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).

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!

Week 41

Thus far, Aidan's prediction is incorrect, but we still have plenty of Friday left — and we never really clarified which Friday he was talking about, either...

We met with Dr. Love this morning, had a sonogram, and everything looks great, although there really hasn't been any change in status in the last week or so.

Dr. Love felt that Renee and baby are both doing well and are still within the standard deviation of 2 weeks of the average pregnancy (which is on average 40 weeks +/- 2 weeks, thus sometime between 38 and 42 weeks is when most babies are born). Because of their general health and such, he felt comfortable letting things go for a while longer.

Today is Renee's last day at work. After the doctor's appointment, she'll submit her medical papers and start her leave of absence. So, if anyone out there has been e-mailing Renee at work, start sending those messages to her home address.

So, on the upcoming schedule, we have another doctor's appointment on Wednesday and another sonogram for next Friday. If the baby doesn't come by then, we'll schedule an induction for July 18....

Week 40 Day 6

"All human wisdom is summed up in two words - wait and hope" — Alexandre Dumas

The accupuncture session went fairly well yesterday, although it was very different than the last session. According to Renee, this session was a lot more intense and uncomfortable; points were activated in her feet, head, shoulders, hands, and ankles. The points in her feet and head were very sensitive and left her with some tenderness in those areas. The session did create some minor contractions, but ultimately nothing that kicked-started labor.

Tomorrow morning is our next scheduled appointment with Dr. Love. This is the same appointment that Renee had with Dr. Love when she was pregnant with Aidan. We made it to the appointment last time, but for a different reason: Aidan was on his way (more or less).

So, we'll just patiently wait for the baby to arrive while we all grow wiser as we wait and hope...

Week 40 Day 4

No baby yet. However, Renee is going in for an accupuncture appointment tomorrow morning at 10 a.m. The method didn't actually work for the accupuncturist when she was pregnant;, however, everyone else she's worked on has gone into labor....

Week 40 Day 3

Every pregnancy is different, but as some sort of measuring stick, Aidan was about a week late, so the fact that the baby isn't here yet isn't completely unexpected.

Currently, Aidan is predicting that the baby will be here Friday, and that he'll have a baby sister. A few weeks ago, he was saying the baby would be here by July 3, and that it would be a boy, so place your bets accordingly....

Week 40

Here we are at the predicted due date. Renee hasn't experienced much in the way of contractions or anything that would be considered serious labor indications up to this point. Dr. Love scheduled us to come in for a biophysical profile (BPP) next Friday (week 41) if the baby doesn't show by then. At that appointment, we'll do a sonogram and check on everyone's general health.

However, earlier this evening, Renee was getting lots of light contractions. So, I went to the rental car and installed the baby seat next to Aidan's. Then I discovered that Aidan's car seat is too wide for both of the car seats to sit nice next to each other (this wouldn't be an issue in the Element), so I had to swap car seats with Renee (the one in her car is slightly narrower)...

Long story short, it took a little while, but the baby's seat and Aidan's seat are both installed in the rental car. The bags are packed, lists have been made of all the extra things we need to take, phone/camera batteries are charge. I think we're ready to roll.... We're just waitin' on the baby.

Week 39

We're down to the final week before the due date and there's lots of excitement in the air!

Dr. Love saw us for the regularly-scheduled visit and felt that the baby was perfectly positioned so no worries about breech or transverse babies at this point. The baby still has plenty of room to move around, but all signs point to a baby heading in the right direction.

Renee is slowly getting over a cold (or allergies, not sure which). Her voice still sounds gruff, yet overall, she's doing well. She has plenty of energy (relatively speaking, and not counting the energy-sapping allergies/cold) and is planning on working as long as she can, or at least up to the due date, so she can spend more time with the baby post-partum.

Week 38

Monika (our doula), Renee, and I went to the doctor's appointment this morning. However, there really wasn't much to discuss. We ened up talking more about Dr. Love's plans for Father's Day: visiting his father on his dad's ranch.

Dr. Love's father keeps bees — I think Dr. Love said that you can get 3 - 5 gallons of honey from one hive — and we listened to Dr. Love reminisce about running around on the ranch as a kid, extracting honey, stuff like that.

His dad is now in his 70s and still likes to keep active. Apparantly, last summer, his dad planted about $5 worth of watermelon seeds and they ended up with well over 200 watermelons. They picked up the melons by the truckload and passed them out to as many friends and relatives as they could. Occassionally, while harvesting, they would throw an over-ripe watermelon over the fence for the horses, only to find out that in a week or so, a new vine had started to grow from the rotten melon. By the end of the summer, they were all sick and tired of watermelons.

That pretty much covers our doctor's visit. Renee's doing well, baby's doing well. Aidan seems to be "real good," his new response to the "how are you" or "how are things going" question.

