Nana & Papa meet Easton

We were originally planning to drive down to Gilroy on Thanksgiving morning, then we decided to come down on Wednesday. I guess we just couldn't wait because we ended up driving down on Tuesday night.  We were so excited to introduce Easton to all the family he hadn't met yet.

 Easton is being a little shy. 

 The hand off to Papa.  Notice he's the One Sock Wonder.

 This is such a cute picture, too bad it's rotated sideways.

Nana and Papa with Big Sister and Baby Brother.  

Nana and Papa were smitten by Easton, just like we knew they would be. Papa loves Easton's "pixie ears" (close up photo coming soon), and they just couldn't get enough of him.

Easton meets more cousins

Last weekend, my brother Tim and his family came to meet one week old Easton. We were so grateful that they made the drive up from Hollister to spend the afternoon with us. The boys watched the 49er game, the girls played (and played and played), Kristie was an angel and did my dishes and laundry, but also got in lots of Easton snuggle time, and I made some chicken soup for us to enjoy on the cold rainy day. 

It was perfect. 

 Uncle Tim with Easton (in full 49er gear)

 Mina was so sweet, she couldn't stop saying how cute Easton was.  She really was in love.

Caetlin and Mina kissing on Easton.  They are such sweet big cousins!

 Auntie Kristie getting her snuggle time.  (Easton is in a pink blankie because Gabriela went and got one for him from her stash.) 

And this is a good snapshot of how the rest of the afternoon went.  Caetlin with a  colander on her head and no pants on, while Gabriela and Mina are rocking out.

After they left, we got in the car and drove to Oakland for dinner with Uncle Nate and Auntie Liss.  Chaney got to meet Easton for the first time.  Chaney is the sweetest, most tender hearted 10 year old boy I know.  He is just in heaven when he is holding Easton. He asks to hold him all the time, and could sit there with him for ages.

Not only did Meliss make a totally delicious turkey pot pie for dinner, she made an extra one to send us home with. Yay!!!

Easton had a pretty busy day for being only 8 days old!

More Easton Introductions

Easton meets his cousin Beau.  

Beau was so sweet.  He wanted to tell me "Good job, Elena" over the phone but got a little shy, so I suggested he just come over to meet his cousin.

Only 9 more cousins to meet.  Get ready, Easton :)

 Elizabeth and Uncle Noal came to visit Sunday night, the same day we got back from the hospital. Elizabeth, that sweetheart, brought us some homemade enchiladas.  What a nice surprise! 

 Um, have you seen anything sweeter?!?  Uncle Noal loving on Easton. 

He was in love.  

So are we.

 Uncle Noal fixing Easton's bootie.  

Easton wore some booties that belonged to his daddy when he was little baby.

Our Visitors at the Hospital

Auntie Liss and Uncle Nate brought Gabriela to the hospital after Easton was born.  They were so excited to meet our newest little sweetheart, and we couldn't wait to introduce him to his family.

  Kisses from Uncle Nate

 Grandma and Grandpa came up from Gilroy so they could meet Easton the day he was born too.  We feel so lucky that we live close to our family now. When Gabriela was born, none of them got to meet her until she was almost two months old.

Easton sure is a lucky guy to have so many family members loving on him already!

It's just the beginning, little man.

Big Sister Meets Baby Brother

 We couldn't wait for Gabriela to come to the hospital to meet her little brother.  We were a little nervous too, about how she would react.  I'd done my best to prep her, but you never know. 

She walked in and saw Grandma holding Easton and asked who that was.  Gabriela came with a "Welcome Easton" banner that Auntie Liss helped her make. 

She came right up to me and asked me for the chocolate I said she could have when she visited me at the hospital.  This kid doesn't forget ANYTHING.  I gave her a chocolate cigar that we had, which she happily munched on. But then she reminded me that this was not the right chocolate.  We got chocolates at Costco, and she wanted to eat those.  Well, I had already given those to the Labor and Delivery nurses, but she settled for some big sister presents instead.

