The Blessed Event

Yes, it finally happened. It was one of those days, let me tell you…

Monday was Precious’ due date, but we were wishing the babies would have arrived on the weekend. We both had events that we couldn’t miss, and we were still having trouble accessing the cam away from home. It worked perfectly while we were at home. Go figure.

I rushed home after work, and saw that her udder was quite large, but thankfully, no babies yet. I milked a bit out of her, which also is a sign that babies are imminent. I knew from personal experience, though, that these things often take time. So I expected a middle-of-the-night delivery. I went inside and took it easy and dozed after supper. Of course, we had her on the cam loud and clear.

B woke me up about 12:30 to go to bed, and I couldn’t get to sleep, as she was bleating quite loudly with every labor pain. She was still in early labor, though. I finally decided I would do more good outside with her than inside in bed not sleeping, so I went out.

It was BITTERLY cold. I put on three pairs of pants, three shirts, two pair of socks (one wool), two coats, a scarf, hat, and my new thinsulate mittens. Then I found an old white comforter that could be bleached when done, and I took it out and wrapped myself in it. I was absolutely chilled to the bone. My feet were in intense pain from being so cold. But I remembered the pain of labor, and realized that Precious probably hurt more than I did. I finally brought my car to the barn so I could go out periodically and warm up. I must have fallen asleep about 5-5:30 am in the car, as when I woke up and went back into the barn, her water had broken. I expected to see pushing soon.

I did my chores, and came into the house to make sure that everyone was up and getting ready for school. They had no idea I had been up all night. In fact, B told me he had a dream that I told him she was kidding and I was going out to the barn. I told him it was no dream!!

I finally called my friend S and asked her when I could expect pushing. She said that the babies were likely not into the birth canal and were malpresented. I needed to go in with a glove, adjust the way they were presenting, and help her get them out.

WHAT?!! I had not signed up for this!! I know that complications happen, but the first time?! Why me?? She said that I should try it first and then call the vet if there were problems.

Time was of the essence, of course. However, not only did we need to get these kids born, but B and I both had to go to work. I had a conference call that I needed to be on, and an appointment to discuss some items with another colleague just before that. I needed to leave by 10:30 am.

So I took my OB glove and went in. I found the babies, and repositioned them, and she pushed them out. I was truly convinced that I had not acted fast enough and that they would be dead. To my tearful jubilation, they were both born healthy and very much alive! We dried them off and momma loved on them, but we ultimately had to take them into the house, as it was so incredibly cold. She missed them, but is doing fine, and happy to be free of that excess weight!

We have had to milk her and then bottle feed the babies, which is a lot of work (and very cold for us). But it is worth it. The babies are inside, in the mud room, in a dog kennel. We let them out when we feed them, and they are fun to play with and be around. They are absolutely adorable—hard to believe that they grow into such large livestock!

Pictures are below. And oh—no names yet!

BarnCam

Well... no babies yet.

And, given that life goes on (read: I have to work despite having babies due), we have set up a barncam. I mentioned it before, but I can't even tell you how consuming it has been. Firewalls, port forwarding, the direcway system, remote desktops, USB cams vs. IP cams, hard wired vs. wireless, antenna boosters, wireless repeaters-- all of this crap has consumed us for the past 2 weeks. All to make sure we don't miss the blessed event.

And, as is often the case with technology, when it works, it's awesome. When it fails, it's miserable. Unfortunately, it has failed more than it has succeeded. We strive for audio and video, since it's important to hear her as well as see her (especially if she moves off-cam). But if you have audio, your video can be unreliable, and vice-versa. When we are home, we can get it to work very well. At work-- where we need the most reliability-- it works not-so-well.

So, while we are at work, our solution is a streaming web cam, with no audio. At least we can see something.

Here is the link:

Our cam is "BarnCam"-- be sure to select the Friends and Family section, and then the Barn Cam from the dropdown link.

Sorry for the commercial nature of the feed-- it was all I could find. If you have a better solution, I will jump at it!!

