Snap!

Aidan learns how to snap his fingers, and he has told us that the next thing he wants to learn to do is blow bubbles.

Devin's First Tooth

I play this little game with Devin, where I trace my finger from his forehead to the tip of his nose. I'll stroke his nose like this for a few seconds and he'll usually respond by blinking his eyes and then grabbing my finger. He'll then place my finger in his mouth and then chomp down on it with his gums.

I was playing this game with Devin on Friday and when he placed my finger in his mouth, I could feel a razor-sharp tooth just barely coming through! Renee and I were checking the tooth again today (it's the front bottom tooth on his right) when we felt the other one (the one on the left) starting to come through... No teeth for 8.5 months, and then two in one day.

Devin's Baptism

Papa, Grandma Deb, and Aunty Sandra came down for a long weekend to help celebrate Devin's baptism. The weekend went by very quickly, but we had a good time.

We were able to schedule a nice, private ceremony after a regular mass. Jeffrey and Sandra stood in as the godparents (they may look familiar; they are also the godparents for Aidan).

Devin Drake's Birth Story

Earlier this year, Grandma Jackie offered to fly down to Austin, Texas in order to lend us a hand with the new baby, whenever that might be. After thinking about when would be a good time for her to plan on arriving, we suggested that she should come into town on Saturday, July 9; the plan being that the baby wouldn't be much later than July 8 (i.e., a week late), since that's pretty much where doctor's feel comfortable and that's how late Aidan was. That was the plan, anyway. But sometimes plans fall apart. And sometimes the result is better than anything one could have planned....

The baby didn't come on July 8. Or July 9. Or July 10. I was thinking that the baby would definitely be here by Monday, July 11 at the latest. But Monday came and went and Renee wasn't showing any signs that labor was imminent. At this point, I was beginning to feel a little worried that Jackie might have come down to help us with the baby, but we'd have to send her home (she was scheduled to go back to Connecticut on July 18) without her even having met the baby.

However, Grandma Jackie was able to spend some quality time with Aidan, which in retrospect, was incredibly helpful.

On Tuesday, July 12, Renee had an accupuncture appointment. She called me at work, just as I was about to leave, and told me to meet her, Aidan, and Grandma Jackie at Aidan's gym class ... but be prepared, because she was starting to feel some "real contractions." I was terribly excited and rushed to the gym class. However, the contraction, while real, weren't all that frequent or intense; we were still a ways off from rushing to the hospital.

The contractions continued through the night, strong enough and frequent enough — we were measuring them to be about 20 minutes apart — to keep Renee from getting any restful sleep.

The next morning, Wednesday, July 13, we had a regularly schedule doctor's appointment with the doctor's nurse (our regular doctor, Dr. Love, was on vacation with his family for the week). Again, we were lucky enough to have Grandma Jackie around, as she took care of Aidan for us as we tried to bring on labor...

The nurse checked Renee and everything looked good, but she didn't recommend that we check into the hostpital yet. Renee's contraction were still about 20 minutes apart and, while they grabbed her attention, she was still able to walk through them.

But things were heading in the right direction. So, to encourage things to progress, Renee and I headed out to one of the enclosed shopping malls in the area. It was still only 9:30 in the morning, but it was hot enough to want to walk indoors.

As we walked, we saw lots and lots of teeny-bopper-type store fronts (it's been a long time since I've been inside a mall ... were they always like this?). It was at this point, with pictures of pre-teen girls all dolled up with glitter and "mature" clothing and such that Renee and I decided that we were not at all ready for a girl...

The walk around the mall helped some, but it wasn't as though it was the key to bringing on active labor. We headed home and I massaged some of the accupuncture points on Renee's shoulders, ankles, feet, and hands. This seemed to help, too, as each time I hit a point well, the baby would obviously move about in the womb. It was pretty freaky. The contractions were getting closer, maybe 15 to 12 minutes apart.

Later in the afternoon, after Grandma Jackie and Aidan came back from their activities (upon his return, his first quesiton was "is the baby here?"), Renee and Grandma Jackie headed out to the grocery store. Upon their return, which was around 6 p.m., Renee's contractions were about 7 to 5 minutes apart! Things were progressing and I started to get a little adreneline flowing.

We ate the dinner I made while they were at the store (a curried cauliflower and tofu dish) and after dinner, went for a walk around the neighborhood. During the walk, I tried my best to keep tabs on the contrations and they seemed to be about 5 to 4 minutes apart. Yet, after we returned home, the contractions spaced themselves out again, closer to 10 to 7 minutes.

Still, Jackie and I felt things were progressing to an obvious end, while Renee was a little less receptive, saying that they weren't all that intense and that she could still walk (and mostly talk) through the contractions...

Things kept progressing, even as we were trying to put Aidan to sleep. Aidan was tired and yet very excited about the baby; putting him to sleep was very difficult, as he wanted Mommy at times, other times Daddy, other times he just wanted to jump on the bed. All of this while Renee was having contractions (back in the 7 to 5 minute range). Eventually, Aidan did fall asleep, but in our bed — we had hoped that he'd sleep in his bed this night if only so Renee could comfortably labor in her own bed without disturbing Aidan. So, Renee moved to Aidan's bed, while I sat on the floor timing contractions (5 to 3 minutes apart, but sometimes spacing out again to about 7 or 8 minutes apart).

I called our doula, Monika to let her know how things were progressing and to ask for some advice. Basically, we were wondering if there was anything that we could do to help encourage active labor, so we could get this over with (Renee hadn't slept much in the last 24 hours), or if there was some thing we could to slow it down to allow Renee to rest.

Monika recommended taking a bath. She said that it would either slow things down or encourage labor, depending on how Renee was physically. We took her advice, filled the tub (after moving Aidan to his bedroom) and prety much immeadiately, the contractions spaced out to 11 minutes, then 15 minutes. Okay, I thought. The bath will slow things down so we can have some sleep. No baby tonight, I guess we'll meet the baby tomorrow... maybe even the next day.

