I'm going to try to get through an entire posting before my son wakes up for his bottle.

Caden is doing beautifully. He's starting to sleep through the night [or at least 3/4 of it], taking cat naps during the day, and overall being a very easy baby. He's perfectly content sitting beside me or having me hold him. He's a bit of a Mama's boy [even though he CRIED yesterday when his dad had to leave.. It almost broke my heart!]. I'm trying to remember to take pictures of him in his "cute" moments - but most of them will only be preserved in my memory. Oh well.

Nathan, Caden's dad, came over yesterday to spend some time with us. It's still kinda weird for us, since we're trying to figure out how to be great parents - even with the complications of being teenage parents, living a good distance from the other, & not being in a relationship. It's a lot more complicated than I thought it would be, but mostly due to outside interference..

Anyway, here are some pictures of the boy!

The new "norm".

Weird things are happening in the valley this week. It's freaking SNOWING - that's the second time! It snowed by Mom's work on Monday then it started snowing today by the house, but it didn't keep unfortunately. Still, I got to show Caden and it was all pretty to watch it fall.
Then Caden decided it'd be a good idea to scare the living daylights out of his mom and stop making dirty diapers. For more than 24 hours now. And I had no idea what the heck to do. I don't want to be one of those moms who rushes off to the emergency room because baby has the sniffles, but jeez, it scared me. I finally got ahold of the on-call pediatric doctor, who told me that it's normal for him not to have a BM for a week. A week! Why didn't anybody think to tell me that when I was in the hospital?! Goodness.
In other news, I'm thinking I may have to get ahold of my doctor sometime soon. My lower stomach is numb; the only part I can feel is where bruises have popped up. I don't think that's supposed to happen and reading c-section horror stories on the internet sure hasn't helped ease my mind. It's probably my body's reaction to the pain I've been in, but still. Weird. If nothing else, maybe they'll decide to give me something stronger than Motrin [yeah, MOTRIN - nevermind, it's not like I had major surgery or anything..].
I'm exhausted, but I don't want to go to sleep. I don't sleep very well anyway, I'm always afraid that the second I go to sleep Caden will need me. It's not like I get stuff done while I'm awake. I'm not off doing chores or knitting or reading or anything. If I'm not checking stuff out on Myspae or Ravelry, I'm channel surfing - something completely useless because there is NOTHING on the television after 1am.
Pictures of the boy should be posted sometime soon, hopefully. I'd really love to get a picture of him with his eyes open, because he's got beautiful dark blue eyes.. but there's a reason his mother has [lovingly] nicknamed him "Popeye" (something that has caught on with the rest of the family.. I don't think he's gonna live this one down. Sorry, Cade!).
It doesn't feel like Christmas is coming next week. I've got zero anticipation for it, unlike years past where I couldn't wait and started getting antsy.. Now I'm more excited for Caden to get his first Christmas, even though he'll be a whole two weeks old. I love the idea of getting his picture taken while he's in a stocking, haha. I'll make sure Grandma hears about that one.
Well, I should get goin' - I've got a kid I'll need to wake up soon so he can be fed and changed, since I know he won't wake up on his own. Ah, the life of being a mom. =]

Caden: Breakin' Hearts [..and Traditions]

