Lesson Learned from a Migraine Headache

Last Tuesday, near the end of Zumba class, I started getting symptoms of a migraine headache. I've been getting migraines for years, since I was in elementary school. Luckily, I don't get these headaches frequently, only about once every 3-6 months. So Tuesday, I started loosing my peripheral vision on my right side. As I drove home, I called Lawrence to ask him to make me a cup of coffee since caffeine can reduce migraine pain. At home, I called the consulting nurse to ask about pregnancy safe treatment options (acetaminophen), drank my coffee and crawled into bed. Luckily, it was only then that the real pain started. Two hours later, it was over and I was finally able to eat dinner.

So, what lesson had I learned? At the peak of my pain, I had my face all scrunched up, I was resisting the pain, and you know what? When I was resisting the pain, it was worse. I would notice I was tensing up and how the pain increased then take a deep breath, relax and the pain subsided (though it didn't go away totally). I am going to endeavor to remember this while in labor.Perhaps I should have Lawrence remind me while it's happening.

Resisting pain makes it worse.

Co-Sleeping

There are a lot of hippie, "granola" type things I want to do for and with Henry; home birth (which I keep meaning to blog about, give me time), cloth diapering, eventually sending him to Montessori school (if we can swing it) and co-sleeping. These are things I plan on doing because they feel right to me, not because they're trendy or some such nonsense. Mind you Lawrence isn't on board for all of this (I'm still working on finding good fiscal evidence to support my desire to cloth diaper) but he is definitely all for co-sleeping.

Like the Wiki says, co-sleeping is where the baby sleeps in the same room as the parents. This can come in many forms, from a simple bassinet in the corner, to specialized co-sleeper cribs that attach to the parents' bed to bed sharing, where baby simply sleeps in the same bed  as mom and dad. I really like the idea of not having to get up and leave the room to feed Henry in the middle of the night. I like even better the idea of not having to get out of bed at all to feed Henry in the middle of the night. I am, though, not ok with the prospect of rolling over onto Henry or smothering him in my blankets, so bed-sharing is out. Plus if we did bed-sharing I don't think I'd ever get a restful night's sleep, it took me over a year just to get used to sleeping with Lawrence and he's a full grown adult that I have no fear of crushing.

So, for what we (I) want, we're looking at a sidecar type bassinet. There seems to only one of these on the market; some variation on the Arm's Reach Co-Sleeper, which is nice and all, it's just our bed isn't a standard bed.

As you can see, our bed has this fun ledge running length wise on both sides. Aesthetically, it's nice but it poses an issue with co-sleepers. We can't have the co-sleeper flush with our mattress, there would be a 5 inch gap. Plus I think our bed is lower than most. And, to top it off, I don't like the Arm's Reach design. The baby's mattress is actually lower than the parental mattress, making it so that I'd have to reach down to get Henry out of it. So, what's left? DIY! A quick Google search yielded me this design concept and this tutorial (oh and this little bit of inspiration too). Such a simple design! Easy too, if only we had the tools to make it. The designs include pieces to secure the crib underneath the mattress, which isn't feasible on our bed (stupid ledge) but Lawrence has consented to screwing the crib directly to the bed (on the ledge). With a design in my head, I just have to logic out how to fabricate it. I think the first step is to decide on a mattress for Henry. I think I'd like to get a full sized crib mattress so that Henry can sleep in our homemade co-sleeper for as long as it makes sense and not until he gets to big for it. Plus, if we ever do want to move him into his own free standing crib, we just need the crib and not the mattress too.

Making it Legal and Other Musings

Two and a half weeks ago, Lawrence and I made our union legal! Now Henry won’t be a bastard.

The day was beautiful. I had worked for over a year on that wedding and it went perfectly. Henry added to the day by waking me up a little earlier than I would have wanted but it was his way of wishing us luck.

After our beautiful wedding, Lawrence and I got to go on an awesome honeymoon to the Oregon coast. We stayed at my aunt and uncle’s beach house. It was so nice to have a whole house to ourselves. Lawrence and I walked on the beach, visited museums and just relaxed together.

Now we're back to reality, though it's a pretty lazy reality. My classes don't start until the 24th and Lawrence is taking time off work. Last week we tried to get our names changed but found out that getting married doesn't entitle you to change your name to whatever you want, only one or the other person's last name. We were super disappointed and angry. Now we both need to get a legal name change, paying $157 each to get it done and who knows when we'll be able to do that. So for now, you can call us the Halom family but it's not legal just yet. When Henry's born, we'll give him our future last name so all three of us will have different last names for a time.