Get Carried Away

One of my biggest challenges with two kids, besides leaving the house before 11 am, is getting out and deciding where to go.  The park and Target tend to be our go-to's, but the park loses its luster after the second trip in the same day, and I find it physically impossible to leave Target for under $100 and that's and expensive outing for toilet paper and thank you cards. :)
Plus, and please understand that I'm not complaining here, I'm back in the breastfeeding world, where life happens in 2-3 hour increments and I immediately base my schedule off whether I would whip out my boobs at a proposed destination.
Side story- I have a vivid memory of visiting CA Adventure when A-girl was 1 month old to ride the new Toy Story ride before our passes expired.  I was sitting on one of those concrete benches surrounding a planter trying to figure out how to get my boob out without scarring small children more than seeing Mickey without his head on.
We've slowly been venturing out more and more, even attempting church this last weekend.  I thought that being a "veteran" mom, the going-out-dance would be easier.  But now with two kids, its turned from a dance into a full-on choreographed musical. 
Step 1- Decide where to go.  This can take minutes or hours.
Step 2- Decide if I'm presentable enough to leave the house.  The new rule is "Less than 2 stains on any one article of clothing is acceptable."
Step 3- Dress everyone.  Again, can take minutes or hours!  Change diapers.
Step 4- Pack the diaper bag, which now contains two sizes of diapers, enough wipes to clean a Volkswagon, two baby outfits, as many pacifiers as I can spot in case of the inevitable dropping with no good place to clean it, snacks, nursing cover,
Step 5- Get everyone to the car. Open every car door... put the baby or the toddler in first?  Bag in the front seat, back seat, or by the stroller in the trunk?  Do I have enough blankets?  Did I bring my own wallet?  Did I even pee?
Step 6- At least one trip back to the house for something that was forgotten.
Step 7- Change baby's diaper again.
Step 8- Pull away from the house.  Breathe a sigh of relief mixed with trepidation.  Know that we have enough food and diapers to be gone 24 hours, but that we'll have to be back in 45 minutes for the little one's next feeding.
We've been brave enough to go out a few times, and I even took both kids to the park BY MYSELF this morning.  I was waiting for a medal and a little parade when I got home with everyone alive.  Alas, no medal or even a tiny parade.  Just requests for feeding from the kids, so I attempted to breastfeed and make a PB&J simultaneously.  It was...interesting.
A few pics of the kids for your viewing enjoyment.

It's hard to believe that last week I was pregnant.  And the wait until I held a newborn in my arms seemed interminable.
I blogged a little about wrestling with the decision of VBAC vs. Repeat C, and I wanted to tie up the loose ends for all of you hanging on the edge of your seat, and beacuse I like it in movies when at the end, all the loose ends are tied up in a pretty little package, and you can leave the theater acting like you knew what was going to happen all along.
It took until the day before my scheduled induction to make the final call.  I just felt in my bones that my body wasn't ready to go into labor, and that an induction meant that I was going to spend the entire day fighting against myself with the probability of having a C-section at the end rather high.  And that was the very last thing I wanted.  Thinking about a repeat C was actually sitting well in my soul, and I knew it was the right decision for the baby and for me.  So we made the call to the doctor and changed the induction to a C-section.
I woke up at 5am on "birth day" and set about getting ready before we needed to leave at 5:30.  I was told to not eat after midnight the night before (standard operating procedure, apparently) so I ended up putting on makeup to distract myself from how hungry I was :)  Yes, I was that girl- the one on A Baby Story who saunters into the hospital for her C-section sporting a face-full of mascara, though I did try to make it look very natural and, "I just wake up this beautiful."
Arrived at the hospital and checked in at L&D right behind some woman who was ACTUALLY in labor.  She was sweating and panting, telling the nurses her name between contractions, I sauntered up to the desk and checked in like I was having a mani-pedi.  Normal pre-surgery from there, laughing while the nurse put the IV into my arm, walked into the operating room, quick shot in the back, and 20 minutes later there was the unmistakeable first cry of a newborn.