Minneapolis recap

I had a work trip to Minneapolis this week and here are some highlights:

- lots and lots of snow (seriously???  It's spring!  How can people live this way?)
- calling home and asking Clyde what was on his shirt and his response "puffah fish"
- the lady at Chipotle who asked me "What are you having?" To which I responded "A chicken burrito" when all she wanted to know was if I was having a boy or a girl
- related to this, the man who ran up to me in the street yelling "Girl!  You look like you 'bout to pop!  I'm not a gynecologist but I can catch it!"
- watching planes depart on snowy runways and heavily falling snow.  Coming from the land of "We don't go outside if a single snow flurry has been spotted," I had no idea this was even possible.
- thereafter sitting on the plane for 3 hours (THREE HOURS) before finally taking off.  not fun!

Baby Girl sure has had some last minute in-womb adventures.  Snow, plane ride, and lots (lots) of stares.

Needless to say, I am happy to be home where it is sunny and in the 70s, and not 30 degrees.

I love you through and through

Today marks Clyde's 15 month birthday, and in honor of that I will use one of his favorite books as a template for a picture post spanning his 15 months.  I am amazed by how many of his little books I have memorized.  He's especially cute right now because he brings us books and begs to be read to, will make himself comfortable in our laps, and suck those little fingers quietly while we read.  More often than not he won't let us finish a book without popping up to grab another one but it just makes me beam to know how much he gobbles up books and reading already.

I Love You Through and Through By Bernadette R Shustak

I love you through and through.

6 weeks old

I love your top side.

3.5 months old

I love your bottom side.

4 months old

I love your inside and outside.

4.5 months old (first tooth)

I love your happy side,

6 months old in Mexico

your sad side,

6.5 months old (more like tired... but best I could do)

your silly side,

7.5 months old

your mad side.

9 months old (another bad example, but we have very few pictures of Clyde mad or sad!)

I love your fingers and toes,

10 months old- Easter morning

your ears and nose.

10 months old

I love your hair and eyes,

11 months old

your giggles and cries.

12 months old

I love you running and walking,

 

12 months old

silent and talking.

14 months old

 

14+ months old

 I love you through and through.

10 months old

Yesterday,

just born

 today,

Last weekend

 and tomorrow too.

Photo Comparison

Aug 4, 2011

July 31, 2012

Lessons from the plane

After little man's 3rd plane trip, I've learned a few things:

1. Traveling with a 6 month old is MUCH easier than with a 14 month old.  Less stuff.  Less acrobatics.  Less vocal gymnastics.

2.The #1 best circumstance on a plane is getting to sit next to another family with young kids.  For one, they entertain each other, and two- if any of them start screaming, you have an ally. Strength in numbers.

3. (C)RAISINS!  One by one.  I found them to be the best food distraction and prevented at least 30 minutes worth of screaming.  They were such a lifesaver that I didn't even care when they all reappeared in his diaper a day or two later...

Clyde turns 1

They say that a year goes by in the blink of an eye and it's so true!  Our little miracle turned one last month and we had a shindig at the park with friends and family.  Inspired by one of Clyde's favorite books, Cowboy Small by Lois Lenski, I went with a cowboy theme and it was a blast.

Happy birthday, Clyde Stephen!  We can't imagine life without you.

Photo Comparison

It's time for another photo comparison. Let's do this by 4's:

4 days:

4 weeks:

4 months:

4x2=8 months:

and... 4x2.375=9.5 months (ok, cheating maybe, but how else was I supposed to post a current photo?):

Time Flies

I've lost some weight since last April, but I pretty much still carry it around with me everywhere I go.

Flying with Mr. Wiggles

Flying with the little guy wasn't as scary as some people make it out to be... he actually did fairly well even though no one around us could possibly have taken a satisfying nap with all the yelling, grunting, and banging. He's not a cuddle baby... in other words, he doesn't like to be held all the time unless you are moving (and unless you are Ama). He's been like this since Day 1; he would never fall asleep in our arms (unless you are Ama) and was much happier lying down with enough space to wiggle and roll. So being constantly held by Mom and Dad in our seats for 3 hours wasn't exactly fun for him. Thankfully both legs of the trip we managed to have an empty seat between us and plastic cups for entertainment.