Last Wednesday at 2:52pm, my little man joined the world. It was a drawn out process, complicated by a "dysfunctional labor" and ended with a c-section and the 10 pound love of my life.
Sure, I've got constant pains from major surgery, bruises on my arm from needing a blood transfusion, I can't remember the last time I slept for more than 3 hours at a time, I haven't seen wrestling in nearly a week, not to mention I haven't picked up my knitting since I became a mommy.. But I spend 24 hours a day with my son. My son. Just looking at him is enough to make me forget everything else [and make me wanna cry!].
I decided he needed a non-traditional name. John, Michael, David.. those wouldn't cut it for me. This is a special baby, he's the center of my universe. So I named him Caden [it's in the baby books, I promise] because.. Well, I think it's a great name and still rather unknown, though it's getting more popular. And even though the men in my family haven't had middle names for over a hundred years [yes, literally.. my dad knows that kind of stuff], I gave him the middle name of Thomas. I figured if Caden was going to have any sort of middle name, why not name him after the greatest (insert my last name here) ever?
So now it's been about six days and I can't imagine not having this little guy around. I'm with him 24 hours a day. He refuses to sleep in his crib throughout the night - he prefers sleeping in his boppy pillow right next to Mommy. He knows my voice. We watch Johnny Depp movies together at 3am. He doesn't mind if Mommy types on the computer while he's trying to sleep [as he is right now, heh], I can laugh at something on the television while he sleeps on my chest. He gives kisses if I'm close enough, haha. He fusses until I pick him up and hold him then he zonks out in about 2.7 seconds.
I'm totally in love with being a mom. Yeah, it changes everything, but it feels like things are changing for the better. That I am changing for the better. Like this is the motivation for my life - to make my son proud, to show him what his mother is capable of. It's still an unreal feeling that he's here and he's mine. I can't believe it.
I'm one lucky girl and I wouldn't take back one second with Caden for having the "normal" life of a 19 year old. Not a chance.
I guess now is a good time to try to start Charlene's scarf, since before we know it Christmas will be here! I'll post some pictures of Caden tomorrow, too. =]

Pregnancy insomnia kicks my butt.

Of course my plan to get more sleep failed miserably. I couldn't get comfortable, my phone kept going off with text messages [when did I get popular?!], my cat was being psycho, the baby wouldn't stop moving for a fricking millisecond, and my hips kept popping out of place. I had planned on going to bed around 11.. then 11:30.. then midnight.. then 12:30.. I think I finally got to sleep around 1:45am.
And since I can't get more than 3, 4 hours of sleep at a time [..training for when the baby gets here, perhaps?], I was awake by 5:15am.
Then I realized how hungry I was so I had to trek it downstairs to grab some cereal and watched "Big Bang Theory" on the dvr. Then I freaked because I had forgotten to do laundry in my wrestling-watching stupor last night so I had to go back upstairs, sort my clothes, take the stupid thing downstairs, start the washer and pray it didn't wake up the dogs so they wouldn't bark and wake everyone else.. which thankfully they didn't.
So I come back upstairs and started cleaning. I can't start one chore and just stop, I have to continue cleaning. Stupid nesting instinct.
Oh well, just call me June Cleaver.

It's almost 10:30pm and I've done a good job of staying up as much as I can possibly can today so that I can get to bed at a decent hour. My appointment tomorrow is around 11am so I need to be up and ready by then. I didn't start Charlene's scarf today like I wanted to, but I did manage to finally organize my yarn and get everything put away properly. Plus I decided to put up our Christmas tree. It was a good idea since it's helpful to the rest of the fam.. but it was probably stupid to do it while nobody else was home since A) I've never put up the dang thing in my life and B) oh y'know, I'm only 41 weeks pregnant and could burst at any minute..
Oh well, now it's done. Putting up the tree helped a lot with making me tired. The dogs stuck around, watching. Starla actually tried to help, but Barney took a seat on the couch and supervised. And I had wrestling on the big tv [it was a THREE hour episode!!!] so I was a happy Megan.
Tomorrow I'm either staying and delivering a kid or I'm scheduling my induction for Friday. Yup, Friday. I am not staying pregnant one more weekend, I am not going 42 weeks, I am not waiting until I absolutely have to have the baby. No, I'm refusing.
By the next episode of Monday Night RAW, I will be sitting on my futon with my newborn baby. Mark my words!

