"This Sure Ain't Cedar Sinai"

Here we are at the hospital. Now those of you blog followers , God bless you, have heard me comment about this downtown LA public hospital. I want to set the record straight. There are holes in the wall. And the paint is peeling. And the floor in the lobby is dirty. But they deliver, on average, 500 babies a month here. You heard that right, folks. That is not a typing error from me typing on this tiny IPhone keyboard. 500 a MONTH. So these ladies know what they're doing. And everyone that we have met loves working here. One of the midwives said, "This place isn't much to look at, but I love working here. If you're going to have a baby in LA, this is the place to do it." Never mind that we have yet to lay our eyes on an MD. There are rumors that they exist and Olivia was examined by a pediatrician when she first came to the nursery, but really, who needs a doctor when the midwives and nurses deliver about 7 babies a day EACH. So overall our experience has been very positive, and Lindora agrees. I think our first experience was so awful because we walked in without an appointment and that didn't make any of the nurses very happy. So we are waiting on some test results to come back, which we have been told should be here soon so
they can give us the birth certificate, we can sign the paperwork at the agency, and get on with our lives.

So o can't go on much longer without commenting on the number of court shows on TV here in LA. (We have spent a lot of time with daytime TV.) let's see if I can remember them all...
Judge Judy
The People' Court
Judge Alex
Divorce Court
Black Guy Judge Show (obviously not the real name but I'm sleep deprived and can't think of it)
Female Hispanic Judge Show (for disclaimer see above)
My personal favorite- Eye For an Eye with Judge Extreme Nadim. I really like this one because the plaintiff and defendant are really unattractive and each stand on their own podiums surrounded by gray metal bars, making it look like they are in their own private jail cell. So what's up with 6 court shows? This is almost as perplexing as the well-endowed weather girls. Kendra tells us that one of the weather girls has a song written about her and both her husband and Bev's boyfriend Joe choose the local news channel they watch based on the weather girl. Well that's all of my LA observations for now. Tomorrow we will wake up in San Pedro!

The Amazing Olivia

She poops! She pees! She squeaks! One thing Olivia does not do is cry. I'm afraid that the meconium is going to hit the fan as soon as we get back to San Pedro. But until then we will enjoy our perfect baby. As soon as we get back to San Pedro I will be posting pictures on the blog so stay tuned for images and video of the fabulous Olivia. All you moms out there will be jealous because my baby is the prettiest!

Our latest adventure (more specifically, Jeff's adventure) was trying to procure pizza for dinner for us and the lovely Lindora. Only having a hundred dollar bill in his pocket, he couldn't get the car out of the lot because they couldn't make change. So he set out on foot to find a Pizza Hut. When he didn't find one after wandering around downtown LA for a half an hour, he came across an ATM and decided to get smaller bills and walk to the car. The Schlichtings must have bad ATM karma, because somehow Jeff's card had been cancelled. By calling the 800 number on the back of the card he was able to re-activate it. Whew! 2 hours later Lindora and I had our pizza.

We got a little sleep last night between feedings so we
both feel a bit better today. It's Lindora's.birthday! We bought her some flowers from the gift shop. She said the best present was knowing that Olivia would grow up happy and loved.

Jeff is an amazing dad. He needed no advice to bond with this baby. He cuddles and coos and kisses her. We fight over whose turn it is to hold her. We are teaching her to Eskimo kiss.

We should be going back to San Pedro tomorrow and we are really looking forward to arriving at our home away from home.

Our big treat today was we had visitors! Bev and Joe,Jeff's friends from college came by and my good pal Kendra from college. I got to see her handsome husband John and her adorable kids Dylan and Olivia. I know, I'm a copycat!

Jeff took Lindora home this afternoon and stopped by the world famous M&M's Soul Food. (In the South we call it food.) I highly recommend the gumbo with full on chicken drumsticks and crab legs. The collard greens were too salty for me and Moo's cornbread would have beat M&M's in a taste test.