 After that, Gabriela was ready to meet her brother. She was so sweet and gentle with him.  She patted him on the head, kissed him, helped Lane calm him down when he was fussy, inspected Easton's little toes, helped with a diaper change.  What an awesome big sister!  We were so proud of her.  And, it was so precious to hear her referring to her brother as Easton Michael over and over again.

The next day, Auntie Liss and Gabriela went on a date to the Build a Bear Workshop where she made a bear with love for her Baby Brother. How darling is that?  Here Gabriela is introducing Peter Pan bear to Easton.

 Have you ever seen such a big genuine smile?  This girl is a champ.  Our first night home with him, Gabriela rushed to settle her fussy baby brother.  She turned on the music in a bouncer and grabbed Easton's blankie, wrapped him up and he settled down.  I didn't do a thing.

 Kisses for Baby Brother

Later that night she had a meltdown.  I think she's been through a lot and she hasn't been napping.  Gabriela sobbed because she wanted to lay next to Easton in his cosleeper at bedtime.  In between great big alligator tears she managed to say, "BUT IT MAKES ME SAD!!! I want to sleep next to Baby Easton because I LOVE HIM!!!!!" 

Doesn't it break your heart?!? It sure broke mine.

Easton's Birth Story

Friday morning I woke up feeling different, I was still having contractions like I had been before but they weren't the same.  I started wondering if the acupuncture did the trick.

So I cleaned house all morning, I cooked carnitas, I did laundry. I swept the floors. I took a shower, and then cuddled up with Gabriela to watch a movie.  I made sure I ate every few hours and stayed hydrated, just in case.  I tried to lay down with Gabriela for a rest, but she didn't sleep and my contractions totally stopped when I laid down.

While I felt I may have been a little ahead of myself, I suggested that Gabriela have a sleep over at Auntie Liss' house. I wasn't in labor yet, but I thought it would be easier for her to go there around 6pm than in the middle of the night.  And if nothing happened, well she'd still have a fun sleepover at her cousins' house.

Lane and I ate dinner, and my contractions started coming more frequently. I had to start breathing through them, and pretty soon they were coming 5 minutes apart, sometimes even more frequently than that. We decided we should go to the hospital just to see what they'd say. Having talked to a lot of moms with two kiddos, I was nervous that things might move faster than I was ready for.

Of course, as soon as we headed to the hospital, my contractions seemed to slow down. And I was perfectly normal looking and feeling in between them.  I felt like a total faker when I told the front desk I was in labor.  I got set up in triage where they monitored the baby's heart rate and my contractions for about an hour.  Around 11 pm they said that I was only 2 or 3 cm, and they normally wouldn't admit me, but since my blood pressure was elevated, they decided to keep me there.  My blood pressure hasn't been elevated the entire pregnancy. I think I was just really nervous they'd send me home.

So around 11:15, we were set up in our birthing room. Thank goodness, because the contractions started up again right away, and very close together.  Because my blood pressure was elevated, they had to take extra precautions, run some labs on some of my blood and I couldn't get into the tub until after the labs came back. This was really a bummer for me, because I was really anxious to get in the water.  They also had to start the constant fetal monitoring. Thank goodness, they were able to do this with some wireless devices, so I could still move around freely.

Shortly after they started monitoring me, they said that they were a little concerned about the baby's heart rate. It wasn't changing too much.  They said it could be because of a normal sleep cycle for the baby, but in case it wasn't, they had me lay on my side and gave me oxygen.  I was starting to get a little nervous that things were not at all going the way I'd hoped they would.  But soon after this, they got the labs back that everything was normal for me, the baby's heart rate improved, and I was given the okay for the tub.