I can't wait until Tuesday. I had contractions for about 45 minutes today, which then stopped after I took a hot shower and relaxed for a bit, but still - its progress! Since my nonstress test is on Tuesday, I want to see if I've made any actual progress.. say, about being 4-5cm. That'd be fantastical, haha. Oh, how I dream.
On the happy side of things, I've almost completed my 2nd fingerless glove then I just have to sew them up and weave in the ends. I really enjoy the pattern and will probably make a pair for my best friend in the not-so-near future. I've already got enough on my plate with trying to start her Christmas presents, hehe. I know, I know, nothing like waiting until the almost last minute.. but I had to start projects that I could finish in labor if I needed to. Unfortunately I've practically finished all my "easy peasy" projects that I was trying to save for the hospital so it looks like I'll have to get creative, which isn't hard with a resource like Ravelry.
Anyhow, it's 1am now. I need orange juice, 30 minutes of relaxing time [aka "knitting time"], and sleeeeeep.

Knitting photos! Yay!

This is a "one row scarf". Since it's done in black, seeing the detailing isn't possible. Kinda weird that I have blue carpet, yet the picture looks like it's tan.. Anyway, it took me about two days to complete it. It's about 48 inches; a bit shorter than normal, but I wanted to see if it would be a good pattern for later scarves.This is the detailing for my fingerless glove. It's done with waffle stitch, which I really thought was easy and I love the pattern it ended up making. I still have to sew up the seams and make the second one.

This is the fingerless glove before it gets completed. Took about a day and half to finish this one as I was getting used to purling more often. I love it and it's actually rather comfortable.

And here is the baby blanket. I made it smaller than what the pattern called for, because I just wanted a little throw to put over me and the baby when we're chillaxing on the futon or the couch. It's folded up and hanging over the side of the crib right now. =]

Here it is as spread out as I am capable of before the tummy starts a-kickin'. It's completely garter stitch, with a cute little border. I'm thinking of making one in the recommended size for Estelle's baby.

Whee, photos.

Ok, so since the end is near, I thought I'd post a few pregnant pictures. I am not a glamorous person, which is probably why I'm wearing kiddie pjs.. Anyway, I'm about 38 weeks in this photo: And this is my "Mom, are you SERIOUSLY going to take a picture of me like this? ..Whatever, fine, but I'm not moving" picture. I'm 39 weeks. [The shirt is a picture of Thumper that says "What's kicking?"] Note how many pillows it takes for me to be semi-comfortable.. and that knitting is never far from me, heh.

And here's the latest. I'm 40 weeks, exhausted, feet swollen, legs sore, and in the most comfortable piece of clothing I own [which, surprising, is NOT maternity but I'd never worn it beforehand, haha].

So there we go. I'll post pictures of my knitting later. I've just finished one of my fingerless gloves [!!!!!] and I'm uber excited to start the next one. I've also gotta start work on my best friend's scarf for Christmas, but I'm still deciding which pattern I want to go with, even though I've recently fallen in love with the waffle stitch. More pics later.. unless I go into labor, which I'm doubting but still hopeful about!

Yeah, still nothing. I went with Mom to take the dogs out for a walk this morning then have been moving around plenty today, hoping that gravity will work in my favor. It seems to have helped, as I have even more pain in my legs from the baby pushing on me, but I still have yet to go into labor. Total bummer.

At least I've started getting responses from employers. Hopefully I'll have an at-home job by the time is baby here or shortly after. I'll have plenty of nonsense to pay for and the last time I checked, knitted scarves are not a form of currency [..darn it!].

It doesn't feel like Christmas is right around the corner. By this time last year, I already had everyone's presents all wrapped and ready to go. Not so much this year. All my focus is on my impending motherhood [understandable, right?]; I'm more excited for baby to have its first Christmas.. though it'll only be two weeks old.

Well, time to work some more on my fingerless gloves. I'm almost half way done with one.. which reminds me that I need to work on taking pictures, haha. Mom should be on her way home from the BX soon so I'll see if she'll let me borrow her camera.

