Jesse and G

Things were going so great at first. The baby was latching, feeding, sleeping, and just generally doing great. That was until our third night. If you recall Fiona didn’t sleep well at all. During the first 3 months with Fiona, we were woken frequently during the night to unearthly cry-screams from Fiona. Our second night brought us immediately back to those times. Between G and I, I think we only got about 3 hours of sleep. Luckily for us, Grandma and Gung-gung are visiting, and Grandma took the baby at 3 am and took her all the way until the morning. When I awoke at 6:30 am, I found the baby sleeping with Grandma on the couch. Prior to our nightmare evening we were thinking of having additional kids, but after that night, we totally re-thought our decision and will probably reverse our stance.

So after spending the entire night trying to get the baby to sleep we started going into analytical-mode. What had changed since last night to cause our baby to turn from ideal-baby into Cthulhu? After going through the inventory of foods, creams, and ointments G took that day, we deduced that either the chocolate or the peanut butter was at fault. Some late-night Googling yielded a list of foods that caused infant diarrhea and gas – yes, we dealt both issues that evening. The next day G avoided all items on the no-no list, and guess what happened this night? No problems what-so-ever! Kaya slept through the night like the previous two only to wake up when we woke her up intentionally to feed. This doesn’t change our stance of having more kids; two is enough for us.

Fiona is being a great big sister for Kaya. With a little bit of trickery on our part, we have got Fiona to do things she normally won’t do. The other day we asked Fiona to start using the restroom like a “big girl”. This technique doesn’t work at all, but we threw in a little sprinkles of “show Kaya how big you are”, and viola Fiona started doing exactly what we asked of her. I’m not sure how long this will last, but we will ride it for as long as we can; my guess this will only last for a few weeks more as Fiona is no dummy. The reason why Fiona is doing so great is because she’s surrounded by people that are paying a lot of attention to her. Between Grandma, Gung-gung, Flory, myself, and for the most part G, Fiona has plenty of people to dote on her.

There are no droughts of attention in this household

There was an old lady who swallowed a fly...

Fiona’s flu has been started to spread to everybody in the house because of all the attention she has been getting. G and myself all have sore throats and runny noses. Patient zero has recovered fully, but for the rest of us, the infection just started. So far this flu hasn’t passed to the little one, so we are crossing our fingers. Not only are we crossing our fingers, we are also swabbing our hands and surfaces with disinfectant gels and wipes – you shall not pass!

Less than 24 hours after we checked into the hospital, we were discharged to go home. Both G and I were chomping on the bit to get out of dodge. All the nurses and doctors that helped us were fantastic, but the allure of sitting at home taking care of Kaya won out in the end. Speaking of nurses and doctors, we loved our nurses Chris and Lydia and Doctor Zaid. I don’t want to discount the facilities, nurses, and doctors at Scripts LaJolla, but our experience at Scripts Encinitas seemed better! I know the main difference was this was our second go-around, but I swear part of the difference was the delivery location. Either way, you can’t go wrong at both hospitals. Once we signed all the discharged papers, we were off to our car for the drive home. Our escort out of the hospital was nurse Chris who assisted us during most of the initial delivery. I do want to note that she was our favorite. She was very kind to take picture a with G.

Nurse Chris who bears a close resemblance to Nurse Jackie but without the attitude and substance abuse problems

Thanks to G’s wonderful parents, dinner was waiting at the house when we returned. We were extremely thankful to have this waiting for us, because after a long night of non-sleep we couldn’t bear the idea of cooking – even if this was heating up a pizza. It also helped that we were given some greasy Chinese food; this seemed exactly what the doctor had ordered.

The first night at home wasn’t easy. Our little one is a cluster feeder. A cluster feeding baby is one that likes to eat in a condensed time-frame. Unluckily for us, this time period is at the darkest of hours between 1 am and 3 am. Suffice to say, the amount of sleep we’ve been able to get between the two of us is very small. The small amount of sleep has started to take its toll as I’ve had a hard time stringing together sentences lately. If we end up talking to each other, and I’m not making sense, please cut me some slack.

Fiona finally got to meet her sister a day after we got home. While G, Kaya, and I were at the hospital, Fiona was staying at Mimi and Papa’s house. To prepare for the grand sister unveil, we decided it would be appropriate for sister gift exchange. Because both sisters are too young to understand the concept, Mimi facilitated both the gift selection and the act itself. In the end Fiona “selected” a few baby stuffed toys while Kaya “selected” a pretend shopping cart and bubble blower. Fiona loved her gift, but Kaya was indifferent (I think her attitude had a little do with her age).