Mr. Wiggly's Food

It was one of those nights when getting Mr. Wiggly's pj's on --- much less his diaper--- was a mega challenge. The kid knows how to moooove.

We recently returned from a vacation to Mexico to celebrate my dad's 75th birthday. It was, um, awesome. So awesome that I ruined my camera when the Mexican dude who acted like he couldn't speak English made me speak to him in Spanish and then later told me to jump out of his boat. I did. And then I went under, camera and all.

Thankfully, my mom sent me home with her camera until my new one arrives. Thanks to Amazon Mom and Amazon Prime, it will be here tomorrow. In the meantime, here is a photo of some of Mr. Wiggly's food, fresh out of the freezer tray and ready to go back in their labeled ziplocks.

And here is a prettier photo of what the rest of Mr. Wiggly's food looks like but that I'm copying a picture from the internet of because I have no desire to make his food "look pretty for a photo" photo.

Over the past few weeks I have been having so much fun making Clyde's food and introducing him to new tastes. He loves to eat and it has been no problem getting him to accept solids. Of all the things I've given him, the only thing he's rejected (read: vomited up every single bite) is avocado. We'll try it again later. So far in addition to rice and oat cereal he's had carrots, sweet potatoes, butternut squash, bananas, apples, pears, papaya (in Mexico), peas (just today!), and of course the avocado.



Next up maybe some squash or broccoli. I think I'll start him in January on some yogurt and chicken.

Thankful for the flu shot?

I went and got my flu shot today. This used to scream "I'm pregnant" because I stubbornly never wanted to get the shot, and never seemed to need it, as I can't recall ever having the flu (knock on wood). Last year, I called my best friend and told her I got the flu shot, and she knew immediately that I had news to share.

But, as many other habits in my life have changed, I hereby now believe in getting the flu shot. With a baby in my house, I want to take every precaution from getting/spreading illness.

It is an amazingly beautiful day here. I wouldn't want Thanksgiving Eve to be any other way. It's bright, sunny, and crisp outside, but not cold enough to need a sweater (upper 60s... perfect!). Christmas decorations are going up all around the medical center.

So, I thought it might be a good day to walk over to the occupational health clinic for my shot. I'd been putting it off long enough.

The walk to and from the clinic reminded me so much of when I was pregnant with Clyde. The first part of the walk was the same path I took to see the Midwives, every month, then every two weeks, then every week. It became part of my routine. It felt strange not to go and see them the week after Clyde was born. Even weeks after he was born, I was wishing I had a reason to go see them. I would never say this about any other doctor I've ever seen. The Midwives are just awesome. That's all there is to it. I felt like they cared about me, not just as a patient, but as a person. I wasn't just another patient chart in their files. They weren't machines, asking questions per protocol. I looked forward to sitting on that exam table, being poked and prodded, talking about "the baby". So, today, I wanted to change my course and just walk right in and see them. But alas, I was going to get my flu shot. And I'm not pregnant. Hm. Maybe I should make an appointment for a pap smear? ;)

Anyway, there was no wait for the shot, and I was outta there in 1.2 seconds. I decided to take the "shortcut" back to my office. Now, if you know how big this medical center is, you have an idea of how easy it might be to get lost. So yeah. That "shortcut" was no short cut. I ended up taking a detour that was much out of my way.

I took the skybridge across Main Street. The last time I was on that skybridge, Nate and I were walking to our car after an appointment with the Midwives, in which we were instructed to go home, have a nice dinner, and pack our bags to check into the hospital the next day. I remember we were feeling a surreal sense of anticipation.

Instead of forking off to the right (towards the Midwives), I forked left, which I thought would take me towards my office. But when I got to the end of the bridge, I realized I was now inside St. Luke's, the hospital where Clyde was born. This was not in the direction I needed to be going. I hate (hate) hospitals, but instead of back-tracking, I decided to keep going, and just take the long way home. I weaved through the hospital corridors to the front lobby.

