pumpkin pie anyone?

The pictures say it all. Halloween at Microsoft.

why didn't steve stop me?

It is well known among people who know me that I have very big ideas. This can be a good thing. However, sometimes I need Steve to help me pare down my big ideas into something more manageable; he helps me with moderation. So it was his job, when we talked about our first major trip with Samuel, to keep perspective.

For instance, when we started talking about going to Maneesha's wedding in Detroit and I mentioned that we should visit his parents, Steve probably should have proceeded with caution. When I suggested that we stop in Chicago along the way perhaps alarm bells should have sounded. Then I dreamed up the idea of flying into Minneapolis for a few days, flying to Chicago, staying two nights, renting a car, driving to Detroit, doing a pit stop to reminisce in Ann Arbor, staying two nights in Detroit, go to the wedding, turn around and get back in the car to return to the Chicago airport and fly home.

What?!?! With a 5 month old who had never been on an extended trip before? I'd say what was I thinking, but we know what I was thinking - it seemed like a good idea at the time, and so efficient! The real question is, what was Steve thinking? I mean really, it's his job to keep me in check.

It all worked out in the end. Samuel got to visit Grandma Susan and Grandpa Tom for the first time, we saw Ben and Jill in Chicago and stayed in a nice hotel, Steve was pleased we were able to make it to Maneesha's wedding, and the only tough part was the drive from Chicago to Detroit and back again. That was fairly hellish. Samuel screamed almost the entire way there and back.

sitting

Samuel started sitting up on his own for the first time at Grandma Susan's and Grandpa Tom's house at the ripe old age of 5 and a half months. This exciting new development has opened up whole worlds of activity as Samuel can now use his hands to play with toys much more easily, and his view of his environment has drastically changed from his new perch.

Car Camping Extravaganza

Our first camping trip with Samuel was uneventful. We were up in the redwoods, not too far from home. We did one overnight, and took a couple of hikes. The amount of crapola that we crammed into the car for a two day trip was pretty amazing. Here is a silly video clip of us leaving the camp, and a couple of pics of our time there.

the men

Apparently there was a memo for all of the fathers and sons in our family to wear matching outfits to Michael's and Jessica's wedding in Ashland.

We drove up in David's minivan, with a tush in every seat. It worked out very well for us, as we felt very environmentally conscious and Lena and Sara entertained Samuel the whole way. Which is saying a lot for what turned into an eight hour trek. Luckily David's whole family is familiar with Sandra Boynton's hits as toward the end it required the entire car load to distract Samuel by reciting "Red Hat, Blue Hat."

In addition to listening to NPR's "Wait, Wait" and "This American Life" we lived on the edge by not filling up with gas when we really needed it. David, true to his form and mine, convinced Suzette we could make it to the hotel, and we almost did. We had to coast the last mile to the freeway exit which was a little scary as the power steering went out when we ran out of gas. David and Steve got out and pushed us through the intersection after we had to stop at a light. It felt like we were in the movie "Little Miss Sunshine." Sara, Lena and I were in tears we were laughing so hard in the car. David jumped back in, and Steve was left pushing the van by himself. Ahh, good times.

meet the great grandparents

Samuel meets Great Grandma Sarah and Great Grandpa Saul

samuel's birth story

On Wednesday, May 16th, I was 36 weeks and 5 days pregnant enjoying my 6th day of pre-birth maternity leave. In the morning Steve and I saw our midwife Lin for what would start to be weekly midwife appointments. They hooked me up to a machine to check out that all was well inside the womb and informed me that I was having some contractions. Steve and I excitedly asked if that meant I was going in to labor. No dice. Lin replied that it was totally normal for that to go on for weeks before the actual big day.

Lin then told us to buy a maternity support belt that would hold my belly in; all of my stomach muscles had given way to make room for the baby and gravity was pulling him out, rather than down. We went downstairs to the hospital maternity store. When we told the saleswoman what Lin told us to buy, the saleswoman was at a loss. The only maternity support belts they had were to hold the belly up, not in. In the end she fitted us with a post partum velcro wrap meant to make you look skinnier after you have already had your baby and asked us to come back and tell her how it worked out.

When I put the wrap on, the baby definitely protested a bit. He started squirming inside me, as if to say, 'hey, this is a tight squeeze!' He continued to push against me in that way all day long.

After our little shopping excursion, Steve went to work and I returned home. My mom came over and we gardened in the front yard for an hour and a half (the last time the garden received any attention for a year) and because I was feeling so energized we took a 90 minute hike at Rancho. I felt better than I had in months. The swelling seemed to be have gone down in my feet so it didn't hurt to stand and walk around. I attributed the good feelings to being able to relax after leaving a job that I hated.

At 8pm that evening, while watching tv and resting at home by myself, I felt the baby kick and squirm really hard, and then felt a pop inside me; my water had broken. I was nervous and excited, but not feeling any contractions. I called Steve and left a message on his phone. He was playing basketball with people from work. I tried to remain calm. I called Steve 2 more times in the next hour, each message a little more insistent than the last. On the 4th try, some time after 9pm, Steve answered his phone. I told him the news and he rushed home, while I reminded him to drive carefully.

In the meantime, I called Olga (our other midwife), who was on call until midnight and told her that my water had broken. She asked me why I though so; she wanted to make sure that I hadn't just peed on myself (apparently there are a fair number of pregnant women who do and think their water has broken). When I told her I was soaking through my 2nd towel she agreed that it was definitely amniotic fluid. She told me not to worry and that there was no need to come in to the hospital. She gave me Lin's pager number, and told me to call that one if I needed one of them after midnight. She said I should come in to the office in the morning and they would check me out, and if labor still had not started in 24 hours then we would have to be more proactive, but otherwise I should just relax and sit tight.

