Daddy squared

For both of the faithful readers of this blog (hi mom!), this is not Emily. This is Jevan hijacking the blog to make an announcement. On March 11th at precisely 12:06 AM, Allison Claire Woolley was born at LDS Hospital. We are delighted to announce that both mother and baby are doing great.

Some of you may know that we were in fact in the overtime period of gestation, as Em was due this past Monday (the 5th). We had an appointment scheduled on Monday the 12th for an induction (I still think it should be an inducement, but that's just me), which made me really happy for reasons that make sense only to me. See, the 12th is a good day; I was born on January 12th, Em and I got married on April 12th, Jane was born on September 12th. So 12s obviously are working out for me. Thus when we found that the baby probably wasn't going to come until she was induced on the 12th, my little OCD brain was completely content and at peace.

So it was to my chagrin when Em told me her water broke Saturday afternoon. However, I retained hope that perhaps it hadn't, given that it wasn't a deluge but rather a trickle. Looking back, I guess that the alternative of her water breaking (that being incontinence) wasn't a great option, but it was the heat of the moment.

Since the baby wasn't supposed to come until Monday, we had planned to make Saturday a Jane day, to spend some quality time before her world gets turned upside down by a tiny squeaky encroacher. So when there wasn't a ton of water and the contractions weren't all that strong, Em thought she could just ignore it all and not go to the hospital. I wasn't too keen on this, so we eventually made our way in to the hospital at 6:00-ish.

Because it was a high break in the bag of waters (I'm so impressed by my fetal-speak knowledge), they weren't able to tell if it had in fact broken, so we spent 3 hours playing a comical game of 'Catch That Bodily Fluid' (it's a huge hit in Japan). The game is played by a nurse telling you to call her when you feel some fluid leaking, so she can run in and soak some of it up on a humongous Q-Tip, swab it on a slide, and do some tests. What makes it fun is that, invariably, the nurse doesn't make it in time, so she would get a lackluster sample, take it to the lab, and come back and say they needed a better sample. I kept wanting to point out that I had never known my wife to spontaneously pee her pants for no reason for 2 hours, but I don't think this kind of logic applies to the strange and magical world of medicine. So finally, after 3 hours of C.T.B.F., they got a sample that told them that yes, in fact, her water was broken.

Once this painfully obvious fact was established, they decided to finish the job and puncture the bag, and start Em on a Pitosin® drip. She was a 3 at 9:00, and by 10:30 she was at a 7. By 11:15 she was at a 10 and ready to start pushing. The doctor arrived at 11:30 and we pushed a few times before out popped the baby.

I don't know about you folks, but any time I see a slimy dark blue creature covered in weird fluids, I don't immediately want to hold it. In fact, I tend to look around for Will Smith and the Men in Black to come and whisk it away. But I guess that because it was MY slimy dark blue creature covered in weird fluids, I was able to appreciate the magnitude of the moment and be amazed by the miracle I had witnessed. Suffice it to say I was in awe by it all.

So, once they got the little tyke all rosy and happy, they did the measurement thing. Here are the stats I can remember:

7 lbs, 12 oz. (3.52 kg, 0.55 stones, or .0033 2003 Honda Civics)
20.5 inches (.52 meters, 5.13 hands, or 1/4.98 x 10 ^7 the distance between our house and the Mount Rushmore National Monument)

We'll be at the hospital until Monday (the 12th... sigh ) afternoon, so feel free to drop by or call with your congratulations and / or condolonces. I expect more of the latter from those of you that have daughters in their teens, but for now, ignorance is bliss. Thank you all for the support, well-wishes and prayers that have been offered on our behalf.

Love,

Jevan, Emily, Jane, and Allison

Wonderful family is one of the greatest blessings. Today was my due date. Of course, nothing has happened. I felt pretty worn down all day, super tired of being pregnant and just a bit sad that I have to keep waiting to meet this little baby. So, not my best day. Jane apparently was also not having a good day as she was crazy-grumpy all day, everything sending her into temper tantrums. As I was looking in my cupboards, trying to figure out what to make for dinner and dreading the thought of making it with an incredibly cranky child hanging on my legs, my fabulous BIL and SIL, Steve and Becca call and ask if they can bring dinner over. Wow. Yes, please? What an answer to a small but desperate prayer. They are so thoughtful. AND, they didn't just bring dinner, they brought the tastiest, most napoli-authentic pizza ever. It was from a new pizzaria downtown and it was sooooo good. Jevan swooned while he ate it - he served his mission in Italy and it was very nostalgic for him. He was in his happy place. Thanks Steve and Becca!

