"Miles to go before I sleep"

Robert Frost never said it so good!

At the last pediatrician appointment, we learned that we didn't need to set the alarm any longer to wake up our little man for feedings. Rather, we could let him wake us up when he needed some food. Gratefully, he has let us sleep the last 2 nights. On Friday night, he slept from about 3 - 7 and last night he slept from about 1:30 - 6. Yay Miles!!!

We know that he has a growth spurt coming up in the next couple of days - and growth spurts mean the need for more food (called cluster feeding) at all times during the day and night. But for now, we are grateful for the sleep we have been given - as we are starting to feel human again.

Week 2 - Miles Second Dr. Appointment

We're happy to report that Miles is doing great! He has steadily gained weight - now weighing in at a monster 7.5lbs; half a pound over his birth weight. He's also added a half an inch on his height; from 20in to 20.5in. His color is good, he's exhibiting all normal signs of a two week old.

Good news from Dr....we can now let Miles dictate when we feed him. Up until now, we've been keeping to a feed once every 3hrs; setting alarms thru the night and waking him to make sure he gets his. We still need to make sure he is getting a minimum of 8 feeds during a 24hr period. Dr. says we can now let him sleep as long as he wants, which means we will sleep more...hopefully.

Lina had a list of questions ranging from "Is it normal for him to sneeze as much as he does?" to "Are those white dots on his nose normal?"; all of which were answered and we have been assured all is normal.

Lina has her first postpartum appointment this afternoon. Trust all will go well.

Both Mom and Dad are tired...but it looks like we've hit a major sleep milestone!!

More Photos at Flickr

More here!

8 days... holy cow

Wow - it's been an amazing blur. I can't believe our little man is 8 days old. He is doing great and seems to be settling into our household. It appears as if he is well fed (read: craps a LOT) and is sleeping incredibly well. We actually have to wake him up every 3 hours in the night to make him feed - it seems contrary to any instinct to wake a sleeping baby.

Some highlights of the last week:

• - He had his first doctor's appointment and is doing great. No signs of jaundice and his weight is actually up from his discharge weight.
• - My milk is in... OUCH! Enough said.
• - Having said he would never change a diaper, Tim has changed all diapers but 3. He has been peed on numerous occasions, but still volunteers to do the changing. There is something very different when to poop is your son's and all you want to do is get him clean - the task at hand is less about the poop and more about his comfort.
• - We're slowly getting into a routine with sleeping and feeding, and are finding that we get around 6 hours of sleep a night, which is a lot, I take it.
  
• - Dado and Beebles (my parents) flew out from CT to make Mile's acquaintance. They have spent as much time holding him as they have cleaning kitchens and stocking fridges -- all of which is greatly appreciated!
• - He had his first sponge bath! Grandma (Tim's mom) read up on how best to give an infant a bath and led us through the process. Her leadership, tenderness, and expertise were incredibly appreciated!
• - He has had several loving visits from Grandma and Grandpa, each of whom have a hard time being in the room with him and not holding him. They are so great with him that it is hard not to feel lucky to have in-laws so fabulous and so close!
• - Miles met his great grandfather today! Grandpa Joe is out here visiting Grandma and Grandpa and they stopped in today for a quick visit on their way through to Reno for the weekend.
• - Miles met his great aunt Patsy and Uncle George - my Dad's sister.

We're all doing great - though exhausted. It's amazing how much he has changed in 8 days. It is going so quickly! We have aspirations of more blogging and posting photos, but sometimes the nap takes priority.

Well, I have a crying baby on our hands who is pining for his next feeding... demanding little guy when he wants to be. Stay tuned. We'll do our best to keep the updates coming!!

Video #1

If a picture is worth a thousand words, then video must be a million.

The labor story...

So for those of you who may be actually interested in Miles' journey into being, here is a quick recap of Thursday.

• - I woke up around 3:30 with a contraction. I woke Tim up around 4:00 with the next one. We lay in bed for about an hour timing how far apart they were where is dawned on us that this was really starting to happen.
• - Around 5:00 we came downstairs to get comfy in front of the TV, get some food, and get settled into waiting until the contractions were close enough to go to the hospital and not get sent home.
• - Around 11:00, we started to motivate a bit more. We took showers and pulled the last things into our bags.
  
