Birth Annoucement

Wow, I really suck at blogging. I promised I'd blog all through the pregnancy w/updates but working at the new Toys R Us Express really sucked up a lot of my time since I ended up working 8 hour shifts 5 days a week, then of course preparing for the baby, sleeping, squeezing in as much of a social life as possible, and other tasks. So it's understandable I didn't have the time to type up a blog. There wasn't much of interest to post anyway; my pregnancy was the easiest & most inconsequential pregnancy ever. Nothing happened. I found out it was a girl, I got a bigger bump, she moved around a lot. But the delivery is quite a story, so here I am finally blogging.

So Shannon was due on the 23rd. Everyone had bets on when she'd actually be born. My mom wanted her to come on her birthday, the 21st. The most popular prediction was Christmas Eve. Even a psychic my mom sees regularly said the 24th.
The 23rd came & went. So did the 24th and I got through Christmas Day without a twinge. Then at about 1230 in the morning on the 26th I got up to pee & had bright red bloody show. A mild cramping soon followed & we headed to the hospital. While I was under observation for about an hour/hour & a half they became definite contractions, not very intense but regularly spaced 5 minutes apart. However, my cervix didn't dilate at all and I was still at only 1cm so they sent me home to wait out the early labor stages.
Now a massive blizzard was heading down to us later that day, so we were dreading that my labor would intensify during the worst part of the storm. I took a warm bath and shower and was able to doze a little, but the contractions continued to come. They weren't so bad early in the morning - like menstrual cramps, maybe a little more painful, something I could easily grit my teeth & wait out, but as the day wore on and the snow started falling they gradually got more uncomfortable. The pain didn't get worse but the pressure against my rectum and pelvis were tough to sit through. I was contemplating whether I would be able to wait it out through the night & go to the hospital the next day during the tail end of the storm. So far, my water still hadn't broken and there was no sign of further dilation. Finally, more bloody show was appearing and the contractions were so uncomfortable that we braved the storm and headed to Winchester. The roads were treacherous & visibility very low, but we made it there safely & as soon as I was checked I was 3cm dilated. Finally things were moving along.
I was hoping I'd be able to hold out & have a natural birth, but the combination of pain & pressure from the contractions were getting to much and I broke down & got the epidural. I'm so glad I did. It made it so I didn't feel a single contraction and I was able to sleep. Well, I would've been able to sleep if I didn't have this thing where I never sleep well in other beds (I never fall completely asleep at hotels either). But I dozed enough. They had pull-out bed for Wig & he slept like a log the whole night.
My cervix continued to dilate steadily throughout the night but my water never broke. At about 7AM Monday morning the doctor broke my water and I began to try to deliver my daughter. It was tough. Sometimes I could feel the pressure and need to bear down w/the contractions but other times I had to go by the doctor reading the monitor that said when I had a contraction. I was pushing well, and I was expecting Shannon to come out any minute but after an hour of pushing the doctor checked her head position & said her head was not able to pass through the pelvic bone & molding was starting. On top of that there was meconium & I had a low-grade fever & infection so all those factors led to csection. I was wheeled into the OR and prepped. Wig looked so adorable in his scrubs. He was so fascinated with the whole procedure and the fact that I was so numb I didn't feel a single thing while they rooted in my wide opened stomach cavity. Then at 9:48AM, Shannon officially came into the world kicking and screaming, weighing 7lb 12oz and 20 3/4 inches long.
They wisked her away to Special Care to treat her w/antibiotics and it took me neary 4 hours to finally see my little girl. But it was worth the wait. Everyone sees a little bit of someone else in her. I think she has Wig's nose & ears, others say she looks like me or my sister. Some say she has my mom's chin. She already has quite the personality. I'm so glad I have her. She's the best Christmas gift I ever got.

Christmas Haul

It was a pretty good Christmas. My mom was beside herself that my dad broke down and got her her own Wii and my dad is very interested in learning how to sync music to his new iPod. His only concern is figuring out the most effective way to listen to it at work while keeping the bluetooth headset required for work in one ear. The cats got stoned on catnip and Frankenstein was totally enthralled with his first Christmas ever. I got lots of great stuff.