By this time, we had probably been in our room at least an hour.  The nurse checked me and said I was 4 cm.  She got the tub ready for me, and I stayed in there for probably 2 hours. My contractions started coming one after the other, with practically no relief in between them.  I almost started crying and admitted to Lane that I didn't think I could do it anymore. And I was so, so, SO close to asking for pain medication.  It was just too intense.  I spent a lot of time on my hands and knees in the tub, with my belly totally submerged in the water, but even then I felt like I had do something to get in a better position, but I didn't know what, there was no relief and I didn't think I could take it anymore. Just when I'd thought that though, I was able to start breathing through the contractions again.

The nurse was about to take her lunch break and offered to check me before she did. She explained that there was no need to check me, not to feel any pressure, the only reason they might do it was for my own knowledge of how I was progressing.  Even though I was scared to know, I wanted her to check me. I was telling myself not to be too discouraged if I was only 6 or 7 cm.  But let me tell you, I was not at all expecting her to tell me that I was fully dilated and ready to push. Before I knew it, they were setting up all the supplies for the birth and calling the midwife to our room.

It was all kind of surreal. I realized then that I really was going to have the natural childbirth I was hoping for (and that there was no turning back now).  I laid on my side to push and they just told me to push when I felt like I needed to. It was amazing that my contractions really slowed down.  My body knew it needed the rest in between to give me the strength for that pushing.  I could feel the baby descending down and knew when I needed to push him out. Lane and I think I pushed for about 30 minutes, max but really, neither of us had our eyes on the clock.

The midwife coached me through some gentle pushing to get the baby's head out without tearing and then I pushed out his shoulders.  They told me to grab him, and I reached down to place him on my belly.  What I didn't know was that he was still inside of me when I did that!

All of a sudden our precious baby was in my arms, I couldn't believe he was finally here, or that I actually had it in me to birth him the way that I did.  Little Easton Michael came out and hardly even cried.  He just laid there, alert and stared at us. Because he didn't cry much, his breathing was really noisy.  The nurse was really awesome to let us have our bonding time, even though they were a little concerned about Easton.  Sure enough, he coughed and sneezed a few times and then let out a big cry when they weighed him on the scale.  That cleared everything up.

Since I had some postpartum hemorrhaging with Gabriela, they gave me pitocin after Easton was born to help my uterus contract back up and prevent it from happening again. They were really careful to monitor me and made sure that Easton didn't leave our side at all.

Easton weighed in at 8 lbs 10 oz (!!!) and measured 20 inches long.  He fell asleep around 5am and didn't wake up again until 11:30, giving us all some much needed rest.

We are just smitten by him and how precious he is and adjusting to our new life as a family of four.

40 week appointment.

I was a little discouraged when I showed up at my (almost) 40 week appointment and the midwife said I was STILL just 1.5 cm dilated. Since I had been having mild contractions for nearly two weeks, I was sure that I'd be further along than that.  The midwife started talking about doing non-stress tests and what we would do if I was still pregnant around Thanksgiving.  Thanksgiving, people!!!  I decided there was no way I would still be pregnant then.

So I had to step up my game. Before I was just antsy, now I was nervous about getting induced.  So I started eating spicy food, pineapple, and I took a looooooong walk after dropping Gabriela off at preschool.  And then I called an acupuncturist.  I'd never been to acupuncture before.  She said she could help me and had an opening for me that same afternoon.  Thank goodness Heather was available to watch Gabriela on such short notice - how great it is to have friends in the same town!!!

The acupuncturist specializes in women's health and let me know she was giving me a session not to induce labor, but to help me with relaxation and dilation.  After I was dilated more, she said she'd do another session to help induce contractions. She was awesome, and gave me a booklet with acupressure techniques for labor and suggested that Lane come for the next appointment so she could teach him how to help give me some relief during labor. 

What Gabriela's up to these days

Before our life changes completely with the addition of baby #2, I wanted to update you all on what Gabriela's up to these days.

She LOVES to draw. She sits down for multiple drawing sessions a day. One of her favorite things to draw on is 3x5 cards.  Gabriela has her little art bag that Auntie Liss made for her, and she uses it every day now!

