Chapter 4: 30 is Flirty

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO ME!!!

Yes, it passed already, but it's still August and today is the last day I have to celebrate! I mean you only turn 30 once!

It was a very nice birthday too. I had a BBQ very nicely prepared by my parents. I was sad that Skip wasn't there to celebrate with me, but when he comes back I'm sure we can figure something out. Anyway, I had some of my friends come and celebrate with me and we had a very nice relaxing time. Some of my friends brought their kids which made me really happy since they got to really enjoy the pool! It was so neat seeing them since it reminded me of when I was that age and gosh...I LOVED swimming and having fun like that! Some of my friends that came I hadn't seen in a really long time so it was a double treat since they got to meet Kaitlyn as well. So very nice!

Anyway, then we got a great show from my friend René's daughter Michelle. She is five years old and has the best imagination! I tell you she is the smartest kid and so very entertaining. It was a special treat since they stayed over and Michelle gave us a second showing of her fun thoughts. She even sang for us! I'm going to steal that kid when René isn't looking. Watch out René! Ha, ha, ha!

So all in all I had a really great day and couldn't ask for anything more. Ok, well probably to have Skip there celebrating with us, but he was stuck in Cuba at that moment. I did make a really cool birthday wish and I think so far it's working out! I'm really excited that my wish is finally coming true! I would tell...but then I don't want to jinx it! I got the best present early though...I got Kaitlyn. I think that was the best present I could ever have asked for! Ok, Ok...I will stop gushing about her...I'm sure you are all tired of my sappyness, but she's just such a great kid!

Well, that was Chapter 4. What could come next you say? Well Chapter 5: Skip Haberlack Escapes from Guantanamo Bay!

Hurricane Shmermicane....right? Hmmm

Well....as sad as it is for the New Orleans folk I'm relieved that it's not coming our way. Thank goodness that we don't have to go and evacuate. That makes me feel a lot better since I don't have Skip here and although it's Mom and me, it would be difficult to have done everything to make sure the house was fine with just the two of us. I'm also very relieved that we don't have to drive away! LOL...I just keep thinking of the time we had to drive to my friend Tatiana's house during before Hurricane Rita. I don't' think it would have been much fun if it was the same commute with a kid, two pets, and a Mom. Ha, ha, ha

So...anyway, I think we will be fine here in Houston. It will most likely be rainy and windy, but nothing like it could have been, thank goodness! And I think that if it were heading to us, I wouldn't have been able to enjoy my friend's baby's Christening today. It was really cool! I will have to put up pictures once I upload them. It was so much better than your traditional christening. It felt so much more real and heartfelt. But this is my opinion. I'm sure traditional works for some people, but I love my friend Amy's approach.

Well...it's time to eat some dinner so I shall go now and hopefully continue the chapters now that this intermission is coming to an end.

Take care everyone! Keep dry!

This is a test....oh wait...no it's real!

OK...so here is a brief intermission from my chapters to tell you about the latest news.

As many of you may know, the weather has been quite active lately and as we enter the exciting month of September, we also enter the busiest part of hurricane season. This year it is no exception. Looks like we will be getting a nice dose of storms in the next few weeks and although it's still early to tell if this year will be a repeat of a few years ago it sure feels like it. For those of you who don't know, three years ago after hurricane Katrina hit, we (Texas) got slammed with Hurricane Rita. While the storm turned out not to be as bad as it could have been, the true adventure was the 24 hour trip to my friend Tatiana's house. This was known as "The Rita Exodus". Mind you it takes 2 hours to get to her house under normal situations. Take me out to lunch and I will have to tell you about that sweet adventure. :p Let me just say, that I HOPE it's not the same situation again!

