Category: MLV

I’d set the alarm for 2:45 for our Black Friday shopping and I took Alaethia’s temperature and gave her Tylenol. Mario looked over to me with eyes that were wide awake and said, “I haven’t been able to sleep all night. Maybe I should just go with you?”

I was thrilled at the idea, but I was afraid he wouldn’t have time to rest to go to work at 9. I asked him, “Are you calling in?”
He said, “No, I’ll go to work.” We got ready and Mom came over to watch Alaethia and the boys. We’d be leaving the house at 3am, so we unfortunately didn’t have enough time to set the coffee pot =\. Better for me, I guess. I already have to go pee more than enough without drinking coffee.

Mary, Sonia, Yazmin, Mario and I were the ones going. Elda was supposed to go but decided not to at the last minute since Mario was already going with us.

Our first stop would be Walmart, where we were mostly getting stuff that Annie asked us to. The ads weren’t really all that enticing to us this year so we decided we’d buy something only if it was a really great deal.

It was amazing how many cars were on the road at 3am!! I think the streets were the most populated that I’ve ever seen on a Black Friday morning.

Once at Walmart, Mary went straight to the jewelry department, where she was getting something Jorge asked her to and Yazmin and Sonia went to the toy section. Mario and I made our way to the electronics section where we were in charge of getting two MP3 players and memory cards. Since we were already in line for the memory cards, I was going to get one for myself. Can’t beat $9 for a 4gig card!

Mario and I are in line for what seems like eternity. The line spans from the electronics section back into the baby section and the food section, all the way around the boys’ section. It was ridiculous. Mario kept nudging me and hissing that it was a stupid idea to stand there forever for two MP3 players and 2 memory cards. I kept telling him, “We have to. Your Mom put us in charge of these. It’ll be fine.”

After seeing a guy try to “hand his keys” to some other guy who was much further from us just so he could get near him to kick his ass; some women threatening to “take care of” a pregnant woman who cut in line if the security guard didn’t, and finally hearing that all the people in line would probably be there all day because they were letting people in by 5’s to 10’s (and we were easily like, 75th in line), I decided that yes, maybe it was time to leave.

We told everyone we were leaving and had a hell of a time trying to find an exit where people weren’t going to pummel us for thinking we were trying to cut in line. When we finally got out we got in the car and picked up some cappuccino at Valero next door. We decided we’d drive across the street to Home Depot, since we needed to get a gift for someone there. We’re a bit worried because there’re only 2 cars in the parking lot that look like they belong to customers. I roll the window down and ask a passing employee if they’re having a Black Friday sale. He says yes, at 6. I look at the clock on the stereo: 5:05. Okay. We’ve got some waiting to do. We sip our cappuccinos and I read my book, Cocktails for Three by Madeline Wickham (AKA Sophie Kinsella), while Mario flips through the pile of Black Friday ads we brought along with us. There’s a couple in a blue truck and an older couple in a tan van. The people in the blue truck left for some reason and a whole bunch of other people started arriving after that .We got down after we saw the couple in the tan van get down and get in line. We were second. We talked and laughed with them and the guy and girl right behind us. It was such a big, calm difference from Walmart!

The line was long, but not ridiculous like it was at Walmart. Everyone was nice and civil and you could walk normally with your basket throughout the store and you found what you needed because there was plenty of everything. We found what we needed and then some.

We met Mary and everyone at Target and made our way to Kmart, where Mario and I bought a 32″ LCD TV on impulse for $399. It wasn’t even on sale or anything—we just saw that there was actually one there and bought it. When we were wheeling the cart away we were thinking, “What did we just do? Where are we even going to put this one?!” So we decided that after our next stop, another Walmart, we were going to return it.

Mario stayed in the car because we were afraid someone would break in just to steal the TV. We searched everywhere for some stuff Noelia asked us to get but had no luck. I did, however, find the 2 ft. Mickey and Minnie for $9 each that Mom wanted to get for Alaethia. I got a little rowdy myself—let me explain: one of the employees actually listened to me and checked if she had the plushes. She told me to wait where I was and she’d be back; she was certain she’d seen them “in the back”. So Yazmin and I wait and wait…for like 15 minutes. She said we should go, but I just had a feeling we should wait a little longer. We’re looking at some cute Wall-E and Eve toys when Yazmin points and yells, “Yajaira! She took your Mickey!”