We were just visited by Katy Perry and her partner. They were very disappointed that their shift ended before Olivia was born and they did not get to help deliver her.

By the way, please forgive any formatting or spelling errors. I am typing this on the tiny screen of my IPhone. We will be spending the evening staring at our baby girl. Good night!

Meet Olivia!

Olivia Ann Schlichting was born this morning at 4:58, weighing in at 6 lbs. 4 oz. She is beautiful! We will take some photos after her bath. About 10 PM we went upstairs to our room to get some sleep. We tried to sleep in a tiny bed, fitfully, if at all. We got a call from Lindora about 4:00 and she sounded like she was in a lot of pain. We ran downstairs to her room, but no Lindora! Like crazy people we ran down the hall to find a nurse to ask what had they done with our baby mama. A nurse finally (okay, it was probably about 3 seconds) saw us and she les us down to the labor & delivery area. Lindora was in a lot of pain. Jeff tickled her arm and I got cold washcloths to put on her forehead. Gush! Her water broke and I sprinted into the hallway to herald the midwife. Where was she? The nurse came in and checked her- 9 cm. She wants to push. Then push! the midwife says. A head full of hair and then the most beautiful pink baby girl I have ever seen. I don't even think Lindora pushed, the baby more or less just fell out. Maybe I'll become a midwife- do they get paid a lot to catch babies?

So call us if you want to hear Olivia's precious cooing. And if you have Skype, you can see the peanut in action. Until later...

At the Hospital

Well here we are. Our nurses are great- one looks just like Katy Perry- and I really like the midwife. This baby has us "hoodwinked and bamboozled." (Lindora's words) The baby runs away from the monitor. I'm not kidding, it's crazy. I think we are going to have our hands full with this one.

So yesterday we pulled up to Lindora's and her friend OC (the spitting image of Ice-T) was there with a U Haul full of Lindora's stuff. So we spent the afternoon and a good part of the evening helping to get her organized and moved
in.

One thing about LA that is worth mentioning is that every weather girl and traffic reporter has huge boobs, which is odd in the case of the weather girls, because the boobage tends to block a large portion of Southern California on the weather map. Oh well, my husband loves it and grins like a schoolboy when the traffic report is televised.

Now I am rambling so I think I'm nervous. I'm going to be a mom soon!

A Freeway Free Day

Yesterday Jeff and I slept in and stayed in our pajamas all day- what a treat! The only rime we left the house was to go on a walk before dinner. Very nice day.

Today we went to Target to pick up last minute baby stuff- diapers, wipes, a case of wine. We are on our way to Lindora's for Jeff to install some baby gates over the low window so my rambunctious angel Dylan doesn't topple out the second floor window into the Bougainvilla.

We have an appointment for the inducement (induction? Inducing?). At 8 am tomorrow. So ESapp, don't worry if there's no new post in the next 6 hours.

Picture of Our Baby

Gotcha!  Well, here's the little peanut.  Looks like an alien to me.  I hope it's not.

Still Waiting...

Finally made it to Trader Joe's.  Oh, how I love that place!  Ahi tuna steaks for five bucks!  Two buck Chuck for three bucks!  Helpful employees who let you use their bathroom!  (Unlike the CVS pharmacy, but that's another story.)

Yesterday we took Lindora & the boys to her doctor's appointment at the hospital.  They checked her fluids, changed her oil, and replaced her air filter.  Baby is fine, Lindora is getting irritable.  Poor Jeff, he is used to dealing with one crazy lady, but not two.  We left her with raspberry leaf tea and evening primrose oil (Jeff calls it "eye of newt" and "wing of bat.")  Her contractions are getting stronger, but not so close together.  I've had a talk with the baby, but it doesn't seem to want to listen to me.  I think we're in for trouble- this baby is already showing defiance in utero.

Today we may be taking Dwaun to get his testing done at his new school, but that remains TBD.  Just another day in the adventurous life of the Schlichtings!