Yet, almost immediately after the bath, the contractions started to get pretty intense and closer together. Renee was now moaning through the contractions, but still handling them beautifully; they were now about 5 to 3 minutes apart. But then they would space out again. So, around midnight, we both curled up in bed. I tried to continue to massage Renee's back and time the contractions, but I was too tired. Between the contractions, I would sleep. But every five minutes or so, I would wake up, look at my watch to see how long it's been, and drive my knuckles into the small of her back to help ease Renee's pain.

Around 1 a.m. on Thursday, July 14, the contractions were pretty regularly in the 4 to 3 minute range. I was getting a little antsy. Renee was spending more and more time in the bathroom and the contractions were pretty intense. I called Monika to see what she thought and she recommended that we hang on for as long as we could at home; as soon as Renee suggested the hospital, that's when we should call her back and reassess.

It wasn't too long after that when Renee mentioned that it might be time to head out. I called Monika and the doctor who was backing up our doctor, Dr. Pollon. At about 1:30 a.m., we were out the door on the way to the hospital. And, once again, feeling lucky that Grandma Jackie was there for Aidan, so when he woke up in the morning, he would be in comfortable surroundings with someone he was getting used to spending time with.

We arrived at the hostpital around 2 a.m. We were checked into our room and assigned to Nurse Paula. As one might expect at 2 a.m., there wasn't much going on in the labor and delivery area; things seemed pretty calm, hopefully an omen of things to come...

Nurse Paula found that Renee's blood pressure was regular (a concern since Renee's blood pressure was high with Aidan's labor; some thing that the labor inducing drug Pitocin may have contributed). Renee was dilated to about 5/6 centimeters (out of a complete 10 cm) and the baby's heart tones were strong. All of this was great news, as we were hoping to have some freedom to allow Renee to walk around and labor as she felt the most comfortable, something that would have been difficult to do if she had to be constantly hooked up to monitors and IVs.

Over the next few hours, Renee walked and moaned through her contractions, drinking Gatorade and water as she pleased. Monika and I would each press an accupuncture point during a contraction to help ease Renee's pain and to also encourage active labor.

However, by 5:45 a.m., almost 4 hours after we arrived in the hospital, and after missing two nights' worth of sleep, Renee was becoming exhausted. But Renee was able to find some deeper strength and kept going. Monika recommended a shower, so we helped Renee in to the shower in her room while she labored. From my perspective, the showers were wonderful and seemed to help Renee a lot with the contractions.

But after checking to see how far things had progressed, Renee was starting to think that and epidural would be a good idea. She was just so tired and Renee was very concerned that, without sleep and with the exertion that she was putting forth, she wouldn't have the strength to push the baby out when it came time. By getting the epidural, Renee felt that she would get some relief and be able to sleep for a couple of hours.

Both Monika and I were dubious, as with the epidural would also come the Pitocin. Renee had been laboring so incredibly well that I felt that introducing the Pitocin at this time was not a good idea; I just remember how tremedously strong her contractions were with Aidan that I didn't want to have to put her through that again, if we could at all avoid it. And, with the introduction of the epidural, Pitocin would be right around the corner.

Another downside (in my eyes) for introducing the epidural and Pitocin was that Renee would then have to be hooked up to monitors and IVs and such, thus limiting her ability to labor as she felt most comfortable. That is, she never felt most comfortable on her back in the hospital bed. But that's exactly where she would need to be if we followed through with her request...

But Renee felt it was best, so for the moment, Monika and I acquiesced. At approximately 7:30 a.m., Nurse Becky (Nurse Paula left around 7 a.m. with the end of her shift), started some IV fluids for Renee, a requirement before introducing the epidural. At this point, Renee was telling us that she was proud that she was able to achieve her goal of starting labor without any assitance and had experienced early labor and active labor at home. With Aidan, this was a different experience.

Since we left in the middle of the night, and we were at a relatively calm cross-road, I called Grandma Jackie to give her an update and to check on how Aidan was doing with all of this. Apparently, Aidan was doing wonderful. Around 3 a.m., Aidan had woke up and went to our room to look for us. Not finding us there, he started to cry. Grandma Jackie went upstairs to comfort him, which apparanetly she did very well, as he went back to sleep and didn't get back up until nearly 8 a.m. He was, in fact, coming down the stairs just as I was getting off the phone with Grandma Jackie, fully dressed (he dressed himself, which is a rare happening these days) and as he came down the stairs, was asking Grandma Jackie if it was time to go to the hospital to see the baby...

Back in the labor and delivery room, Renee, Monika, and I all agreed that it would be a good idea to check to see to how things progressed before administering the epidural; with Aidan, Renee received an epidural very close to the end, and had difficulty pushing because of this. At approximately 8 a.m. Nurse Linda found that Renee had made quite a bit of progress; she was dialated to 7/8 cm and was 90% effaced. We were so close!

Renee was laboring so well and we were so close, Monika and I started to make our case against the epidural, but the anesthesiologist was already called and would be in the room any minute. Renee was now unsure what to do. She had already set her mind on getting the epidural, but I think she could see how far she had come. With the anesthesiologist, Dr. Rauula, in the room, we continued debating the merits of each path. Finally, Dr. Pollon, making his first appearance since we first checked into the hosptial checked in and encouraged Renee to go without the epidiral. So, Dr. Rauula, who had his table of items all prepared and ready to go, put his things away and wished us well. Monika was blown away; she had never seen an anesthesiologist so flexible nor someone like Renee, seconds away from an epidural, refuse one. It was quite impressive all the way around.

By 10:30, Renee was 100% effaced, but was still dialated to about 8 cm. Nurse Linda was also indicating that it appeared that the bag of waters had broken (perhaps while Renee was in the shower?). We continued our regular routine, spending some more time in the shower, walking, sitting in a recliner, rocking chair, and hunched over a large yoga ball.

By 11:10, she was at about 9 cm. We did some more of the same while adding some side-lying positions in the bed. By 12:40, Nurse Linda announced that there had been no further progress. Ugh.

Renee was utterly exhausted. At this point, Monika and I agreed with Renee that the epidural was probably the way to go. At the very least, she may get enough relief from the contractions that she might very well be able to doze off occassionally. Dr. Rauula returned around 1:30 p.m., assisted by Nurse Kelly, and administered the epidural.

