If I want our cat, Patches, to come, I shake her food dish.

If I want our cat, Kalli, to come, I run the faucet in the bathtub.

If I want my daughter to come, I jiggle the lid on the candy dish.

They each come running with the appropriate stimulus. It's rather humorus.

I highly recommend that if you have an epidural to take away pain during labor, that you not let the catheter get stuck in your back.

Yes, lucky me had that happen. After my son was born, I was all cleaned up, and almost ready to head to my post-partum room, the anesthesiologist came in to remove the epidural catheter. Well, he pulled and tugged, had me sit this way and that, told me to lie down and curled up, then pulled and tugged some more. But he just couldn't get that thing out. So, I got to sleep with it still in my back.

I also recommend not sleeping with an epidural catheter in your back. Not a comfortable sleep you will have, especially if you have just given birth and still have your IV needle in your wrist, which the nurses won't take out because you might have to go to surgery in the morning. Never mind that they could just put it in again later or that it wasn't a good line anymore anyway, or that it was really hurting.

I am truly disappointed in the care I received with my stay this time. When I had my daughter, I enjoyed my stay in the hospital. The nurses were wonderful and caring. This time I expected the same treatment, but didn't find it. I was on hold to have my water broken, because of a mother having a Cesaerean for twins. It took forever to get my epidural, I guess because the anesthesiologist was busy with the Cesaerean.

Another recommendation is that if an epidural catheter gets stuck in your back, make sure that when they finally get it out, that they show you the end to ensure it all came back out, and that a piece wasn't left inside you. Saturday morning, the spinal surgeon came in to take a look see at my stuck catheter. He was able to do some pulling and tugging and get it out. He was also nice enough to show me the end, so I knew (not that I really knew, because I don't know what it looked like before it was inserted into my back, to verify that it was all still intact coming out) that nothing came off in my back.

I was also finally able to be rid of the IV needle. And now thanks to that being left in my arm overnight, I have a numb spot higher up on my arm and a shooting pain when I reach for things. It is slowly going away. The advice I got for it - apply heat several times a day.

So, now I am sure you are all pining to have an epidural.

Interestingly, my two experiences with pain blockage of epidurals was different. When I had E, I didn't feel the contractions once I had the epidural and I don't remember feeling so numb. Not so with J. The epidural took the pain away to begin with while giving me numbness, but after awhile I could feel the contractions again. I didn't like that so much. I was suppose to not feel them. With E I couldn't really feel her being born, but I sure could with J. I did push for a lot less time with J. I also think I am healing faster this time.

I find it very curious that I had completely different experiences at the same hospital, in the same room, two years apart. Different doctors too.

My friend P said I should pick a different hospital for my next child.

I held my son for the first time Friday night, November 17th at 7:50 pm.

He is a precious boy. I love him dearly.

My daughter is getting used to her bed. My husband is working to get her furniture ready to put in her room. I am hoping that I don't have to wait much longer to have my baby.

I had an OB appointment today. I am almost 2 cm dilated. That of course means nothing in the world of having babies. I could go into labor any minute or make my OB appointment next week. My friend P has it all planned out. I will go into labor approximately at 9:00 am this Saturday morning. This will give her time to sleep in before driving up to be here. Depending on how long I labor, it also will possibly give us time to play some games, maybe go shopping at Wal-Mart (we did this my last pregnancy.)

I just want to have my baby in the morning on an odd number day. Such as tomorrow morning or Saturday morning. I like odd numbers better than even, and I want to have as much time at the hospital after my son is born as possible. Earlier in the day gives you the most time. I know this from having E. She was born at 7:41 am. I had all day Sunday, Monday and half of Tuesday at the hospital. If she had been born at 7:41 pm, I would have missed out on 12 hours of recovery time. I am assuming that they don't discharge you in the late evening. Anyway, I had a very good hospital experience, so I want to get the most of it again.

I am still trying to decide on epidural or no epidural. I could go in and say give me drugs. Or wait and see like I did with E. I go back and forth. I know I won't get one right away, at least. I also know that generally when my body is in pain, I take something for it. Why should childbirth be any different? I am questioning this whole natural birth experience idea.

First, I think the term "natural birth" is incorrectly used. I had a natural birth, I just didn't feel all of it. What they should call it is a pain medication free birth. The only kind of not natural birth I can think of is a cesarean, because the baby is born through a cut in the abdomen, instead of the birth canal.

Second, do women who don't want pain medication during labor also not use anything for their entire pregnancy? Meaning if they had heartburn, no antacids? If they had back or head aches, no acetaminophen? If they had hemorrhoids, no witch hazel? Did they try to make themselves more comfortable during pregnancy, but not during labor? Just wondering.

Today's naptime was much the same as yesterday's naptime. Bed. Still awake - dirty diaper. Crib - still awake - dirty diaper. I may have tried the bed again, but I can't remember. I do remember that after I did get her up, and she kept keeping from getting things ready for my craft fair that evening, I stuck her back in her crib.

I had a table at a craft/vendor fair tonight. I was working diligently to get things ready for it. E kept getting into everything. I was already running late, so in the crib she went. She stayed there till my mom came to watch her for me. E wasn't happy about her situation.

My time at the fair was for naught - if you count the amount of business it brought me. None. Not a person signed up for my information or bought anything. I didn't even have that many people stop to look at what I had on the table. And maybe one person looked at one of the albums I spent time putting together. I did however get to work on two birthday presents. And it was a learning experience. An expensive learning experience.

I did get a bag of Entenmann's cookies out of the deal.

Oh yes, and did I mention that I am still very much ready to have my baby?

Today E's big girl bed came. G came home for lunch to set up her new bed. Let me tell you, the mattress is so thick, that the safety rail we got is almost ineffective. You can't just sit down on the bed, you have to hop on up. E was quite taken with it. She enjoyed laying on it. That is until naptime. The girl did not end up taking a nap. We tried, though. We went through the naptime routine, and I laid her in her new bed. An hour later, still wide awake, with a poopy diaper. I changed her and switched to the crib. Surely that would work, and she'd take a nap. Wrong. After another hour the girl was still not the least bit sleepy and had another dirty diaper. I just got her up at that point and even tried going for a drive. Still E's eyes stayed open.

Bedtime was different. My husband rocked her to sleep, then put her in her bed. She slept in it fine.

My daughter was adorable tonight. We dressed her up as Pebbles. She helped hand out candy and helped herself as well. We had almost 200 trick-or-treaters.

As the evening progressed, E was getting restless. So while my mother monitored the candy, G and I walked our girl down one side of our block and back the other side. She had a grand time.

I was surprised that we really didn't have any more kids come much after 8:00 pm. That was alright, since we were getting low on candy. It was such a nice night out that we sat on our porch to hand out the candy. One kid was quite brazen and thought he'd take three pieces of candy. I immediately informed him that one piece was enough. He reluctantly put the two back and kept looking at me as he walked away. I suppose I could have let him have all three since we really didn't have many kids after him. There were some other opportunists that came by, trying to sneak more than on piece of candy. Instead of actually handing out the candy, we let the kids pick which piece they wanted.

Anyway, it was quite interesting to see so many kids walking down the streets. And some had parents who dressed up, too.