Happy Monday. I have meetings all day today, so send Precious some good thoughts about holding onto those babies until at least late this afternoon.

Updated: Ugh, I see it's down now. See what I mean? And we're not there to reboot or anything...

I Kid, I Kid!

Actually, I am not kidding. But we do have a goat that is about to kid any day! I did not mention that we have two new girls, Precious and Tango. We now have three that are going to kid this spring, as Cindi is bred as well. Precious' due date is Saturday, and Cindi's is March 4. Tango has been ultrasounded, and is pregnant with twins, but nobody saw her being bred, so her due date is unknown. By looking at all of the goats, I would say that the date is somewhere between the two, maybe mid-February.

So, given the concern for being with the girls while they kid, we have been focusing the efforts during our scarce free time into crafting a barn cam. It would be very helpful for me to be able to view the cam while at work, so that I can keep tabs on them and come home if needed. It's also a long way to the barn when it's 10:30, freezing cold outside, and you're in your pajamas. Or 1:30 am and you wake up in a cold sweat just KNOWING she needs you out there, but you really don't want to leave the comfort of your bed.

Our barn cam is experiencing HUGE issues, however. First there is the issue of the metal barn. Then there was the connectivity between the barn and the wireless router in the house. Now we are having problems with me being able to view streaming video while at work. It's one thing after another. However last night we were able to keep a stable video connection between the barn and the house all night. We all slept like babies, Precious and Tango in plain view (and plain voice!) on my nightstand.

Again, I am concerned becuase I am at work today, unable to view them. But if we can just make it a few more hours, then we have the whole weekend... Keep your fingers crossed for me!

My Teeny College Made the News

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070125/ap_en_tv/people_colbert

People can be so petty. But it was cool to open Yahoo news and see my alma mater.

Saturday Morning

I haven't taken photos in forever. Friday night and into Saturday morning, the area was blanketed in a heavy fog. When the sun came up yesterday, we were treated to a beautiful sight! I couldn't resist even the nasty cold-- I dusted off my camera and headed out. Hope you enjoy.

The Transformation

This is the living room of our house, taken from the dining room. This picture was taken before we bought it. We had a vision, which was clearly different than the shag carpeting, light-blocking curtains and dark walls.






In the second photo, we have stripped the paneling off of the walls, removed most of the wallpaper underneath, and took up the carpeting. Even though it's not finished in this picture, you can see the transformation in the room just from lightening up the environment. Also, in the first picture, the "archway" was all framed in-- a surprise to us when we removed the paneling.



We stripped the walls, patched and painted them. We're now ready for trim and ceiling tiles. They had put foam 1 x 1' square sound-absorbing tiles up, and we are going to replace them with a tin pattern ceiling. Someday. When we get more time...


Same room, different angle. Isn't it so much better?

My parents should have named me Frank.

Because I am. It’s just the way I am.

So, I will be frank with you. (Spoken like I have never been frank before in my blog.)

I have not blogged about anything recently, as I have been intentionally avoiding the “elephant in the corner” as we affectionately refer to the term at work. It’s that thing that that is looming there, that everyone wants to know about but nobody wants to ask about. This elephant, in this food lady’s life, is her fragile mental health. How is my mental health these days? Am I hanging out in the rubber room? Curled up in the fetal position on my living room floor?

Well, my motto has always been “Better Living Through Chemistry” and this situation is no exception. Lexapro is my miracle drug of choice, and with the exception of a few speed bumps along the way, it has been a miracle.

I have a friend at work who battles his own demons, and he has said to me, “You need a heaping spoonful of ‘I don’t give a shit.’” And he’s right. However, I seem to have a cup full at the moment. Remember my posts about feeling guilt for not doing laundry? Or dishes? Well, there is guilt no more! But now I struggle with the need for some sort of motivation. I struggle with it at home and at work. I am very motivated with the animals, however. I am happy that I continue to honor my commitment to them as an “animal husband.” But the laundry? It’s not done.