During Nurse Kelly's appraisal of our situation, we discovered that the bag of waters had not completely ruptured. In an effort to help encourage the contractions to keep coming and help melt away that last centimeter of cervix, Nurse Kelly ruptured the membranes. The first thing that we noticed was that the water was clear, a wonderful sign, as the baby was 13 days passed the due date, and the longer a baby stays in the womb the chances increase that meconium could be present in the womb, causing problems for the baby.

But the fluid was clear, a great relief. But soon after, the heart tones dipped from their steady 140 beats-per-minute to about 78. Whoa. Nurse Kelly noticed this too. She got to work to find out why this was happening and figure out what she could do to get them back to where they belonged (in the 140s).

Nurse Kelly, the only other person in the room besides Renee, Monika, and myself, called for help ... a nurse, Dr. Pollon, anyone. Just any extra hands that could assist. Then she got to work.

First, to help relieve some stress from the baby, i.e., to stop the contractions from squeezing the baby and causing a certain amount of trauma to the baby, Nurse Kelly gave Renee a shot of terbuterol, a muscle relaxant. Then, Nurse Kelly tried to attach an internal fetal monitor to the baby's head. It didn't take. So she tried again. Success. Now, we have a better idea exactly what the baby is going through. But we don't know everything.

Nurse Kelly thought that one reason the fetal heart tones could have taken a nose dive is that the baby could have landed on the cord in the decent after the bag of waters was broken. But after checking as best she could, she didn't think this was the case. However, she was able to feel the baby's nose, which told her that the baby was facing the wrong way, i.e., was in a "posterior" or sunny-side up position.

While Nurse Kelly was checking on the cord, Renee's eyes started to glaze over. Nurse Kelly gave Renee and oxygen mask. Renee didn't look very good. Her hand started to grab at her chest. I had no idea what was going on, but I didn't think it was very good. The only thing that I was thinking was: Is she having a heart attack? Is this delivery getting slightly out of hand? I don't have a clue what's going on...

Renee sort of said something, weakly and through the oxygen mask so that I didn't really catch it. Nurse Kelly, in addition to trying to assess the baby's situation, calmly stated that the medicine that Renee recieved was a muscle relaxant; since the heart is a muscle, she'll likely feel some odd heart beats for a little while. Oh. I guess that sort of explains that ... She'll be okay, though, right? ...

Finally, the heart tone came back to the 140s. Renee was still jittery, but seemed much better than just moments before. No one was really all that sure why the baby's heart tones fell, but everything seemed back to normal at this point. Just then, Dr. Pollon comes in the room. "What's up, what's going on?" he asks.

Oh, nothing ... everything seems under control now, thanks, Doc.

For the next little while, everyone rested. Nurse Kelly was changing shifts and she handed us off to one of her friends, Nurse Jonna.

At around 3:00 p.m., Renee was completely dialated and was ready to push. But we had to go through the shift change, and page Dr. Pollon again and bring everyone back into the room. So we waited a bit. Around 3:15, Renee couldn't wait any longer. Therefore, Nurse Jonna encourange Renee to try pushing a little, assuming that we'd be at this for a little while and that everyone would have time to reassemble in the delivery room.

Renee slowly pushed the baby down, little by little. Soon, we could see the head. Renee did one more magnificent push and ... the baby's head was crowning. But where was everyone? Once again, it was only our nurse in the room. Nurse Jonna paged for a Dr. Stork (any doctor available). No one came. Dr. Pollon was still not there. No other nurses came.

Nurse Jonna placed her hand on the crowning head, trying to hold the baby back. Renee did all that she could to hold the baby back, but really, that's about the most impossible task to ask of someone. Still, Renee was able to achieve the impossible.

Nurse Jonna again paged for anyone a nurse, anyone, to come and lend a hand. No one came. Finally, Renee couldn't hold on, and had to push the baby's head out. We then found out that the cord was indeed wrapped around the baby's neck. Nurse Jonna tried to lift it over the baby's head, but it was too tight. Nurse Jonna put a clamp on the cord and was looking for another one — she was going to have to cut the cord; the baby's shoulders were still not out. Thank goodness that Monika was once a labor and delivery nurse. At least she had a clue what to do when Nurse Jonna asked for another clamp.

Nurse Jonna cut the cord, and Renee pushed the shoulders through. Jonna caught the baby as another nurse came through the door. They both brought the baby over to the baby station and Renee heard one of the nurses say "he's alright." The baby was a boy. I was choking back tears of exhaustion and joy and bewilderment as I was trying to tell Renee "It's Devin! It's Devin!" But I don't think any of that ever made it out of my mouth.

3: 41 p.m. Devin Drake was born. He weighed 8 pounds, 10 ounces and was 22 inches long. And just at that moment, a Texas-sized thunder storm started to boom outside, annoucing the arrival of baby Devin. And, just at that moment, Dr. Pollon finally came into the room. Timing is everything ....

In retrospect, Renee's contractions near the end of labor were following a pattern: 2 minutes apart, 2 minutes, 5 minutes, 8 minutes. Looking at this now, Monika feels as though this was indicative of the cord being wrapped around Devin's neck, as the uterus was trying not to squeeze the baby out in a bad way. It (the uterus and body) were waiting for things to correct themselves before pushing the baby through. Moving to the epidural and pitocin earlier (at the 6 a.m. time frame) may have been somewhat detrimental, as the pitocin would have been extra harsh on the baby's environment, not allowing for things to "pull back" when the body wasn't comfortable. Doing things as we did, we actually never really recieved any pitocin (technically, we did, per doctor's orders, but by the time Renee was ready to push, the pitocin wasn't even in Renee's system).

As things were winding down and I was able to catch my breath, I called Grandma Jackie to give her the good news and ask her bring Aidan over, the new big brother, so he could be Devin's very first visitor. While talking with Grandma Jackie, I found out that Aidan had been patiently asking all day about when it would be time to visit the baby, and that they had baked a birthday cake for the baby.

