Yes, it’s been awhile since my last blog, but I do have a logical excuse–I had a baby!
Samantha FINALLY came out, but only after I had emergency surgery. She was in distress and managed to get her umbilical cord around her neck, but Dr. M got her out before it did any damage. She was 9 and 9 on her APGARs…not that I was awake for that, since my epidural failed.
Anyway, Samantha’s been keeping me busy. She refuses to breastfeed, so I have to find time to pump, and since I don’t make enough milk, I have to supplement with formula. She doesn’t tolerate milk-based formula well, so I’ve been giving her soy. Ever since then, she hasn’t had pure liquid stool with every diaper…but I have noticed her growing towards the sun…
Speaking of things growing towards the sun, I’ve actually started a garden in my foyer. I don’t have a yard, but I have a foyer with lots of windows and a sunny southern exposure. The only bad thing about it is that Steve’s psychotic, senile parrot has his cage there, and he spooks over the most random things.
The store is doing better, and I’ve started trying to put out roots in the community. I have high hopes that I can get a better job without compromising Samantha’s care or paying out more than I bring in to get her in a good daycare. I’ve also joined several promising parenting communities, and I have hope that advertising The Lich’s Lair as the mom-and-pop-owned store that it is will bring in other parents in the community who are looking for something safe and positive for their children to enjoy.
The only thing that bothers me about the store is the idea that we won’t be able to get away to see my family. With my current job, I can’t get away at all without losing pay, since it has no paid time off. I also would have liked attending GenCon in Indy, but it doesn’t look like I’ll get a chance to do that, either, and it pisses me off. I have a blasted BA in English–I can do better than working for practically minimum wage and NO benefits doing tech support.
Samantha is six weeks old now, and she has started to roll. She also holds her head up on her own most of the time, and I’ve caught her wiggling in time to the SpongeBob Squarepants theme song. She also smiles when I sing, so I’ve gotten to the point where I sing for her to cheer her up when she gets cranky.
We also had a tornado rip through here on Saturday. Steve’s mother called us in a panic, but the tornado opted to skip our house and take I-80 instead. No one died, which was a miracle, considering how densely populated the area is. One would think that people would be glad to get off so easy, but noooo…people had to gripe about losing stuff and being without power. While I agree that losing stuff and not having electricity sucks, being alive and not losing any loved ones is a definite plus. Besides, there were 25000 people without electricity at the time, so it’s not as if it was just happening to one person.
*sigh* I guess that people around here so seldom see tornadoes that they have no idea how fucking lucky we were. I’m from Missouri, so I’ve ridden out a tornado or two in my time, but I know the kind of devastation that a tornado can bring. It was amusing to see how people around here freaked out, rather than keeping their heads about them, but it was also frustrating to hear all of the bitching about the material things that were lost. I mean, hell, from what I read and heard, no one even had to go to the hospital for tornado-related injuries.
Very. Fucking. Lucky.
Meanwhile, I’m minding the store while the customers play MechWarrior and Magic. Steve isn’t here, but that’s another story for another time…preferably after he gives me the rundown on his day, which he has described as quite possibly the worst day he’s had all year.
I almost told him that he had another six months to top it…but to be honest, I enjoy being alive… =p