Jevan told me tonight that I have to write about Jane's new little habit she has developed that both makes me laugh and drives me crazy. Jane loves to chatter in her own little Janerese jibberish. It sounds so funny because it is always complete with inflection, like she is having whole conversations with questions and answers. Lately, whenever she is in her carseat or highchair, she will sit and chatter to herself, but, if she thinks I am not listening to her, she will suddenly yell out "MAMA!" and then continue with her dialog. Even if I am sitting right next to her at the dinner table, she still has to yell it at the top of her lungs. She apparently has very important things to say and wants to make sure I am getting all of it. It cracks Jevan up. Here is an example:

Dinnertime at the Woolleys - Jane in her highchair, us at the table:

Jane: eeh guys dugger ubba my a bin? guya guya modda mee....guya guya....MAMA!

Me: What Jane?

Jane: more janerese...see above...babble babble.

Me: Sure Jane, that sounds great.

Jane: babble babble babble..MAMA!

Me: What Jane? I'm right here. I can hear you.

Jane: MAMA!

Me: What?

Jane: Babble babble...(sounding very serious now)...

Me: Ok. I'll do that.

Jane: babble babble? babble babble. Babble....MAMA!

Me: JANE!

Jane: MAMA! (said a little louder..a little more gruff)

Me: (no response)

Jane: MAAMAA! (said in her best scary monster voice...very growly..)

At this point, Jevan is laughing so hard that the asparagus he is eating is coming out his nose. Jane likes his reaction so she just keeps going, and dinner becomes very noisy..and messy. I finally get right up close to her face and say "What Jane?" and she ends with a babble sentence with inflection that sounds something like: "Haven't you been listening all along? I just want to know which looks better on my face, the mac and cheese or the chocolate pudding. I tell you what, mothers these days don't listen to a thing their children are telling them."

Darn mothers.

FINITO!

The saga of Jane's new room is finally over! We came, we painted, wainscoated, molded...and conquered! It was a lot of work but I think it turned out cute. Hooray! Jevan is the true hero though as he did most of the work. I just frustrated him a lot with my paint indecisiveness. I tried to help as much as I could, but to quote Jevan at one point when I was trying to paint and making a huge mess: "You are a home improvement disaster!"...said with much love, I think...um hope.

So today is Thursday and Jane's little sister is due on Monday. Needless to say, I am tired of being pregnant. Not that this pregnancy has been that bad, I just am ready to have her out, meet her and move on. I am getting really stir crazy just waiting.

Jane’s most favorite activity right now is STAIRS. We could go up and down them all day…in the house, at the store, at other’s people’s houses….you name it. We went to the Children’s Museum the other day with my friend Marie and her two kids, and with all the gazillions of things to do there, none of them were as great as the stairs leading up to the different levels. With all her practice, she has become pretty good at them and refuses now to crawl up or down them..she will only walk them while holding a railing or my hand. It gets pretty tiring to bend over to go up and down the stairs with her when my belly is so big.

So Jane and I go to the grocery store together...a lot. Sadly, I mostly go to get myself out of the house. We usually go about the same time, around 11am, so there is usually a lot of the same people staffed at that time. Since we are regulars, we have a favorite bagger named Conor. Conor has down-syndrome and is about the sweetest guy ever. He always helps us to our car and he adores Jane. They have long conversations together. Today, Jane made Conor's day. Jane learned from the Young Women in our ward (when I was in the presidency) how to give high fives and also how to do "bust me" which means to knock fists at the knucles. Conor asked Jane to give him five, which she did, and then just for fun, he said "knuckles!" which Jane instantly picked up as "bust me" and did it right back. He was so surprised and then just started laughing like crazy. He did it over and over and couldn't stop laughing. Jane loved the reaction she got out of him. They were quite the pair. It was really cute. Just a fun little story.

Here are also some pictures of our latest February adventure. We went tubing with my dad's extended family up at Soldier Hollow in Midway. Jane loved riding in the tube as we spun her around. Her little second cousin who is only a week older than Jane took a ride with her too. It was great fun.

Another random Jevanism for thought. This was several nights ago when we were getting into bed: "What do you think would happen if you were dropped from a helicopter onto a lake that is covered by a piece of plastic wrap that is one square mile big? Would you sink or would it absorb your fall?"

I voted for sinking because I just never trust plastic wrap. I am a ziplock girl.