TVSTRANGERTHINGS
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PR's Tumblrdome
Product Placement
YOU ARE THE REASON
NASA
❣ Chile in a Photography ❣
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noise dept.
we're not kids anymore.
if i look back, i am lost
Today's Document
祝日 / Permanent Vacation
Alisa U Zemlji Chuda
Andulka
Jules of Nature
pixel skylines
Lint Roller? I Barely Know Her
oozey mess
Cosmic Funnies
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@irisfugate
To Jack, on Father's Day
To Jack, on Father’s Day
Dear Jack,
Today is Father’s Day. Target, Hallmark and the ads on major TV networks tell us that we celebrate today by giving dads personalized golf balls, beer drinking accessories and cards with baseball bats on them. These things say “Happy Father’s Day!” or “You’re a rad dad.” Your dad’s into the beer, but doesn’t know anything about golf and only has “The Padres are ok, I guess,” to say…
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June Menu
Happy June!
This month’s themed menu is focused on the true start of summer, marked for so many by graduation ceremonies, beautiful full bloom flowers, beach trips and meals al fresco. As with all cake/cupcake orders, any flavor can be purchased as cupcakes or cakes of many sizes – all you need to do is ask!
Please use your Venmo app to complete your payment.
Search: Iris Fugate
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On Wednesdays we set goals...
On Wednesdays we set goals…
Mini goals. Swear. Of the multiple hats I hope this blog will wear, I’d like to throw on another one in the spirit of Opening Day at the Del Mar Racetrack. Yes. Hats. I think apart from the loftier goals of learning how to mother another human being and pay all the bills on time and bake perfect bread at home (LOL but seriously stay tuned), setting small goals will be important. It is a…
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I don't know...how to blog
I don’t know…how to blog
So it turns out being an adult is expensive. It is also really complicated. Guys. No one told me to expect this stuff. As a millennial, I feel personally victimized by your inability to make life easier. Even my iPhone doesn’t have the answers for me. Are you telling me I have to figure life out by myself? I DON’T KNOW HOW TO DO THAT. In the last year I’ve had to try to learn how to be a…
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New Teeth
Trying to think of any witty way to sum up this last week feels impossible. I’ve seen it all on social media – people describing the five stages of grief, feelings of sadness, frustration, fear, disappointment, anger, loss – and in my own way I guess I’ve felt all of those things. All day after the election results, Jack was very very fussy. I chocked it up to post-election misery (dude, I feel…
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Hospital Packing
There is so much GARBAGE advice out on the internet about what you need to pack. But listen: I get it. That stuff is 99% written by someone who falls into one of two categories: Almost moms who are like 50 weeks pregnant, bored as hell, and who have packed and repacked and overthought every single thing in their hospital bag, OR Moms on early maternity leave who are taking advantage of their…
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This little baby is nearly SEVEN months old – so in what should be a surprise to no one who has ever had a little baby in their life I’ve had no time to record any thoughts on early parenthood.
I set out to start writing a blog that I figured would just act like a sort of journal until I found some consistent theme or category to put myself in. Sooooo…I’ll continue that I guess? More than anything, before any more details escape me, I want to record the story of Jack’s first day.
He was big, he was late, and he seemed to have no interest in coming out. At exactly six days after I was due, Eli and I went to the doctor to check things out. I was feeling great but hadn’t even felt one Braxton Hicks contraction, despite nonstop yoga ball bouncing, waddling around North Park and eating enough pineapple to burn my tongue straight out of my head. Our doctor made sure we were both ok, and then laid out the options: She was totally supportive of me laboring naturally, but was concerned that after too much longer she’d need to induce. She made sure I knew that considering his size and position, labor was likely to be very long, which can be stressful for the baby. She noted that AGAIN because of his size and my size that he would likely end up a c-section anyway at the end of tons of labor.
Or, she said, we could schedule you for a c-section tomorrow morning. Less than 24 hours from that moment we could have our baby in our arms. It was pretty much a no-brainer. We were scheduled, Eli went off to work, and I wandered around our house like a crazy person packing, un-packing and repacking multiple hospital bags.
We walked to Underbelly in North Park that night for one final meal as a party of two (and in the hopes that waddling that far down 30th would induce labor naturally. Nope!)
We woke up bright and early the next morning in what was the most bizarre morning of our lives. It was all pretty quiet (being up before the light), but it was quiet between the two of us as well. This trip to the hospital was so much calmer than we could’ve ever imagined or planned for, since I’d always hoped for a natural, vaginal delivery. But here we were, calmly getting dressed, grinning at each other, checking that the baby’s room was straightened up and ready to go. We hopped into the car and made the equally quiet and bizarre ride over to the hospital.
Let me tell you – arriving for a scheduled c-section is like checking into a hotel. I literally showed up to the maternity floor and buzzed in, announcing myself thusly: “Hi…my name is Iris Fugate. Um…I’m here for a c-section?”
I changed into my ballgown, hopped gracefully up onto the table, and got hooked up and ready to go. Two of those things were written with very strong sarcasm. Eli suited up too…
His hippie skin to skin plans freaked the nurses out, so yes he is bare-chested under the super suit but he eventually put his shirt back on.
