Some Brother/Sister Bonding...

Luke had been basically ignoring Emma for the past few weeks- and then suddenly he asked to hold her. We decided to indulge him, mostly for the photo op. As you can see, Luke was much more into the idea than Emma was...

Quick Update- Emma's 2 wk appt

It went well! Luke tagged along and we took Emma in to see Dr. Bean for her 2 week Well Baby Check. She has gained a whole pound since her 2 day appt (when she was down to 6lbs8oz from her birth weight of 6lbs 15oz) and now weighs 7 lbs 8 oz! She has also grown an inch and is now 20 inches long. For those of you who care about percentiles, that puts her in the 25% for weight and 50% for length. My little girl is little! :) She is healthy in every way!

It is also worth noting that while Luke has pretty much screamed through every one of his OWN Well-Baby Checks (including his 2 year appt a month ago), he is quite happy to go with Emma to hers- which are at the same office, with the same nurses and doc. He high fives the doc and now even says he needs to "go to see Dr. Bean at the doctors office" whenever he gets the slightest of injuries. Bizarro. Luke doesn't have another appt until he is 3, at which point he will have accompanied Emma to approximately 5 more appts, so maybe he won't cry through it!

Emma's Birthday

I am writing this for posterity, and because things that seem like they will be remembered forever fade quickly as time goes by...

Emma was due on February 5th- although I always sorta thought her due date was closer to the 10th. Regardless, the ladies at Grace Maternity were wary of letting her go too far past her official due date, so an induction was scheduled for Monday February 9. Although I am generally against inductions, and feel babies come when babies come, it is amazing how much less stressful it was knowing what to plan for and when to arrange childcare for Luke. I was really really excited about this because that would mean that her birthdate would be 2-9-2009, which I thought was awesome. It would also mean that her birthday would be exactly two weeks after her cousin Gabriel's, which is exactly two weeks after her brother Luke's! Yeah for patterns!

So on Monday, Grandma, Grandpa, and Nana converged on the house to wrangle Luke while Phil and I headed for the hospital. Knowing Luke was in good hands, and that we were able to kiss him goodbye and leave peacefully was great.

We got to the hospital, and they admitted us and took us to Room #5! That was the exact same room Luke was born in! Our nurse, Kristen, was fantastic, too. I changed into my gown and they started the IV of pitocin at 11:30am and increased the dosage reallllllly slowly, so that it took about three hours to become very very uncomfortable. At that point, I was having a hard time breathing through the contractions, so they gave me an epidural (yeah for modern medicine!) at 2:30pm. Ahhhh, that was better.

From then on, Phil and I watched TV and rested. There was one point where the back labor was really intense, but they have this really cool button you can push now to self-administer more pain meds. Awe. Some. The nurses also let me have clear liquids and jell-o, which were no-no's when I was in labor with Luke. What a different experience! Phil and I had planned to "sneak" me water when they weren't looking this time because I didn't want to dry heave like last time. But not only was nausea not an issue- but I felt great, ate two cups of strawberry Jell-o, and watched Rachael Ray!

My water broke about 4pm, and at 6:15pm, Kristen came in to check to see if I had progressed. Apparently, I was at 10cm and ready to rock and roll. The OB told her to let me start pushing, but she wouldn't let me! She said that if I sneezed the baby would come out! So everyone came in, the OB (Dr. Schneider) got ready to catch the baby, and I started pushing at 6:30pm. Five pushes later, our baby girl was born at 6:34pm.

We had pretty much decided we were going to name her Emma, but we waited until we looked at her to know for sure. Most everyone knows we were stuck between Emma Jane and Maya Antoinette for about three months. But she was fair skinned and a baldy, so to us, she looked more like an Emma Jane. We found out three days later that her paternal great great great grandmother (Frances Strayer's maternal grandma?) was also named Emma Jane. Who knew? It is a family name!