• - Around 12:00, my contractions quickly worsened. Apparently my reaction to the pain was nausea and it wasn't the first time I would lose my lunch that day. At which point, Tim and I thought it was time to call the doctor... who thought it was time to head to the hospital.
• - When we arrived, I had a contraction while checking in. "Follow me Caroline to room number 12.... after your contraction." It was very odd to be standing in a hallway surrounded by doctors and nurses who all thought that contractions were the most normal thing ever and no need to be concerned.
• - We passed the exam and were quickly admitted... but then came the wait. Apparently, lots of blood needed to be drawn, questions answered, IVs administered etc, all in between contractions that were about 2 - 3 minutes apart and causing me to puke... it was a super-fun time.
• - Once the IV was in place (third time is a charm!), I got a quick hit of fentenol, a morphine relative. This took the edge of the pain, and Tim noticed a dramatic lightening of the squeeze on his hand with each contraction. I wasn't out of pain, but I didn't seem to care as much.
• - About 2 hours after we arrived, I finally got my epidural. Wow, what a difference. Within minutes, I was cracking jokes with the doctors and the nurses having a great go of things. Though I tremendously respect those women that have a natural birth, I can't figure out why you would want to - love me some drugs!!!
• - Then we just waited, and waited, and waited until we could start to push.
• - Around 8:40, it was time to go. My first several pushes were really productive and everyone was optimistic that we would get through this quickly.
  
• - But that wasn't to be the case. Miles seemed to have gotten stuck at my pelvis bone, the last hurdle before life. After about an hour and a half, the midwife grew concerned and put in a call to the doctor who then joined in the fun for observation. They let me keep at it well after 2 hours. I was determined not to have a c-section and kept telling everyone that I had more in me.
  
• - At about 2 1/2 hours, we seemed to have had a break through and the pushing was becoming more productive. The environment in the room immediately changed from "we're going to have to stop this soon" to "let's put on our dressing gowns!"
• - At 11:43, the reason for the stall in pushing became clear: his little head emerged with a little hand - waving to this new world and announcing his presence. "Tada! I am here!!!!" I have this visual in my head of a gymnast's dismount searching for the perfect 10 - which he got as far as I am concerned!!!
  

After they gave him to us, I spent the first couple of minutes staring into his eyes and falling in love - then I spent the next couple of minutes thanking the doctors and the nursing staff for letting me continue through the labor. The hospital staff was amazing and made the entire experience start to finish a warm, encouraging, and wonderful one. We were lucky, these same fabulous nurses went on strike today for 10 days... I am sure glad we delivered last week!!!!

The promises

Dear Miles-

I want to promise you so many things:

• - That you'll always be happy
• - That you'll always be healthy
• - That we'll live forever to take care of you
• - That you'll laugh more than you'll cry
• - That we won't make any mistakes you'll hate us for
• - That we won't lose our patience, get angry and yell
  

But the only thing I can promise you is that you will be loved with all that we have and more: we'll love you simply for opening up your eyes every morning. You've already expanded what we believed our hearts could take. To us, you are perfect, and we thank you for joining us in our journey through life. We didn't know we were incomplete until we met you.

Love, Mom & Dad

More Photos...

Will continue to update as time, energy and Miles permits...

Miles

Introducing Mr. Miles Manning Reeth

Well we did it - the most difficult part of the whole "make a baby" process is done. We've settled on a name. After many back and forths, its now official as pencil on a birth certificate...literally.

Lina and I are loving the experience and soaking in every second.

Miles was delivered at 11:43PM Thursday evening. He weighed in at 7lbs on the dot. He was 19.75in. A reasonable amount of dirty-blond hair. He's perfectly healthy - scoring 8/9 on APGAR...10s are reserved for the doctor's children. He passed all hearing tests, has his hepatitis B vaccination and will have one more test tomorrow - genetic screening.

Miles would like to thank EVERYONE, from family, friends and co-workers for all your concern, kindness, love and support thru the whole pregnancy. He has asked to thank you in person and we hope you all will make his acquaintance soon.

....more to come. Videos TOO!

xoxoxo Miles

Welcome Little Man

A picture is worth a thousand words....





...more to come.


Mother and child are healthy and resting.

Past due, but not for long!

So today, Monday is officially late. We started the "celebration" with a trip to the doctor. The first thing the doctor said was "well, you're past your due date so today we will pick out a date to induce". Oh my. I wasn't really prepared for picking a date for induction today.

I am, you guessed it, still measuring small. By this doctor's measurement, I am actually smaller than I was the last 2 times. (I think Monday retreats and hides inside my body and doesn't come too far out! Sneaky little guy!!) So I have to go in for another non-stress test tomorrow.

We then had the exam and I am progressing. It seems like the aches and pains I have been feeling has been prepping me for labor. I am still around 80% effaced and am now dilated around 1.5cm. With these measurements, and the fact that I have been small throughout, they want to schedule an induction.

The doctor left us for a bit to get dressed and "talk" about choosing a date. Tim and I sat in the room considering dates for next week (surely it wouldn't be sooner) like "if we do it on Friday, then Monday will have his grandfather's birthday" and other such considerations.

