She Came Upon a 9:10 Halloween Clear...

I realized I hadn't told the whole story of Moira coming into the world.

First off, I want to mention that Kath and I first met at a Halloween party. This is thirteen years to the day to the hour from the first time Scott and Kath saw each other at Lyda Moorehouse’s Halloween party in the Twin Cities in 1994. I love these coincidences...

On October 31^st, at 1:30 in the morning, Kath’s water ruptured. It’s not like in the movies where there is this ‘gush.’ For Kath, it was more like a slow leak. Kath thought that the baby was kicking her bladder or something, so didn’t worry about it.

Scott went on to Charles City (an hour away) and Kath went in to work. After another accident, Kath returned home, changed, and then called her work, telling them that she’s going to go see her doctor, and that she’ll ‘see them later in the day.’ Kath called Scott and let him know that she was going to the clinic. Dr. Swanson saw Kath, and, in a very laid back fashion, said ‘Why don’t you go on to the hospital. I’ll let them know you’re coming.’ Kath was very much in work mode. She didn’t put the pieces together. She called Scott and tells him she’s going to the hospital. Scott was concerned, but she thought that they would just put her on bedrest or something like that. Once at the hospital, she found out that Dr. Swanson wanted to admit her since she is in labor. She called Scott back and told him they admitted her and she’s in labor. Scott left Charles City, called his mom to keep him from going 75 mph on the way home, talked to her the whole way, and got back to Decorah at about 12:30pm.

The first thing Kath told him when she saw was “This is not how I was planning to spend my day.” She said that many times that day. Severe labor pains start at 2:30pm, and Kath is drugged. Both she and Scott sleep in between contractions. The drugs where off at 5:30pm, and she gets drugged again. Scott forgets that he needs to eat, being diabetic and everything, and their friend Rick Scheffert brings him a sandwich so he can continue functioning.

Labor really gets serious at about 8:30. Kath only yells at Scott twice during the birthing process. His only job was to count in between pushes. She usually did sets of three. After the third push, Scott looked around to see what else was going on in the room, and he heard, “Count, dammit, count!”

Moira Maeve Zierath was born on October 31^st, 2007 at 9:10pm. Our Halloween baby. This was her trick and our treat. Moira was 5lbs8oz and 20 inches long. Her first visitors, Dag and Sharon Rossman, came when she was twelve hours old, and her godmother Sheryl Scheffert got to hold her around 10:30am the next morning. Scott’s co-workers Phyllis and Colletta were next to come in, and Kath’s co-workers were in after work. Rick Scheffert, the godfather, got to hold her that night. We firmly believe that it takes a village to raise a child, and we are gathering our village.

Since Moira was a month early, the house, including the nursery, were not quite ready. Scott gathered an eight person work crew on November 3^rd and they proceeded to lay laminate flooring in three rooms, tear up carpet in one, build a linen closet in the bathroom, and get the nursery more or less ready.

Since then, we’ve had Grandpa Zierath and MJ come and visit, and Aunt Tanya and Uncle Marius came for Thanksgiving. A couple of Scott’s former co-workers also came and visited, and Moira got her first tour of Luther on November 26^th. Grandma and Grandpa Ipsen got to meeter the following Friday night.

At Christmas time, Moira gets to meet the Platteville families (my brother and his crew, the Kilians, and the Wang clan). We get to go to Madison to see Grandpa Z, MJ, Tanyadee, Marius, Maz, Great Brettan, Andrea, and BZ on my side, and then Kath's brothers and sisters-in-law and nieces. We'll get to LaCrosse the following weekend again to see the last brother and then Kath's adult niece (who has her own little boy now).

Kath started back at work this week. That separation is very tough on all of us, and then Moira thinks that night is a great time to be awake.

But we are very, very happy!! Life is good!

Dumas the Six-Point Buck

I dropped my boss Phyllis off at the LaCross Airport early
on Sunday morning. On my way back home,  in between Hokah
and Caledonia, on one of the curves, I met
Dumas the Six-Point Buck. Please note the American pronunciation,
not the French. I impacted with him on the front right corner
of the car. He took out the front panel, passenger mirror,
and dented the front door. I am of the theory that he blew out the
tire as well because I spun out. 360+180.  I remember seeing the
guardrail go by and thinking I’m not sure if missing the guardrail
is a good thing. I went down the steep embankment. I proceeded to
roll the car one and a quarter times.I remember thinking ‘I’ve
always been told you don’t remember it when you roll a car. I
remember everything. Gee, you usually don’t see snow, grass, and weeks
across the front window.’ I came to rest on passenger side.

As I hung in the car, I took a quick inventory. Yup, hit my head.
Ouch. Lost my hat and glasses in the roll. Hm, knee hurts; must
have banged it on the steering wheel. Shoulder and neck a little stiff.
That’s going to hurt tomorrow. I proceeded to climb out of the car.
It had the sense of climbing out of submarine. A couple of passerbyes
stopped to help me. One of them drove to the top of the next hill to get
cell phone reception. Yeah, happened in  the one spot on the whole trip
that has no cell phone reception. 

So, to start the holiday season, I totaled my boss’s car. Sigh.