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sorry, guys
Oct. 11th, 2005 08:13 amWhat do you call candies that you only keep for their sentimental value?
( wait for it... )
::bowing:: Thank you, thank you.
( wait for it... )
::bowing:: Thank you, thank you.
Oct. 11th, 2005
Stopping to breathe
Oct. 11th, 2005 09:49 pmFunny - Canadian Thanksgiving pretty much totally passed us by. What with ![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
ninja_kat's baby and Chris' oral exam, as well as the various daily trauma-dramas, it sort of... fell off the menu. We went to Chris' friend Beatta's home on Sunday for dinner, and they did have a small piece of turkey along with the rest of the food and I brought pumpkin pies, but they're Polish (I think) so the traditional Canadiana wasn't present.
Edit: Oh and perhaps I should add to this the fact that I haven't updated much lately, or commented on anybody's ljs, because I'm never home and when I am home, our internet connection is almost invariably down. I feel utterly cut off. We need our computers & network hub fixed. Blech. Just spent $240 on a "fix" that did diddly squat, I'm not feeling hopeful.
Update onninja_kat: I can't, actually. I can't do it justice. I can either write about it as I feel it, which will take several pages and not come close to communicating all that's happened, or I can do a dry recitation of the facts and let you fill in the emotions behind them.
Dry recitation: first off, three months in a wheelchair, in severe pain. Then almost two weeks overdue. Then sixty hours of labour. And not the usual sixty hours = water breaks, slight cramps, oh maybe I felt something, and then thirty hours later, labour pains begin in earnest. No, this was intense pains, five minutes apart, for almost the entire time. No more than twenty minutes of sleep for the duration. Active pushing and all the trauma inherent in a vaginal delivery, ending in a caesarian anyway. Hospitalization, which she didn't want. Complications that make her still unable to walk. Blood loss so severe that she now needs a transfusion. More possible medical interventions in the near future. And today, a CT scan that nobody had bothered to tell her would result in her being unable to breastfeed for two days. Because why would you need to warn a new mother about something like that?
I've only been at the hospital 2-3 hours a day since the birth, and today for less than half an hour - I just went to drop off stuff and take the kids to meet Jacob. So it's not like I'm living this hell constantly. But today, seeing how upset she was over the breastfeeding thing, I just about broke down too. Which is not helpful, she doesn't need to be comforting people while she's in so much distress herself. But it just seems like... enough already, you know? Parenthood almost by definition means self-sacrifice, and enduring pain you wouldn't ever endure for anybody but your child. But this is... it's too much. Enough, already.
Anyway. Like I said, I can't do the situation justice.
Abrupt Topic Change: We'll be turkeying this weekend. Doing the traditional Canadiana, and bringing the feast toninja_kat's home or to the hospital, if she's still there. And taking the time to be thankful.
ninja_kat's baby and Chris' oral exam, as well as the various daily trauma-dramas, it sort of... fell off the menu. We went to Chris' friend Beatta's home on Sunday for dinner, and they did have a small piece of turkey along with the rest of the food and I brought pumpkin pies, but they're Polish (I think) so the traditional Canadiana wasn't present.Edit: Oh and perhaps I should add to this the fact that I haven't updated much lately, or commented on anybody's ljs, because I'm never home and when I am home, our internet connection is almost invariably down. I feel utterly cut off. We need our computers & network hub fixed. Blech. Just spent $240 on a "fix" that did diddly squat, I'm not feeling hopeful.
Update on
ninja_kat: I can't, actually. I can't do it justice. I can either write about it as I feel it, which will take several pages and not come close to communicating all that's happened, or I can do a dry recitation of the facts and let you fill in the emotions behind them.Dry recitation: first off, three months in a wheelchair, in severe pain. Then almost two weeks overdue. Then sixty hours of labour. And not the usual sixty hours = water breaks, slight cramps, oh maybe I felt something, and then thirty hours later, labour pains begin in earnest. No, this was intense pains, five minutes apart, for almost the entire time. No more than twenty minutes of sleep for the duration. Active pushing and all the trauma inherent in a vaginal delivery, ending in a caesarian anyway. Hospitalization, which she didn't want. Complications that make her still unable to walk. Blood loss so severe that she now needs a transfusion. More possible medical interventions in the near future. And today, a CT scan that nobody had bothered to tell her would result in her being unable to breastfeed for two days. Because why would you need to warn a new mother about something like that?
I've only been at the hospital 2-3 hours a day since the birth, and today for less than half an hour - I just went to drop off stuff and take the kids to meet Jacob. So it's not like I'm living this hell constantly. But today, seeing how upset she was over the breastfeeding thing, I just about broke down too. Which is not helpful, she doesn't need to be comforting people while she's in so much distress herself. But it just seems like... enough already, you know? Parenthood almost by definition means self-sacrifice, and enduring pain you wouldn't ever endure for anybody but your child. But this is... it's too much. Enough, already.
Anyway. Like I said, I can't do the situation justice.
Abrupt Topic Change: We'll be turkeying this weekend. Doing the traditional Canadiana, and bringing the feast to
ninja_kat's home or to the hospital, if she's still there. And taking the time to be thankful.- Thankful that despite all the above, Jacob himself is a big, healthy, beautiful boy
- Thankful for friends like Beatta and her family, with whom we shared our exploding kitchen and the story of the exploding whale, and who, in return, rewarded us with the story of the vapourized barbecue
- Thankful for our marriage
- Thankful for our kids
- Thankful for HBLN
- Thankful for nearing the end of Chris' residency
- Thankful for lj
- Thankful for all of you
- Thankful for RL friends like Sarah & Rainer & Sandra & Matthias, Todd & Susan & Turtle & Zany, Anne & Eva & Garry, Marie & Nicholas & Oliver
- Thankful for ninja_kat & Mr. ninja_kat & ninja_kat Jr.
- Thankful for the fall colours and the relative comfort and safety of our lives, especially compared to the lives of people in places like New Orleans and Pakistan right now
