Somehow I got kicked out of bed.

Does she look like she's having a good time with her baby, her chips and her movie? We're having a girl's night in while the boys are camping. My ten year old didn't want to miss the father son campout tonight. Stranger was happy to miss it. Not because he didn't want to leave his loving wife and new baby but because he didn't want another crappy night's sleep. I made him take the boy camping anyway!

Lovely is with Grandma and Grandpa so Persistence is here at the hospital partying with me taking care of me. Except for the fighting over who gets to hold the baby we're having a great time!

She's Here!

Baby Girl Gallagher was born last night at 10:46 after 4 hours of labor. I'm not pregnant anymore!!! The Baby Girl is healthy and I am feeling great in spite of the two hours of sleep I got last night. I was so excited that I lay awake going over every detail of the delivery in my mind over and over.

I still can't believe we had a girl! We all thought it was going to be a boy except Lovely. She kept telling everyone she was having a girl baby sister and not a brother. Smart little thing!

Thank you so much for all the well wishes. Stranger did a good job keeping everyone updated, didn't he? I will post all the details later and maybe we'll even get some photos up later today. How cool is a hospital with high speed?

Are you sick of my pregnant self?

Ok, I can have this baby now. My sister is on her way to town so I would like to give birth in about four hours. Can someone arrange that for me?

I invited her to be there with me for my last birth. She lives several hours away so I called her at four in the morning once I was in the hospital in labor and told her to get her butt up here. She arrived at ten and Lovely was born at noon. It worked out perfectly.

This time she is working so we didn't think she could come but she made a doctor's appointment up here for tomorrow so she would have to. I can't disappoint her and not have the baby now can I?

I know it's completely out of character for me but I am going to bed early. Persistence said we both had to so we could get up tonight to go to the hospital and I must obey. She's been worried about what we will eat at the hospital so Stranger clued her in on the cafeteria. Now she has the whole delivery planned around her meals and snacktimes. She also wants to know when she will be able to take a shower while she's there. I hope the hospital staff can make her comfortable during her stay!

If you don't hear from me until tomorrow then you can assume I slept like a baby all night. Dang it!

No Baby!

Persistence was very mad when she got up this morning that nobody woke her up to go to the hospital last night. I have to admit I was mad too! My contractions were ten minutes apart all evening but I finally fell asleep. Only once did a really hard one wake me up but I went right back to sleep and that was it.

The good news is that yesterday my midwife measured the baby to be 9 pounds 12 ounces which I fully expect to be a few ounces off putting this baby over ten pounds. Yay! I guess a few more days can't hurt!

So what now? Jumping on the trampoline?

I'm not trying castor oil. I did that with my first baby. I drank it when I was three days overdue, went to bed, woke up an hour later and threw it up. I did actually go into labor a couple hours later (I thought) and went to the hospital but my contractions weren't strong enough so I had to have pitocin anyway. I don't want that this time. I'm holding out for the real thing!

Our Bags Are Packed

Are we going to have a baby tomorrow? It's possible.

I had an appointment today. First I was hooked up for a stress test to see if the baby's heart rate was normal because I am four days overdue. It seemed to be doing fine even through my contractions (which I've been having for weeks and weeks so I thought nothing of them). Then I saw my midwife and she did this to me. I can't type it here because the name grosses me out. The whole thing only takes a few seconds but it hurts like heck and causes painful cramping and hopefully labor. I had it done with my last baby and went into labor two days later (seven days overdue).

We spent the evening packing our bags and watching birthing videos with the kids. I really want them there when this baby is born and now they are as prepared as they can be for the whole experience. I wanted my older two kids there when I had Lovely three years ago but it was February and RSV season. The hospital wouldn't even allow them in my room to see me. That made me mad but of course there was nothing I could do about it.

This time we are all clear to have a whole family experience. Even my ten year old boy thinks he can handle it. He only had to close his eyes during a couple parts of the video! I know my girls will love every minute of it although when I started talking about needles in my arm Lovely got a little worried that she would be getting poked too. Once she found out the needles were only for me she was fine with it. Thanks kid.

The kids have their bags packed with books and activities to keep them busy at the hospital and my Mom is going to be there to supervise them so Stranger and I don't have to worry about them. I'm so excited!

Here I lay on the couch, my usual comfy spot, contracting away and wondering if tonight is the night. Stranger is going to bed in case I really am in labor. We want to make sure he has the strength to bring me ice chips and visit with the nurses. I would be going to sleep myself but I passed out for twenty minutes at 6:00 tonight so I'm not tired and the contractions are going to have to die down before I can sleep through them anyway.

So who guessed the 14th? I hope you are right!!!

P.S. Keep your eye on that Twitter box to the left because Stranger will be texting updates from his phone.

