Love affair with the bath tub

3 years ago when someone would ask me what I want for my birthday, I would have responded with the latest fashion accessory, CD, or game...now all I can think of when asked this question is, an hour or two, to myself, in the bathtub.
 I'm not talking to wash my hair or shave my legs, screw that. Bath time is meant for piling my hair on top of my head in the least sexy fashion ever, getting a large bowl full of some type of snack food, preferably popcorn and peanut M&Ms, with a large glass of some delicious cold drink, a fat intensely intriguing book to read, and last but not least, some ear plugs!
I am lucky enough to have a hubby-to-be who understands my love of the bath tub, he recently surprised me with some new Lavender Epsom salts, to me this is better than pearl earrings. When we were looking at apartments, the biggest selling point was if it had a bath tub or not, when I walked into the bathroom of our apartment for the first time I almost cried, going from a house shared by 6 with no bathtub, to a deep soaker tub with a slanted back,in our own apartment... priceless!
While pregnant I pulled off marathon style bathing, I would soak for HOURS multiple times a day, I even started bringing our portable DVD player in and watching my favorite shows. Bliss.
As of late, because I simply cannot seem to sleep at night, I have started taking baths in the middle of the night, with as much random smelly goodness as I can muster up.... I'm pretty sure this was the best idea I have ever had, considering once Hailey comes home I know my bath-time privileges will be split once again, I now have a secret rendezvous time with the bath tub <3

Yes this was a pretty random posting, I just hope I am not the only one who appreciates the magic of a bathtub LOL

As my daughter would say before bath-time  HAPPY BUBBLES =)

Time to get caught up!