Once Aidan learned the baby was a boy, Aidan was very excited to come and visit his new baby brother, Devin the Dragon (Aidan wanted to name the baby Dragon, but we told him we couldn't do that; however, we were able to accomodate this by naming the baby Devin Drake — Drake meaning Dragon in Old Norse and Old English — so Aidan will tell you that the baby's name is really Devin the Dragon).

Special Picture Update

There's sooooo much that needs to be shared, but I don't have the energy or time to do it properly at the moment. Please, let this suffice for the moment and be assured that more information will be forthcoming! :)

So, enjoy the early July pictures; there's many of our new family member, Devin, who is Aidan's little brother. The pictures fairly well document his first 48 hours of life...

Happy Birthday

Welcome to the world, Devin Drake! He was born at 3:41 p.m. He was 8 lbs 10 oz and 22 inches long. Aidan was Devin's first visitor and it looked like Aidan couldn't have been a happier big brother. Grandma Jackie and Aidan baked a cake for Devin, and we all got to eat some real birthday cake!

Brother or Sister?

Coming soon to a family near you — or to our house, if we don't live near you: A new baby!

We are now in the midst of the 11th week of pregnancy, and by all indications the baby is doing well. We started a progesterone therapy regimen, which we know is controversial. However, the therapy seems to be doing it's job, as Renee's levels seem to be getting closer to what we would want them to be. Still, having to give Renee the injections twice a week is not a whole lot of fun....

Renee's doctor's appointment last week allowed her to see the baby moving around and acting very lively, which is very exciting news indeed.

We also learned the due date is July 1st, although we'll just call it July 3rd, for other reasons.

So far, things are going very well and Aidan seems to be fairly excited about the prospect of a sibling; many of his little friends have baby sisters, so if asked, that's usually the direction he's leaning.

Days Like These

Yesterday, our family experienced one of our worst days. It's days like these that make you realize how wonderful your friends and family are.

As we were eating our breakfast, Renee noticed that she was bleeding through her shorts and immeadiately thought there may be a problem with the pregnancy. But we really didn't have any idea what was happening.

We dropped Aidan off at a friend's house and headed to the emergency room. There, they eventually brought us in for a sonogram.

Obviously, I am not professionally trained to read a sonogram, but I was able to see the screen and I did notice that there wasn't any movement and I saw the technician type in "No FHR seen" (which I eventually figured out meant, "No Fetal Heart Rate seen"). Of course, the technician wasn't able to give us this information, so we had to wait for the doctor to see us and confirmed our worst fears.

By the end of the day, the miscarriage had pretty much gone through it's complete cycle. It goes without saying that we were both physically and emotionally exhausted.

Throughout this whole ordeal, our friends and family have been enourmously generous with support and love. It would be incredibly difficult to figure out how we could manage without them.

But now one of the most diffcult parts of this situation begins. There are many people whom we need to tell and many who already know the news who wish to contact us to offer their sentiments. Thus, we are left with having to retell the story many times and just as we are starting to find a good moment, someone new arrives to whom we must tell the story.

This, of course, is exhausting. We do appreciate all the support that we are receiving, so please ... don't stop. When you see Renee, feel free to greet her with a warm smile and a knowing look. Yet Renee might not be up to sharing details or retelling the story at that moment. However, know that we do appreciate your love and support.

Big Brother

I can see how the title of this entry might be a little misleading. This is not going to be an entry about George Orwell or his famous book....

The story begins for me as I was about to leave the office yesterday to go home for the evening. I was in some meetings and heard the phone at my desk ring, so I ran to get it, except the voice-mail picked up right before I did.

I knew it was Renee, and I tried to call her back; the phone was busy and I was sure she was leaving a message, so I tried back a few moments later.

It was in fact her and after she answered she just asked, "are you coming home early?" I was in meetings, but I knew that we had a lot of packing to do for our trip (we were leaving for Florida the next day) and Renee was having some difficulties with that process (the cat had a bathroom-break in the suitcase as Renee was packing it with clothes). Renee seemed a little out-of-sorts, so I asked if she was okay, she replied she was, just come home. But she still sounded odd, so I asked if she was okay again just as she hung up.

So, I left as soon as I could and when I got home Aidan was asleep on the couch. I thought it was quite precious, but figured I had some work to do (I had to mow the lawn before we left, and then start packing). So, I headed off to the bathroom to freshen up....

While in the bathroom, I heard Renee start talking to Aidan; it sounded as though he woke up. When I opened the door to the bathroom and came around the corner into the kitchen, Renee was holding Aidan in her arms. I figured that he just wanted to greet me as he usually does when I get home. Then I saw his shirt. It said "Big Brother" on it. The first thing I thought of was that Renee must have gotten the shirt somewhere from a "Big Bothers/Big Sisters" event or something. Then it dawned on me....

Aidan's going to be a big brother!

And now, the same story from Renee's perspective...

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I took Aidan to a store this afternoon to purchase him a new toy for our upcoming road trip. While I was walking down one of the isles I spotted my friend Natalie from La Leche League. I hadn't been to LLL in two months because of camping and then a trip to NJ, so we had a lot of catching up to do. The topic of conversation shortly switched to our similar child rearing methods and our children (Natalie has an almost three year old daughter and an infant of about 4 or 5 months). After talking about her last pregnancy and how the siblings are doing together, I mentioned to her that I worried about not being able to decifer another pregnancy. Well, she reminded me of some of the specific symptoms that she was sure I would encounter because of my practices and it happens I was already feeling one of those symptoms so I went home, took a test and the rest is history.

Brian/Katie Wedding Update

I spoke with Brian today and we talked several different things, not least of which was the men's NCAA basketball tournament. However, the real thrust of the conversation was that Brian wanted me to be part of their wedding party. I, of course, was thrilled and enthusiastically accepted the honor of being the second member of our house to be in their wedding (remember, Aidan is going to be the ring bearer)...

Sabbatical

My sabbatical has been approved! That means I have eight consecutive weeks off this year in addition to my regular vacation. I will be taking my eight weeks off during April and May.