The baby most likely will have a name; it appears that Renee and I have settled on a boy's name and a girl's name. Aidan has been saying that he wants the baby to be a boy and he also wants the baby's name to have "dragon" in it somewhere. Rest assured, the baby's name doesn't overtly have dragon in it, however we may have found out a way to incorporate the idea.

For those who want to tease themselves, the initials for the baby, if he's a boy, are D.D. If the baby is a girl, the initials will be C.L.

Week 37

This is the first doctor's appointment that I've been able to attend since the sonogram appointment back in week 19. The first thing Dr. Love said when he saw me was, "I haven't seen you in a while. Have you been busy?" My answer was, "yes."

My job has kept me very busy recently and finding time for these things has been difficult. However, put into perspective, I have it easy. At least no one's life is at stake if I slack off or put the family first. I don't see how Dr. Love can lavish as much attention as he does on his patients and keep a family life.

"Balance," was his reply to this. "Which is something they don't teach in med school."

Regardless, I'm very appreciative of Dr. Love's skills and attention and can sympathize with his family. But they can have him when we're done.

The visit was very good and Renee checked out fine; her measurements were right on target. It was refreshing to get to see Dr. Love again and reaffirm that he is indeed the right doctor for us. His philosophy of medical practice fits in well with ours and he takes very good care of Renee (and his patients in general — it confounds me as to how me can have anything left when he gets home). His primary goal — outside of a safely delivered baby and healthy mom — is to avoid a cesarean birth at all costs. That's exactly where we are, too.

Ultimately, I'm glad I was able to attend today, and a little regretful that I haven't been able to attend other appointments. Still, arriving at this appointment wasn't particularly easy for me. I had to ask Renee to take Aidan to school for me in the morning so I could wrap up a project at work before I headed to the appointment.

Of course, Aidan wasn't particularly keen on this (Aidan and I have a good thing going in the morning). To help him understand, Renee told him that I had to go to work in order to meet Mommy and the baby at the doctor's office.

Fast forward to later that afternoon. Renee is picking up Aidan from school as she usually does.

"Did you go to the doctor's today?" Aidan asks.

"Yes," replies Renee.

"You were there a long time," Aidan says. "Why wasn't I there?"

And thus is how we learned that Aidan wants to go to the doctor's appointments with us to see how the baby is doing.

Week 36

Last night, we met with our doula, Monika, for our first prenatal visit. We covered a lot of basics, such as our expectations of what Monika would do for us. For example, when Renee was pregnant with Aidan, things were generally going very well in the beginning. We had a great nurse who was very supportive, gentle, and friendly. I don't think I heard a negative word out of her, even when Renee's blood pressure was rising.

However, we did eventually go through a shift change and we ended up with a nurse who was quite the opposite of our first nurse. She was full of negativity and was chastising all of us, our doula, myself, Renee, for Renee's high blood pressure. She acted (and reacted) as though Renee wasn't in the room and was generally making things more tense. Needless to say this wasn't helping.

One of our expectations for Monika was that she, at our bidding, would help us deal with the nurses better than our last doula did. In fact, Monika has extensive experience as a labor and delivery nurse, and I believe that she will have the proper demeanor to help us get the help and calm environment that will help make this a good experience, rather than a contentious one.

We also talked about writing our birth plan, something that Monika highly recommends.

Personally, and I think Renee concurs, I'm all for writing the birth plan. I know that births can't really be "planned" per se. To that end, a birth plan doesn't necessarily provide much. However, there's much more that one can get from a birth plan than a deviated script.

Just the act of thinking through the events as you write them out, specifying what you want, what you don't want, etc., can make you aware that you do have options, that sometimes the doctors and nurses aren't necessarily making the choices based on your best interest, but their own. [I'm not trying to imply anything overtly cynical here, other than the fact that doctors and nurses are people and are just as vulnerable to the whims and fancy of fatigue and outside pressures as anyone else.]

Just like anything else, practicing what you want to do, or thinking it through, when things are "good" helps to sort things out when things get a little more chaotic and panicked. This is why NFL teams practice in game-like conditions when they can, such as piping in loud crowd noise over the loudspeakers, so that when it's really happening they can react to it almost by rote memory.

Thus, in addition to working on our birth plan our homework assignment for the next week is to practice visualizations and relaxation techniques. Just 10 minutes a day of deep breathing and thinking thoughts of peace and calm. That way, when things start to get a little hectic, we'll (hopefully) remember some easy, almost rote methods of getting ourselves calm. A relaxed Renee can only help; labor and delivery generally happen a lot easier and quickly if there isn't a lot of tension and panic in the air.

Overall, Renee is feeling well. She looks great and I wouldn't have known that she looks any different than when she was pregnant with Aidan. But the tape measure never lies (unless you don't use it properly).