I also called our back up doula, Tracee. Journey, the doula that we had hired, was on vacation. I felt bad because it sounded like I woke Tracee, but she said that she would clear her day on Thursday and be ready to drive over the hill to be here. I felt silly for calling because everyone seemed to think that it would be a waiting game for the next 24 hours.

When Steve arrived, he started thinking of all the things that we had been planning to do, but had not yet done. The one that was of most concern to Steve was the installation of the car seat. We called Becky and Gil who sped over with their 2 month old in tow to help us with what turned out to be a very simple procedure. Becky and Gil stayed with us until around 10:30 when the contractions finally began.

Steve sent out some emails to people at work saying that he might not be in the next day. At that point I was still telling him that he should just go to sleep and he would probably go to work in the morning. I remembered Lin's advice about how it would be many hours before the baby was born and Steve would need to be rested in order to help out. No need for Dad to miss two nights of sleep ;)!

One thing that no one tells you about your water breaking, is that once it starts gushing, it doesn't stop. I was pacing back and forth across the house with each contraction, holding a towel underneath me, trying not to drip amniotic fluid everywhere.

The contractions rapidly went from every 12 minutes, to every 10 minutes and within an hour and half they were every 5 minutes. I called Tracee and woke her up (again) to tell her I thought I was going to need her that night. Steve called Lin and she told me to get in the shower. Up until that point I was just pacing from the bathroom to the kitchen and back again with each contraction. They were starting to come close enough together, though, that there wasn't much time in between the pacing anymore.

I got in the shower, but that just increased the pain. Steve called Lin back and she asked if I wanted her to talk me through a contraction. I replied that I was not particularly interested in talking to anyone about anything at that point and handed the phone back to Steve. Lin told Steve that if we wanted we could come in to the hospital, but I was determined that I would labor at home as long as possible and I was still under the impression that it would be many hours before the Samuel was born.

Within 5 minutes of leaving the shower Steve and I decided that we needed to go to the hospital. I did not tell Steve at the time, but I felt like I wanted to push, and that got me a little scared. The problem at that point, though, was that I was naked, and the contractions were so close together, and I was leaking so much amniotic fluid, that I was having a difficult time picturing putting clothes on. Steve insisted, however, helped me get into some sweats, and went to get stuff to put in the car. I won't record here the ridiculous amount of STUFF that we brought with us. None of which we used, of course.

While Steve went to load the car, I decided that there was no way I was going to sit in a car and began to walk to the hospital as I had been telling people I would for the previous few months. I got to the end of the block, at which point I had another contraction, and I got down on my hands and knees and began to crawl. Steve was pulling the car out and suddenly he couldn't see me anymore. He got to the end of the block and told me to get in the car. 3 blocks later I had another contraction, Steve pulled over, I got out, crawled and moaned, then returned to the car when the contraction was over. Lucky for us the hospital was only three contractions away, as I repeated this cycle with each one.

When we were about a block away from the late night entrance to the maternity ward (it was after 2am at this point) I had another contraction. Steve let me out and went to park the car, he caught up with me as my contraction was ending and I was walking toward the hospital. At the hospital entrance I had another contraction, and I was down on my hands and knees again. The nurse who showed up at the door to let us in seemed to think this was mighty strange. She probably thought it was even more odd that declined the offer of a wheel chair.

Lin arrived at around the same time we did, and not long after Tracee showed up as well. They tried to put some monitors on me, but all I wanted to do was crawl around the room because the contractions were fairly constant. I was letting my inner monkey come out. While Steve ran out to the car to get the camera, the labor and delivery nurse convinced me to crawl close enough to the monitor to try and check the baby's vitals, and at the same time they shoved some paperwork in front of me to sign while I was in the middle of a contraction. I told Lin I wasn't sure how much longer I was going to be able to do this - I still thought it was going to last for 20 or more hours. Lin told me I was only saying that because I didn't know how much longer I had to go.

With that Lin finally convinced me to sit still on the table long enough for her to check me out. She announced I was fully dilated and could push anytime. That was at about 2:30am (Steve thinks we got there at 2:30 and Lin and I had this conversation at 2:45). At 3:17 Samuel was born. No drugs, no interventions and no tearing. Samuel was a good listener even in the womb. I told him I was cutting him off at 7 lbs, and he was born a healthy 6 lbs 14 oz. Melonie told him that 37 weeks was full term, and he was born at 36 weeks, 6 days and 3 hours.

Steve went with Samuel to the nursery, while I was brought to the hospital room that I would be sharing - the hospital was full. I got to experience minor celebrity status among the nurses due to my extremely quick delivery. Samuel and I were a good team. Lin told me I could have the next baby at home (something Steve and I had been contemplating, but which we chickened out of) and the nurses all said that for the next baby I should get to the hospital as soon as I have my first contraction. I attribute everything going as planned to my complete faith and love in Steve, my confidence in Lin and Olga, my over education on labor and birth in the United States, my Kegel exercises (making sure to push, as well as pull), and most of all to being really good at accessing my inner monkey - http://www.mothering.com/articles/pregnancy_birth/birth_preparation/sphincter-law.html

Steve, Samuel and I shared our twin sized hospital bed all night. We were able to cut down on people taking the baby away from us by refusing to have him washed - the nurses wouldn't allow him into the nursery because apparently amniotic fluid on a baby is considered an unhealthy bio hazard, whereas all the pooping that the babies do everywhere is just fine. Lucky for us.

I was ready to leave the hospital that morning, but we were guilted into staying an extra night, and they tried to convince us to stay one more after that, but I couldn't wait to sleep in my own bed.