The last time I walked in to that hospital, I was still pregnant. The last time I walked out (or, I was wheeled out), I was holding a crying baby. I had such a positive experience in that hospital. And I was remembering every detail of checking in to our room, giving birth, recovery, and going home.

It seems impossible that I will ever have such a positive pregnancy and birth experience again. It also seems impossible to love another child as much as I love Clyde.

So, cheers to getting my flu shot, which took my down memory lane, and made me remember how thankful I am for Clyde, for the midwives, and for such a quality hospital system.

Happy Thanksgiving!

A few things I've learned

A few things I've learned since becoming a mom:

- Many tasks which I previously thought required two hands can be accomplished with one (or even with one foot.... never underestimate the utility of your toes)

- If you stay at a hotel with a baby, they will book you a room at the end of the hall without your even asking (sigh of relief)

- More people are interested in talking to "you"... ie talking to the baby. I was at the grocery store last week with Clyde and the sacker kept talking to Clyde and then asked if we needed help out. I answered him and he said "No no, I was talking to HIM". And as I walked away I didn't get a Goodbye or Thank you, rather Clyde got a "Now don't give your mama any trouble today!" I shoulda sent Clyde to the store for me.

- Everything, and I mean everything, is more exciting with a kid around.

- Time goes by way too fast.

- Sleep is overrated.

- Diapers are expensive.

- .... there are more, but baby calls.

Photo comparison

3 days old

1 month old

3 months old

15 weeks

After just 15 weeks, Clyde...

... is Smiling

... is Cooing

... is Sucking on his fingers/Self soothing/Signing I love you


... is Rolling over from back to tummy


... has great Head control
... is Patient



... is Well-traveled

... is Wanted

... is Fat

... and among other things, likes to challenge stuffed elephants to duels

Birth Story

Believe it or not, this is a condensed version of what I have documented in my pregnancy journal, but I doubt anyone wants the nitty gritties (even this may be a little tmi).

I'll start off with a little background. It took us about a year and a half and 1 early miscarriage before I got pregnant with Clyde. We were ready to see a fertility specialist (appointments were already on the calendar) when I tested positive and subsequently (and gladly!) canceled the appointments.

So, I had a year and a half to prepare for pregnancy and birth. During this time I did lots of reading. Through a blog post, a friend of mine indirectly introduced me to Ina May Gaskin, a well-known midwife in the United States who has a birthing center in Tennessee. After some research and reading her book Ina May's Guide to Childbirth, I knew I wanted to have an unmedicated labor and delivery, and that I wanted my baby to be delivered by a midwife instead of my then-current OB/GYN. I immediately switched over to the local midwifery practice, which is a group of 5 certified nurse midwives who are overseen by an OB/GYN (for emergencies), and was with them for at least a year before I got pregnant. Their philosophy is minimal interventions (e.g. episiotomy, epidural, c-section, pitocin, etc). I think that most interventions during pregnancy and delivery are not indicated. That doesn't mean I think they are bad, but that they are usually unnecessary. But in the right scenario, these can be good, it's just they are often used inappropriately.

About halfway through my pregnancy, we signed up for a faith-based childbirth class that focused on natural childbirth in the context of God's design. At the end of this class I was encouraged and virtually fearless. Lord willing, I was going to have a natural labor and delivery, and I was excited.

As my due date approached (May 27 by LMP, June 1 by my charted date of conception), I knew I needed to start thinking about induction if I went too far beyond my due date. Indeed, my due date (both of them) came and went with no sign of labor. The midwives were concerned because my ultrasounds were showing borderline levels of amniotic fluid, and since they were also using the earlier due date of May 27, they wanted to intervene. Grudgingly, I agreed to get prepidil which I went into the hospital for on June 3. This did nothing. After another appointment with the midwives, I was instructed to pack my bags and head to the hospital on June 7 to get cervidil, a cervical dilator. I was very disappointed because I wanted to experience the process of going into labor naturally and getting to labor at home for as long as possible. On the contrary, I was getting artificially "helped along", and going to the hospital before any signs of labor were showing.