By the time the doctor returned, she looked at us and said "well, I went ahead and scheduled you for Friday at 7:30 am". Tim and I were startled. It hadn't occurred to us that the induction date could be as early as this week. We asked lots of questions about implications of induction. Will it make us more likely to have a c-section? (Not with the way I am already progressing, I have a "favorable" cervix for the event.) Is there a reason to go so soon? (Yes - several. 1. He is only going to get bigger and labor will only get harder. 2. I have always measured small, so if we pushed it off another week, then we would have to go back for another non-stress test next week to make sure everything is still fine. 3. Monday is fully baked and so there is no reason to keep him in longer.)

We still left the doctor's office a little shell shocked and startled. There is part of me that was hoping the natural order of things would take place and am a little disappointed. There is another part of me that is scared by inducing as opposed to letting nature do its thing. There is still another part of me that is thrilled that we will head into the weekend as parents and no longer DINKs... the wait will be over!!

I got home and did some online research to feel a bit more comfortable with the whole thing. I also reached out to an OB in my mommy group for a little advice. Research returned without much to worry about, and Tina gave me a lot of confidence in the timing and the process. It's been another whirl wind of a day, but I am now in a good place.... and trying to bring it on by itself!!!

So far today, I have taken 3 walks, totaling around 2.5 hours (come on gravity!) and tonight for dinner we are eating eggplant, spicy food, and deserting on pineapple. If anyone has any other thoughts on how to bring labor on before Friday, let us know!! Otherwise, we'll use the gift that medicine has given us and it looks like we'll have a little boy in our arms before Saturday morning.

Whoa.

...and March 10th...

so we're here. I am here. Tim is here. Monday, not so much.

My analogy this morning is getting to the finish line of a marathon and finding out there is still more road ahead of you. I am tired, I can't breath well, my feet hurt, my back hurts, my uterus hurts (sometimes) and I am done... or at least I want to be done.

I completely convinced myself on Saturday night that I was going into labor. I had a really bad and achy night. I was certain I was going to wake up in the morning and brightly say to Tim "I think it's time we went to the hospital". Further, as we walked back from breakfast in the morning, I think I had another contraction.... but no follow ups. I went to bed almost disappointed that it wasn't time yet. And the milestone of a due date undelivered is additionally disheartening.

Not that the world is bleak, it isn't. I've had a nice morning on the couch, a nice lunch, and am about to settle into a nap. I know that these are my last precious moments to be lazy and rested and I am enjoying them. but.... it's still 3/10....

All my bags are packed, I'm ready to go

the taxi's waiting, it's blowing its horn
already I'm so anxious I could cry...

Okay, so now we are officially waiting. I underestimated how much of an emotional burden the unknown is. I find myself cranky, on edge, and otherwise unpleasant these days. Sleep helps a bit, but each twinge in my side wakes me right up thinking "Is this it?!?!?" ... not so restful.

So tomorrow is officially the due date. I have day dreams that Monday will be a good little man and come on time, but I know I can't expect that, and don't want to disappoint myself... which I am sure will happen anyway.

I did a frantic clean last night between 10:30 & 12:30 (awesome!) and Tim has been wonderful going with the flow and vacuuming even today. (He has the dust buster in hand right now!) The house is ready, his room is ready, we're ready... it seems like the only thing not so ready is the combination of my uterus and my little man - I think they are in cahoots!

Everything's coming up roses

We've had about 10 straight days of gorgeous weather. It's been over 60 most days and I have been padding around in a pair of Capri's that Beth got me for $6 from target early on in the pregnancy. Thank heavens for those, or I would have been sweltering in my jeans!! (Gotta love target!)

The garden is beginning to blossom. The apricot tree out front is in full bloom and there look to be a couple of other (fruit?) trees in the back yard that are blooming as well. Who knows what they will actually become. The garden is a bit like Christmas morning, there are all these packages throughout the yard, but I have no idea what's in them.

We have giant Calla Lilies and seem to have more coming up every day. We've had our first rose, along with the first blossoms on one of our cherry trees - who needs DC, we have our own cherry blossoms!! Green life is starting to grow out of what have previously been sticks. More photos can be found here. The cycle of life is starting in Northern California....now if only our little man would get the hint!!!

Green things growing up from sticks.

Fat Hands...

Dang. I was hoping to be able to wear my wedding rings up through the my pregnancy. But my hands have finally swollen up enough that I wasn't able to get them off my finger without some major coaxing. They are now sitting in our safety deposit box at the bank, but I can't help looking down at my hand and missing my rings.

...if only our little man had come a little sooner!!!

Doctor Update

So we had our 39th week doctor visit this morning. Most everything went well. As of now, I am 80% effaced and 1/2 cm dilated. As you hear on any investment commercial "past performance is not an indicator of future returns." Basically, where I am today means nothing about how what may happen tonight. Sweet.

