An announcement

On a recent morning, I woke up 10 minutes before my alarm went off.
That, my friends, is a Very Good Sign.
It means, for the first time in quite a while, I'm rested.

You know the type of person who is always tired/overcommitted/crazy-busy ... and never lets you forget it?
I'm not going to be that person. A) Because it's slightly grating and B) I've got a very specific and wonderful reason for being tired: Geekling #2 will join our family in approximately 25 weeks.

It's definitely different the second time around. With E, I was relatively nausea-free and energized. This time ... not so much. It's nothing compared to what it could be, certainly, but I've definitely spent a few evenings in quiet and dignified misery.
On the plus side, I feel much more relaxed about the entire process. I have a general idea of what to expect and when, and while labor is not precisely a walk in the park, I know I can handle it.

Like a dutiful mother-to-be, I read every piece of material I was given while I was pregnant with E. Based on that, I planned to be in labor for at least 18 hours and at the hospital for a fair chunk of that time. So I figured an epidural would be welcome relief and included it in my birth plan.
Well.
From start to finish, I was in labor with E for 10 hours. We left our house around 2 a.m. and she was born shortly before 10 that morning. By the time I got the epidural at 9 a.m. (which took an hour to do, thank you very much), I was nearly ready to push. She was born less than an hour later.

So this time, I'm forgoing an epidural and opting for other pain-relief methods. I'm not Super Woman and I know how much it hurts. But getting the epidural was almost worse than labor and I'd really rather not repeat the experience.(Disclaimer: My intention isn't to malign epidurals. I know they work for many women. This was just my experience and shouldn't take the place of your doctor or midwife's advice and your own instincts.)

Aside from evening nausea and getting tired much more easily, life continues as usual. E grows more talkative every day and for the first time, she's cuddly: Leaning toward us for kisses and hugs, wrapping her arms around my neck, resting her head on her daddy's shoulder. What precipitated this, I have no idea, but I'm enjoying it tremendously.
I'll admit I've spent a couple of wakeful nights, imagining what life will be like with two children under two. I think I will probably never sleep again, is my prediction.
But if I never knew my capacity for love until I became a mother, I expect I'll be twice as amazed with two children to love and nurture.

Keeping a balance with technological ‘extras’

Does anyone else find it difficult to keep up with technology? I’ve got enough to keep me busy that checking out the latest iWhatever or social networking site isn’t at the top of my priorities. And while I know much of technology today is geared toward efficiency and streamlining daily life, sometimes keeping up with it just feels like a lot of extra work.

That’s why I treat it like I did extracurricular activities in high school.

I loved music, drama and speech, and to dedicate enough time to those pursuits, I didn’t go out for sports. (The fact that I have as much athletic ability as a sloth perhaps contributed to that decision.)

So for my online “extracurriculars,” I’ve chosen Facebook and Twitter, plus maintaining a blog. There are plenty of other sites I’d love to explore and I’d happily trade in my “dumbphone” for a smarter version, but there’s a balance to maintain — and it needs to come out in favor of my real life.

I’ve had an on-again, off-again relationship with Facebook since 2005. Six years ago, you had to have a .org or .edu e-mail address to sign up for the site, which was marketed solely to college students. Gradually it expanded to accommodate users after they graduated. Today, virtually anyone who wants can have an account.

After Evangeline was born, I realized it’s a great way to share her milestones with relatives who otherwise wouldn’t get to see them.

The Wisner News-Chronicle’s Facebook page is another way for those farther away to connect with their hometown. I upload our weekly photos — even the ones that don’t make it into the paper — and post news updates throughout the week. Currently, we have 756 “likes,” or people who subscribe to our page, but I’d like to see that number grow. You can check us out at www.facebook.com/wisner.news.chronicle.

I signed up for Twitter in August and I’ve been taking baby steps toward learning how it works. A friend of mine told me it takes about six months to really “get” Twitter and she’s absolutely right.

It’s worth it to learn, though, and here’s why:

We post excerpts of our lead news stories on our website, www.wpnews.com, under the Wisner News heading. I typically post a link to it on our Facebook page, but last week, I decided to try something new. I wrote a tweet highlighting one story, posted the link on Twitter, and waited. In less than three minutes, the story had over 25 hits. To put that in perspective, most of our stories get around 60 hits per week.

Keep in mind the Wisner News-Chronicle’s Twitter account is quite new and we only have about 15 followers. Even if that’s a modest result, I’m pleased with it, and I can’t wait to see what kind of response we’ll receive as we expand our use of Twitter.

If you want to join the conversation, our Twitter handle is @wisnernews.





Facebook, Twitter and the website are wonderful tools, but that’s exactly what they are — tools. The main event each week is tangible: Broadsheets containing stories and photos that chronicle what’s important to you. Your fingers may get a little inky after reading it, but that’s a small price to pay for being able to clip out an article about your child making the honor roll or a photo of the volleyball team’s excitement over winning subdistricts.


Try as you might, you just can’t put a website on your refrigerator.