I'd care not to ever repeat the last 36 hours or so, honestly.

In a nutshell, my father almost died early yesterday morning.

My dad had been suffering from a bladder infection that started soon after Eleanor arrived (for those of you who don't know the long backstory, my father had a massive stroke in 1994 and has been paralyzed on his right side and wheelchair-bound since then), and earlier this week, when I spoke to him on the phone, he sounded like he was getting the world's worst cold.

Wednesday night around 9, my mom called to let me know that he had been short of breath, and that they were at the hospital and that he was being admitted, because his doctor thought that he might be developing pneumonia.

Around 1 am, the phone rang again, which is never a good thing. My mom, remaining remarkably calm, told me that my father did not have pneumonia, but that he was extremely sick with a widespread systemic infection, and that he had only a 50-50 chance of making it through the night.

It's amazing how fast you can pack for yourself, your husband and a newborn at that time of the morning.

We got in the car (Ellie was sound asleep, thankfully) and headed to Pennsylvania, where we checked in with my mom by phone, heard that there wasn't any real change but that the doctors (including his regular physician, his urologist, a nephrologist, and an infectious disease specialist) were loading him with antibiotics and medication to get his blood pressure back up to a non-critical level. I found out later that his BP upon admission was something crazy like 55/18. Dave and I got about three hours of sleep, and then my mom arrived home and I got showered and ready to go to the hospital.

He was in the ICU, hooked up to tons of IVs and monitors and a breathing mask, and looked worse than I've ever seen him, save the first time I saw him after his stroke and subsequent craniotomy. I just couldn't stop crying.

The doctors and nurses were wonderful, and they continued to work hard to get his fever down, his breathing rate down and less labored, and his BP and oxygen sats back up. For the morning and beginning of the afternoon, though, my mother and I were honestly convinced that he wasn't going to make it.

However, later in the afternoon, after I had headed back to my parents' house to feed Ellie and to take a quick nap, his condition started to turn around. His fever fell to under 101, when it had been 104, his sats were up to 97, and his breathing started to stabilize. He began to have much better urine output, and after a lengthy discussion with the doctors, we decided to go ahead with one kidney dialysis session last night in order to try to get his potassium levels, which were dangerously high (which could lead to cardiac arrest) back down. The dialysis took about three hours, and when mom and I headed back to the hospital around 8 pm, it was like looking at a whole different person.

His color was terrific, his fever was down to 99, and he was breathing much more easily. What's even better, though, is that we found out this morning that the dialysis apparently did the job, because his potassium levels, which had been over 8.5, had dropped to 4 by 10 pm last night, well within therapeutic levels.

I'm sorry if this sounds scattered. Dave and I opted to come back to NJ late last night so he could work today and since Daddy seemed to be going in the right direction, so we're working off a huge sleep deficit.

In baby news, Ellie had her two-week pediatrician appointment this morning, and all is well. She grew an inch, to 20 inches, and gained 15 ounces in 15 days, to weigh in at 6 pounds, 8 ounces. She's still a petite thing, although she skyrocketed from the fourth percentile in weight at birth to seventh percentile now, and her length and head circumference are both in the 30-35th percentile range.

She also demonstrated her disdain for being diaper-free by screaming her head off while she was being weighed and measured. Once she got her diaper back on for the doctor's exam, though, she calmed down quite a bit. She's now sporting an adorable Halloween onesie that friends of ours gave her at my shower. I'll try and put up a picture later on.

So what's new with all of you?

Things here are great. The peanut is eating like a maniac, and appears to be making up for lost time in gaining weight. She goes to the pediatrician for her first appointment on Thursday, and I'm very interested to see how much weight she's gained already. She definitely looks bigger, and she's starting to get some chub on her face. She also has the tiniest dimples ever, which are just irresistibly adorable.

Dave goes back to work tomorrow, and I have to admit that I'm a little nervous about handling all of the baby stuff myself. Ellie is a very mellow baby, which is great, but I'm just scared that I won't be able to deal with taking care of her and trying to get the house in some semblance of order as well as managing to shower and eat and get some little naps in during the day. I'm sure that it will be fine, but I worry about everything constantly, so this is nothing new.

We had our first outings this past weekend -- our realtor in town has a pumpkin festival every year, so we stopped by and had some cider and showed off the baby, and Sunday we went for a few laps around the park. Ellie slept through both events, and I think she likes riding in the car, which is great. One of my good friends suggested that the baby and I get out of the house as much as possible once I start staying home alone with her, which I'd really like to do, and if she enjoys riding in the car it makes things so much easier.