Anyways, I'm all for people having the birth experience that they want, but in my opinion, it would be pretty hard to beat this one. Coming to the hospital around lunchtime, easing into the contractions, some excellent "pain management," silly daytime TV, five minutes of pushing, minimal tearing, and a beautiful, healthy baby- washed down with an Ultimate Pollo Bowl for dinner. Emma didn't even have a cone head! It was flawless- we feel really blessed. :) :) :) I don't need to feel like I "earned" her with endless hours of torture and excruciating pain. I will always thank her for her easy delivery. Phil and I even call her our little "Squirt" sometimes.

Around 8pm, the grandparents couldn't wait to meet Emma anymore, so they packed up Luke and came in for a visit. We had a nice time that included- of course- oodles of pictures! That was another improvement over last time- we insisted everyone wait at our house (or theirs, if they live in town) and come to the hospital after she was born. It wasn't hard to convince the family to do this- last time they spent a very uncomfortable night in the waiting room (12 hours. metal chairs. not enough blankets.)

Things went so well that we were discharged less than 24 hours later- although I think that had a lot to do with the fact that all the post-partum rooms were full and we were relegated to a teeny tiny surgical recovery room. The nurses weren't even post-partum nurses! Good thing this wasn't my first rodeo. I think they were thankful of that too.

(First time: revolving door of lactation consultants, OBs, nurses, etc.
This time: "This is your second baby? Push that button if you need anything. Bye!")

So now we're home and getting settled in. She is a week old now, and nursing like a champ. Phil and I have been splitting baby duty at night, and we're continuously debating whether or not Luke slept as much as she does- or if she is just a much better sleeper. Luke is adjusting, and went through a several day period where he didn't want much to do with me and was really clingy with Phil. I think he's over that for now, but Phil goes back to work tomorrow, so I'll be flying solo. I'm hoping Luke is patient with me as I figure this all out.

Random Videos

I'll get around to writing Emma's "Birth Story" soon, but for now- here are some videos from the past week- mostly for the benefit of my mom and dad, who don't get to come visit their granddaughter and grandson for another week or so...

She's Here!

Emma Jane Villarreal
February 9, 2009
6:34pm
6 lbs 15 oz
19 inches

More to come when we're a little more rested! Everyone is doing well and resting at home... :)

Are you ready?

Everyone has been asking if we have been "preparing" Luke to be a big brother. Um, how exactly do you do that? :P No really. Someone please tell me! This is how our conversations go...

How I Spent My Due Date

Not having a baby, thats for sure!

Luke and I went to the International Wildlife Museum, also known as the "dead animal museum." A taxidermists dream- a PETA nightmare. Luke loved it! We went with some friends from MMoT, and the kids were in awe that they got to touch the lions and bears and stuff. Here are some pics from the trip.



Today on our walk, we came across two little puppies. They had tags on, only looked about three months old, and were super friendly. So of course, I brought them home. Its a weakness of mine, one that Phil has learned to not even question- we return lost doggies to their owners. In my whole life of doing this, we are still batting a thousand. However, tonight, we left messages on the phone number on the collar, but nobody called us back. Then, after Phil left for his screening, I packed Luke up in the stroller and started knocking on doors. I figured somebody would know who these dogs belonged to! I was right! At the second door I knocked on, the man (who was a cop, so I knew he'd help ;) ) told me the house and that they got out all the time because they could crawl under the gate. Yeah! So now I knew who to return them to... except they weren't home and the gate wasn't secure, so they'd just get out again.

We went over to our next door neighbors house, who were happily watching the puppies, because we didn't know how Goose would take to them. The neighbors (with their eight kiddos) loved playing with them, but around bedtime, when we still hadn't heard back from the owners, I went over to "collect" the puppies for the night. I just couldn't burden that family with caring for the dogs overnight. I felt bad both because I had left them there in the first place (Here. Let me disrupt your evening with two puppies.) and because I was taking them away (the kids were seriously bummed when I showed up with the laundry basket.)

Well, it turns out I shouldn't have worried about Goose! He LOVES little dogs, and they played and played and played! Luke also went crazy for the "PUPPIES!" and was like a pile of joy bubbles bursting for about thirty minutes. At about that time, the owners called and they came over a few minutes later to collect their dogs. I wish the neighbors could have seen how excited they were to see their dogs again- I think they wouldn't have been so sad to see them go. Anyways, in just the few minutes that they were at my house, I was able to take these videos...