A new peacoat
A new bathrobe
New pillows with satin pillowcases
Slippers in the shape of Gir from Invader Zim - my favorite gift as I had a pair like 4 years ago but they got wrecked and had to be thrown out when I had a bedbug infestation
Peanuts Collection 1960s and 1970s Volume 1 on DVD
Watchmen on DVD
The Essential Weird Al on CD
Rockers and Rollers: An Automobile Autobiography by Brian Johnson of AC/DC
Pygmy by Chuck Palahniuk
$50 Kohl's gift card
Various candy and skincare/beauty products in my stocking
No pads for once LOL (inside joke from back when my grandmother was still alive)
$250 from my grandfather.

My other grandparents are paying off a medical bill as my gift and I haven't gotten the gift from my aunt yet but I can only assume it's yet another Nintendo sweatshirt from Hot Topic (seriously, I looove Nintendo but three's enough). I haven't gotten Wig's gift yet. I asked for Parker Lewis Can't Lose on DVD (only the BEST forgotten show of the 90s) but if he couldn't find it, a new ring or 2 to replace the 2 I lost at work this Season.

My grandfather, uncle, and my mom's cousins Raymond and his partner Tom and Julie and her husband and 2 daughters all came for dinner at our house. Olivia is 2 and Sophia's 3 months. Olivia's one of those toddlers that is too smart and clever for their own good. And y'know the old saying kids say the darnedest things. Raymond was telling a story of when he took her to some Santa's Village thingie and they're waiting in line and some other kid was acting up she goes "It OK Unky Raymond. I think he's retarded" Like where'd she learn that word? When we babysat her a few weeks ago she just turned to my mom and addressed her by her first name, like "Hey, Carolyn!" and my mom's like "Call me auntie!" Also it was quite funny to see how enthralled with my uncle Richard both Olivia and Sophia were. My uncle Richard's waaaaay out there. He's tapped. So they're just staring at him like "WTF?" He spent half the party watching Christmas Vacation and the other half watching Elmo because we put it on for Olivia but she wouldn't stand still...but he left it on, even after my mom's like "Y'know, Rich, you can change that..." no response "...unless you want to watch it..."

After the horde of people left I headed over to Wiggy's where Wig shit a brick when he got his special edition Nintendo DSi. We watched Santa Claus Conquers the Martian (Mystery Science Theater version of couse) which is our new Christmas tradition after it went over so well with him and Gahmstead last year.

...and WTF Luis Guzman is in Crocodile Dundee II? Sorry that threw me off. It's on TVLand right now and I look over and I see the one Hispanic actor who's in EVERTHING...besides Danny Trejo, but he's technically only in everything directed by Robert Rodriguez...and Bubble Boy.

Anyway, after the movie Wig gave me a different kind of Christmas gift if you know what I mean *wink-wink, nudge-nudge, say no more* We called it an early night soon after because even though it was Christmas it was still a Friday which means he HAS to go over Jack's with the rest of the gang to play 360. LOL.

