Country Rican

On November 26 th , at 9:35 in the morning, my doctor cut me open and took out my second daughter.   I hate to describe it that way, but it was awfully clinical. After having a vaginal delivery, it was a bit of a shock to my system.   Not that I can complain.   My baby was breech and my options were limited.   I am lucky to have a great doctor who I trust did what was best for me and Savannah.   Last time he told me there was a 98% chance that I would push out my baby, this time the odds were reversed.   That’s life for you. I don’t know what I was expecting.   I talked to friends who had had c sections.   I even have a good friend who had two of them with my same doctor.   I researched it online, so I thought I knew what to expect.   Still, I was overwhelmed by the whole experience. We got to the hospital at the same time as last time.   We went to the labor and delivery section same as before.   We even had the same wonderful nurse as before: Kathy.   She started as an R

Sigh... We are having us a baby on Monday November 26th via C Section.  Unless some higher power intervenes... this is the plan. Little Savannah is a stubborn little girl.  She has been in Frank breech and nothing we have done to spin her around has worked.  I am still walking around the house at times like an elephant (and I mean this in more ways than one).  The only advantage to doing this is how amused Sofia is by it.  Savannah ain't budging.  At 36 weeks my OB tried an External Cephalic Version.  Basically, he tried to spin her himself by "massaging" her over my big belly.  I use the term "massage" very loosely here.  Luckily it was less than 3 minutes of trying, because I do not think I would have been able to take much more of that.  He says after almost three decades of doing this he can usually tell right away if baby is going to go along or not, and if it seems like she isn't cooperating he does not try to force it.  She was not cooperating.  The

I am a liberal, so it goes without saying that I voted for Barrack Obama and not for Mitt Romney.  Not because I blindly vote for a party, but because I believe we should all vote for the person that best represents where we want the country to go.  Every time I hear someone say they are voting AGAINST Obama, my skin crawls a little.  Not because I want Obama to win (although I do) but because I cannot understand voting for someone you really cannot say you know what he believes or stands for. I hated George W. Bush.  I did.  I hated him when I lived in Texas and he was governor.  I truly disagreed with his politics, where he took the country, and how he seemed proud of not being able to find a coherent sentence with both hands and a flashlight.  I was crushed when he was elected in 2004, because I was in a liberal bubble and I truly believed people would be tired of him by then.  However much I hated him, I still respected him.  I respected his courage, his conviction, and I re

Sigh! How time flies when you are working and pregnant and raising a toddler... I was thinking about naming this "baby update" and then I saw the last blog was over a month ago and it was in essence a baby update.  I wish I had more time to write about the stuff that runs around my brain.  I sit at work on a rainy Monday with no motivation to do anything that requires actual brain power.  I just filed a bunch of old invoices.  It needed to be done, but alphabetizing does not require that much effort so I went ahead and did it.  I also sent a couple of emails I had been meaning to send.  I shredded some stuff.  I have stuff to do, don't get me wrong, but between the rain and my belly I just can't get worked up enough to do it.  It is 4 pm already...so hopefully Michael won't be too mad at me for blogging rather than starting something new. A month ago my mom and brother Kano came to stay with us.  Kano stayed for a short time and is now back in Puerto Rico, enjoy

I am very tired.  I know, I should be, but every once in a while I just marvel at how exhausted my body truly is. I am 25 weeks pregnant, so I am almost done with the second trimester - which was supposed to be the honeymoon. Well it was when I was pregnant with Sofia, because I didn't have to run after Sofia.  Sofia is 18 months old now.  She runs, she climbs, she gets into EVERYTHING.  She talks a lot, but we cannot make out most of it.  She is bilingual which mean she asks for "agua" and then tells you it is "cold".  She wears me out, as she is too much like her daddy and does not stop.  She is, however, a joy to be around.  She is very affectionate, and will hug and kiss me out of nowhere. She is daddy's girl, and will constantly leave me for him.  I know, I might as well get used to it.  She is also Grand daddy's girl, and will cry inconsolably whenever he leaves her. She is not doing too well with her consonants, and says "ooo" for &quo

