timbuk2 bag we had originally wanted, but it’s really neat and has a lot of great diaper bag specific accessories. What’s even cooler is that Josh found the bag on eBay, and we got it at a really reasonable price. Right now we’re bidding on some cloth diapers on eBay… if we don’t win any of the auctions, we’ll be ordering a dozen or so within the next week or two.

    Last night, Josh humored me and took me to the Cafe Metropolis in Wilkes-Barre to see The Slackers play. I had been joking that Jude had better not decide to come until at least Monday morning (today) because I was dead set on seeing that show. I swear, the band hadn’t started their second song before I actually started feeling what might have been Braxton-Hicks pressure waves, but could also have been real pressure waves. It was really quite funny. They really settled down once the show was over/I stopped dancing/I drank some water. I’m not sure what the band would have thought if my birthing time would have really started… I think it would have been hilarious!

    Speaking of the band… my friend Marcus plays bass for the Slackers. I haven’t seen him in about three years. Last night was great… It was nice catching up with him and hearing about his wedding. Oh… and speaking of catching up with people, not only did I get to hang out with my Michelle last night, but I also got to see my long-lost friend Doug. Our paths haven’t crossed in many, many years. Last night felt like old times… it was really great.

    So, that’s what’s new. (=

  • 01 May

    Posted by
    Jillian Frank


    Category

    Our New Mei Tai

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    How adorable is this picture?

    Two weekends ago, Josh and I went on a little retreat with our church community. While there, our friend Helen gave us our new mei tai baby carrier! We were so excited to get it, and even more excited to try it out. Sadly, there were no cats around to wrestle into it. There was, however, this fantastic little girl named Everly. Josh really loves our new mei tai. It gives him the freedom to have his hands free (for beer bottle holding, for example), while still keeping our baby (or an on-loan baby) close. I love it too! It’s a bit hard to wear when you’re sporting a large baby bump, but it can still be done. Sorry… no pics of that.

    We recently received an amazing quilt and matching beach-type duffle bag from my friend Gail in Florida. I’m going to take some time today and shoot a few pictures of it so that I can show it off. We also received a package in the mail from Josh’s family yesterday. They held a video baby shower for us two weekends ago. I’ll have to take some pictures of those items as well!

    Josh and I are playing hooky today. I have this overwhelming nesting urge. It cannot be ignored. I’m hoping to get the bulk of the painting in Jude’s room finished. I would also like to get all of the junk cleared out of my closet so that I can move the junk from Jude’s room into there. Maybe I’ll get the downstairs floors cleaned as well… maybe not. (=