So...what does Mother Nature have in store for us this time around? Well, it looks like a double dose of storms starting with Hurricane Gustav (I call it Gus for short) and the still uncertain Tropical Storm Hanna (no relation to Hannah Montana). Our main focus for now is Hurricane Gustav. It has spiraled and danced around the Caribbean and is now looking like it's making a nice beeline trip towards Louisiana. The "Cone of Uncertainty" has the possiblity of it landing between Texas and Florida so we are all on alert. The real pain with this storm is that we've been watching it for so dang long! Ha! When it became an official storm it was moving slower than molasses at 5 mph. Now I guess since it has more steam, it's moving faster like a little locomotive. Choo choo!

If it hits Lousisiana, I really feel bad for them. They are in no position to bear another storm since they aren't even recovered from Katrina. The thing is that someone has to get the brunt of it, and sadly anywhere it hits is going to be a disaster area and like any human in the world, I hope it's not where we are. While there are two active storms in the Caribbean, there are also a few developing in the Atlantic off the coast of the Hurricane Factory (aka Africa). I guess people are going to start paying attention to Al Gore now since he's probably going to say that this crazy weather is due to Global Warming. Makes sense though. The ocean is jacked up and warmer than it used to be. Guess people will rethink using that bottle of water and plastic bag at the supermarket now.

So...for the second time this month we are on watch again. Luckily this time I don't have to worry about having a kid again! Ha! I leave that to any other mother who is due! Have fun with that! What I do know is that the weather is going to be really crappy next week and that I won't be able to go into the pool. :( All storm and no swim make Kat a sad girl. He, he.

Well..that is my news brief for now.

We will now continue with your program which is now in progress.....

Chapter 3: Visitors check in and out of Chateou di Haberlack

With a baby you get the normal rush of people pouring in to see the little bundle of joy. This is always quite normal. I got my little rush and it was very nice. Lot's of ohhh's and aaaah's and LOT'S of...wow...she looks like Skip. :)

It did take a while for the people to pour in. Mostly because I was out of service for a while, but I think this gave us all at Chateou di Haberlack some much needed bonding time with our daughter before everyone else came to see her. Among the visitors were the very happy grandparents.

Skip's mom Linith came all the way from Kalifornia just for the occasion. She was delighted to see Kaitlyn and we celebrated by having some chicken wings upon her arrival. This was neat because it was Kaityn's first visit to a restaurant. And because we own stock in it (Buffalo Wild Wings by the way is where we went), then it made it all the more special. :) Nothing like a little American food to set off Kaitlyn's little life, don't you think?

Grandma Lin had lot's to show Kaitlyn too. She gave her a tutorial on how to sell and search for items on E-bay which will come in handy when looking for the right diaper to match her dresses. Hee hee. Grandma Lin also brought me a the most awesome gift for my 30th birthday; one of the rocks she worked on which she shapes into really neat orbs. I have to take a picture of it, but it's really awesome. I've been wanting one of these since i saw her page when she came for the baby shower. She and Mike (her boyfriend) have this really great business where they polish and create gorgeous pieces with rocks you and I would never have thought could be transformed into what they are after they are done with them! If you want to take a look at some of the ones she's done, she has a photostream on Flickr. Here is the link: Linsgemsandjewlery

Lin and Mom weren't the only grandparents though! Dad came too! Of course he was such a proud grandpa! Always in love with his little granddaughters, Kaitlyn was no exception. Kaitlyn learned all about Japanese food with Dad since we went out for lunch when he came. (Yes, there is a theme here with grandparents and going out to eat!) Of course, Kaitlyn didn't pay much attention and decided to sleep through the whole ordeal. But we had some good food which she enjoyed later via Boobjuice. Here are a few neat pictures of Katilyn and Dad:

So as you can see...little K is loved by all! Let's not forget Grandma Becky though! She's been here sice before the birth and been a great help! Here are some Grammy/Kaitlyn pics too!

And what is the next chapter you ask?? It's: 30 is Flirty

Chapter 2: Adventures in the ER

So...Chapter Two isn't as exciting as Chapter one...but nonetheless it happened.

OK, birth as you can see was quite the roller coaster ride. While it was great, it also was kinda scary. Especially for those around me. Apparently I like to have people on their toes because the drama continued....