When I was an immigration advisor at UGA I once had to tell a young woman that she was here illegally.  She was an 18 freshman who had gotten herself a job at the dorm when her would be employer told her she could not work and that she would need to go see me.  When I asked her about her legal status she said she had been here for years and was not sure.  I knew immediately what she was.  One of the millions brought here before she could remember anything else, but she was completely unaware. I told her to go home, talk to her parents, and come back with her passport and visa documentation - whatever that may be. When she came back it was as I suspected.  She had been here since the age of 7 on a tourist visa that expired when she was 8.  She was from South America but had no memory of being there.  She was crushed.  She was paying for school with a church scholarship.  A good student and a regular church-goer, she had enough get up and go to get a part time job on campus only to find

Yes, the Rican Goddez is producing her second little goddez.  I wanted a boy, because I wanted to experience one of each.  But, alas, the universe decided I should have another girl. I am truly blessed to be pregnant for the second time.  I am grateful that my old eggs are still working, and that Michael's old boys can still swim.  The most important thing is that the doctor has said she looks very healthy, and that so far at fifteen weeks she seems fine from everything he can tell from an ultrasound. There are mixed feelings because Michael and I had discussed only having two, so there is a sense of loss of what we will not get to have. Michael told the doctor that Sofia was so perfect he was worried about the second one having to live up to her.  I worry about it too.  The sibling rivalry between two kids less than 2 years apart of the same sex can be intense. Then again, I say I want a boy because I grew up with brothers and I am not too girlie.  But I probably would not kno

Yes, I am pregnant again.  Apparently the people I know are not reading my blog, since every time I mention something about pregnancy on facebook I inform some other friend who was unaware.  This is odd to me, because I announced the pregnancy weeks ago on this blog, and according to my stats it was read by over 100 people.  I must have more friends than I know... Maybe I have strangers who are reading my blog?  If so, "Hi there stranger!" Indeed this pregnancy is kicking my ass.  My OB says the second is harder for most women, but damn.  I am TIRED! Exhausted really, ALL-THE-TIME!  It is indeed fatigue.  Not to mention I feel sick to my stomach most of the day, have a general feeling of being unwell, and now the headaches have started.  To compare, with Sofia I was not that tired, I was sick to my stomach some, but mostly mid day, and the headaches didn't start until the nausea was gone.  In hindsight it would seem my Sofia belly was pretty easy.  On top of that I had

Ahhhh, the 70s. I love my brothers.  I do.  When I look back at my life it is hard to imagine my life without them.  Of course, I am the youngest and so they have always been there.   Kano was an only child for seven whole years! Lucho was the baby for a year and a half!  I was born with two brothers and would not have any other way. It was not always that way.  There were many times when I wondered why I couldn’t have a little sister.  Someone younger than me to torture as Lucho tortured me.  Or maybe we could trade him for girl?  J   I say this now because I am sure there were many times as kids when he was stuck with his wimpy nerdy sister that he wished to trade me in for a little brother; and because after years of wishing for a sister I feel blessed to have brothers instead.  I’m a guy’s girl.  I have always been better in a circle of guys and I know it’s because I had them with me all through my life. It's blurry, but I love it! Kano is almost nine years

I was put on birth control at the age of 16 for medical reasons.  It was a 3 month treatment for what was basically out of control hormones.  I was in high school, and much to my horror my period would show up every other week, or not at all, or come and stay for a month.  My mom took me to a female OB/GYN, and this was her prescription.  I am sure my mother was a little nervous when her gorgeous teen age daughter was given birth control.  But, it was a medical treatment, I needed it, and it worked.  After a three month treatment and for at least a year after my period was "normal".  I was a virgin when the treatment started, and I was still a virgin after it.  Fear of getting pregnant is not the only deterrent to having sex, no matter what the religious right tells you. That was over 20 years ago, and at the time only my close friends knew I was on the pill because back then people would label me a slut if they knew I was on the pill.  "I heard she was on the pill.&qu

Being a mom has been a unique experience.   Although at times I am amazed that we managed to keep Sofia Carolina alive for a year, most of the time what I feel for her is an immense feeling of pride.   I look at her and I am grateful she is so smart, curious, beautiful, healthy…I wonder how we can be so blessed.   I worry about her all the time. Michael says it is my job to worry, but like every mom I guess I feel I worry too much.   That first night in the hospital when we were all so tired and my mom and Michael were both finally napping, I held a tiny Sofia in the darkness of my hospital room and wondered, hoped, even prayed that I could do this.  I had waited so long to be a parent.  I felt so blessed that we had been able to conceive in our late thirties so quickly, and felt lucky to have a perfect baby in my arms.  Ten toes and ten fingers. She was the picture of good health.  I had waited for the right partner with whom to raise my kid with, I waited for the right time, t