Rhiannon at 1 month

Rhiannon was 1 month on Sunday. We went to a Dodger game (they lost) and sat in the sweltering sun for about 20 min. before seeking shade. Thank goodness we were on the 3rd base side where the shade actually came. Rhiannon has very long fingers and very long feet. Her feet art the length of the outside of my thumb and her finger nails have had to have been cut every week so far. She is rolling over 1/2 way regularly and smiles are occasional. She will sleep as long as she is held-even at night. She doesn't cry often-just a complaint to let us know what's wrong and she stops. When I look at her overall, she reminds me of Joaquin and she makes some of the same faces, but when I look feature by feature, they don't look anything alike. She is darker skinned and fairer haired. Her eyes are more almond shaped where his were round and she has my mouth where Joaquin definitely had Gideon's. She is also quieter than Joaquin, which is strange because she coo'ed quite a bit in the hospital, but that has stopped. Overall, an easy, easy baby...we seem to be good at making them :)

3 weeks 5 days

...is what it took for a breaking point for Joaquin. After a pretty nasty tantrum from which he was calming down (because we didn't drive by the cement mixer plant after picking him up from pre-school because she was wailing and needed to be fed) I asked him if sometimes it was hard to have a baby sister. He said, "No.... Maybe sometimes it is hard at home. Maybe I want her to go back in your belly."

Our new balance

When we would talk about how easy Joaquin was people would always say something about how difficult the next one would be. I hated that and always thought they were mistaken as our impression of Joaquin's easiness had just as much to do with us (I thought) as it did with him. I'm happy to report that we either hit the baby jackpot or I was right :)

Rhiannon has her own little quirks that I guess you could consider difficult. One of the main differences between her and Joaquin at her age is that she's a spitter and projectile vomitter so far. But that's not really difficult...baby spit doesn't smell and I feel so bad for the little thing when she turns all purple and then let's loose. She is an easy sleeper as long as she's being held. We're trying to be better about it so we don't paint ourselves into a corner again, but 50% of the time I end up falling asleep with her before putting her down.

Joaquin is, overall, doing great with her. We have had a few snags like when he wanted me to hold him and I was feeding her. I told him he was a great big brother and he responded with, "I'm not a big brother, I'm just a little boy!," which, of course, made me cry a little bit. He's also started having some tantrums, although I think that has to do more with age than the baby. The other day, trying to head off a tantrum, I asked him if he wanted to go play in his sandbox and he said no. Gid asked him the same thing a few minutes later and he said, "Remember this is the day that I told mommy no"--wow...very dramatic with squinty eyes and everything! Overall though, he is doing great. We spent 15 minutes this morning just kissing and hugging the baby. She cried the other day and I caught him in our room trying to move her bassinet out to the garage so he could get her help. I came into the living room the other night and he was leaning over her saying over and over again, "I love you baby!" It is very sweet and it just confirms his innate sweetness.

Rhiannon turned over last night at 2.5 weeks, which just seems way too soon. I would have loved to have had awhile longer with blissfully safe couch napping.

Rhiannon's birth story-Part II, the arrival

We get to Kaiser around 9:30 pm and check in. I am nearly 4 cm dilated and not going anywhere without a baby. Gid calls the family and my mom starts to come down. What a blessing this is; we missed her during Joaquin's birth and although I had great help, it's just different having you mom there. This time, no one else decides to come down and this is also a great blessing. I just have Gid and my mom in the room along with a great staff and the experience ends up being very peaceful. We are checked in and moved into the room at the end of shift. I have one nurse who seems a little...out of it? She doesn't engender great faith. At one point she tells me she is going to stick my heart monitor below my 'boobies'...really? Boobies?

My epidural is called for and Gid is sent out of the room. This ends up being the worst part of the entire birth for me as the nurse anesthetist can not get the epidural in. She blames it on my mild scoliosis and tries at least 6 times...my guess is more like 8. Of course, you continue to have contractions during this time and even though they give you a local numbing agent, I am still getting that giant needle stuck in my back. I've still got my favorite nurse with me and she's not doing anything to help or change it and I start to cry. I don't think they are related, but the nurse anesthetist finally calls in the attending, who gets it in one try and then explains to me that I might be 'a little sore' because they had to try so many times. Gid had run into my mom in the hall and saw the attending and knew that could not be good news (he was right, of course). After some corrections for nausea, I am feeling fine and actually end up with a very good epidural...not too much to not push, but enough where I am not feeling pain.

My doctor is actually on call that night and comes into see me. The shift also officially changes and we now have an awesome nurse. We're instructed to try and get some sleep while I labor...ah, the joys of an epidural. When the nurse comes in an hour or so later though, I am having different kinds of contractions and she checks me to find my water bag is just hanging on the outside. It looks like a white silly putty container and they decide to let it break on it's own while they get me ready to push. All the lights come back on and our night of sleep becomes a short nap. I finally start pushing at about 3:30 am and after getting over the initial weirdness find the mirror very helpful in knowing 'where' to push. After an hour of pushing they put a bit of pitocin in as the baby's head is having a hard time coming out. Rhiannon (or baby girl Garcia as we didn't have a name yet) is born at 5:03 am on Thursday, July 28.