I turn in all directions and squeal, “Who did? Where?” and she points me in the direction of a woman practically running towards the electronics department with her cart. I stop her and tell her, “Hey! That was mine! She was bringing it for me!”

The woman, who has a raspy voice like she’s been yelling all morning, says, “No I didn’t! She has more!” I look around and see nothing. I turn to her, eyes narrowed, and ask, “Where?” She points in the same direction and rasps, “Over there! She’s got a huge box!” I stand on my tip-toes and yes, I see the lady now and she’s quickly being surrounded by a mob of shoppers. I turn around and politely say, “Thank you,” and walk quickly in the opposite direction back towards the lady. I was a tad bit embarrassed LOL.

When I get to where she is there are arms all over the place grabbing skinny Mickey and Minnie legs left and right. I shove my arm in the box and grab one of each and take off, yelling ‘Thank you!’ to the lady. We paid and went straight to the car. Poor Mario had just called and was getting bored.

We dropped Mario off at home so he could get ready for work, left Mary’s car since it was packed and took my truck for another round of shopping. We went to a different Walmart, the one on Nolana if I remember correctly. We actually found the MP3 players Mary was looking for (they had tons) and although I didn’t find even one of the Blu Rays that were on sale, I did find a few $2, $6 and $9—I even got Peter Pan for Alaethia for $10!

We returned the TV at Kmart and went to eat at Shoney’s. My first time at Shoney’s, ever, I believe. It was alright. I was so tired I could hardly eat, though.

We dropped Sonia and Yadira off and came home. Mom somewhat watched Alaethia (and I say somewhat ’cause she kept getting into things and Mom kept yelling) while I slept. I got about 2 hours I think.

Mario got home early. The poor thing was exhausted, so for once I didn’t object while he dragged himself to sleep at 5pm. We went over to Mary’s to chill out with everyone (Mona, Jorge, Elda, Mary, Mom and the kids) and had dessert. As soon as I was done with my last fork-fulls of banana crème pie and pumpkin pie I started getting those bad pains like the day before. I tried ignoring them but they started coming on really strong. I was talking to Elda and kept flinching and cringing when I’d have them. Mary told me to time them, so I did—they were coming every 6 minutes at first, then every 2. They were like that for an hour until I finally gave in to everyone’s recommendations about going to the hospital. I reluctantly woke up Mario at 8:30 and immediately started to sob. I couldn’t believe I was possibly going into labor. And I didn’t even have a name for her yet! The boys’ room wasn’t fully transformed into the girls’ room yet! I still needed tons of stuff and couldn’t even remember what those things were! Mario told me to calm down and helped me pack our bag with our cell phones, reading material, my slippers, etc.

It felt like an eternity by the time we arrived at the hospital. I’d been so into breathing and calming my pain that forgot to eat the Ramen noodles I’d made as my dinner. I inhaled about half of it when we parked at the hospital and Mario finished the rest.

It didn’t take long from the time we arrived to sign documents and then get admitted. My teeth were chattering from the nerves, especially after they asked Mario to stay in the L&D waiting room. I was asked to change and they got my vitals. My luck would have it that the darn system was down and all they could do was write everything on a piece of napkin O_o.

I felt so lonely laying there waiting to be strapped in by the nurse. I started texting Mario asking him if he knew when they’d call him in. The nurse walked in and strapped me onto the monitors. She found it really weird that when I’d get one of those sharp pains it wouldn’t mark on the machine as a contraction, and then when I was having a contraction, I was fine. So she gave me this little silver pump to push every time I felt a pain.

She gave me a pelvic exam and although I was dilated to ½ a centimeter my cervix was still fully closed, so that was a good sign. I was hoping that at the very least this whole thing was due to a virus or something and not labor. She still had 2 ½ months left before she could come out!

I’d be staying overnight as per the doctor so I could be monitored. She called Mario in right after that and thank God too because she was about to insert the IV. I really hate IV’s. Besides the earth-shattering contractions, IV’s follow right behind as the most pain I’ve ever felt.

She told me the IV would keep me hydrated because I was a bit dehydrated and would insert some Demerol for the pain. I didn’t feel like I needed it, so I told her I’d pass for now. She kind of laughed it off and got to working on my hand. I kept telling her she had to use a baby IV, but she wouldn’t listen. She said no, they only use the largest IV’s in Labor and Delivery. Sure enough, she popped my darn vein. She was a little freaked out about it, because the blood literally squirted out. Mario was amazing; he rubbed my other hand and kept me focused so I wouldn’t pay attention to the doctor. She finally got the darn thing in after what seemed like an hour.