Talk About Baby Clothes

Welcome to Talk About Tuesday! If you are new, check out the Guidelines before posting. Thanks for joining us!

Who was wishing I would have a new baby to Talk About this week? ME!!!!!

My due date has come and gone so you are now welcome to start sending condolences. In the mean time I have absolutely nothing to talk about so instead I will show and tell what I have done so far to get ready for the baby.

I can't believe we are in the market for such tiny clothes again! Well, not so tiny considering I buy 3-6 month size for my newborns. Did I ever tell you the story from when I took my first baby out? An older lady asked me how old he was and I told her three weeks. She replied, "You mean three months honey?" Um, no. I think I know how old my baby is, "I mean three weeks." By the time he was four months old he weighed 20 pounds and we were enrolling him in preschool.

Last week I made Stranger take me to the mall so I could buy some baby clothes. Not that we really need them because Baby Noodle (apparently that's it's name now) could come home from the hospital wrapped in a baby blanket but I bought homecoming outfits for our other babies and I don't think we should start out neglecting this one right away. I would like to wait till it's older for it to feel like the unloved and unwanted fourth child.

I have been looking for outfits for months but everything I've seen in the stores has been hideously ugly. So one day before my due date I finally broke down and stepped inside a Gymboree store. It was a little scary because it was full of crazed sale shopping pregnant women. Maneuvering was difficult and not just because my belly was too big to fit between some of the isles. It was like a demolition stroller derby in there. Have I ever mentioned how much I hate crowds? My hatred of crowds exceeds my love of "The Deal" but I was too pregnant to turn back. I had to go home with baby clothes!

I was busy throwing things in the stroller as fast as I could (all at 30% off the sale prices lucky day) while Lovely followed the other mothers around telling them everything they wanted to know about our new baby and how it would soon make it's way into the world. See why I have to keep secrets from her?

Outside when Stranger asked me how much I had spent I told him he didn't want to know. He will get the pleasure of returning half of it after the baby gets here. That's his favorite part of shopping. If he gets the boy he's hoping for he will save even more money because I bought twice as many girl things as boy things. What can I say? Little girl clothes are irresistible!

Now all we need to do is buy a car seat, unpack and wash the baby clothes from the basement, find somewhere in the house for the baby to sleep, set up the crib, pack the hospital bag, clean the house and maybe start discussing what we'll be naming it but what's the rush?

If you want to be updated on my delivery you can follow my progress (or lack of it) in my sidebar or by visiting me at twitter.com/lazyorganizer.

*Important - Please link to your individual Talk About Tuesday post instead of your home page or else my Obsessive Compulsive Disorder will have to spend time fixing the links. Here is how you link to an individual post if you’ve never done it before: Right click on the date at the bottom of the post you want to link to (or the post title depending on where you blog) click “Copy Shortcut” and then paste it into Mr. Linky.

Smart Habit Saturday

Welcome! If you are new to SHS find out all about it here: Getting Started with SHS. Click here to read more SHS posts. Please don't forget to link back to this post so your readers can find out more about SHS.

May Habit: Sit on the couch every day and do nothing until I have this baby.

I hope all of your new habits are going well. Mine is going as well as can be expected. My kids and husband are sure tired of my helplessness and so I am. It's good for them though don't you think?


Congratulations to all of you who are hanging in there with SHS while I am temporarily out of it. I can't tell you how excited I am to have this baby so I can get into some new habits myself. I'm sure you can imagine! I have grand plans of getting my schedule organized. I know it may sound impossible with four homeschooled kids at home but I think it's especially vital when I'm trying to juggle as many things as I am. I know my kids love having a schedule so they can know what to expect. In fact they like to know down to the minute what I have planned every day or they go crazy. We we've doing crazy a lot these days.

Crazy or not, have a great week!

If you are new and you want to catch up on last year - Smart Habit Saturday 2007

*Important - Please link to your individual SMART Habit post instead of your home page or else my Obsessive Compulsive Disorder will have to spend time fixing the links. Here is how you link to an individual post if you’ve never done it before: Right click on the date at the bottom of the post you want to link to (or the post title depending on where you blog) click “Copy Shortcut” and then paste it into Mr. Linky.

Organizing Bag Giveaway Winner

The random winner from this weeks giveaway is Debbie at Virtually Organized! Congratulations Debbie!!! I will be sending her a package of my Organizing Bags to try out, one in each size.

Thank you to everyone who has participated so far! Of course I can't pick the other winner until this baby decides to show up. I will keep you posted!

If you missed the giveaway but you still want to make a guess at our new baby stats you won't be eligable for the prize but you are welcome to do it here in the comments. I can't wait to find out who wins!

1. Will our upcoming arrival be a boy or a girl?
2. What day will it be born?
3. How much will it weigh?
4. How long will it be?
5. What time will it be born?

