Life continues

So, I wasted tonight's quiet evening (aka my opportunity to journal and blog) by watching HGTV, but hey! I'm going to be exhausted tomorrow regardless, so why not blog anyway? I have an awful lot to say about the last two weeks, most of which will not make it onto the blog (especially after I grossed out a friend using the word 'placenta' the other day... I told him if he wanted to be grossed out with birthing tales I could do much better than discuss my placenta).

I do want to write about my beautiful experience giving birth. I'll also write about my horrifying experience after the birth. Then I'll write about how grateful I am to be alive, how sweet and perfect my baby boy is, how nice it is to have that pregnancy over, and if anyone's wondering how the transition is going, you'll have to ask me again after Kyle starts working and Ma goes home. With them around, I seriously do less work than I ever did with two kids.

Then again, I suppose I deserve a little break. So much so that today we all celebrated the fact that I didn't die in childbirth with an afternoon at the local Chinese buffet. I was a little disappointed that Bobber the Clown only entertains there on Mondays, but no worries. We'll be back...

Charlie's first (family-administered) bath, just in case he was missing the warm, wet claustrophia of the womb... And after a year in China of bathing Erik and Ellie together in a tub not much bigger than this, I don't even feel bad.


Our first family picture (Charlie's forehead made it in--that counts!) at the O-ker Mt. temple open house

Cute, cute homemade blanky and etc. from Marilyn. I feel somewhat guilty receiving gifts on my third child, perhaps because I was raised on hand-me-down-down-downs, but I think/hope that deep down inside I realize it's okay even for my child to wear something that no human being has ever worn before.

Love the mini-limbs

We're enjoying Ma's homecooked Japanese goodness more than our expressions indicate

In other news, today Charlie and I had 2-week check-ups. I already knew Charlie is perfect (although I didn't expect him to be so fat already--even the nurse was shocked, though pleasantly so) so didn't really need the pediatrician appt. Still, I've been dying (but not literally!) to see my midwife to ask her what really happened to me after Charlie's birth.

For some reason, I was scheduled to see the midwife who wasn't there at my birth. She seemed pretty informed as to what had transpired, and very confident in her diagnoses. I soaked it all in, replacing my faulty memories with her explanation of events. Apparently I did not have any retained placenta, but rather just a placenta that resembled ground beef and a lazy uterus. Not sure if that made me feel better or not. And also I wasn't so woozy because of the blood clotting drugs, but because I was falling in and out of consciousness. And at the rate I ended up losing blood, if the midwife hadn't administered the pitocin when she did, I would've bled to death in five minutes. Flat. This was all news to me.

I mentioned it to the midwife who delivered me on my way out and she remembered it more the way I did, and also said that the hospital still hadn't sent her a report so she doesn't even know exactly what caused the hemorrhage. Hmmmmm. The version I heard today is more mysterious and dramatic, but I'm not quite sure where she came up with all those details.

Soooo, the three of you who are anxiously awaiting the rest of the story will have to continue waiting. I will wait with you. Don't know why, but I'm kinda curious about all this. Wondering how I managed two out-of-the-text-book perfect deliveries and then on the third one, something went terribly awry. Wondering what it means for future deliveries. Whatever happened, I know I am simply grateful to still have my uterus. Never made prayers of gratitude for it before June 3rd, but it's at the top of the list now.