I chose to take the time off immediately following Aidan's birthday because Aidan will need to transfer up to the two-year-old classroom at school, which can be a difficult transition. Aidan will not be in daycare while I am out on sabbatical, so by timing the sabbatical with his transition at school, he will only have to make one transition; he'll just have a two-month pause between one classroom and the next (as opposed to transitioning to the new classroom and then another one (home to school) after being removed for two months during my time off).

So far the plans are to have Aidan's birthday party here in Austin on April 3rd for his little friends. Then a week later have a big family birthday celebration for Aidan's on April 10th in NJ. Details for both birthdays have yet to be finalized.

I plan on spending about two to three weeks in NJ visiting family and friends with Aidan. However, Matthew will not be joining us in NJ (his vacation time is limited), but we will be taking a family vacation in the middle of May.

Originally we were thinking about taking a cruise for the family vacation. But after some careful consideration we decided against that option. A cruise probably would make more sense for us once Aidan is a little bit older.

We are now looking into a beach vacation in Florida. We have discovered Siesta Key, which is near Sarasota, and are leaning towards this location for several reasons, including it's family-friendly reputation. We will be trying to firm up plans for the summer holiday shortly.

To that end, as we try to firm up our plans, if any family or friends are interested in joining us in Florida during the week of May 16 through May 22, you are more than welcome! Just notify us (call or e-mail) as soon as you can, and we can work out the details.

Christmas 2003

Happy holidays! We have a lot of news to share with you, including some new pictures (finally)!

First off, we'd like to apologize for not getting pictures up on the Web site in any sort of timely fashion. Our digital camera isn't working properly, as you'll be able to tell in most of Aidan's October and November pictures. However, we were able to download all of Grandpa and Grandma's images, so we do have some December pictures for everyone :)

So, first of all, let's recap some of the pictures from October and November. Basically, the pictures in October aren't very good, as the camera started to have it's issues about then... but there's a couple of cute ones in there.

The November pictures are more plentiful than the October pictures and are of a slightly better quality. The highlight in this bunch is the one of Aidan signing "cold," as in "it's cold outside." The way that cold is normally signed is by making a fist with your hands and then sort of shiver, as though you were cold. Aidan takes this to new dramatic heights, as he clenches his fists very tightly and gets so "cold" that his face turns beet-red. It can't be good for him, but it's as funny as it gets.

And, now finally, the December pictures. All of these pictures were taken during Grandpa and Grandma Deb's visit.

It took us forever to unwrap our presents, about three and a half hours, mostly because Aidan wanted to play with the gift that he just opened, so there would be a long period between opening one present and the next. It was a very fun morning with lots of gifts from our generous family - thank you all.

Thanks also goes out to Dad and Deb for coming to spend the Christmas holiday with us. We appreicate all the help we received around the house during their visit and we espeically like our new garage shelves.

The Beauty of My Child

Another image from our family's photo session for La Leche League has been published and I couldn't be more proud. Aidan is on La Leche League International letterhead. That's right, an image of Aidan is on the upper left hand corner of their letterhead, envelopes and in the center of a trifold thank you note to their sponsors. It is beautful.

House Update

It's Official!

All the papers were signed and everything got funded by the mortgage companies. We are now in the process of trying to unpack and get things organized.

Aidan is taking the move pretty well; he does seem to like the new house, specifically the playscape in the backyard and his play area upstairs. However, he does get upset when we drive by our old neigborhood, which is rather heartbreaking for Renee and I (he obviously misses the old house)....

The Move In

We moved into the new house on Monday, November 10. The move itself went fairly smoothly, but we were exhausted by the end of the day. Now comes the really hard work: unpacking.

To complicate matters a little bit, Aidan is still not feeling well (he is very congested and sometimes he is running a fever), so he's very clingy and requires lots of attention. Renee took him into see the doctor yesterday, and he said that Aidan needs to probably stay home for the next two days, which includes tomorrow -- the day of our closings. Hopefully, Aidan is feeling better by tomorrow, so we won't have to drag him along to some boring document-signing sessions, but we'll see.

Congratulations Brian and Katie

It has been announced that my cousin Brian is recently engaged! Here's a note from Brian:

Katie and I got engaged two Fridays ago after her professional engineering test (like a CPA for engineers) was over. I surprised her outside the test center with flowers and the ring. She thought it wasn't coming for another two weeks. We are very happy and are already making plans to have the wedding for next October (possibly the 23rd). Included in those plans are to have Aidan be the ring bearer. We know he may need help walking down the aisle, but would love to have him be part of our ceremony!

Congratulations Brian and Katie!

House Update

It's not official (still working out minor details), but it looks like we will be moving into the new house on Monday, November 10. We've been very busy packing and trying to organize a strategy for the move, and it's all been rather stressful (yet, exciting). This was the final piece of the puzzle, and once this is worked out, it should be pretty smooth sailing.

We also got word that the person who's buying our current house has finished on all of her details (had our house appraised, financing approved, etc.) and is good to close. It's all coming together.

We'll be notifying everyone about the new address, phone number, etc. in the very near future....

Upcoming Visitors

Aidan's grandparents (on his maternal side) will be coming to visit for the holidays!

Grandma will be coming down from NJ for Thanksgiving. She will be here from November 27th through December 2nd.

Grandpa and Grandma Deb will be coming down for Christmas. They will be in Austin from December 19th through the 25th, leaving early the next morning for New Mexico.

We are very much looking forward to both of these visits :)

House Update

The option period on our house (the one we are selling) has expired and our buyer has said that she is going to be moving forward with the purchase. Thus, our house is essentially sold (yea!).

We are finalizing the purchase of our new home, and all indications are that we are going to follow through with this purchase. This will all come to fruition on November 13, the closing dates for both houses, although we hope to be able to move into the new home a little sooner (we may have to lease-back from the current owner).

More updates to come....

House Update

We just signed the contract on our new house and will enter into our option period tomorrow. Next step: get the new house inspected!

It looks like we'll be in our new house some time around November 13.

House Update

We signed a contract with a buyer for our house yesterday, and we made an offer on a new house today. We will see how where this will take us....