Christmas Eve was fun too. In the morning after the overnight shift was over, a huge group of us went over to Denny's, including Ed our manager. I'm surprised we weren't kicked out for being loud, obnoxious and continuously talking about vaginas. Something about Christmas vaginas and everyone was replacing the word Christmas with Vagina in song titles...yeah, we're very mature. A couple of them were noticably drunk. How professional. Jason actually passed out in his aisle and John got a hysteriacal picture of him just curled up on a couple boxes. Not that Ed can do anything cuz John's also got a picture of him asleep on a shelf. See what I miss when I'm closed off in the RZone? Neither of them were as drunk as this one kid who was actually drinking AT work, having smuggled in old-school alocholic egg nog in a water bottle, but he didn't come to Denny's. Probably for the best. Good thing Season and the overnight shift are over tonight because he wouldn't have had a job still anyway.
Anyway, that was one breakfast/dinner/whatever that was chock full of innuendo. And male cleavage (Mikey makes some really convincing cleavage when he squishes his chest up, which is odd because he's a skinny guy and doesn't have man-boobs or anything). God we were there for like, 3 hours just stuffing our faces and laughing hysterically. And Ed paid for the whole thing as a Christmas gift to us - despite our protests. But we all threw in for the tip. It's bittersweet. I'm so glad Christmas is over and hours and general foot traffic in the store are going back to normal and I can get back on a normal sleep schedule, but I was finally starting to have a real rapport with some of the night crew (I don't see them much because we're in our own respective sections but after work we started getting to talking only in the past week and Dan's a funny-ass guy...and he's the only other person I know so far besides me and Wig that have see Dayjob Orchestra's video dubs on YouTube! I also got him addicted to iCarly LOL) There' always Facebook, which I HAVE to friend everyone on, especially to nab copies of John's pics of Jason and Ed sleeping and Mikey's hot tits LOL.
After stumbling home from Denny's I slept a little and headed over to Wig's. His friend and drummer Mikey was over and we all watched Dragonball Evolution and the Invader Zim Christmas episode. Then when Gahmstead came home we watched Dodgeball which I FINALLY got to see. Hysterical. Dragonball wasn't bad but it wasn't great. If you're a fan of the original manga and anime, it's worth renting because they get a handful of things right like character personalities and the balance of action and comedy, but took a lot of liberties with the backstory. I don't think they even used the term Saiyan once. If you're not a Dragonball fan, this movie doesn't hold up much as just an action flick. There's some cool martial arts stuff and a fiery lava Mount Doom-esque landscape where the final showdown happens and there's an evil alien (played by Spike from Buffy and Angel) trying to take over but it's too cheesy even for people who like cheesy.

All in all it was a good end to a mediocre year.

Popping in

Just popping in so the blogosphere doesn't think I'm dead. Lately I've been busy with work or being in pain because of work. If it's not my back it's one of my knees. Or my feet. Or my arm. I've been constantly getting headaches too and while they're not severe I hope it's not a sign that I could end up getting cluster headaches like my dad. Plus I've started getting panic attacks at work, something which none of my coworkers have any sympathy for. It took them 15-20 minutes to get someone to cover for me so I could go to the break room to calm down. And yesterday my manager Steve told me I should just quit. The only people seemingly on my side and willing to help me out at work are my other managers Ed and Aaron, who actually produce helpful solutions. Ed has recruited not one but three people to work RZone overnights with me and on nights I'm not there so more stuff is getting done. And the other day Aaron actually ran over to Shaws to buy my Advil when my backache was unbearable. Aaron also almost looks like Rick Astley so whenever he's working I have Never Gonna Give You Up stuck in my head the whole time. This time of year's always horrible and there's always some things that get worse and some that get better. I try to remind myself that there's only 3 weeks left, but those are going to be three loooong weeks.

When I'm not working or in a stupor trying to recover from work, I'm working on 3 crochet projects - 2 scarves, one for Wig's sister and one for his mom, and a blanket for our friends Katie and Fetus' baby. They found out they're having a boy and are naming him Seamus Joseph Conley. Fetus is fiercely proud of his Irish heritage. I have a feeling the middle name Joseph is for our friend Joe Tilton who died last September. Fetus was really close to him. All three are made up of granny squares so I'm seeing granny squares in my sleep right now. Other than that most of my Christmas shopping is done. I have a few more people I need to get gifts for and I don't know what to get them yet. My dad finally broke down and got a Wii for my mom so me and Heather are going to get Wii Fit Plus so now she doesn't have to complain that I won't move the system into the living room. Me and Heather are getting dad an iPod Nano and I got Wig a Nintendo DSi bundle that we had on Black Friday because it was too good to pass up and his DS is broken. Heather asked for Aquasaurs, these prehistoric fish you hatch in an aquarium.

Speaking of which Heather's actually STILL working despite threatening to quit when the manager failed to have the schedule out on time and then told her last minute she had to work when she already had plans. Instead the manager apologized and said it was all his fault. She's actually going to stick out through the whole Season and however long into January ToyZAM is open for. She might even transfer to Spencer's once it closes (they're owned by the same company) but that's a might. She jokes that she's going to work for three months every 19 years.