To start of my new blogging life, I figured I should get caught up on all the insanity that has been my life for the past month.
It all started on Dec 30th around 2 am, I was very pregnant, and enjoying my usual late night bath while Emma slept and Steve happily (and loudly) played COD in the living room.
I started getting really bad pains in my chest and lower back (can you say ripped apart from the inside?) now I had been getting pains in the area for awhile, but NOTHING to this extent, I was of course simply brushing it off thinking it would go away like every other time... not so much... apparently Steve heard me over the intense explosions and shrieking from his game, and came to my rescue. he promptly woke Emma up, packed a bag of toys and snacks for her, got me in the truck and over to the hospital immediately. ( there was a lot of kicking and screaming on my part... I REALLY did not want to go...)
To be honest the next few weeks is pretty much a blur, I remember a LOT  of tests, a LOT of different doctors and a LOT of stress and tears on my part ( I was away from my little girl and my hubby and felt very guilty about it ) I had many visitors who lovingly brought books, movies, candies, pictures, and general company to cheer me up, especially my loving Steve, who everyday would show up with something to make me smile.... in the end the diagnoses was a blocked Ureter valve in my kidney due to the position of my uterus... lovely I know. now being as pregnant as I was and in so much pain, baby was becoming distressed and I began having contractions on a regular basis. I was offered every means of having her early, but I could not get over the fact that it was just TOO early. ( I was at that point only 34 weeks) so my doctors and I agreed that with a few medications to keep me from going into labour I could make it past 36 weeks and she would be in much better health after that mark.
and so the wait continued, the most painful, uncomfortable few weeks of my life. when my nurse asked the doctor in front of my how long I had been in labour for, he generously piped up and said "lets just say in years to come she will be telling this baby she was in labor for 16 days."
eventually the time came in amongst the fog that is those few weeks that I had to have a temporary Stent put into my Uretor valve to allow some flow, which meant surgery =S I am NOT a fan of being put to sleep!... luckily I had some family there to greet me when I woke up which I don't really remember, but it was nice to know anyway.
The surgery was a success and did relieve a small amount of the pain and discomfort to baby... for a few days, when they say temporary, they mean it. My lovely surgeon had not informed me just how low the likeliness of the Stent being put in would actually help.... It was generally a waste of time, which is actually causing more damage than good now, and I still have to have another lovely surgery to have the bloody thing removed. (GRRRRR)
Anyway... another few days, or weeks, I really don't know went by and I began having regular contractions again ( uh-oh ) baby did NOT want to wait for the 36 week mark... so to save the baby any more strain, the plan was to induce. ( EIK ) Doc came in, did his thing, walked out the door and ten minutes later I was having contractions every 30 seconds like nobodies business... they had to stop my "over active uterus" from causing, again, more stress on baby.( after they lovingly made me suffer for a good few hours) next day, I was induced again, this time things went much slower...24 hours of slowness and the usual, "stuck @ 4 cm" crap. then all of a sudden within about 20 minutes I went from 4 cm to 10 cm and there was NO waiting... I mean doctors were yelling at me, I was yelling @ Steve,... 1 2 3 Puuusssshhh... and finally HAILEY had arrived!!!! 5 pounds 8 ounces of pure joy. As much as labour SUCKS there is nothing like those first few moments of pure bliss getting to hold your baby, watching Steve hold her was just as thrilling for me, we hugged and cried... and I sent him away to follow that little bundle and keep her safe.
As happy and elated as I was @ meeting my girl, this was the beginning of what has been the hardest time in my life.
Hailey was rushed to the nursery, and worked on... now I am not going to go into detail, but lets just say, he poor little thing has had a VERY rough first few days.
she has however gotten over obstacles they told us could take weeks, in the amount of 4 days. that's not to say she is in the clear just yet, but she is definitely our little trooper.
her biggest obstacle was her lungs, she was born with pretty immature lungs, and that with a combo of events in her first few days resulted in breathing tubes and help with lung pressure. she is now I am proud to say rid of all breathing apparatus we were told this would take weeks ( she was rid of the hoses or elephant nose as we refer to it) after only 3 days!.
Amongst a few small hurdles... little Troopers biggest obstacle at this point, is learning how to eat without needing a feeding tube. this is apparently a common problem with preemies, as they haven't yet developed the skill of sucking swallowing and breathing all at the same time (that's alot to learn!)
And so I have become the human milking machine (sorry if that disturbs you) but all I seem to do now is pump pump pump, its literally all I can do for Hailey now that I am home, and what she needs is nutrition to become stronger and healthier. we bottle up my breast milk and sometimes get the pleasure of helping to feed Hailey with the use of the feeding tube.... no its not the same as feeding my child the way I would like, but I still feel like I am helping her, even by just holding up that vial of milk as it drains.
So this post seems to be solely based on lil Hailey, lets not forget our 2 yr old resident smarty pants... we have simply hit a snag of bad timing. Poor Emma came down with a nasty flu bug the day before I had Hailey, and has basically been in quarantine at my mothers house ever since. I honestly can not begin to explain just how much I miss her (Ive been away for over a month with only visits to the hospital) , we talk on the phone a bazillion times a day, sing songs, and giggle... we even receive beautiful colored pictures of fruit and trees through a cracked car window as we drop off rations and medicine to our poor girl =( , I am over the moon excited for the day I can introduce her to her little sister , she is SOO excited! and I play Emma's rendition of Twinkle Twinkle little star to Hailey every chance I get, this was Emma's favorite song to sing to my belly <3 .
Ok... so I believe I have rambled on long enough, and covered most of the main points. I know I left alot out, but how could I possibly go on any longer? lol
you are now caught up. my daily(ish) blog can now start...
the beginning of 3 Ladies and a Guy <3

my return!

Well I have been wanting to re-enter the blogosphere for forever now ... so here I am! or should I say here we are! this will not be the most interesting of blogs I am sorry to say, probably more of my daily rantings of common motherly duties, and bitching about the amount of dishes my hubby to be seems to leave around the house. It will however, be 100% our life, the way we choose to live it, with no regrets. I am sick of making excuses for the way I (we) choose to live life. I am happy, Extraordinarily so, in all my lameness.
so welcome to my Blog =)