We had just our awesome nurse, the doctor, and a surg tech in the room with me, my mom, and Gideon. This time, they followed our birth plan and put her on my chest immediately with the blood and the gook and everything, which was wonderful. I expected her to be slimy, but she was actually a little sticky or tacky. She stayed on my chest for about an hour before they came in to do her tests and clean her up. Because I had gestational diabetes during this pregnancy, they tested her blood sugar which was dangerously low and had to give her formula, which was a little sad for me. After she was ok, she weighed in at a whopping 8 lbs. 10.1 oz. I say whopping because everyone had guessed what she would weigh while I was in labor and once we saw her. Because Joaquin was only 7.2, most guesses were far lower and everyone, including our nurse, was a bit shocked. With that we were finally released and sent to our room at about 7:30 am to get some sleep. We didn't have guests until much later in the day when Shirley, Bobby, and Estella came by and then later still when Gid went to go pick up Joaquin from pre-school and bring him in. We went home the next day at about 3:30.

This experience seemed much 'quieter' than Joaquin. Less people around, late at night, the same crew for the most part. Besides the botched epidural, a very nice experience again and less hectic.

Rhiannon's birth story-Part I, the dog days of summer

How different this pregnancy was than Joaquin's. People always tell you that each one is different, but not having anything else to benchmark with, I was continually surprised when things didn't go the same way. I was much more uncomfortable this time around and she rode so low that I thought for sure I would go early (like I did with Joaquin). I made sure everything was 'done' at 38 weeks and then 38 weeks passed...and then 39 weeks passed...and then I was at 39 weeks and 5 days and I was still going in for my doctor visit. When I made that appointment I thought there was no way I was ever making it in for that one and suddenly I am in my doctor's office 2.5 cm dilated and him on the phone with labor and delivery asking me if I was ready to go in to be induced. Truly you cannot plan for these things... After getting over the initial shock, I asked if I needed to be induced and found out that, no, he would let me wait until 41 weeks if I did bi-weekly non-stress tests; the first having to be that day. If it didn't go well, I was to be induced immediately; if it did, I could go home and wait it out.

Gid had Joaquin for the day and they were quite surprised when I came home. Gid had spent the morning psyching Joaquin up for a day of fun--first, a movie (Joaquin had just been to his first, Winnie the Pooh, a week ago and really liked it. He had been disappointed however, because we told him he was going to see Cars and when we got there Cars wasn't playing. Daddy was going to take him to see Cars), then a trip to Adventureplex, this indoor playground Mommy had bought a coupon for. After some discussion about what we wanted to do (did we want to get induced? should we get induced? no, why we were now panicking?) Gid takes him off with the cell phone close at hand. My mom comes with me for the non-stress test and we find out she's doing just fine in there. Kind of a cool experience too as my mom hadn't gotten to do any pregnancy stuff yet for Rhiannon or Joaquin...they did the heart monitor and an ultrasound although she was too big to really see anything more than the top of her head.

I wake up on July 27, my due date...and nothing. I'm scheduled for another non-stress test the next day and it will be the same deal, if it's fine, go home and if it's not, stay and get induced. If I go home again I have another doctor's appointment on Monday and I'll be induced within a few days. It's also my first official day off from work as I have put in my disability papers for my due date (not expecting to really go that late) and now I have to take off or go through paperwork again. That's ok...I'm tremendously uncomfortable at this point and have been for weeks. I only sleep every other night because every other night I am exhausted from not sleeping the night before. The baby feels so low that walking feels like she's just going to slip out on her own. I have the day to myself and I'm just waiting and laying around until I get bored and decide to go out and garden a little. People say that you get a burst of energy right before you go into labor and I don't think this was my experience. Yes, I gardened, but I had to take alot of breaks. It wasn't so much a burst of energy as it was me finally getting rid of some fatigue a week or so before. Instead of wanting to nap all day, it changed for me to being able to do some light chores again.

I had also been having contractions at this point for a few weeks, but light contractions and I knew they weren't the real deal. As I'm gardening though, the contractions gradually gain steam. After I break they keep gaining steam and I start thinking of my game plan if I do go into labor. I decide to continue my day for awhile with the calculation that I waited for Gid for about 4 hours at home before going in for Joaquin; surely I can do the same this time. I go to Sam's Club with contractions about 6 minutes apart and about 45 seconds long each. I had gotten there too early that morning and wanted to make sure Joaquin had his milk if I did go into the hospital. I picked up Joaquin and we played outside for a bit. The mail lady came by and inquired when I was due...it's quite fun to tell someone you are due today and when she inquired further, I told her I thought the baby was coming that night as I was having some contractions. During this time, I carried the cell phone with me to time contractions on an app Gid had gotten me. Not much change and, at that point, I didn't remember how long or close contractions were supposed to be before you went in to the hospital. I called my brother and Gid to be on standby but told both of them they could wait it out.

When Joaquin finally sits down to watch Mighty Machines, I look up information on contractions and going in. Wow! I am alot closer than I thought I was. Contractions at this point are about 4 minutes apart and over a minute long, definitely within the limits of going to the hospital. I call my brother back and tell him to come over and get in the shower (I stink because of the gardening). Gid comes home while I am in the shower and Nate calls at the same time. I hear, "What's up? I don't know...babe, are we going to the hospital?" and I tell them, yes, time to go. Joaquin during all of this is very nonchalant. I tell him Mommy is going to the hospital to have the baby that night and that Uncle Nate is coming to stay with him. After reassurances that I'll come back after the baby, he goes about his business. I tell Gid we still have time and that he should get a shower and eat. Gid has had a long day at work and is exhausted. Poor thing as we are in for a long night...