Gabriela adores mail. She has a couple sets of stationary and she will sit down to draw pictures and dictate letters for quite a while. She's a pro at putting the letter in the envelope, affixing the stamp, and putting her letters in the outgoing mail. If you send us a letter we will definitely send you one back!

Gabriela remembers how to spell her name and is getting pretty good at writing it.  The other day, during one of her drawing sessions, she randomly started practicing writing the letter B. She was so proud of herself, she practically squealed with delight and would say, "Look at my perfect B, Mommy!" with each one.  Later, we were drawing pictures of words that started with the B sound.  She thought of a bunch by herself, then turned the paper over so SHE could draw the B words that I thought of.  Gabriela drew a bat and then I told her how to spell it. She grabbed another paper, rewrote the word in giant letters and drew a new bat.  It's pretty exciting to see her so focused on her letters, especially since I haven't been trying to drill her on them or anything.

Gabriela is still a major fan of playing blocks. She loves building neighborhoods and bunk beds and then pretending with all her tiny dollies who live in the structures she builds.  Things just got more exciting around here because Auntie Liss got an old school Little People dollhouse for Gabriela with tons of little people and furniture to go with it.  We play dollhouse every day.

We've been reading chapter books too. Gabriela really follows the stories and asks for us to read more.  So far this year, we've read:

Charlotte's Web
The Mouse and the Motorcycle
The Wizard of Oz
James and the Giant Peach
Fantastic Mr. Fox
Charlie and the Chocolate Factory

We have ourselves a little counter.  Of course, Gabriela has been able to recite her numbers for ages, but now she's getting the hang of counting the actual amount of something instead of just rattling off the numbers.  She insists on counting everything - the number of grapes on her plate, how many people are at the table, how many shoes are lined up on the floor. I think it helps that she has this cute counting placemat.

I wish we were getting outdoors more often - I've been pooped with this whole pregnancy thing. Hopefully after baby is born, we can spend more time outside at the park, on nature walks, at the zoo, and Gabriela can ride her bike more too.  We'll see how the weather cooperates with that plan. 

What a day

Yesterday was awesome.

Gabriela stayed in her jammies all day long, which she thought was fabulous.

When we woke up, she stayed in bed and cuddled with me for a long time, and then finally broke our sleepy morning silence by asking me to sing her Christmas song (after Christmas song after Christmas song). Then she made up her own Christmas song. She sang about polar bears and children and reindeer and Santa. 

After that, Gabriela asked if we could play a board game in bed.  Why not?!?  So we did.

We had breakfast. She played quietly while I took a shower.

Gabriela asked to write people letters on her stationary.  That girl loves to draw and dictate letters.  She wrote one after the other after the other - FIVE letters, all with fancy pictures on them.

We cuddled.  Even though we finished reading Charlie and the Chocolate Factory last week, Gabriela asked to reread a specific chapter. She even remembered the name of the chapter!  Veruca and the Nut Room. So we read it and then fell asleep together.

After nap time we drew some more. We even ate popcorn at lunch time.  It's a whole grain, you know. We drew more pictures and she wanted to practice writing letter B over and over again (all on her own). Then we cut and glued together some Thanksgiving turkeys.  Gabriela suggested we make one for baby brother after he is born. Is that sweet or what?

Gabriela asked to watch Fantastic Mr. Fox and suggested I make pumpkin muffins while she did, but only if she could taste the batter.  So I did.  And after dinner, G announced that we were all going to cuddle together and finish the movie.  Who can say no to family cuddle time when requested by a cute little three year old?!?  We read stories at night and she drifted off to sleep. 

It was perfection, really. No screaming, fussing, tantrums, not listening, or acting like a stinker. She saved all that for today and gave me at least a double dose, maybe more. 

Here's to hoping my little angel will be back after nap time.