We visited with Eli’s mom for a bit while my mom SADLY sat in traffic. She ended up just barely missing us before I was wheeled into the OR. It was go time!
Eli was made to wait alone in his space suit out in the hall, which he always gleefully describes as completely deserted but for one lonely chair meant just for him and the occassional nurse walking by and grinning at him, knowingly. I was given a local anesthetic where they eventually administered the spinal, all of which wasn’t terribly comfortable but also not painful either. The doctors and nurses were great about explaining everything they were doing while I sat wide eyed and completely ignored them because they were about to remove a human from myself.
The anesthesiologist literally had to say “Quick, lay down on the table before your legs give out!”
I was pleased to find that there were puffy white clouds and a blue sky painted on the ceiling. There was the most exciting energy in the air – everyone was so positive and excited for us but everything also felt like it was moving pretty fast. I, of course, had no idea what was going on – suddenly they let Eli back in the room, put up the curtain and my doctor arrived. She said hi, explained a few things about the procedure, and then sat back down in her seat. I started feeling really drowsy at this time and actually lost consciousness a handful of times. After a little freak out Eli alerted the anesthisiologist who adjusted my meds and brought me back to reality. It felt like only a minute later I asked Eli if they’d started yet and he looked at my wide-eyed like “UH YEAH…” because about 5 seconds later I heard the most brilliant little squeak of my life and totally lost it. There he was!
Ladies and gentlemen, Eli’s nose.
Eli cut his cord, they weighed him and wiped him down a little, gave him a hat and handed him to a very happy daddy. Eli brought the baby over to my face and I, like the true asshole that I am, told Eli first and foremost “I KNEW YOU WOULD CRY.” But then this piece of my soul who was now outside my body was close enough for me to kiss and I fail to find the words for how I felt.
Eli followed the baby and his nurses out of the room to continue with his check ups while my doctor finished the procedure. With no nervous husband to watch me I promptly fell asleep and woke up again as I was being rolled into the recovery room where Eli and I shared the most blissful, peaceful half hour alone in a room with our son.
They are both smiling here!
After a while, our moms joined us and met Jack. I had a chance to nurse him pretty much right away and like a true champ, he latched on easily and went to town. That turned out to be the biggest stroke of luck – I’m SO relieved that he totally knew what he was doing from the get go.
My mom
Eli’s mom
We stayed in the hospital for about 4 days, which felt like they went by in a flash. The maternity nurses at Scripps Mercy Hospital in San Diego were absolute angels, each and every one of them. I will always get to look back on Jack’s birth with such peace and joy in large part because of the gentle and genuinely loving care we received from everyone. I owe my easy c-section recovery to that care as well. More on c-sections another time though.
We love you, Jackie. You have been the light of our world ever since this day.
Then there was Jack This little baby is nearly SEVEN months old - so in what should be a surprise to no one who has ever had a little baby in their life I've had no time to record any thoughts on early parenthood.
Come out now, please.
Come out now, please.
Here I sit, waiting (impatiently) to have my sweet little baby. No, not little baby…big baby. This kid measured in the 90th percentile for his cranial and 95th percentile for his abdominal…a big fat brainiac. It is a Sunday, a beautiful Sunday not unlike the day I found out I was pregnant. I was due last Thursday the 7th, but am told it is totally normal for first babies to be late. Be that as…
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Some reading material for you...literally.
Some reading material for you…literally.
Wow so, I totally intended to keep track of my entire pregnancy but then here I find myself at the beginning of the final trimester having missed the chance to write about the most wonderful moments of pregnancy so far! I guess the second trimester was too big a party for me to sit down and put words to keyboard. But let me tell ya that is starting to change now that I’m transforming from a…
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Things I'm scared of now that I'm 14 weeks pregnant
Things I’m scared of now that I’m 14 weeks pregnant
There are plenty of things I anticipated being nervous about when I found out I was pregnant. I knew I would need to be careful about eating healthy, staying out of fist fights, and try not to scoot into my work desk with too much conviction. But dude, whoa, if I thought I’d be nervous (and excited! Don’t get me wrong!) before getting pregnant I had no idea what was coming next. In case it…
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Whoa....whoa
Whoa….whoa
Two months ago, on a Sunday morning, I wrote this entry. Reading it again makes me smile – I remember all of these feelings vividly. Yowza! Here it is! (Two months earlier…) I’m pregnant. Or so say two tests so far this morning. So says my sore boobs and my heartburn. So says how hyper-conscious I am of feelings in my lower abdomen. So says mood swings. So says the fact that I could smell…
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What does the fox say...in da club? #marnockwedding
Tin foil brain/morality protective gear brought to you by the American Republican Party. 👍👽💩 (at Salon Ink)
Trying to add some "warmth" to counteract that RBF... 💁💇💆 (at Salon Ink)
Simmer in the summer to get over some nasty jetlag 😍
This was a very cool moment between @bambamfugate, Garrett and our number one drum guru, Hugh Cameron. #pcpblove #princecharlespipeband 🎶 (at Nav Centre, Cornwall, ON)
Morning coffee with my best friend. ☕️🐾 #rufflife (at Upland, CA)