So after seeing many Etsy CreateCrochet Teammates and a few of my close friends make fan pages for their Etsys (Etsies?) I jumped on the bandwagon and made one too. I'm planning on some fun Fan-only promotions in the future. I've spent a lot of time in the past couple weeks networking and connecting with everyone on the CreatCrochet team- following any blogs or Twitters they have, favoriting their shops, and becoming fans on FaceBook. The more connections, the more word spreads. The CreateCrochet team is a great community. We recently did a swap where we were matched up and got to know our partner through convos and we had to make a secret gift for each other. I was matched with a woman from Vermont and it was fun getting to know her. I felt bad because she had a mild stroke and it's crazy because she's only in her late 20s. But she's doing OK now. She made me a reuseable Swiffer pad and a scrubbie and I made her a set of regular-sized and mini brain slugs (Mommy and Baby to represent her and her 2-year old daughter) in the same variegrated pink I made Flav's out of. I'm aiming to join a couple more teams, one for my jewelry and hopefully find some local ones. If you're on Etsy and not on a team yet look it up. It's a great way to network, get your items some more views, get tips and support and have fun doing your craft.

Tonight I'm getting together with a group of former Toys R Us Medford coworkers. It's something we do 2 or 3 times a year to catch up, have some drinks and have fun. We'll be going to Border Cafe in Burlington. Jill usually orchestrates the plans and other regulars always include Lynnette, Noelle, Joanne Ellard, Amy Struppa, and Melissa Cashman. Last time we got together Aimee Walkup was back in the area after moving the North Carolina and getting married. It was funny because a lot of us were wondering whatever happend to her after she quit and boom there she was. LOL. But I look forward to getting buzzed on margaritas before pulling an overnight LOL.

I wonder when we're putting up our tree. Probably this weekend or next weekend. My dad has a reputation as a Scrooge or a Grinch because he hates Christmas decorations. He just doesn't like the hassle of digging them out, putting them up, and then having to clean them up after the holidays. I'll admit the tree is a bit of a pain in the ass, hauling it upstairs, putting it together. (I'm allergic to pine so we can't have a real tree. Real trees are a hassle too though. Cutting it down or going to the lot and picking one out, hauling it back home, trimming it, watering it, sweeping up shed needles) And of course our cat Wyatt always has to try to climb it, and we have no idea what the new one, Frankenstein, is going to do when he first sees the tree. But I can't wrap any gifts until the tree is up because I have nowhere else to put them. If I try to shove them back in the back of my closet while they're wrapped, the wrapping could get ripped. So, no wrapping until I can put them under a tree.

Beating up a zombie to Queen's Don't Stop Me Now is one of the greatest moments in cinema history. Why don't I own Shaun of the Dead on DVD? Watching it edited on Comedy Central is subpar.

X-mas Yummies and New Beginnings

Wow I just opened a blogger account! You may ask me, "Danielle, why would you go and do that when you have a LiveJournal, a MySpace and a FaceBook you haven't posted to in nearly a year?" Well, today for Christmas I got my very own shiny new HP Pavilion laptop, which means finding time to sit and use the computer won't be an ordeal because I can properly multi-task and be online in my comfy room or my living room, my kitchen, a pretentious coffee shop, or even work once they get wi-fi (although it's just a rumor). So now I can actually make regular updates to a blog. But now which blog do I keep up with, or do I update them all at the same time? I have some friends on LiveJournal that aren't on FaceBook or MySpace and vice versa and thrice versa (I think I just made that up, but what would you say when you had 3 things instead of 2 to vice versa?) I could just copy and paste, cuz I'm certainly not going to type the same thing over again 3 times. But then I decided why not creat a Blogger which is so sleek and shiny and make just one post and link to it from my other three thingies? That way people only on one or the other networking site can still access my bloggies but without the repetition of it actually being on each site. This is also fruitful for my LiveJournal buds so that my often-long posts won't clog their friends page. Plus I don't know, all the cool kids have a Blogger and I'm such a sheep sometimes. (Although I believe the singular should be "shoop" and only the plural be "sheep." It sounds more natural that way. Gives new meaning to the Salt n Pepa song too)

So I stole the title of my blog from Wig; it's the name he gave his wireless router network *shrugs*

