CL21376

Technically I needed a permit too but you need permits for virtually everything. I'm not paying $150 for a permit to replace a $300 water heater.

I spent days fighting with the plumbing company over this. They wanted a whopping $2100 to replace a 55 gallon hot water heater. This is after trying to fix it despite there being holes rustred through the top. I was caught between the home warranty company and a shady plumber.

I called the county and it turned out you only needed a permit if it wasn't being installed by a licensed plumber. Ended up having a mom and pop plumber do the job for $600. The other place only had one licensed plumber, and they couldn't guarantee he would be the one doing the install.

Today was the second day we are snowed in here in Charlotte. It's also my birthday.

Of course both kids were up at the crack of dawn, 6:00 for the almost 4 month old, 6:15 for my 2 1/2 year old, Taylor. Super Mom managed to feed the baby a bottle, put her back to bed, and tell me "sleep in" and that she was going downstairs with Taylor. The baby slept till 9, when wifey and Taylor burst in singing happy birthday. Awesome.

I got to spend the afternoon "working from home", which I defined as playing in the snow with the family and having a few makers mark's and cokes. Nothing beats being snowed in with your family on your birthday

All week, M-F, our 3 month old slept through the night. From 9:30 to 6:30. Could she do that on Friday night? Of course not.

And it was my turn to get up with her

KRB, is your daughter an only child?

Im an only child and had similar behaviors, specifically holding friends to somewhat high standards. I never really had a high tolerance for drama and BS because I was always comfortable with the alternative--being alone.

Hope she is ok.

What happened to get 2 concussions in 2 weeks?

Back to work today after being off since the 24th...I'm going to miss the family after spending so much time with them.

Miscellaneous ramblings after a week plus with my 2 girls (2.5 years and 11 weeks):

My 2 year old watches movies on an endless loop. I had never seen Cars until this week, now I've seen it about 500 times. My favorite movie that she enjoys is The Muppet Movie--the 1979 version. Classic. She sings every song.

We got her 'counting cookies' for Christmas. Basically a plastic cookie jar with 10 cookies to help her learn to count. She opened it and tried to eat a cookie, gave us a WTF look, then proceeded to try and give each of the dogs a plastic cookie. They looked at us like WTF too.

We made french toast and bacon for breakfast yesterday. After chowing down on 2 pieces of french toast and a couple pieces of bacon, she said "Yummy breakfast. High five!" and proceeded to high 5 me and the wifey.

With no where to go, I would have lost my sanity without a couple adult outings. We saw the Book of Mormom and spent a day and night at a local resort getting massages, having dinner, hanging out and sleeping. We need to do something like this and get away for a night at least a couple times a year.

At least going back to work puts me on a more normal sleep schedule while my wife is on maternity leave

I'd like to fast forward a couple months

I've come to the conclusion babies are overrated.

She'll get there. Not every kid develops at the same rate. Our little guy was every 3-4 hours (more or less), until we let him cry it out at 5 months or so.

I know, it just makes for rough nights

At this time with our first, we had to wake her for middle of the night feedings.

my son was like that. doc told us to load the bottle with rice cereal. it was so thick we had to cut open the nipple holes for his bottle so he could get it out. but, doing that, he started sleeping for 6+ hours. my girls were fine with either formula or formula with a bit of rice cereal in it to keep em full and happy.

I suggested that, but wifey said she is too young.

A bottle every 2 hours is rough, especially considering it takes her about a half hour to suck down a bottle.

During the Xmas season, as a family we'll generally watch 4-6 movies together. Anything from Rudolf the Red Nosed Reindeer, Elf, Year without a Santa Claus, the Story of Santa Claus, Miracle on 34th St., Holiday Inn, White Christmas, All that Heaven Allows, and/or Santa Buddies. A Christmas Vacation is never watched becz wife and I deemed it unfunny.

 

Don't forget die hard. Probably my favorite Christmas movie.

My wife and I booked a room for the 30th. First time away from the kid(s) in 2 1/2 years.

Thanks for your insightful, as always, comment. I was asking more to find out if it's worth going to court? Hire an attorney? If she goes to court, will it be reduced, etc etc. Having lived in and gotten tickets in many states, I'm aware that it varies from state to state. So, I'm asking those that may have local insight.

I would just mail it in and be done with it, unless she wants to spend a couple hours in traffic court in the hopes of saving a few $$. She could try and plea Prayer For Judgement, but by the time you hire an attorney I doubt you will actually save any money over the fine.