When she was carrying Aidan, Renee measured 40 inches around her belly in the last weeks of the pregnancy. Her bust and underwire measured 38 inches and 33 inches, respectively.

However, this time, at week 36, Renee is measuring 41 inches around the belly; 40 inches around her bust; 34 inches for her underwire. And she still has another month to go!

Oh, and as best we can tell, the baby is head-down. Or breech. Or possibly transverse. It's really hard to tell, but our spirits are buoyed by the fact that we were able to turn the baby easily last time, so there's hope that, if need be, we can do it again.

You Turn Me Right Round, Baby

Thus far, the pregnancy has been fairly smooth. Early on, there was some anxiety because of the low progesterone levels, but this was taken care of with the progesterone supplements and is much less of a concern now. In fact, we have been off of the progesterone therapy for several weeks now and things seem to be fine.

The only other point of anxiety has been that the baby has seemed to be breech. This is not necessarily a concern, as most babies do eventually turn into a head-first presentation, but this has been a source of worry for several weeks.

In our interviewing of the doulas, we discovered that not many doctors will vaginally deliver a breech baby (although this is "routinely" done in other countries) and that one remedy would be to have the doctor try to turn the baby with a method called "external cephalic version." This method has about a 50% chance of success and will likely cause some distress to the baby.

As an alternative, we received the suggestion that we try several other methods, such as having Renee do handstands in a pool or lying inverted on an ironing board that is inclined on a couch, so that her feet are up and her head is on the floor. Renee's been trying both of these, and the ironing board has been a frequent visitor to our living room recently. One evening as we were getting Aidan ready for bed, he told me his back hurt and went over to the ironing board and did his best to mimic his mother, including acting as though he had a large belly with a baby inside.

Another alternative suggested was to try acupuncture. Neither Renee nor myself have ever had acupuncture performed before, but supposedly there was a high rate of success with turning breech babies via acupuncture. So, with nothing to lose but a few dollars, Renee went in for her very first acupuncture appointment this morning and ...

The baby turned! Just like that. Renee now reports that she can feel the baby kicking into her ribs (as opposed to before the procedure when Renee primarily felt the baby kicking her bikini line). It wouldn't necessarily be unexpected if the baby turned back to a breech position, although obviously our hope is that this won't happen. But our anxiety has significantly passed, which is a good thing in itself, and we have knowledge that, if necessary, we do have a technique that has worked for us once, so hopefully it could work again.

Week 34

Robin and Kathryn helped to organize a surprise baby shower for Renee. The guise under which we were to lure Renee over to Kathryn's house was to be a tie-dye party of sorts, where we would create some tie-dye clothing for all the kids (and possibly the adults).

Renee was very, very interested in this and we blocked off the day on our calendar for the tie-dye event almost two months ago. But there was a problem: tie-dying is a messy job and Renee would likely not wear clothing appropriate for a baby shower if she's expecting to get dirty. So, we had to come up with another story to encourage her to bring some nice clothes to change into.

Plan B, formulated to help support Plan A (sometimes lying can get very complicated and difficult; remember that) involved Kathryn inviting all of us out to go see her boyfriend Doug's band play at a local pub. Doug plays the bagpipes. While we were excited about seeing Doug and Kathryn ... well, Doug plays the bagpipes. Fill in your own joke.

I had thrown a surprise baby shower for Renee when she was pregnant with Aidan and after that event, I swore that I would never do that again. Not only was it much too stressful, it was also difficult for me to lie to Renee. And then there was the matter of a pregnant woman — complete with raging hormones — who was thinking that there wasn't going to be a shower and we would never be ready to have a baby, the house wasn't ready .... To sum up: Stress City.

Obviously, I was under some illusion that someone else throw a surprise baby shower would be easier on me. Sure, we had lots of stuff for the baby and we had a very good idea of what we were getting ourselves into, unlike the first pregnancy. So there wasn't the pressure of not having the appropriate clothes, etc. on hand. We had that.

And to make sure the house was ready, I spent the last several weekends painting the baby's room (formally the drum room, for anyone who is familiar with our house and its contents). On the morning/afternoon of the baby shower, I did some final touch up on the paiting and then brought in all the furniture (it wasn't until Sunday that I was able to reassemble the changing station, crib, etc.). So, most of the previous reasons for stressing about not having a baby shower were removed. There was no reason Renee should stress. And she didn't.

I, on the other hand probably could have blown a gasket. I figured Renee knew what was going on, but she just wasn't letting on. I had to ask for a list of gift items she might want. Big clue, I thought. But Renee never said anything.

The days went by and Renee never let on. Apparently, she really was expecting to tie-dye some clothes. Last night, Renee was up late (or, at least, late for Renee), preparing all the materials and supplies that we'd need to successfully tie-dye. She was wrapping elastic bands around shirts and onesies for the baby. I was aghast. I wanted to stop her, but what was I going to say?

