The Plan!

Alright kids, I know a lot of you have specific dates and flights and agendas but unfortunately, Ryden never got the memo.

What we hope will be a timely delivery on the 2nd of October, I predict that he will emerge later than that, all bets aside. Therefore, a plan has been devised while my cervix is sealed up tighter than a hobbit door buried in a lava tube.
If the weekend comes and goes, and no amount of spicy food or swimming helps my progression, I will be going in for an ultrasound on the 5th to make sure my fluid is in plentitude and that Ry is still doing ok. If that is the case, I will see my OB again on Friday the 8th and if Ry still isn't wanting to budge than the inducement is scheduled for the 11th. My doc won't be available on 10-10-10 so its up to Ry if he wants that particularly special birth date.
Meanwhile, speaking of swimming, I hadn't done that for awhile up until today. Turns out, there is a swimming pool walking distance from the house! Of course I looked into season passes and swimming lessons for Ryden (he can start at 6 months). The facility is spartan with no lockers and a broken vending machine but the pool was large, clean and EMPTY. My goodness, I had no idea how buoyant I was! I could just float on my back without moving and still float which I have never been able to do! I swam some laps but mostly just floated around until the paranoia creeped upon me that I might be making the lifeguards nervous. Afterwards, upon leaving the facility, I couldn't help but to notice how much stronger gravity was today. Maybe the Earth's spinning bumped up a notch?

Posted in: on September 30, 2010 at at 1:17:00 PM 1 comments  

FYI

The Hospital I plan to end up at:

http://www.providence.org/oregon/facilities/hospitals/providence_portland/default.htm

Blurb on the Maternity Center:

More than 2,800 babies are born at Providence Portland Medical Center each year, and the staff sees each birth as a unique and special event. Providence Portland gives each family a private, safe, spacious and thoughtfully designed haven in which to welcome their new baby. Jacuzzi tubs, nurse-provided comfort measures, and 24-hour anesthesia coverage are available for laboring mothers. After giving birth, each mom can relax in one of our postpartum suites, knowing she will receive the best of care in a quiet, family-centered environment. Babies may be kept at the bedside in the suites, and fathers are welcome to stay overnight.

However, about the same distance away is this swanky spread:

The Family Maternity Center at Providence St. Vincent Medical Center is the largest birth center in Oregon. More than 6,000 babies are born here each year. Services include an award-winning Level III neonatal intensive care unit, 24-hour anesthesia coverage, 24-hour parent education programs televised on the hospital Baby Channel, the Postpartum Care Center for moms and infants, and a Breastfeeding Clinic and Store staffed by certified lactation consultants. For medically fragile infants, the Providence NICU is staffed by full-time neonatologists and specially trained nurses, pharmacists and respiratory therapists. This is the only NICU in Washington County.

Pretty exciting!

Posted in: on September 26, 2010 at at 9:27:00 PM 0 comments  

I quit my job

Its a bit disheartening to walk out of a job you've attended and thrown yourself into for the last few years without much hurrah. No cake, no flowers but then again, this is life. A couple hugs were had and then I headed out the back door. Sometimes I expect so much as I was always the one to be obsessed with buying cupcakes for someones birthday or celebrating someones long standing employment with a big signed banner. I know that I held an important role and the knowledge and repore I have gained from the company is rich and memorable history now. I'm really happy its been had and done.

Cam and I headed over to Babies R' Us which I thought would be a fun activity to jump start our new upcoming life. He had been given a cute surprise baby shower at his workplace and his adorable workmates had stocked him up on clothes, toys and a carrying backpack that we already had a duplicate of! They are pricey items, the backpacks, and Cam was very apologetic that we already owned one but promised he would swap it with something just as fun.
So at the Babies, we browsed around but soon fell into an overwhelmed state. The amount of plastic and cheaply made overpriced goods dragged my spirit down and eventually walked out of the store with nothing. Rampant consumerism is something that most of the time I can get quite excited about but when you boil down to the nuts and bolts of what I need to raise a tiny human, I don't need a lot. Over time, he will collect a lot of things but as of right now, he can already count himself very lucky with all the amazing stuff we have.
I am just ready to mother. I've been done preparing for a long time. When I think of the 180 my life will take to do this, I get ecstatic. I consider this venture the most extreme I have ever tried and am determined to be the best at it. I still have never changed a diaper and I was never a good babysitter but this is a game I'll win and will do it with ease.
7 days left!