12 over on a holiday weekend, no way you are going to get a warning...

Interesting, I may check it out!

 

Based on the dr's ive talked to, having the kid get sick when he's young is also beneficial to their immunity later in life. We'll see. Daycare has been a tough battle with illnesses. He was getting sick twice a month. He's been MUCH better lately though (with the exception of the kidney infection!). Only one minor cold since September (knock on wood!).

I think by the time the kids are 13 it evens out. You either get a sick toddler, or a sick kid in elementary school, take your pick

We had a baby girl on Friday. Left the house at 4:30 in the morning for a 7AM c-section and by 9:30 had a 5 lb 14 oz 19 3/4" bundle of joy. If it hadn't been for the nurses checking on either my wife or the baby every hour, we could have probably slept a little. Oh, and of course there was a neighbor who removed the baby lo-jack 4 times, resulting in a "code pink" that set off alarms and shut down the entire floor.

Saturday started off good....my 2 year old daughter came to visit and acted great. Interested in the baby, but not too interested, she gave her little sister a gentle kiss and otherwise walked around the room opening and closing drawers.

After they left we started having some issues though. My wife was kangarooing with the baby when she started having breathing difficulties and turning purple. We paged the nurse--in the middle of a code pink alarm--and they carted her off to the observation room.

The next 45 minutes was unbelievably long. We figured it was something simple, like formula went down the wrong pipe or something, but when the nurse practitioner came in without her we knew something was bad. This was the same NP who had worked with us 2 years ago, and she gave us some high level possible causes--ranging from an infection to a heart issue. At this point my wife is in tears, and the the NP starts crying. Not exactly what team CL21376 needed.

About an hour later we got down the NICU and talked to the neonatologist. Being born at 37 weeks, her lungs were not fully formed so a tear developed, leaking air into her chest cavity and subsequently collapsing her lung. Since my wife had tested strep B positive, there was also a chance she had an infection.

It's terrible to see your baby all hooked up to machines, sedated, and unable to be held. She is on a c-pap and had to have a pig tail inserted into her chest to pump out the air.

Leaving the hospital yesterday without our baby--again--and seeing my wife, deprived again of holding our baby totally breaks my heart :o(

So, instead of taking this week off, I'm going back to work and will wait for us to bring the baby home. In the mean time we will commute to and from the NICU. With a little luck all the tubes will be out tomorrow and my wife can at least hold her. We might be able to bring her home this weekend.

All that being said....this is just a bump in the road. There are a lot of people that have to go through far worse than us. In some ways, this is more difficult on us than her, as she wont remember a thing. Trying to keep this in that perspective is helping us see the light at the end of the tunnel.

Congrats and good luck!

 

Are you sure the baby will be in the nicu afterwards?

 

It's all good if it is, as the level of care you get that way is amazing... And allows you to bank a couple more nights of sleep!!!

 

My wife had a c section a week earlier than scheduled. In addition, our little guy spent every day/night in the nicu. The nicu staff is amazing!!!

 

The first night we had alone with him, was our first night home. Scary lol.

No, the last one went straight to the nicu. Not having the baby on lay-a-way is going to be a totally different experience

Almost baby time. We have a c-section scheduled for Friday at 7AM. Have to be at the hospital at 5AM. Ugh.

This is going to be a whole different experience than the last one. I'm not sure what to expect actually having a newborn in the room with us instead of in the NICU.

We haven't skipped any vaccinations, but we asked our doctor to delay a couple of them. I've delegated health care research and decision making to my wife since she has a public health background.

In other news, we spend another 6 hours in L&D yesterday trying to get contractions to stop. I suspect we will probably be back to the hospital several times since there is no way to know if the contractions signify labor beginning or not. Since my wife had a classical c-section first time it's really important she doesn't go into labor because of the risk of rupture. We have a c-section scheduled for the 25th, so she just needs to make it 2 more weeks.

Her OB also threw down that she needed to be on pelvic rest

Last thing on my mind when my wife was delivering either of my kids was this forum.

 

Congrats regardless and prayers for healthy mom and baby.

Pretty sure we aren't going to have a baby tonight as whatever shot the gave her stopped the contractions...sitting in L&D for almost 3 hours on a non stress test is pretty boring.

And your first parenthood lesson in "dealing with not being prepared" is almost complete.

This isn't our first, so I've already had that lesson

My wife has learned to keep her phone charged--no interwebs for her