House Update

We heard back from our counter-offer and .... our house is effectively under contract, and we begin the 7-day option period. Once we clear that, the house will be essentially "sold," with the closing scheduled to happen on November 13th.

Our next task is to focus on finding a house for ourselves! We have a couple of houses in mind, but we have not settled on any of them yet. More than likely, we'll end up in Circle C (which is a sub-division in Austin).

House Update

As some of you may know, we have put our house on the market. Today marks 30 days of waiting for an offer....

And we got one. Our first offer came in this evening and we went over it with our broker. We made a counter offer and now await the buyer's next move....

Aidan Update

Aidan had his 18-month doctor visit today. Overall he is doing very well; in fact the doctor said his language skills were advanced. According to the pamphlet that the doctor's office gave us, children of Aidan's age usually have a vocabulary of about 10-15 words, "although often the words are only about half intelligible."

Aidan is saying about 10 words and signing about 70....

He didn't need any immunizations or shots, but we did opt for the flu shot....

His stats, as of today, are:
24 pounds, 10 ounces
31.25 inches tall
49 centimeters head circumference

Matthew Knee Update

Three months after the surgery, the doctor prescribed a new knee brace for Matthew, which he can wear while being active. The doctor encouraged him to try shooting baskets, try running with 20 degree changes of direction (which will be eventually increased to 90 degree turns), shuttle relays, etc. However, Matthew is not allowed to do any of these activities without the knee brace (which hasn't arrived yet) and he's not allowed to actually play basketball or compete in any "real" activities, but at least he can shoot some hoops....

Aidan and Renee Return to Austin

Renee and Aidan return from New Jersey. Despite Renee's laryngitis, the trip was magnificently successful.

Renee and Aidan are off to New Jersey

Aidan and Renee left for New Jersey today; it is Aidan's first trip on an airplane and his first trip out of state!

Aidan Update

Aidan had his four month check-up today and received four more vaccinations. He weighed in at 17 pounds 10 ounces (90th percentile for his age), measures 26.5 inches tall (95th percentile), and has a head circumference of 44 centimeters (95th percentile).

Matthew Knee Update

Matthew returned his crutches and is now able to amble along without them, although he still has a noticable limp. But his leg is getting stronger every day.

Aidan Update

Aidan seems to have caught his first cold. His nose is stuffy (he snorts a lot, which is amusing to us, but obviously uncomfortable for him) and he may be a little congested (but he doesn't have a runny nose or anything). We called the doctor's office and they said that about all we can do at this point is make sure the vaporizer (humidifier) is on while he's sleeping, perhaps have his head elevated too, and use a saline solution to get all the gunk out of his nose.

Matthew Knee Update

Matthew is able to walk around the house without the use of crutches for the first time since surgery. Actually, this is less impressive than it sounds. These are not normal, walking steps, but are more like tentative, unsteady steps. They are similar in style to going up stairs one step at a time, only he's doing this on level ground. Also, his arms flail about as he tries to keep his balance; Renee smartly called this movement "chicken wings."

Aidan Update

Aidan had his first round of immunizations today. He only got three of his scheduled four because there is a national shortage on the fourth one (however, it isn't "vital" in that it isn't required for his admissions to daycare). As expected, he cried his head off. We have to keep an eye on him today, maybe even massage his thighs (where he received the shots) and if his temperature gets above 105, we need to take some action... His official stats: 14 pounds 6 ounces; 23.5 inches long; 41 centimeter head circumference.

Matthew Knee Update

Matthew had his first physical therapy session today and was able to do a leg lift for the first time (it was only an inch off of the mat). Incredible progress...

Gamma Comes to Visit

Renee's mom came down to visit for Memorial Day Weekend and help out with Renee's two helpless boys....

Matthew Knee Update

Matthew comes home from the hospital after reconstructive ACL surgery. You can read more about the surgery (and see some pictures) here.

Matthew Knee Update

Matthew had his pre-op visit with the knee surgeon; he will be having ACL reconstructive surgery on May 13.

Aidan Update

Aidan is one month old. His fussiness has declined since Renee has been avoiding dairy products (milk and cheese). Hopefully, it was just a reaction to cows milk, although he still fusses. We got a book by Dr. Sears (called The Fussy Baby Book), which has been a big help....

Having said that, we had a wonderful 10 p.m. to 4 a.m. crying session....

Aidan Update

Aidan's three weeks old!

For the last week or so, Aidan has been a little fussy lately. Renee took him to the pediatritian today to see if he would okay the use of some gas drops. Although, while the doctor wouldn't actually commit to using the term, Aidan has pretty much been diagnosed as "colicky."

Aidan Update

Aidan seems to have blocked tear ducts (both eyes) and they've become infected. We took him to the pediatrician and she prescribed some eye ointment. He was also weighed at this visit and he is now 9 lbs! His next regularly scheduled doctor's appointment is this Thursday (April 18).

Aidan Update

Today was Aidan's first visit to the pediatrician. Most babies lose up to 10% of their birth weight soon after they're born, and do pretty good just to get back up to their birth weight within the first week of life. Aidan actually gained two ounces (8 lbs 2 oz) in less than a week! However, he did shrink a little, to 19 3/4 inches

Aidan Alexander's Birth Story

Renee woke me up at 12:15 a.m. on April 2 (eight days after our due date) with the words, "You need to change the sheets." Her water had broke, and, as she forewarned, she would awaken me to clean it up. As I gathered up the sheets I noticed that there really wasn't that much "water" on the bed; I was expecting much, much more.

"Are you sure your water broke," I asked? Based on what I've heard, some women accidentally urinate (baby kicked them in the bladder or what-have-you) and they mistake that for the amniotic fluid. This is what is going through my mind....

"Yes," she answered back. "I am certain." But I wasn't so sure. Why wasn't there more water on the bed?

Renee finished changing her clothes and then called her doctor, Dr. Love (yes, that's his name — he really couldn't go into anything besides obstetrics, could he?). He wanted us to head to the hospital, but after finding out from Renee that, other than the "fact" that her water broke (I was still hesitant to accept this), there were no other signs of labor and there didn't seem to be anything else to be concerned about. Renee asked if we could stay at home a bit longer, especially since we had a standing 8:15 a.m. appointment with Dr. Love that very morning, so it would only be a few hours between the breaking of the water until we met with him. Dr. Love was pretty comfortable with the idea....