Tomorrow: the clearance sale at Old Navy. I intend to instill the joy of shopping at a young age. *laugh*

Still alive. Kind of tired. Totally in love with my husband and even more with my daughter.

More later.

So, as you might have guessed, we had a baby.

Eleanor Siobhan arrived on Thursday afternoon at 2:54 pm, weighing in at an itsy-bitsy 5 pounds, 9 ounces and 19 inches long. I had an incredibly fast labor after being induced, and she is absolutely perfect and beautiful.

We just arrived home from the hospital, and I promise to post pictures soon. I never knew I could love someone this much, or be this happy.

My husband is currently sitting on the couch, watching the Cubs-Marlins game, sporting this on his head.

He's so cute.

Sorry to leave all four of you hanging, there. I had a really long day yesterday.

My BP was sort of borderline when I went to the doctor yesterday, so they drew some blood, did an exam and determined that I am not dilated or effaced even the least little bit, and shipped me off to the hospital for another non-stress test. This time, my BP was down to 110/66 by the time I got to the hospital; although the NST was perfectly fine, the doctor on call (the one I don't like, who actually had the gall to tell me that "I have big arms" yesterday!) sent me down to the ultrasound area for a biophysical profile.

The baby performed admirably, scoring an 8/8 on the test, and she's still a girl. She's at about 6.5 pounds, give or take a pound, which was nice to hear -- I was worried, after the whole gestational diabetes kerfuffle, that the baby would be really large -- and her head is definitely engaged in my pelvis.

Speaking of my pelvis, OW. And did I mention OW? I've got the tremendous waddle going on, and it's incredibly attractive, I must say.

Anyway, today's excitement revolved around mailing something at the post office, buying a few groceries, and watching the fax machine.

Somebody stop me.

I'm still here. Because my blood pressure was still high on Friday when I went to the doctor, my maternity leave is starting today instead of this coming Thursday, as I had originally anticipated. I have to go back to the doctor this afternoon to see if my pressure has come down at all; if it's still high, I will probably be induced some time this week.

Honestly, I'm OK with that.

I am so tired and uncomfortable and stressed out about leaving work early that I am absolutely ready for my little girl to get here. Of course, ideally, I'd love to go into labor on my own, but if the health of the baby is at risk, I'm all for getting her here sooner rather than later.

The house is relatively clean, and the nursery is almost totally done. My hospital bag is packed, aside from some CDs that I need to pick out to take with me, and I've been working on my shower thank-you notes this morning, which are woefully late.

I'll check in again after my appointment this afternoon.

Well, today was certainly interesting. I left work at about 1:45 to go to my appointment, and when I got there, I was told that my usually-reliably-really-super-low blood pressure was fairly high -- somewhere in the neighborhood of 148/90 -- and that the doctor was sending me to the hospital to have both my BP and the baby monitored. She also told me that it was possible that they would induce me at some point tonight or tomorrow, should my BP not come down.

Super.

So I called Dave, who met me at home, we grabbed the hospital bag and the car seat, just in case, made a few phone calls, and took off down the block to the hospital. My BP was already down to 120/89 when we got there, and everything was fine on the monitors -- baby's heartrate was great, and not a single contraction. When they took my BP for the third time, it was down to 110/78, so they sent me home. I have to go back to the doctor's office tomorrow to make sure that it stays down, and I've been ordered to take it easy all weekend; I'd been planning to work through next Wednesday, but I'm not sure what the doc is going to say about that tomorrow. I may be done sooner than I thought.

The next person who sees me, makes a face and says something to the effect of "You're still HERE????" is going to get smacked.

Today's advice to my internal clients:

RESPECT MAH AUTHORITAH!!!!!

*rides off on Big Wheel*

I love Intellicast. I've been paying a lot of attention to their daily Labor/Birth Index, but I also love the fact that they have a map specifically to tell you the likelihood that you'll be having a Bad Hair Day.

So I was reading this entry by the fabulous Kate, and I realized that I just cannot wait to be able to wear normal shoes again. Like, cute shoes, with heels, instead of flat, stretchy shoes.

I am so tired I can't see straight.

My allergies are kicking my ass, the baby is kicking my insides, my back is killing me, I can't sleep, blah blah blah.

My appointment yesterday was super-boring; there appears to be absolutely nothing going on. I'm pretty tired of being at work. I have yet to pack my hospital bag, and I can't seem to get the preregistration people at the hospital to call me back.

Meh.