In the end, of course, it was all worth it. As we drove over to Kathryn's house, I told Renee that she could just carry her clothes into the house; I'll bring in all the supplies. So, I walked around to the back of my car with Aidan in my arms as Renee walked in. I grabbed the camera out of the car and waited until I heard everyone shout, "Surprise!"

I then took Silas and Aidan back to our house for the next hour or so, then made it back to Kathryn's just in time for some cake, to the absolute delight of both Aidan and Silas.

So, as I mentioned, the baby's room is all painted, the furniture is all assembled, clothes put in handy and accessible locations, and we are — in general — ready for the baby. And a doula has been hired!

We met with two doulas recently, both of whom were extremely educated and experienced, but in different ways. Each doula seemed to be a perfect compliment to each other, as each doula's best skills and talents seemed to fill the void of the other's. For example, one doula has a two-year-old child; the other does not have any, but has participated in the capacity of a doula for nearly 300 births.

Eventually, after long debates and changing out minds a zillion times (both Renee and I are Pisces, indecision being a characteristic trait), we finally decided on Monika (the one with the child). She was a perfect match for us in many ways and she'll be worth every penny. As one famous quote says, "If doulas were a drug, it'd be criminal not to use them." She'll meet with us twice in our house and once at the doctor's office before "the big day."

Week 32

Only two months left and time to get everything in order. I'll start painting the new nursery this weekend, hopefully finishing it up by next weekend.

Renee is doing very well, despite bouts of extreme tiredness. She's still working and is planning to work as late into the pregnancy as she possibly can. Her doctor's appointments, which were scheduled about once per month up to this point, will now be more frequent.

Last time, when we had Aidan, we hired a doula for Renee and myself. While the experience itself was mixed, the presense of a doula was incredibly helpful and worth every penny. We are currently interviewing doulas for this birth and should come to a decision sometime next week or the week after. The first of the two doulas we expect to interview was very nice and seems to be a good fit for us, but we will reserve making a decision until after we speak to the next candidate.

We have also started to come to some agreement on names, but we still have not narrowed them down to any particular set. We will not be announcing any names prior to the birth, although we may release the initials, once we know....

Week 29

It's already Week 29. Only eleven weeks left!

This pregnancy has seemed to fly right by, much quicker than last time. My guess is this is because of Aidan and the amount of attention he requires and also a little bit of the "been there, done that" attitude we sort of have.

So far, everything is going very well. We're having some difficulty choosing names, mostly with boys names (like last time). Girls names are easy for us to agree on, although they are hard to pair with middle names. Thus, as of right now, we really don't have any solid, go-to names.

Week 25

We are now 25 weeks into the pregnancy. We are still continuing with the progesterone therapy, although it looks like we'll be able to discontinue this in the coming weeks. Renee has been doing pretty well and was feeling good enough to head out on a camping trip this weekend.

Aidan has also been taking this pretty well so far. He's been hugging and kissing Renee's tummy. He's also been watching a lot of Bambi lately, and in one scene, Bambi meets his "girlfriend," Faline. So I asked Aidan if he had a girlfriend. He replied that he did. I asked who it was. He replied that it was the baby in Mommy's tummy.

Week 19

Today was our "big" doctor's appointment. We're officially 19 weeks into the pregnancy and we scheduled the "big" sonogram for this week. Typically, this would be done after week 20, but we had some visitors (Gran-Daddo and Grandma Jackie), so we re-worked the schedule so they could see the sonogram live and in person.

After everything that we've been through, this sonogram proved to be a wonderful milestone. All the appropriate things were checked and accounted for. We could easily see and count the toes on each of the two feet, as well as well-defined bone structure, a properly angled and divided heart and brain, a full stomach and bladder, 2 kidneys, liver, etc. They checked for and did not see any signs of Downs Syndrome, Spina Bifida, cleft palate, and Hydrocephalus. All of the measurements, femur and head circumference for example, came out to be in the 50th percentile and indicated a gestation of 19 weeks and 1 day; just about as perfect as one can get.

Week 12

We have now successfully completed 12 weeks of the pregnancy, which is a huge milestone for us, as it gets us officially past where we were last time. So far, everything is progressing very, very well.

The other night, I put my hand on Renee's tummy and thought I felt some twitching. It was very odd and I couldn't make up my mind if it was some sort of muscle spasm or twitch or if it was maybe the baby moving. But I didn't say anything...

I finally mentioned it to Renee a few days later and she said that she thought it might have been her intestines or something weird like that ... but the more she thought about it, the way that she was laying down, considering the food she ate most recently (ice cream — high sugar content), it probably was the baby!!

So let it be known that we officially felt the baby move for the first time on Saturday, December 18.

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.