So I'm sitting here in my bedroom blogging on my new laptop which is on a Belkin lap desk that has a USB powered cooling fan in it that keeps the computer from overheating and chills my thighs at the same time, nestled in my new AC/DC fleece blanket, eating my grandmother's galleano cake and watching a Star Trek: The Next Generation marathon. It's a good Christmas. The Next Gen marathon was a gift to Trekkies everywhere since no one plays Next Gen reruns on a regular basis anymore. Spike TV went from having 6 hours of 3 different Star Trek incarnations every weekday to showing Voyager at like 2AM on Thursdays or something. And while I'm on Star Trek - I didn't find out that Majel Barrett Roddenberry died earlier this week until today. Again I'm the last to know. While Sci-Fi is playing 24 hours worth of Next Gen, TBS is continuing Christmas tradition with it's Christmas Story marathon, which made Wig and I think of combining the 2 marathons. So me, Wig, Fontana and Gahmstead began assigning Next Gen characters to Christmas Story characters and boy was it silly:

Captain Picard: the father
Data: Ralphie
Wesley Crusher: Ralphie's little brother
Geordie LaForge: Ralphie's friend
Worf: the bully
Dr Crusher: the mother
Deanna Troi: the leg lamp (cuz she was mostly eye candy on the show, I mean for an empath she was always stating the obvious: "I sense...great anger" while the aliens are like, screaming in rage and shooting photons at the Enterprise)
Riker: the Santa that says "You'll shoot your eye out, kid" (cuz he's got a beard)
a bunch of Vulcans: the waiters at the Chinese restaurant

This is what happens when geeks get together on the holidays...

Also, I got Wig and everyone to watch the Mystery Science Theater 3000 episode for Santa Claus Conquers the Martians. At first they were just like "What kind of drugs were these people on?" but by the end of the movie they were thoroughly entertained and glad I brought it over. It also has Wig and Gahm wanting to get their PS3 fixed sooner so they can take advantage of that new commentary feature Blu-Ray movies have. The first movie they want to "Mystery Science" is Mamma Mia. LOL. But they have to see more classic MST3K movies like Squirm and Soultaker.

So I have have NO side mirrors on my car. About 2 months ago I side-swiped a parked car on Spring St - a notorious street for this to happen cuz of all the cars parked on both sides and the sometimes almost impossible task of 2 cars passing on both sides at the same time. The replacement is still in its box in my dining room - my dad hasn't had time to find anyone to attach it nor have I been home from work when he's home from work for him to be able to bring it in. Then last night I was at Wig's house and he lives on Harvard St now which is also notorious for side-swipes. And his house is the 2nd in from Main St, right on the intersection and I was parked right in front of the house and I was a little further out on the street cuz of the snow in the way. I came out at midnight to find my driver side mirror shattered to bits. Now the side mirrors on the Pontiac Grand Prixs of the early 2000s are made of really, really thick almost indestructable plastic. When I broke the passenger side one, the casing was completely intact, I just knocked the actual mirror part out. The plastic casing of the driver side mirror looks ripped to shreds, which means someone going really fast and/or a big truck smashed right into it. I'm kinda not surprised, it was bound to happen on that street sometime. Changing lanes on the highway's gonna be a bitch for a while.

So tomorrow (well, technically today since it's 130 AM) I don't have to work until 1030 AM, which is a novel experience after either working overnight or having to be in at 6 or 7 AM for the entirety of the Season. I feel like I haven't slept since October. It'll be good to get back to a normalish schedule. Also, I'm technically graduated! Professional Music chair Kenn Brass e-mailed me back after I sent him my final project summary with a congratulations and told me that he sent in the necessary paperwork. There's no actual grade, but the credits are there on my transcript which means I have credit for the course I didn't have to take and have all the required credits for graduation. I just don't know if they're going to mail me my degree or if I have to contact someone at the school. Now I just have to obtain my actual teacher's license and I have a possible job already lined up at the McGlynn middle school. The principal, James Devaney, has been asking my dad about me for years (my dad's a janitor there for those of you who don't know) since he found out I was going to Berklee for music ed. He's wanted me to be a music teacher at his school forever and he hasn't even seen me teach yet! Especially now that he can no longer stand one of the teachers there who's a total cunt. So I could be replacing her within a year or 2. I have to look into how to apply for the license - I got my degree and I passed the licensure exam a year back, I think I still have to student teach. I might also look into substituting untl then.

So now that it'll be easier to blog, I'll be updating more often.

Also visit my Etsy and buy some handmade jewelry: stringtheory101.etsy.com. More on that in later blogs.