Now I had the pain in my hand and the horrible pain in my stomach. If it wasn’t contractions, was I getting sick like Yadira said I would after all? The weird thing was I didn’t have diarrhea or anything. I was writhing and literally couldn’t breathe while I was having the pain. The stupid nurse kept making fun of me. She even told Mario he should leave because it was going to be a long night! How dare she! He kind of just shrugged and smiled and then looked at me like, What the hell’s wrong with her?”

Mario went to get himself dinner at McDonald’s since he really hadn’t eaten all day. He got back and ate and we watched TV. He told me to lower the volume and try and sleep. The pain was unbearable and they still really weren’t showing up as contractions. Around 2am Mario insisted I should get the Demerol. I felt so awful and exhausted that I gave in. I called the nurse and she somewhat satisfyingly said ‘I told you so’.

She injected the IV tube with a syringe of Demerol and I asked her if it stung. She said, yes, a little. But when I finally felt the liquid make its way down the tube, it only felt really cold. She had another syringe with her, a medication that starts with a ‘P’ that I can’t remember the name of, but she said I needed it to keep from having the nauseating side effects that Demerol usually caused. I really didn’t want it, but the last thing I needed was to have those stomach cramps and nausea. She shoved the needle into my butt cheek and OMG, it stung so bad! She told me to get comfy so that I could get some rest.

I asked Mario, who used to work with IVs and all that stuff, when I’d start feeling the Demerol kick in. He said, “Soon. Just wait.” I was just regretting getting the darn Demerol when I started to feel really lightheaded. I turned over to Mario, in what felt like slow motion, and told him, “See, this is why I don’t do drugs…this feels so weird!” The last thing I remember seeing is a huge painting of Santa I didn’t notice when we first went in to the room. I woke up several times when I heard the nurses walk in or when I felt one of the pains (which weren’t as bad as they had been) and I did finally wake up once to go to the bathroom, but I got some rest nonetheless. Poor Mario was all curled up on one of the chairs but he slept pretty much through the night. When I woke up in the morning I realized the painting I’d seen wasn’t Santa after all, but a painting of pink, red and white flowers! I really was out of it, but it was probably the best sleep I’d had in a long time! I’d wake up just to fall right back into slumber as if I’d never woken up, and didn’t wake up with a headache at all. Now, if only the doctor would hurry and release me, it would be wonderful. I didn’t want to spend my whole Saturday at the hospital again now that I knew all I had to do was stay hydrated and get over this darn virus.

I’d been waiting for this day since last Thanksgiving and couldn’t wait to eat some of Yadira’s green bean casserole, Mary’s turkey, stuffing and broccoli rice, and pumpkin pie with whipped cream! I prayed and hoped that Alaethia could keep her food down and that I (or Mario or anyone else for that matter) didn’t catch what she’d had. She hadn’t thrown up since the night before, so things were looking positive.

I’d invited Dad over for Thanksgiving and he actually came! He came about 3 hours early (I told him everything started at 12) because he supposedly had to be somewhere else by 11:30. I was glad he showed up, though. I didn’t feel we were close enough to invite him about 4 years ago, and the past three years when I did invite him he never came over. He probably didn’t think about it all those Thanksgivings he was away when we were little, but I did think about him now as an adult and felt almost guilty about him being home alone, eating alone. I remember I asked him once how his Thanksgiving was and he told me he and his friends got together and went to eat at the Salvation Army dinner. But anyway.

Mom was catering to Dad like she was a waitress. She even had me make a pot of coffee and then when the food was done, serve a plate for him. He left around 11:20. I was hoping he’d stay and eat with us and all, but I guess it would be too overwhelming since it was his first time meeting family other than my in-laws. Maybe next year.

Of course Mom wasn’t going to live it down. Everyone was teasing her, especially because they know Dad’s asked her to run away with him to his house at least 10 times. He’d actually half-joked again just that day that she should leave with him.

I started getting strong stomach cramps around 11am, before Dad left. I kept clutching at my belly and cringing and Yadira noticed. She said Ana, one of her co-workers, had gotten cramps and diarrhea after her baby had been sick with vomiting so what if I had the same thing? I waited around and even debated not eating anything at all in case I did get sick. That didn’t last long; I served myself a nice plate of food and ate to my heart’s content. And then I had dessert. The boys and Alaethia actually ate really well—who doesn’t during the Thanksgiving feast? I got to see Mario here and there; he was outside under the back porch with the men and we women were inside browsing through the Black Friday ads. Mary and I weren’t really planning to go to the sales at all, but Annie and Cat asked her to go so I volunteered myself to go along with her. I was a little sad Mario wouldn’t get to join in the madness since he’d only gotten Thursday off and not Friday. We worked out a game plan and gave everyone their assignments.