Posted in: on September 24, 2010 at at 7:08:00 PM 2 comments  

I have captured him on video!


Ryden likes strawberry yogurt.

Posted in: on September 22, 2010 at at 9:57:00 PM 2 comments  

Two weeks left!




Cam is very excited about the Dr. Who suit we found for Ryden today :D

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Location:N Arlington Pl,Portland,United States

Posted in: on September 18, 2010 at at 10:30:00 PM 0 comments  

How do Newborns work?



Our class tonight was fantastic. I wasn't expecting much. How to wrap and bathe a baby were the skills I was expecting to walk away with. It was a 4 hour class though so we had to cover a couple of other things at least.
Needless to say, Cam and I are better people now and will certainly be better parents. Besides the old VHS videos, the class was upbeat and full of useful information. Initially, we were asked what we were concerned the most with when having a child. We gave a vague answer about establishing routine and the overall experience. What I really wanted to say was much more selfish concerns such as the birth itself and our financial state once I stop working. Better answers that other couples had were the concern with crying, handling in-laws, managing poop, ect. Once everyone had answered, Cam chimed in with the relationship itself with your partner. A good concern but I'm sure we'll have no problem on that front. However, I am not in denial that we are naive and have never been exposed to a crying baby with lack of sleep. It has always been something you can walk away from. You hear a cry at the supermarket, the airport, you can always turn a blind eye or just turn up the music.
We are excited to see what happens to us like some sort of mad science experiment. We know everything will change but we don't know how yet. The baby situation seems to fit into some formula that we will eventually fall into too. There are charts and statistics of hourly increments when baby will cry, you will feed, change the diaper. It's been studied for years with millions of infants. I want our experience to break the mold. I'm hoping to revert to instinct than follow the step by step instructions that have been given to us. But we'll see. These methods are tried and proven and most likely, we'll get tired of being rebels.

The baby shower went great! I felt like I was 4 again with all my besties over giving me large frilly gifts. The only thing missing was the cake and ice cream. It was all so well planned and perfect and everyone who said they were coming showed up. My mother and Kim certainly had their moments of disagreement but made sure that I was to do nothing. I was so grateful as exhaustion comes to me very easily and just cleaning the house had been overwhelming.
The boys took off on a hike in the Gorge and us ladies just clucked all afternoon. I loved witnessing all walks of life coming together to talk about babies or plants or hair or whatever was clucked. There was plenty of champagne and catered food goodies (from the prestigious jewish deli Kenny and Zukes) which was delicious. Kim had worked hard for a group participation activity of everyone coloring in a fabric square in order to make a quilt for little Ryden. It was the perfect placeholder for games as everyone poured their energy and creativity into their squares. The results were very impressive and we look forward to see the finished result after Kim sews it all together. It's the most precious gesture I have ever had done for me.
Ryden got a whole load of fun stuff to get him started in life. Onesies, towels, burp towels, a tub, slings, a bouncer.... I think we can finally say we are ready for this arrival. I am furiously trying to get out Thank Yous this week as it means the world to us and these people that we have in our lives are so special and even though some are much farther than we prefer, we hope that they can always be a part of our and Ryden's life.

Posted in: on August 25, 2010 at at 9:11:00 PM 2 comments  

Belly Day!

Today was about the belly, not to mention the contents inside. I was über excited for my ultrasound today which seemed to take place at a slightly swankier lab. I had the same tech whose only mission was to look at my cervix but gave me a tour regardless. Ryden was being fussy or perhaps overly stimulated by the instrument sweeping across his shallow egg shell. The tech was unable to see the cervix due to Ry's head being in the way so she tilted my chair back so I was nearly upside down to get him to lay off. She was able to capture some mediocre pictures so she moved on to get me some cute face shots. She whipped out a slightly larger hardware the size of a deodorant and tried to capture a 3D image of the face.
3D ultrasounds are tricky. I was unaware that the clinic had this ability but since I had extra time the tech gave it a run. The software threatened to crash the computer while she navigated to find a perfect profile. Once the device finds it's target, it locks on and the software circumvents the object to create the 3D image. The moments of opportunity are fleeting and nothing can obstruct said object. So she focused on the profile of the face in order to capture the front in 3D but at the last second, Ry would put his hand in front of his mouth ruining the image. We tried everything to get him to move it. She poked and I rolled on my side. He put up a good fight. At last when the offensive hand was removed he came down with a bout of hiccups which once again ruined the images. The only one we got is a profile with his thumb seemingly up his nose.


