Monday, December 08, 2008

Thanksgiving 2008

Thanksgiving this year was one of the oddest Thanksgivings we’ve ever experienced. After having Simon late on Tuesday, I had the option of coming home on Thanksgiving or staying until Friday. Simon and I were fine and cleared for discharge so we decided to head home early. Also, Harmon was with my parents for the holiday so Kevin and I thought having a night at home with just Simon would help us ease into things. Before leaving the hospital around 4 p.m., we had the cafeteria version of a Thanksgiving feast for lunch – gag! After finding an open pharmacy to fill the prescriptions for my pain meds (a difficult task on Thanksgiving), we headed home. Our next task was to find an open restaurant to get dinner. We WOULD have just eaten something at home but we were overdue for a trip to Kroger! Our old stand-by – Pizza House – was open so we got take-out for Thanksgiving dinner!

We missed Harmon tremendously and also missed seeing our family. Fortunately, though, I didn’t totally miss out on a “real” Thanksgiving meal as my Mom sent a ton of leftovers with Harmon when he came back home on Friday!

Stupid banana

All along, I had a scheduled c-section planned for Simon. I didn’t want to go through all I went through with Harmon so I thought this was the best way. I was due Dec. 13 and had surgery scheduled for Dec. 5 so imagine my surprise when my water broke on Nov. 25. One of my first concerns was that my labor would progress and I would actually find myself working through some major contractions before my doctor could start my surgery. Well, this ALMOST happened because of a damn banana!

At 4:30 p.m. that day, I had eaten a banana to tide me over until dinner. Unfortunately, that banana delayed my surgery as there is a "no-food-or-drink-in-the-last-six-hours" rule for anesthesia at U-M Hospital (and probably at most hospitals). So, by the time I was ready for my spinal block – around 10:30 p.m. – my contractions were already 2-3 minutes apart and I was none too happy about it! Thankfully, the spinal block was almost painless, that awesome feeling of warm numbness came very fast and then we were quickly on our way!

Last supper?

Right before my water broke, we were cooking kielbasa, mashed potatoes and green beans for dinner. This surely will be a meal we’ll never forget even though we didn’t get to eat any of it. And, just like with Harmon, I didn’t get a decent meal before going into surgery. With Harmon, it was a lunch of cheese and crackers (Kevin and I had dinner plans for later in the night). With Simon, I slammed a fat-free hot dog and Cheez-It for lunch before heading to my 37-week check-up. God forbid either of my boys be born after I have a nice big meal from Pizza House!