I had pains on and off throughout the day. Sometimes they felt like they were contractions, which freaked me out so I tried staying hydrated and immobile. I even drank a Sprite to settle my stomach; everyone who knows me knows that I only drink Sprite when I feel sick LOL. I felt a little better by dinner time, thankfully.

I had a quick dinner of leftover stuffing and broccoli rice and went to sleep early, around 9ish. Mario took care of Alaethia while I slept. He gave her Tylenol when she was feverish again. At one point he got bored and dressed her up warmly to go over to Adan’s. He didn’t get desperate and take her to me at all, like he usually does. I was really proud of him, and incredibly impressed that he didn’t wake me up ONCE for help!

Sun., Nov. 23rd – Jorge and Tommy came over, equipped with a trailer and an extra truck, to help Mario and I pick up Mary’s furniture and my ottoman. We were all over at Mary’s house most of the day watching the guys take out the old furniture and bring in the new. Andy and Noelia came by in their truck with Mary’s new dresser that she ended up finding at Big Lots, solid wood. After I’d made some lunch and cleaned up a bit I left to Target with John, who needed to return something and then to JC Penny for myself for some new maternity pants since they were having a huge sale and I had two awesome coupons: one for $10 off and one for $15 anything $10 or more. I *had* to go before the sale was over on Monday. I didn’t want to fork out any more money for maternity clothes but I only had 3 pants and now that winter’s coming I absolutely had to get some. Plus, I’m justifying my purchases by keeping them in good shape to give to Noelia for when she finally decides to have her babies.

After I’d found a pair of khakis and a pair of jeans in size small (it was quite a hunt, let me tell you), we paid and then we went to Best Buy to look around. John was looking around to see what games he’d buy the boys for Christmas and then we went into the instruments section and messed around with some drums. He wants to get Alaethia a small drum set, can you believe that?

John said he was hungry and asked if I wanted sushi. Um, yeah! You don’t have to tell me twice! I called in the order and then we drove a few shops over and picked up our take-out from Kumori. I couldn’t wait to get home and devour my yummy rolls.

We got home and everyone was over, like they usually are at least one night during the weekend. Mario and his Nino had been bar-b-q’ing. I unfortunately had to share my sushi with whoever wanted to try it because I’m polite like that, so I didn’t have my fill at all. Needless to say, I hunger for more, as John would say.

Monday, Nov. 24th – I didn’t go to work (Alaethia had a cardiologist appointment ) and since I already knew I’d be absent and had signed my sheet I got a little extra sleep. But I hadn’t realized how long it would take me to make breakfast, get myself and then Alaethia ready so I was running late. I was down the street when I called into the office to tell them I’d be late. The girl said they’d only gave me 15 minutes to get there. How nice. I managed to get there in 17 minutes and prayed for both my and the nurse’s sake that they’d still see us. They did, only to call me up when I was almost done filling out the paperwork and told me they didn’t accept her insurance, which is CHIPs. Lovely. I was so pissed I tore up the referral in front of her face and told her they should let people know about these things before they show up to the appointment. Shouldn’t things like insurance be confirmed during the whole appointment setup? I called Laura, one of our nurses, and asked her what was up, what happened? She said they didn’t say anything about not accepting her insurance during the appointment setup at all and that she’d try to get her another appointment at a place where they did accept it. Of course I didn’t get one for that day.

I collected all of Alaethia’s things, scooped her in my arms and buckled her into her car seat. Once she was busy watching her Care Bears cartoon I silently wiped at tears of frustration. I cry for everything these days and keeping my daughter from an appointment she needs is the ultimate tear-jerker.

Once I calmed down I called Furniture Row to see if they’d do a few changes to my account. One of Mary’s couch pillows had a teensy hole and she wanted two more chairs for her dining set. The guy I spoke to was a total moron and couldn’t tell me anything about anything. All he said was, “When you call back at 10, someone else can help you out.” Um…okay.”