Today is not going great. No good news from the doctor plus the added thought that since I'm still only 1cm, I may end up having a c-section [which I really really really really REALLY don't want]. Not even the baby's fault, it's completely my wiring. Found out that the reason why I can barely walk is because the baby is trying to get out.
That plus the stress of everything crashed down on me today and I just can't handle it too well right now. I'm hoping this will all go away once the kid is here. But it looks like that's just the first hurdle I've got coming up. ..Sweet.
On the up side, I've started putting in for jobs. Which probably sounds funny, but they're all telecommuting jobs. The one I most like is a medical transcriptionist job; basically I listen to dictations, type them up, and email them to the right person. They'll even pay for me to go through a training program, which is always cool. They pay enough that I'd be covered to pay for anything myself. I want a job badly; I need independence any way I can find it. I'm grateful for everything I've gotten, but I need to be the sort of person that I would want my own kid to be.
Hopefully this all makes sense. I've gotten about three hours of sleep and I'm too lazy to do any editting, heh.
In other news, wrestling is on so that'll lift my spirits. =] I'm going to look into more jobs, online schools, and all that crazy stuff. More later.

What better way to distract myself from the impending pain that is labor than to knit myself up some cute fingerless gloves? The pattern calls for wool yarn, but I'm going to give it a go with acrylic, just to see if I can figure out the pattern or not. If so, maybe I'll invest in some nice yarn down the road and give the pink gloves as a present to a younger cousin or something. And I've also gotten on a sock kick. I've probably got about 20-30 patterns saved on Ravelry that are nothing but socks. I want to learn how to knit them sooo much. I'm intrigued by all the different designs; plus they're a small project that I can take with me wherever I go or work on while baby sleeps [that's my wishful thinking, haha]. So it's 3am, I'm starting a new knitting project, and while the contractions aren't as horrible as they were earlier in the day, they're still enough that I won't be able to sleep. Oh well, as is life. Pictures with my posts will start today [..as in I'll go back later and add pictures to this post, hehe]!!

For someone who has a mildly high pain tolerance, these contractions are totally kicking my butt today. I've gone through at least a dozen piercings [plus the process of gauging a few different times] and three tattoos, but I'm still stopping dead in my tracks when these contractions hit. They don't last for long and they're not very close, but if I can't get them to stop, I will definitely be going to the hospital. Matt's here with me all day so it's not a problem & he's antsy about meeting his niece/nephew. Mom's at work, but I know she could get here at a moment's notice if I needed her to. Anyway, I'm going to see if the contractions lessen in the next hour or so. If not, we may just have a birthday on our hands!

Ooh, I like my aunt's idea of blogging every day this month [complete with pictures].. Maybe I'll steal that, haha. I'm sure once this kid comes, I'll find any excuse to take a picture so why not put 'em up? Plus I've done some knitting lately and I've been meaning to put pictures up on Art Fire and Ravelry anyway.. Anyway, I'll post again later --> Wrestling's on and my concentration level for anything else is rather low. Oh, and check out this link [http://tinyurl.com/6fs6uz].. I'm probably a little hippie for posting that, but I gotta admit, there's a LOT of great reasons on there and maybe it'll motivate others!

Due date - come and gone. Still no baby. On the plus side, I've gotten [another] online shop at Artfire.com [http://www.artfire.com/modules.php?name=Shop&seller_id=12199]. It's a FREE service: doesn't charge for postings or have a sales fee. I'd still have to pay something for using PayPal, but I'll deal with that. I can have up to 10 products on sale with Artfire, unless I get a subscription [which is currently $7/month, usually $20/month]. If I sell things quickly on there, maybe I'll look into the subscription, but I'm cool with only having 10 products for sale at once. So now I've got something to do tomorrow, since I still don't feel like I'm about to go into labor. By the way, www.babycenter.com says I'm 14% more likely to go into labor on a Tuesday than any other day and least likely to go into labor on the weekend. Weird factoid. Anyway, I'm hoping to actually get some sleep tonight so I'm going to knit a few more rows then pass out watching "Little People, Big World."