The bubble maker is a hit with Fiona

Fiona has taken the change quite well even with a bit of a head-cold to battle. Because Mama is busy with the baby, Fiona is having a lot of Daddy time. I’m sure in the near-future, Fiona will be calling for Daddy rather than Mommy. To ensure Daddy-domination, I’ve been doing everything in my power to win her over. Last week while Uncle Nathan was in town, he introduced Fiona to the “Gummy Bear Song”. The song is quite catchy, and so far Fiona is completely hooked. If you come by our house, chances are you’ll hear it playing. Although the Gummy Bear song is her favorite, the equally catchy “Gummy Cho Ka Ka O” song is making a surge. I do have to admit that the new song is pretty good (for children’s music). I’ve been known to belt out some of the lyrics from time to time. I’m sure you think I’m smoking crack after listening to the song, but give it a few times and it’ll sink in. To save you the time searching on Google for this, I’ve included it in the post.

Not so coo-coo any more, eh? I might have to revisit this after I get some needed sleep; maybe it’s not as good as I think it is. Even if you don’t like it Fiona does, and that’s what matters.

The iPad is playing the Gummy Bear Songs non-stop

The night for G was a long one. While I was trying to sneak in some Z’s, G was up feeding Kaya. Yet again, we’ve got another night-owl. Mama was relearning how to breast-feed, so after a few hours of eatin’ there was some enormous pain in the boob-area.

Sensing that mama was tired, our nurse came in around 5 am and offered to take the baby into the nursery. Because Kaya started closing her eyes and yawning, we gladly accepted the offer. Between 5 am and 7:30 am, G got her much needed rest. It’s amazing how little sleep you can function off of during this period. It’s no wonder that 2 and a half years after Fiona we’re averaging 9 hours of sleep; there is a lot of sleep make-up time to squeeze in. Once you’re out, they pull you back in. Eh, who needs sleep anyway.

Despite the lack of sleep, mama the champ is looking great. Here is a sanctioned picture of G feeding the baby.

Mama is up feeding Kaya early in the mornin'

It’s now 3:30 am, and I’m finally getting to chronicling the birth of our second; it’s been a busy evening to say the least. What they say is true. The second baby goes much quicker than the first. Just after we got settled in, we started pushin’. Soon after the pushin’ started, it was finished. The total push-count was between 7-8. It could have been sooner, but we had to wait to get the doctor suited up and ready to go. Nothing out of the ordinary happened, the delivery was as routine as you get.

At 8:07, Kaya was born. She was a little thing coming in at 6 lbs 7 oz with a head to toe span of 20″. Although the raw stats look very similar to Fiona, this one is completely different. Unlike our non-latcher Fiona, Kaya has immediately gone to the boob and hasn’t let go. At the start, G couldn’t have been more pleased; however, discomfort and fatigue have marched in, and there is no way I can hop in and help her feed.

Welcome Kaya!

Shortly after we got home from the OBGYN, G started getting some mean contractions. After suffering an hour of steady contractions, G decided it was time to get to the hospital. The pain was pretty bad, so G was very happy to find that there wasn’t much traffic on the I-5. Within 5-10 minutes we were safely parked in the parking lot ready to start the next chapter.

By the time we got to our room G was ready for the epidural. The contractions were 3-4 minutes apart, and unlike the ones at the house, these were hitting like a mack truck. At the hospital things were really busy. We overheard several nurses and doctors note that this “was the busiest day they’ve seen”. Despite the hurry and hustle around the hospital we were still ushered into room quickly and started to receive great care.

There was some preliminary paperwork to fill out, but soon the doctor came to administer the epidural; this couldn’t have come sooner for G, because she was in quite a bit of pain. Once the pain juice was trickling the contractions started becoming a hum instead of the sledgehammer she was feeling before. Editorial note: I’m so glad I’m a man, and don’t have to suffer these pains. 

G’s all rested now after a flurry of activity. We’ve already watched the pilot of Friends, and gotten comfortable in our semi-permanent place. I don’t think we’re going to wait long because G is 8 cm dilated and the baby is in position ready for the slip-n-slide.