Back on the 2D, it was discovered that Ry's face was difficult to capture anyway as there was little amniotic fluid between it and the uterus wall. A picture was managed from the view angle below looking up his nostrils in the middle of a yawn. Awwww....


Ryden weighed in at about 4lbs. 10 oz. Getting too big for this ultrasound business. His torso measured average within the 49% percentile of his age, the femur a bit on the shorter side and the head circumference in the 91% percentile. The tech asked if big heads ran in the family.. (Thanks a LOT Cam!)


After visiting with the doctor, a different woman, since my normal OB was unavailable, I was a bit clearer of the process of what to expect when I found myself in labor and how to get to the hospital and what to do. Useful stuff! Now, onto the super fun relaxing part!




Melanie at Blue Lotus Design is a wonderful henna artist and is influenced by all different cultures but has found her own style and niche in the market of body henna. Having grown up in Auckland and traveling all over the world from India to Thailand, she is a fascinating person to work with and talk to. The design took maybe an hour and a half and is one of my favorite ways to spend an afternoon. Last time I worked with Melanie, she had had to help me out of her house after doing henna on my arms while I was still on crutches. Regardless to say, she remembered me well. At this point, Ryden was on a rampage. I can hardly get him to so much as blink when I ask people if they want to touch the belly, but the henna made him wild. Melanie compared my stomach to a waterbed in the way it was flowing around. She has worked with over 40 bellies and said mine was one the most active she'd seen. Some of the design had to be retouched from the baby wrath but all in all, it was a beautiful result that was not of the conventional preggy design. Now I feel all pretty for the Shower on Sunday, but still slightly self conscious to go to the store with just the belly bared.

Posted in: on August 16, 2010 at at 7:27:00 PM 0 comments  

33 weeks


Yep. I'm almost done! I kinda don't know how I got here so fast. This summer has breezed by, like summers always do. Only this time, I have gone to far less festivals and bars and it's still been a blast. I can feel the lull now though. The cumbersome third trimester is taking its toll. I can feel the extra weight pulling me down and the whining and self pity going up. Cam and I laugh about it as I am not in denial about this. I work all day on my feet and want nothing more than to just go to bed when I get home. Food is still an issue and I find myself avoiding meal times; able to eat a carrot here or a yogurt there. Its a struggle to put away the proper amount of calories as I just don't feel I have the room. I'm trying though, don't you worry.

Ryden is roaming more and more every day. Despite my lack of mass nutrition, I can feel him growing larger and stronger. Cam and I have desperately tried capturing the alien movements made just underneath the skin on film to no prevail. Regardless, he is getting more and more attention. The bigger I get, the nicer of folk I deal with at work. I'm not sure how pregnant women get such a bad rap in the third trimester for being so moody and bitter. I am overly bubbly for my condition. For the record, not a single stranger has tried touching my belly and I'm kinda disappointed.

We feel unbelievably well prepared for Rydens arrival. He has a beautiful nursery, a name, insurance coverage, two passports in the making, two parents bursting with love and a birth plan. Coming home seems like a brick wall of boredom now. Working on the house or Ry's room has come to a halt as we are now happy in the space we are living. You cannot create personality in a space. It is something that develops over time. So thats all we have to wait for now.
Speaking of birth plans, what a perfect example of an American absurdity. Since everything needs to be planned and perfect for the precious moment, lets make sure that our doctor knows that we want to be in a specific space with specific people with specific music playing on our favorite speakers and our professional photographer present and our car to be valet parked on arrival. I guarantee any birth plan ever made has been disregarded the moment of the water breaking. Its a game of survival from there on out. You'll be lucky if you get to the right hospital not to mention the right doctor being there. Sorry to be the cynic but I'm looking forward to the spin of adrenaline and avoiding death in the delivery room. Thats my birth plan. To squeeze out a baby and get to keep it.