Around a week and a half into Kaitlyn's beautiful time here on Earth, I had been struggling with the whole breastfeeding thing. It's painful and I was in much pain and going through much frustration and sadness because I wanted to breastfeed her so badly. One night...or I should say morning since it was after midnight, I felt like I was coming down with something. I had body pains through the day but didn't think too much of it. That night I got the worst chills I had ever had in my life. Skip tried to warm me up with his body heat which usually works, but I just kept shivering uncontrollably. I thought, maybe if I take a warm shower that would help. I could hardly stand at that point and I had to then lie down in the tub as the hot water hit me. Things got worse from there. The tub slowly filled with water and I was still shaking, could hardly breathe and had horrible body pain. My boobs hurt and I didn't want to be touched. Skip woke Mom and I started to sorta pass out again. We called Jackie and she suggested we call an ambulance.

In come the Paramedics (and a fire truck...and my neighbors appeared outside...how embarassing). They took me into the ambulance (One of them was called Reese....can you believe that???), and drove me to the hospital. They (and Mom) kept saying that I was having an anxiety attack. They shut up about that when I reached the hospital and they took my temperature which was 103 F. Guess that was out of the question. Ha!

I was poked and proded...x-rayed, cathetered, and frozen some more. In the end it turned out that I was suffering from Mastitis. That is an infection in the boob for those who don't know. It's painful and a pain in the ass. They also told me my hemoglobin was on the floor (big surprise there doc....I lost a ton of blood a few days back!) He he!

Luckily this wasn't a long stay at the hospital. Just a few hours. I was a mess though. The next few days were blurry since I still had a high fever. I basically was once more...bed ridden and asleep most of the time. And the worst part was that I still had a hard time breastfeeding! So I pumped most of the time. Don't worry..there is a light at the end of the tunnel....but that's another chapter!

This is why lot's of you haven't heard from me latley. I've just been trying to concentrate on getting better and getting to know Kaitlyn and feeding, caring, discovering new things about her. I guess you could say, I'm nesting. So please be patient, I will come around. :) I miss my groups and socializing, but right now my focus is my daughter and what a treasure she is.

With that said...I will bring you into the next chapter....

Visitors check in and out of Chateou di Haberlack

I'm BAAAACK!! Chapter 1

Hello everyone!

Your favorite blogger is back from hiatus! I was thinking about how I was going to take on telling everyone my story. I think that what I will do is make little Chapters...Before I start though, I would like to point out two very important things...Ok Three:

• My kid is awesome
• I'm 30
• Heroes Season 2 DVD comes out today

Take those into any order you would like. I know that the responsible thing is to put the kid first...although secretly I've been waiting for my DVD before she came. Ha ha ha! Calm down people, this does not make me a bad Mom! Anyway...I will do this Chronologically with the most interesting news first of course.

The Birth of Kaitlyn

Ok, so as many of you know, she was born. By now you should all know that at least! What some of you might not know...is the story behind the birth! So I will make it as painless and entertaining as possible.

My contractions started at midnight on August 5th. Yes I was due the 4th, but apparently that storm (Edouard) brought it's low pressure which has been rumored to bring babies. I still think that it was Skip's Grandpa that brought Kaitlyn. Contractions....not too fun, but they are a piece of cake compared to hurling a kid out your wahoo....so keep that in mind. This all happened pretty fast because by 6:30 I was at the birth center with my midwife Jackie and a few minutes after that I was happily in the tub with some nice water. Let me tell you, being in that water was a godsend. (PS. Godsend is what that symbol in Heroes means....but I digress.) As soon as I hit the water I felt a zillion times better. Then I pushed and felt lot's of not so fun things but in the end little Kaitlyn came out at 8:10 am! The feeling of the best poop in the world doesn't even come close to the relief I felt. Apparently it was winter time in my body because Kaitlyn decided to wrap the cord around her neck for warmth 3 times. Perhaps I should have made her some mittens and booties. LOL.