B says that’s fine. He likes it much better this way. Let me tell you a funny story:

I had Christmas Day dinner planned out. My inner Martha Stewart was somewhat shut down by the drugs, and I had decided that I’d do a spiral glazed ham in the crock pot, put some veggies and potatoes in the oven, and then we’d just eat off of that all day. It would be a NICE dinner, but not a formal dinner. And there would be minimal work for me.

But the trouble started on Christmas Eve, when my Lexapro self decided that I couldn’t be bothered with the prep work. The inner Martha could not win that battle. I went to bed without the pumpkin pie or pineapple upside down cake being made. Martha was placated by Lex’s assurance that I would get up early and get it all done before 9 am. I mean, the kids will not let us sleep very late on CHRISTMAS, right?? Wrong.

Martha, Lex, B, the kids and I all woke up at 9 am. I am surprised that Martha slept that late. She is usually up at 5:30, banging around in the kitchen, trying to guilt everyone else into getting up and helping. But Lex drugged her into sleep. And we all slept well! We opened our prezzies, and I went to the barn, and it was all good. I came back, and snuggled under the quilt on the couch, and the sun was streaming in, and the cats surrounded me and…

I WOKE UP AT 2:30!!! And nobody had made anything; there was nothing in the house to eat (except the uncooked Christmas dinner and a few leftovers that were not enough to feed a ravenous household!). B suggested the grocery store, but Martha reminded him in her infinite wisdom that the grocery store was closed on Christmas day. Lex told him to go to the gas station and see what he could rustle up.

AND MARTHA WAS QUIET!!! She was drugged in to submission, and Lex seemed pleased that her family was so well fed WITH SLIDERS ON CHRISTMAS DAY !! What did BABY JESUS think when he looked down and realized that LEX LOVED HIM SO MUCH SHE CELEBRATED HIS BIRTH BY SERVING HER FAMILY WHITE CASTLE SLIDERS???!!! FROZEN ONES THAT WERE REHEATED IN THE MICROWAVE!!

Martha was secretly pleased when the kids remarked, “Mom, these are the nastiest burgers I have ever tasted! Can I please have that extra sub sandwich that dad got?”

Strengthened by this, Martha rallied the troops and enlisted help from everyone, to whip up the meal that had been planned! The boy made the pumpkin pie while Martha made the crust and barked orders at the crew. Thankfully Lex tempered the Martha dictator, and the atmosphere was one of camaraderie. Baby Jesus would be proud of THIS. We had the meal done by 7:30 pm, and ate our fill that day, and had ham for dinner for a week after that.

Later, when Martha begged forgiveness from B for being under the influence of Lex, B said he loved her multiple personalities with Lex in the mix. Martha asked him if he wanted to boot Lex out of her life, and while he said, ‘It’s up to you, Dear” she really heard the truth in his voice: ‘If you ever go off of this medication, I will run screaming for the hills never to be heard from again. Never, EVER miss a pill.” And I think he really means that, White Castle for Christmas dinner and all.

So, bear with me and my cup full of I don’t give a shit. It’s not that I don’t, I really care about things. But other things just get in the way…

Truthfully, and kidding aside, part of the titration is to get through the part where you are feeling somewhat numb. My first reaction to the medication was that I did not like how it took away all of the good feelings with the bad. My emotions were spiking up and down, and I liked the ups. I never even considered that the medicine would shave the peaks off of the good and the valleys off the bad moods. Fortunately, the peaks have come back, and the valleys have stayed away, except when appropriate. This has been a good thing for me. But I continue to have motivation problems. It’s the old, “spirit is willing but the flesh is weak” line. Last night I really intended to get some extra work done that I had brought home. Yeah, and B woke me up at midnight to go to bed. My laptop was still open. I had fallen asleep waiting for a remote document to load. I had every intention to stay awake, but…

Okay, you get the picture. The gist is this: I know you are all used to Martha with the stick up her butt. But please, be patient with Lex, and get to know her. She’s totally laid back and cool (when she’s not sleeping). And she’s REALLY, really good for Martha.