At this point, as I was reconfiguring some pillows on the bed, I realized how much "water" had broke. The pillow was soaked. This was for real.

We tried to go back to bed, but the excitement was a little too overwhelming. We stayed up talking about the arrival of the baby and whether it was a boy or a girl, etc. Soon, I had drifted off to sleep. Renee, on the other hand, had a much more difficult time sleeping. Every time she moved around, a little more amniotic fluid would leak out. It was terribly uncomfortable and constantly reminded her of what was about to happen. I slept fairly well that night, even if it was a relatively short sleep, but Renee did not even get that.

Later that morning, around 8:30 a.m., we met up with Dr. Love at his office. He told us that since her water broke (which he confirmed) and she was only about 2 cm dilated, he recommended that we go immediately to the hospital to start a Pitocin drip. We weren't sure if we wanted to do that, especially Renee, because she has heard some stories of others who had their labor started with Pitocin and weren't able to avoid an epidural later during pregnancy, perhaps because of tectonic contractions due to the Pitocin; we were quite confident that we wanted to try for a natural childbirth.

After some discussion, Dr. Love thought that it was OK for us to head home first, which we did. He made sure that we understood that since her water broke, there was an increased chance of infection and at eighteen hours, the risk rises exponentially. We figured that if we headed to the hospital around Noon, we would have a chance to try to induce labor on our own, and if not, the risk of infection would be relatively limited, since the eighteen hour mark wouldn't come until about 6:30 p.m.

We called our doula, Karina, and arranged for her to meet us at the hospital around Noon. Then, we headed home and made ourselves some last minute food (it was about 10:30 a.m. at this time), went for a walk around the neighborhood, and then headed out to the hospital. During the drive home from the doctor's office and back to the hospital, Renee was trying some other means to induce labor, namely, sucking on hard candy (or her thumb) and massaging a pressure point about four inches above her ankle. Needless to say, none of this worked.

Once we arrived at the hospital, the nurses set us up in a room and prepped Renee for the Pitocin. Apparently Dr. Love forgot to call in to the hospital, so they weren't prepared for us. By the time they were able to start the Pitocin, it was about 2:15 p.m.

Good strong contractions started about an hour later. Renee dealt with them beautifully. And our first nurse, Shannon, was incredibly helpful and supportive. Shannon told us exactly what she was doing and why she was doing it. She laid out the general plan (that the Pitocin would start out at a particular dosage and that it would increase by a certain amount and then we would then adjust as necessary). Additionally, Shannon encouraged Renee to try out different positions. Renee tried several different laboring positions (e.g., on the bed, on a labor ball) and then settled into a rocking chair. This was by far her favorite place and despite her strongest contractions in this position, she never looked any more disturbed than someone meditating (with some heavy breathing).

However, Renee in the bed was nothing but bad news. She tried a contraction or two there and she was obviously in pain and, despite her best efforts, just couldn't cope. Thus, we expected Renee to ride out the wave of contractions on the rocking chair.

Around 6 p.m., Dr. Love came into our room to check on Renee. She was about 4 cm dilated. He didn't think that things would progress too quickly and informed us that Dr. Pollan would be on call if anything did; however, in the mean time, Dr. Love was going to go home to visit his family (whom he hadn't seen in the last few days — probably because he was busy delivering babies)....

But of course, nothing goes according to plan. Almost immediately, Renee's blood pressure started to rise. Shannon wasn't overly concerned, but encouraged us to try to keep the blood pressure down. This wasn't completely unexpected, as Renee has had blood pressure issues in the past, although they were at very good levels during the pregnancy. But it seemed, at least from Shannon, that our efforts were working pretty well with the blood pressure, and after a time, that this wasn't really an issue any more.

And then another change: Around the seven hour mark since the introduction of Pitocin (around 9 p.m.), Karina, who is also seven months pregnant, was starting to get physically exhausted; she called her back up doula, Jennifer, and made arrangements for Jennifer to take over for her. There was also a shift change, and Shannon was no longer our nurse. We now had to work with Jeanne. And I had to get used to working with another doula.

A bit about doulas here: Renee and I had chosen Karina because we both got along with her. Renee felt a connection and had a certain amount of trust with her and I felt as though both Karina and I were on the same page together — during our interviews and even during labor, I really felt that Karina and I made a good coaching team.

But now I had to deal with Jennifer. I didn't know her at all and had no idea what she would be like. Not exactly the ideal situation to try and bring a new team member into a highly stressed situation. And to be honest I was not too comfortable with Jennifer. She was much to extroverted for me. But Renee found Jennifer incredibly helpful. And, in fact, I probably would have been lost without the aid of a doula, regardless how well I got along with her. If you are going to have a baby, especially if it's your first, I wholeheartedly recommend getting a doula.....

But, despite our mixed feelings for Jennifer, Jeanne wasn't very good. She wouldn't tell us what she was doing or why. At one point she told Renee that she had one more try in the rocking chair to bring her blood pressure down, and if it didn't go down she had to go back to the bed. Jeanne never told us this was still an issue. She just told us this out of the blue. And then, after the next reading came back lower than the last, which met Jeanne's criteria, she said that it didn't come down far enough and that Renee had to go back to the dreaded bed. Why? Because her blood pressure was too high. That's all we knew. Jeanne did another cervical check; Renee was about 5 cm dilated. It was now about 10 p.m.

Once Renee got into the bed, the same pattern occurred. Contractions came with serious pain. She was no longer the meditative queen of pain relief. She squirmed; she yelled. She was in pain. And Jeanne wouldn't let her out of the bed. Even when Renee had to use the bathroom, she was told to go quickly and then was soon fetched by a nurse for being out of bed too long.