Things I need to remember

It still isn't even my due date.

Even though I have lots of mild contractions every night, and never seem to go into labor, these contractions are preparing my body for the big day (whenever that may be). I should be thankful that I can make this progress without being in pain and that I have the chance to take naps and rest up.

Last time, all these pre-labor contractions were so intense and painful - it was impossible to rest or do anything but make it through the contractions. Lane and I were both totally exhausted long before Gabriela arrived.  I should be glad that (so far) I can continue preparing our nest, spend special time with Gabriela, and feed and care for my family through this.

I guess the longer the wait, the better the chances of having our camera repaired and back.  That's right, one week before my due date, we sent our camera in to finally be repaired. It broke in February.  Luckily, the staff approved expedited processing due to my current giant state. 

But, I'm not gonna lie, it's starting to get a little frustrating. Contractions are enough to keep me awake, but not strong enough to be painful. It's mostly at night, so I'm not getting much rest.  Every day I wonder if it's the real deal. I'm not sure if I should be out and about being super active and trying to get this baby out, or if I should be relaxing and resting so I can save my energy for the birth.  But what if the birth isn't for days and days more?

Our little man will be here soon enough. He will come when he's ready.  I am obviously having a hard time being patient.

I'm ready for showtime, people.

Almost 39 weeks

It's the final countdown!  9 days to go or so.

On Sunday and Monday night I was up for around 4 hours each night because of some mild contractions. They weren't painful, but enough to keep me awake. Thinking that labor must be coming soon, I forced myself to rest and stay in bed, despite being awake for so long.  But nothing.

I woke up on Wednesday feeling better rested and with much more energy than normal. So, I took advantage of it and washed and put away all the cloth diapers, washed every dirty dish in the house (how are there still dirty dishes?!?), went to the library, bank, drugstore, two grocery stores, the post office, and made dinner, all while trying to keep Gabriela entertained. I woke up at 9:30pm all rested up from putting G down for the night, so I baked some cranberry bread, organized the fridge, and swept the floors. Pretty sure this nesting business is kicking in.

This morning was my (almost) 39 week appointment with the midwife.  The midwife said that my cervix is right where it is supposed to be for the birth, very soft and half way effaced. I am 1.5 cm dilated, but she says there is very little resistance, the baby's head is right there, and she thinks that once things get started, they will progress very quickly. Boy, I hope she's right!  He's still in the "sunny side up" position, with his back facing the same direction as mine.

The midwife offered to strip my membranes, in hopes that the resulting increased hormone activity could stimulate more contractions and get things going. I declined - I still have a week until my due date, and I'm not feeling desperate yet. Baby will come when he's ready, right?

She also said this lull in contraction activity, compared with Sunday and Monday nights, might be the "calm before the storm" - we'll see. 

In any case, we are ready and waiting to meet our little guy.

38 weeks report

So the car seat is in the van, Gabriela has given our new double stroller the thumbs up, the hospital bags are packed, the cosleeper is assembled and ready, we even had professional maternity/family photos taken last week (for free!) and toured the hospital a few nights ago.

I am feeling less anxious about managing two kiddos and more and more excited about the baby's arrival.  I continue to have mini contractions, but they aren't painful or regular or increasing in strength yet. They are certainly uncomfortable sometimes. I think my body is just warming up for the big day. I am trying to take time to rest every afternoon, and still do things like organize the cabinets, laundry, and even cook dinner (most nights), even though I am awake for several hours out of every night it seems. Apparently, I'm also adjusting my future sleep schedule.

I went to the midwife on Wednesday who said things are still pretty much the same as last week, except that I am now one entire cm dilated. While the baby is positioned very low, he's still not engaged in my pelvis yet. I've been a little more adventurous the past few days, letting Gabriela ride her bike to the park (which means power waddling for me), and we even went to Fairyland.

No real news to report yet, just letting you know we are plugging along waiting for signs of Baby's arrival.