This weekend is fun preggy pampering time! I'll be trying out how a pregnant massage is done and then getting my belly hennaed to look pretty for the baby shower next weekend! Should be a nice relaxing time where I can just concentrate on all things ME. Don't get me wrong, I love solving people's problems all day long, I just think I need to be milking the preg thing a bit further. Women seem to coo over a pregnancy stating that "boys love their mommas!" quite consistently whereas guys are just really proud that you're actually pregnant after asking "so when are you due?" and wiping away a bead of sweat. What can I say, the bump is a conversation starter.


Posted in: on August 12, 2010 at at 9:59:00 PM 2 comments  

Mural





Is in progress! We should be wrapping up by next week abouts. Cam and I have had an awesome time doing it. This is what owning a house is all about and although we have already done a lot of painting and preening, Ryden's room is by far the most extensive when it comes to color and comfort. Full wall coming soon!

Posted in: on July 19, 2010 at at 4:22:00 PM 1 comments  

Crikey! Its the Third Trimester!


A client at work confessed a secret to me. She thought she was pregnant. She hadn't taken a test or told her partner, but she felt pretty sure and was excited to reveal this to me. I of course shared in her enthusiasm, as I was very suspicious from the beginning that my body was trying to tell me something and its only a feeling that you can keep to yourself until your tested. With my new superpower of trust, I had never had a stranger divulge such sentimental information and was kinda touched. I have talked to plenty of women who have already had their first and they are always excited to talk to me about what I'm going through but this recent situation was the first where I have been ahead of someone else, being able to be the wiser, the elder with homegrown advice.
In contrast, another client comes in with her 4 month old. She tells me that I shouldn't expect the first 3 months to be as dreamy as everyone claims. As a matter of fact, its grueling and exhausting- but it all pays off eventually. I smiled and nodded in understanding. Sounds like she had been through the ringer but her rose cheeked cherub did indeed to be bubbling with happiness at the moment. I, of course, couldn't really relate to the poor woman. I have good strong support from a loving husband and friends around me. I am prepared to take on the work and it will pass, and I'll say "that wasn't as bad as they said it would be." There's bigger things to be worried about that come with the territory of raising a family.
On the other hand, I had another appointment and ultrasound today. Not a lot of information except that my cervix looks "perfect." I know you were dying to know the condition of my cervix. I also talked to my OB about flying at the end of the month as Cam and I will be cruising around Yellowstone for a weekend. She shrugged and stated that I could fly up until my last weeks, 40 being the week I'm due to deliver. Her theory was if I am on a plane with a couple hundred other people, that somebody has to have a condition that could go awry and it would most likely not be me. The main problem with flying in my 3rd trimester is that I can cramped and swollen if traveling for a long amount of time and walks up and down the isle every hour are recommended.
Also, the delicate issue of circumcision came up as the majority of people I have talked to are against it. Culturally, at least %60 of Americans are for the cut, but I would say in Oregon that number could be more like %20. Being primarily a cosmetic surgery, I would say that larger metropolitan cities would have a higher rate but there is no extra medical reason to have the procedure done. I asked my OB what reasoning new parents had for getting the surgery and her reply was simple; daddy wants his son to look like him. There are religious and tradition reasons as well, but without having these legs to stand on, I feel that I would be a sheep to do this non-concensual procedure. Any feedback is welcome!
After that discussion, my OB measured my tummy. Her eyes widened as both of us are a bit incredulous at how big I've gotten in the last two weeks. As you can tell from the pic above, I feel like a spontaneous birth could happen at any moment. I have made reservations for the hospital we plan to land at and have also chosen a pediatrician from the recommendation of a friend. I would sign up for pre-schools already if I wasn't so taken aback by the tuition rates for some of the schools. Apparently, if you want to get into a "good pre-school" doing it a couple years early doesn't hurt. But I don't want to pay as much MY college tuition for such an opportunity. Meanwhile, we have to throw more money at IKEA in order to get Ryden's room together before August! Hopefully pics soon!

Posted in: on July 2, 2010 at at 10:32:00 PM 3 comments  

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