Plus, I keep measuring small... heard this one before? So they sent me in for another test. This is the test that is actually described in the 39 week update I posted. At this point, they want to make sure that our little man has enough fluid and that he's getting enough nutrients from living in utero. The consequences of not passing this test would be to schedule an induction as he is fully baked and if things aren't great on the inside, he'd still be fine on the outside.

The net-net is that everything is still fine. He's doing well, there is more than enough fluid from being 6 days from our due date. We got to watch him on the ultrasound for a while. We got to see him practice breathing, watch him play with his toes, and rub his eyes. He was seriously active while we were there, and it is amazing to now know that all those movements and little human movements that we do every day - so much more real. We got a great couple of moments focusing on his face that Tim caught on the new video camera. Apparently Monday has large lips like his mom, and he may be born with the same "large and indescribable mouth" that I had until I was old enough to learn how to bring emotions to it (my father's description).

If we can figure out how to edit the videos, we'll be sure to post some soon!!!

Thank you!!

So, I am officially all caught up on my thank you notes (as of today anyway). It has been really amazing to witness the outpouring of generosity and creativity from our family, friends, and co-workers. When we found out we were pregnant, I purchased 75 note cards with Monday's name on it - I have since gone through those, another packet of pregnancy thank you notes, and am now in to my formal "CCR" note cards. We are surrounded by loving and generous people - what a world to bring our little man into... can't wait!

Oh man, UPS just dropped something by, looks like I have more notes to write!!

39 Week Update from Baby Center

How your baby's growing: Your baby's waiting to greet the world! He continues to build a layer of fat to help control his body temperature after birth, but it's likely he already measures about 20 inches and weighs a bit over 7 pounds, a mini watermelon. (Boys tend to be slightly heavier than girls.) The outer layers of his skin are sloughing off as new skin forms underneath.

How your life's changing: At each of your now-weekly visits, your caregiver will do an abdominal exam to check your baby's growth and position. She might also do an internal exam to see whether your cervix has started ripening: softening, effacing (thinning out), and dilating (opening). But even armed with this information, there's still no way for your caregiver to predict exactly when your baby is coming. If you go past your due date, your caregiver will schedule you for fetal testing (usually a sonogram) after 40 weeks to ensure that it's safe to continue the pregnancy. If you don't go into labor on your own, most practitioners will induce labor when you're between one and two weeks overdue — or sooner if there's an indication that the risk of waiting is greater than the risks of delivering your baby without further delay.

A glimpse at how other people live...

So I feel like I have joined a new class of people: those that shop at Costco while eating "lunch" through samples...

I walked into Costco yesterday around 1:00 and was amazed by the amount of people that were actually there on a Monday! Who are these people and what do they do with their lives? Apparently, they avoid Costco on the weekends and go during the week - the eat! I watched several folks just travel from one sample station to the next. At 39 weeks and starving, I of course, followed along like a sheep, and got some good eats - they even sold me on some super yummy mushroom ravioli.

Speaking of starvation...

You know how they say you should never go to a grocery store when you are hungry? I think that especially holds true for Costco. Some of the books I have been reading have told me that I should pick up some nuts, dried fruit, jerky, etc to have in the hospital after labor... but I think I went a bit overboard...

Not as easy as I thought...

So we went to the fire station yesterday morning so I could show off how well I installed the car seat base. I think the fireman's first comment was "I think you broke every rule in the book!" Funny, I thought I followed every rule in the book. I guess it just goes to show you why, exactly, 90% of car seats are installed incorrectly! The nice man walked us through how to install it correctly in both of our cars. He also made us do it a couple of times so if we need to take it out and install the bases in other cars, we know how to do it. What a great service, I am so grateful that the fire department helps people out this way.

After that, we found the perfect scrap book for Monday yesterday morning - it actually matches his room! We walked both down to Burlingame ave for breakfast, about 1.5 miles, and up to Broadway Ave for lunch, around another 2.5 miles. We both successfully scored a nap, and had an easy night in. Not withstanding all the exercise, I had a terrible nights sleep - I am guessing around 4 hours.

We started walking to breakfast this morning talking about how we needed to keep walking.. and walking some more. So we opted out of our normal breakfast spots, and walked to one about 2 miles away. It took a while to get there (obviously - I am 9 1/2 months pregnant!) and we had to wait outside for a while to be seated. But the day was gorgeous and reminded us how happy we are living in California and specifically in Burlingame. After breakfast, we strolled home, by way of Burlingame Ave to get a final bit of exercise in. Then it was on to details like raking the front lawn (Tim did it), getting the oil changed on the car, and buying groceries. Though not the most restful day, we did accomplish a ton, and I am looking forward to falling into bed... and soon!!!

Not too much to report, but life is good. Monday is growing and stretching. Now his kicks tend to get me on both sides of my belly. My shape has changed as I do feel like he is getting increasingly lower... but it doesn't mean anything until he decides to show up!