Comfortably waiting for the second one to come

Our visit to the OBGYN was short. After two short tests they confirmed that G’s water was indeed broken.

The baby’s heart rate is 129 which is healthy and normal. Our little one is facing downward, and is basically ready to go.

Now comes further waiting. Once G starts having regular contractions we are off to the hospital. If G is isn’t ready by 7 pm, then we are forced into the hospital as they won’t let women stay 12 hours at home after their waters have broken.

That earlier post came early. What we had thought was her water breaking turned out to be the mucus plug. The real waterworks just came 15 minutes ago. Contractions are 10-15 minutes apart and somewhat light, so it looks like we will be in a holding pattern for a little longer. We are off to our OBGYN to get checked out.

This morning around 7 am while G was on a teleconference, she was met with quite a surprise. The surprise you ask? It was her water breaking. The due date isn’t until another week, but the baby seems to want to push the date forward a bit. I guess we are good with May 9th. My sister Emily just had her first a few days ago (welcome Gavin), so I would venture a guess that our second wants to see his or her cousin right away. Oh, and if you didn’t know yet we don’t know the sex of our baby. Like Fiona, our second is going to be a surprise as well.

The mood is a definitely different the second time around. Fiona’s delivery was scheduled on the calendar, so there was absolutely no guess-work there. For this upcoming baby, it’s a completely different story. This is the way it’s supposed to be, but it’s a new experience for the both of us.

Although G’s water broke, we were ordered to stay at the house until she goes into “serious” labor. Serious means her contractions have to be really close and her cervix nearly fully-dilated. Because I don’t really feel like getting out the cleaning gloves and checking the diameter of her cervix, I’m going to just wait until she’s in pain from the contractions.

The car is packed, infant seat is in the car, and arrangements are in order for Fiona. Before we started packing, we got one more picture of G’s belly. Here it is in all its glory.

The final shot of Giovanna's tummy

We hope to post while in the hospital, but the baby might have other plans. Stay tuned.

I dragged out my brewing supplies again and started a new batch. In about a month from now, hopefully I’ll be treating myself to a super hoppy IPA delight. That is, if the batch isn’t contaminated. I haven’t had a bad one yet (aside from the time I put extra Iodophor and nearly poisoned my friends), so I’m hopeful – knock on wood. I know we are off to a good start because the yeast are doing some extra partying in the carboy. Just short of 7 hours after pitching the yeast, the brew was bubbling up a storm. Returning from work yesterday I was treated to a blow out. Foam was spewing out from my carboy and after taking off the bubbler off the top, I got treated to a yeast face treatment; this was something similar to something out of a Pamela Anderson and Tommy Lee home video. Speaking of videos, I filmed it. Not the shot to the face, but the yeasties having a good time. Yummy!

Work has been really busy, but lately it has been starting to level out a bit. I was able to start working on electronics again. A visit to the mad scientist (Geoff Maddox) yielded a TQFP protoboard and a TQFP ATmega chip. That night, I put my solder skills to the test and put together my first SMD chip. Not only was it fairly easy, but it was successful too. You can see my first “Hello World” program on my micro, a blinking light. Now that I have this under my belt, I think I’m going to try to reflow a QFN on a skillet. Look out Martha Stewart, something else is cooking in the kitchen!

On the Fiona front, she’s growing up fast. Grandma came for a quick visit the other day and saved our mutual butts. Work was crazy for both G and I, so Grandma gratefully took care of Fi. You can see small glimpse of Grandma and her morning Kimono in Fi’s cowgirl picture.

Fiona in her cowgirl hat

Fiona surprises us every day with new things she picks up. Lately those surprises come in the form of mimicking. For example, last morning I told G to close my door so I could get some shut-eye. Fiona, who had just woken up asked the same thing from G after she got changed. It was really cute how she demanded that from my wife.

So today after eating breakfast, I was sitting on the couch watching Fiona play with her cereal bowl. Fiona started pouring water into an empty cereal bowl when I semi-sternly asked her to be careful and not to spill the water on the coffee table. Fiona paused for a second, put the full cup of water down and went to the pantry. In the pantry, she opened a drawer, pulled out several cloth napkins and a place setting and came back to the coffee table. At the coffee table she laid down the place setting and proceeded to lay out napkins around her work area. How is that for being careful!

It’s really crazy how fast they learn. Mimicking is one thing, but coming up with something brand new unaided is something else. Daddy is proud of you!