Here is some information on my other kids to give you a head start.

1. Boy - Induced 5 days overdue. Born at 4:50 a.m. Weighed 10 pounds 8 ounces.
   24 Inches long.
2. Girl - Induced 7 days early. Born at 4:18 p.m. Weighed a disappointing 9 pounds 5 ounces. 21 Inches long.
3. Girl - Natural labor 7 days overdue. Born at 12:04 p.m. Weighed 10 pounds 3 ounces. 22 Inches long.

I am due this Friday, May 9th. I have no plans of being induced this time but you never know what a crazy pregnant woman will do when she is desperate to give birth. At my last ultrasound on April 29th the baby measured 8 1/2 pounds.

By the way, is anyone else out there Twittering? I guess all the popular people are doing it and I don't want to be left out especially considering I need one more thing to do, right? Actually I'm pretty much doing nothing but waiting for this baby to get here so I have lots of time to Twitter. I thought it might be a fun and easy way to keep all of you updated on my upcoming delivery.

You can follow my updates in my sidebar or visit me at twitter.com/lazyorganizer

Can You Keep a Secret Baby?

Whenever my three year old Lovely can see that I'm in pain from this pregnancy she tells me she will take me to the doctor so he can lift my shirt up and take the baby out. Wouldn't that be nice?

Tonight as we were snuggling in our usual hangout, the couch, she confided in me her secret fears. "I don't want the doctor to cut your tummy Mommy," she said, "I don't want a big, big hole in your tummy." I almost cried! I had no idea she had thought things through that far!

I reassured her that the doctor wasn't going to cut my tummy but I didn't explain exactly how the baby would be coming out. Not because I didn't think she could handle the information but because I don't want her announcing it to everyone we meet. As it is every friend and stranger we talk to finds out more about this baby we are having than they really need to know. Really.

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In other news...

Is it ever ok for a husband to come home with a snow mobile without discussing it with his wife first?

And if he does discuss it with his wife and she says no, they don't need a snow mobile, then does that make it ok for him to go buy one anyway?

And if he makes an embarrassing call to your midwife for you and then a special trip into town to pick up the prescription after he worked all night does that make him some kind of knight in shining armor so you can't be mad about the snowmobile that he's hiding in the back of his truck? The one the kids have seen but no one is saying a word to you about?

Just checking.

Remember that new van I wanted?

I've heard of women who go out and make big purchases, like new cars, without talking to their husbands about it first. I wonder what drives them to it?

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Don't forget to submit your guess on our baby stats for a chance to win some free Organizing Bags. Click here to enter.

Organizing Bag Giveaway!

This contest is closed and the winner has been chosen.

Are you ready to win some free Organizing Bags? If you've never used them before then it will be a great way to try them for free. If you already have some then you know how fabulous they are and you want more!

I'm going to make this really fun for me. To be entered in the contest you have to leave a comment in this post with your best guesses to the following:

1. Will our upcoming arrival be a boy or a girl?


2. What day will it be born?


3. How much will it weigh?


4. How long will it be?


5. What time will it be born?

Here is some information on my other kids to give you a head start.

1. Boy - Induced 5 days overdue. Born at 4:50 a.m. Weighed 10 pounds 8 ounces. 24 Inches long.


2. Girl - Induced 7 days early. Born at 4:18 p.m. Weighed a disappointing 9 pounds 5 ounces. 21 Inches long.


3. Girl - Natural labor 7 days overdue. Born at 12:04 p.m. Weighed 10 pounds 3 ounces. 22 Inches long.

I am due this Friday, May 9th. I have no plans of being induced this time but you never know what a crazy pregnant woman will do when she is desperate to give birth. At my last ultrasound on April 29th the baby measured 8 1/2 pounds.

I will give away a set of Organizing Bags (one of each size) to a random commenter and one set to the person who has the closest guesses. I will judge it according to the order of the questions. For instance, if we have a boy anyone who guessed girl will be out of the running even if you guessed everything else right. Then we'll go by date, weight, length and time in that order. If more than one person picks all of these exactly the same (you wouldn't do that would you?) then the first one will be the winner. Does all that make sense?

This contest is open to anyone living in the U.S. or Canada because I'm too cheap to ship anywhere else. I will pick a winner on Friday. Unless I'm in the hospital having a baby and then I won't! Please make sure I can contact you via blog or email address if you win.

If you want to order your own bags please take this opportunity to click on one of my lovely participating affiliates sites and order from them. They will have a link to my bags for you to click on and order from.

Sylvia at Mi Familia
Lucy at Ordinary Mom
Christine at Organizational Enlightenment
Thea at I'm a Drama Mama
Laura at Organizing Junkie
Corrie at Positively Organic