I called Mary to tell her about my morning and how the guy at Furniture Row was not helpful and she told me to go to her office and chill out for an hour before going to Furniture Row. So I did. The girls hadn’t seen Alaethia in a long time and were head-over-heels for her. I talked to Yvonne for a while and showed off my belly. After Alaethia had been paraded around the office and collected a handful of lollipops and sticks of gum, we got in the car and left to Furniture Row. Thank God they gave me no problems what-so-ever.

I got a few groceries on the way home and was so relieved that Alaethia was in such a good mood. She’s at the age where it’s actually tolerable for her to be in town for a long time without getting tired. She was great.

When I got home after picking the boys up from school Mario texts me and says he had lunch at Kumori…could my day get any worse? He doesn’t even LIKE Kumori that much!! He promised me Kumori on Friday. He was forgiven.

Tues., Nov. 25th – My first and last day of work for that week, woo! I couldn’t believe the Thanksgiving holiday was already here. When we started work again this fall and I made the decision to stop working after January it felt like it’d be forever before the Thanksgiving holiday would come. Now that it was finally here that only means one thing: my last day of work’s going to creep up in the blink of an eye.

I kept on top of everything so that I wouldn’t have anything waiting for me when we got back the next Monday. Mrs. V. wasn’t there most of the day; she’d gone shopping for Christmas decorations at Walmart and other places. I actually had a chance to loosen up and read when I had nothing else to do. Usually I feel like I need to BE busy with something or else someone (Mrs. V.) will see me and think I’m slacking—even if I don’t have anything to work on.

Mrs. Ruiz arrived after lunch and we started putting up the 12 ft. pre-lit tree she donated. Yes, she donated it! One of our students, who calls himself Chocolate, and Jorge D. helped. They were glad to get out of ISS LOL. The kids were having their Good Life Celebration and were having a Jamaica (festival). We were so busy with the tree that I completely forgot to go out there and see the rides and games and buy my nachos. I heard it was awesome, though.

I couldn’t believe I was going to have 5 whole days off! I was finally going to get everything in the house organized and cleaned and I was going to update my blog once and for all!

Wed., Nov. 26th – I had my doctor’s appointment in the morning. I could go in anytime in the morning. I should have gone in much sooner than I did. I made it there at 9:30 and was there well into 12pm. I was supposed to take Mom in for an appointment, too, but they were closing after 2:30 that day until Monday.

I weighed 138—not bad at all! That’s only 1 lb. in 2 weeks. Elizabeth (the nurse practitioner) told me taking Robitussin DM for cough and congestion was okay to take for my dry cough. I didn’t end up taking it at all anyway. The doctor asked about my sugar and told me just to keep monitoring myself. She almost wanted to do the 3-hour test but she spoke to Dr. C. and he said no, we’d agreed to monitor my sugars. Elizabeth did say that the baby’s full turned over, which is insane because at the time I was only 26 weeks! The other three didn’t turn over till at least 28 weeks!

I asked her, as I usually do, to check if she’s still a girl and she said, because the way her legs were positioned, that she couldn’t really tell. Although she and Dr. C. have already told me countless times that she is a girl LOL.

We left the kiddos with my in-laws while John, Mom and I went to visit Gramma. She was eating dinner and watching one of her novelas when we arrived. She spent most of the time shushing us and waving us out of the way when we’d get in front of her TV–she was really into her show! We stayed a while and then went home.

Mario came home at night and got into a discussion with his uncles and he became a bit peeved/upset and decided to leave the house at 10:30pm. I’m usually pretty lenient about stuff like that, but I was actually hoping to spend time with him and watch a movie or something now that I didn’t have to be in bed by 9:30. I expressed my thoughts which sent him barging out the door. I stayed up on my own watching TV and right when I was going to go to sleep around 12:30, he walked through the door. He lay next to me and put his arm around me and asked if I was upset. I kind of shrugged and that was the exact moment that I heard a weird sound coming from Alaethia’s crib. I practically pushed him off me so we could check on her. She was throwing up, completely out of the blue. Nobody was sick so she couldn’t have caught it from someone. I figured it was that she’d been eating a mixture of stuff.

Mario changed her sheets while I washed her up in the shower. Poor thing was falling asleep the whole time. I dried her up and got her dressed and Mario sat with her in our bed while I put everything in to wash. When I got back, she’d already thrown up again all over our pillows and sheets. So we made a new pile to wash.

She’d coughed on my face while I was carrying her, so I figured I’d get sick. I just hoped it wasn’t the next day, Thanksgiving! And I hoped Alaethia wouldn’t be sick the whole time, either. How unfair that would be :(.