The plan was to get the cervidil insert on the night of Tuesday June 7, and then pitocin on the morning of Wednesday June 8. I really hated this because we had learned that pitocin often led to epidurals and unnecessary c-sections. But I put my trust in God and reminded myself that either way, we were going to have this baby.

Aside from Nate, I had invited my good friend Jessica to be with me during my labor. She met us at the hospital that night with a bouquet of flowers. After a relaxing evening, I went to bed early because we all knew the next day would require lots and lots of energy.

I awoke several times in the night. Despite the midwife's recommendation that I take some Ambien, I refused (if you know me, you know I hate medications of any kind), and was constantly aroused by the noises in the hallway, the unfamiliar room, and the fetal monitor strapped around my belly. At one point I heard the commotion of a baby being born and remember it striking a sense of sudden realization that my baby would soon be here and crying too!

Through the night I didn't have much pain, but felt some cramping, which the midwife had told me to expect. By early morning (5 or 6 am), I was feeling more pain, but figured it was more of the cramping. Jessica arrived around 8 with my order of Einstein bagels, but I didn't want them. I needed to use the restroom, but didn't want to take the effort to get out of bed. I finally made myself get up and on my way I lost my mucus plug. I was feeling a lot of pain, and thought to myself that if this was just cramping, then contractions were going to be absolutely unbearable. I felt a little discouraged, and also embarrassed that I was having so much trouble with the pain of cramping.

The midwife arrived around 9:30am to remove the cervidil and to check me. We were surprised to find out I was already 5 cm dilated and the baby at a 0 station. Because of my progress, she canceled the plan to give me the pitocin, and I labored on. The "cramps" were actually contractions and I didn't even know it! Looking back we realized that the nursing staff may have missed the strength of my contractions on their monitors because my contraction belt had been sliding around all through the night and may not have been positioned properly for most of it.

The next 90 minutes were pretty intense between sipping apple juice, cold washcloths on my face, and putting my breathing techniques to use. It was clear that I was progressing rapidly, and I very soon felt the urge to push. When the midwife checked me again I was at 9.5 cm and was actively pushing by 11:10. I actually thought the pushing was the most enjoyable part.

55 minutes later, Clyde was born. It was the most amazing thing to feel his warm, wet body against mine immediately after his birth.

It went by so fast. Much faster than we expected--- both Nate and I thought it would be Wednesday night or Thursday June 9 before the baby was born. We even told my parents not to rush on their drive from Dallas, and they barely made it to the hospital in time.

I met my goal of having an intervention-free delivery (except for the cervidil...) with only minor 1st degree tears, and the hospital classified the birth as a spontaneous labor rather than an induction, since I never got the pitocin.

I wouldn't change a thing about the way things went. Sure, it would have been nice to have gone into labor naturally without the cervidil, but the progression of everything was absolutely perfect.

By the time I was ready to be wheeled upstairs to recovery, I was famished (remember, I never ate breakfast) and had lost a lot of blood. I nearly fainted several times getting into the wheelchair. Aside from the two straight catheters I had to get because I absolutely could not urinate even though my bladder was full, my 2 days of recovery in the hospital went really well. Overall, it took me longer to fully recover than I anticipated, but I was running again (slowly) by 4 weeks after the delivery.

And Clyde was (and is!) just perfect. He was jaundiced and we had to do home phototherapy with him as well as some formula supplementing, but he was fine and had regained all his birthweight within about a week. We couldn't believe how big he was at birth. I'm glad I didn't know in advance that he would be that big, because that would definitely have struck fear in me!

3 months ago

3 months ago, Clyde Stephen was born:

June 8, 2011
12:05 pm
9 lb, 4oz and 20.5 inches

...and he is the apple of my eye.

Stay tuned for more posts about my birth experience, and life since that fine day...