This was incredibly frustrating for me. They moved my wife to the bed, a place she wasn't able to deal with the contractions, so they could try to lower her blood pressure. But her blood pressure wasn't going down and the pain was obviously becoming unbearable for her. It was time for something to change. (It was only after the fact, during one of Dr. Love's postpartum visits, that we found out that they were worried about pre-eclampsia and seizures; had Renee been anywhere besides the bed, they were worried that she could have a seizure and drop to the floor, perhaps cracking her skull.)

Renee was writhing in pain and Jeanne wanted to get Renee's blood pressure down (her blood pressure reached a high of about 150+/80+). To do this, Jeanne suggested that we use a narcotic followed by magnesium sulfide. Once Jennifer heard this, she demanded to know our other options. It turns out that we could also do an epidural. I tried to get the pros and cons from Jeanne and whether we needed to one of the drugs listed or if we could do none. She made it seem as though we needed to do something, and quick. We decided on the epidural, mostly because we knew that the side effects of the epidural was significantly less than the narcotic and the mag sulfide.

I was completely overwhelmed at this point and was glad that we had a doula, regardless of our working relation. Once we decided on the epidural, we had to wait for it to be administered because Dr. Love wasn't on the floor and neither was the on-call doctor. Meanwhile, Renee was in still in pain and her blood pressure was still elevated.

Finally, and after what seemed like an eternity (but was probably about 30 minutes), Dr. Love arrived (about 10:30 p.m.) and they administered the epidural. But the timing was a little strange; after what seemed an eternity of watching Renee deal with huge amounts of pain, she only had the epidural for what seemed like about five more contractions. Then it was time to push.

Because the medical team was trying to get the pain medication to Renee as soon as possible, they gave her one big dose; it helped Renee deal with those last few contractions, but it also hindered her ability to push because she couldn't feel (or move) her lower extremities.

It was about 11:00 p.m. and time for another shift change. We lost Jeanne and gained Luann, who was absolutely fabulous. Luann came onto the scene just as Renee was starting her pushing phase. Renee tried pushing for a little while and Luann encouraged Renee to try different positions. However, it soon became evident that the epidural was the reason that Renee was having difficulty pushing. Around 11:30, Luann had Renee chill out for about 30 minutes to have the epidural wear off, once the doctor turned off (or reduced) the amount of pain killers the epidural was delivering.

After some suggestions from Luann (such as tilting her tail bone towards the ceiling), and once Renee was got some feeling back, all it took was a few pushes before the baby started to crown. Dr. Love and his crew came in and set up shop. At about 12:15 a.m. on April 3, I took up my camera and started to take some pictures. As Renee continued to push, Dr. Love became increasingly concerned (later, I learned it was because the fetal heartbeat had gone as low as the 60s or 70s — a range that would have made most doctor's panic and order an emergency c-section).

But I was oblivious to most of the medical concerns, as I was in a state of bewilderment. Soon, after some serious pushing from Renee and liberal dosages of olive oil by Dr. Love, the baby's head popped out, but it wasn't alone; the hand was with it too! Also, the cord was wrapped around the baby's neck (the probable culprit to the low heartbeats). Dr. Love worked his magic and eventually out popped a little baby (12:44 a.m. on April 3 — about 24 hours after the bag of waters broke), with only the slightest of internal tearing to Renee (called "skid marks").

Dr. Love placed the baby on Renee's abdomen and I began searching to find out what the baby's name was.... Was it a boy or a girl? Eventually, and ever so slowly, the legs came apart, and I happily announce to everyone: "It's Aidan!"

Welcome Home, Baby Aidan

Mom, Aidan, and Dad all come home from the hospital. Lara greeted us with plenty of meows....

Happy Birthday!

Welcome to the world, Aidan Alexander! He was born at 12:44 a.m. and shares his birthday with his Gammy (Renee's mom). He was 8 lbs 0 oz and 20 1/4 inches long.

Is the Baby Coming?

Renee's bag of waters broke? She's pretty sure, but I was expecting more "water." Renee called the baby doctor and he's cool with us hanging out at home and seeing how things develop (since Renee's really not feeling anything else right now). We'll see him at 8:15 this morning regardless.

Visitors

Matthew's dad, step-mom, and step-sister Susan came into town today. They will be splitting their time between Austin and San Antonio so they can witness the NCAA Women's Basketball Championships (go UConn!).

Baby Doctor Visit

We had another doctor's appointment today. Renee is still 1 cm dilated. We have another week to go before the doctor wants to induce, and we all think that Renee will go into labor before we have to take that measure. However, we are making plans for the induction (meaning, we're making reservations at the hospital). We have an appointment at the hospital on April 7 to start the induction....

Happy Birthday!

Renee's 30 today!!

Matthew Knee Update

Matthew also visited the knee doctor and it looks like we will be putting off his knee surgery until after the baby arrives....

Baby's Baptism Date

We attended the baptismal class today with Jeffrey, the proud Godfather-to-be. It is now official: Despite the fact that we don't the baby's name or gender, we now know that the baby will be baptized on April 20 during the 5 p.m. mass.

Matthew's Knees

Recently, Matthew has been having lots of problems with his knee (it has been dislocating doing normal, every day activities) and made an appoinment to see the doctor. He found out that he tore his ACL (probably back in '93) and needs to get reconstructive knee surgery. We are hoping that we can get an appoinment before the baby arrives.

According to the doctor, he will be completely immobile for about one week after the surgery; will be on crutches for about six to eight weeks; can participate in limited activities in about six months; should be better than new in nine months to a year...

Happy Birthday!

Liam Matthew O'Boyle was born January 22 at 11:49 a.m. to Renee's cousin Matthew and his wife Cheryl, weighing in at 7lbs. 11 oz. and at 19" in length, with a 14 1/4" cranium.

December Recap

We started taking a childbirth preparation class on December 11. We are going to be participating in the Bradley Method, although we are not necessarily averse to using drugs if there is a need.... The classes are held once a week on Tuesdays and will run through the first week of March. Hopefully, the baby comes after we are fully educated ;)

Both Renee's mom and my mom visited. They were here about two weeks each, encompassing both Christmas and New Years....

Renee's mom helped out by painting the guest bathroom and organizing the closet space (apparently we actually had some).

With only three months left, our attention is now focused on getting ready for baby!