So the fun did not end there! Skip got to cut the cord after a while and you would think..oh great, the Placenta will come out next. Well...it didn't. It actually took a while and then with it came the hemorrhaging. Good thing I was in the tub huh? Yeah...so I passed out a few times and got some delicious oxygen so I could breathe again and some shots of Pitocin to stop the bleeding. Let's just say that I passed out quite a few times...some in the tub...some in the bed. It was fun. I also got to drink what felt like a whole keg of Gatorade, Water and Juice. I was doing all I could to avoid the hospital though...so I chugged like an undergrad.

All is not lost...I regained my color, my consciousness, and a little bit of strength. And just in time for some stitches too! Ha! After that I got to go home and rest in my own bed. It was so nice. Lot's of people say it was like a Drive thru birth. Get there at 6:30 am and leave at 3 pm. I thought it was perfect. OK...not the drama part, but everything else. My birth team was awesome. I had Mom and Skip, Jackie and Camilia (my midwives). They were awesome. And Mom was such a trooper! She did not pass out from seeing all the blood and THAT is a feat I will never forget. She hates blood....

Anyway, as you all also know. Mom is our official photographer and you can see her pictures at the following link:

Grandma's Photo Album

So that is really the end to that chapter. I was on bedrest for a few days....walked like a duck for a week....lot's of fun! I'm more anemic than before so I'm all tired all the time. Joy! But I love my daughter and she was well worth it!


Next chapter....Adventures in the ER....

No baby....Hurricane instead...

Hello everyone!

So....yeah, no baby yet...however we are expected to have a lovely storm instead! I think though that perhaps this means that a baby will come during the hurricane (Tropical Storm Edouard isn't a hurricane yet, however it's expected to become one by Tuesday, which is enough for me). I seem to be "lucky" this way. Ha, ha, ha! I thought for sure she would be here since I had a few signs of labor on Saturday but apparently that was just to get me excited and all that has gone away. :) I'm doing well though. Mom and I are going to hunt for provisions this morning once she wakes up. We figured lot's of people don't know the storm is on it's way since it just kind of formed yesterday, and that was a Sunday. The only reason we found out was because Skip's boat is leaving tomorrow so they gave him a call. Thank goodness he does NOT have to go! I would be beyond pissed if he did, I mean wouldn't you?

I find it all to be so very ironic. Skip's late grandpa's name was Edward...and this hurricane-to-be's name is Edouard. I think this is a sign. I think perhaps his grandpa is bringing Kaitlyn to us! I think that would be sweet although I need to call my midwife to see what happens in situations like this. The latest projected path has the hurricane going directly over the town where the Birth Center is. Another sign? Who knows? Oh wait, there is another sign....this past Friday, I had to go to the Coast Guard base to get training and whatnot on what to do in case of this situation. It's quite eerie how that just happened to coincide with the storm. Hmmm...Take it as you will...I think these are all signs that Kaitlyn is coming. :) Or it could be a fluke and she can be here next week. But at least I now have a nice story to tell.

Anyway, I just wanted to let everyone know that we are all fine here in Texas. We don't' plan to go anywhere during this storm since we doubt it will turn into a Category 3 which is when it's mandatory to evacuate for my town. It seems to be moving quite fast so who knows, maybe it won't be so bad. The pool as usual needs water anyway. Not to mention saving on watering the grass! I try to look at the bright side of things. Perhaps I should put a wind turbine on my roof now and store up some energy so I can power my house for a year! That would be using earth wisely.

Hope you are all safe in your neck of the woods! For those who live with me in Houston, go get ready! (Vincent, this will be your first hurricane as a married man! Awwww!)

Robyn, here is a special shout out to you if I don't get to talk to you on Tuesday: HAPPY FRIGGIN 30TH BIRTHDAYYYY! WOOO HOOOO! PARTY HEARTY GIRL!!!! Crap! I'm next! LOL!

Love you all!

Kat, Skip, Kaitlyn, Mya, Jack and Mom (Rebecca) riding it out in Houston