Happy Halloween!

Happy Halloween everyone! Trick or treat?

Back To Work

Sorry it's been so long since my last post. Things have been a bit crazy as you can imagine. I'm back at work today and just got finished reading 400+ emails and thought I would take a 15 min break to update the blog. It wasn't much fun rolling out of bed at 5:15 this morning. I need to get back in the routine. On top of that I feel like I'm getting a cold. Not good. Riley had a rough night last night. Actually it probably wasn't very rough for her as it was for poor Keri. Riley was up every hour after we put her to bed for the night. I have to say that Keri has been amazing. She hasn't complained once! Me on the other hand... and I don't have anything to complain about. I get to sleep. I feel pretty helpless since I can't feed Riley yet so the burden of all of the feedings are on the Dairy Queen. As soon as Keri can start pumping I can give her a break. We have Riley her second 'real' bath last night and she seems to really enjoy it. She's so cute when she's in her birthday suit and all covered in bubbles. Suffice to say that I am already wrapped around her little finger.

Mum, Ness, Keira and Rya came to visit this weeked which was AWESOME! I miss them SO MUCH. I wish we lived closer together. Rya is absolutely adorable. I actually got to rock her to sleep which made my day. I think we bonded :) I could cuddle that little girl to death if she'd let me. She reminds me so much of Vanessa in so many ways. One similarity is that she's not too fond of affection so I had to force my will on her and sneaks in hugs and kisses whenever I could. Ness showed Rya some pictures on her camera when they were driving home yesterday and she tried to hug and kiss the camera so that made me feel like a million bucks. She was saying 'happy Raig'. Ahhh!!! We just hung out at the house, ate good food and told stories all weekend. It was really nice. Keira just celebrated her 21st b-day and I have to say that she has matured into a knockout of a young lady. I have to try to stop myself from being too fatherly with her although I don't do a very good job. She can take care of herself but she'll always be my little squirt. Mum looks great too and if you didn't know any better you wouldn't know she was a grandmother. Ness and Mum got mistaken for sisters in Vegas (which actually happens all the time). I don't know if that is a good or bad thing for Ness but it works to Mum's advantage :)

Well, I've rambled for long enough. I made some changes to the blog and added a permanent link to Riley's photo album at the top of the page on the right hand side. This is where I'll add photos from time to time. I also added a slide show of the same album. It's really small but you can click on the individual images as they come up as well.

First Doctor's Visit

Riley went to her first Dr's appointment today. We've had a couple of nights where she slept in 3-4 hour stretches but the last two nights have been pretty brutal. She's been waking up and acting as hungry as a hostage at least once an hour. She might have had a couple of two hour stretches last night. Keri got a new nickname from the doc today 'Dairy Queen'. I really like it. Looks like this Dairy Queen drive-thru is open 24/7. Everything was fine with Riley. She weighs 7 lb 15.5oz today so she's actually ahead of schedule. She's supposed to be at her birth weight by day 14 (8 lbs) so she's only .5 oz shy at 9 days old. It's crazy to think that it has been 9 days already! Keri's been worried that she wasn't getting enough milk because Riley always acts so hungry but she's been a pee and poop factory so I've been trying to reassure Keri that she's doing fine. She's just being a normal healthy baby and she must have gotten her appetite from her daddy. That or her fondness for mammaries :)

Sleepy

Riley slept really well last night. We were pleasantly surprised. We put her to bed around 11:00 and she didn't wake up until 3:00 am! We were up for an hour or so feeding and changing her and put her back in her co-sleeper around 4:00 and she slept until 7:00. We tried to push our luck with another feeding and she slept for another hour. Keri and I got some MUCH needed rest. I actually had the energy to get the house straightened out today. I'm a such a good little housewife. Here's a couple of pics I just snapped so I would have something to post. Riley is still a little bit jaundice as you can see in her face but she's getting better. She's had quite a few nice yellow poo poos today which is a good sign and her face is getting munch pinker. I actually can't believe the time has gone by as fast as it has but Riley will be 1 week old tomorrow. Crazy!

It's going to be really hard to keep up with putting pictures on the blog so please click on the following link to check out the Riley album. This is where I'll be adding lots and lots of pictures.

Riley Album Click Here

Pictures

Here are some pictures of Riley over the past few days. We've had a few sleepless nights. I'll blog with details later since I just wrote the preceding novel regarding the delivery, etc. Now for the pictures everyone has been asking for :) Click on the picture for a bigger image.

Happy Birthday Riley!!!

The nurses came in around 7:30 to begin getting Keri prepped. The anesthesiologist came in shortly after and explained the procedure Keri would be having. Keri had a "spinal" rather than an epidural. An epidural has a line that remains in place for medicine to be delivered to the spine. A spinal is a one time shot that numbs from the chest down for a couple of hours. There's no line that remains in place. I got into my scrubs and tried to steady my nerves before going into the OR. I did a lot of praying that night and day and knew my Grandad, Dad and Nana were with us. I won't get into my spiritual beliefs I will just say that I believe that our loved ones that have passed on are always with us and especially when we need them most. I know they were watching over us that day. Keri walked into the OR around 8:05 am and the anesthesiologist got started. They sat Keri on table which was about waist high. They put her feet on a rolling chair in front of her and had her arch her back while giving a pillow a bear hug. The nurse standing in front of Keri said something like "and how are you doing Dad?" I said I was fine and she said "no, I mean what do you want to see." I said that I wanted to get Keri through the spinal and then I'd rather not see anything else until Riley was all cleaned up (I'm really squeemish). I wanted to be in the room for Keri. I don't share the believe that witnessing the actual birth of your child or cutting the umbilical cord makes you any better of a parent. I'm sure there are a lot of deadbeat dads out there that cut umbilical cords or witnessed their wives poo during delivery. No thank you for me ;) After I told the nurse I didn't want to see much she pointed to a chair off to my left and said "go and sit there." I said, "no thank you. I'll get my wife through this part." She said, "I've seen dads faint in the spot your standing in right now and I'm not going to catch you. Go and sit over there." To which I replied "I'm not going to faint. I'm fine. If I do faint just let me fall. It will be my fault. I'm a big guy and I'll fall hard but it would be my own fault." She replied "I've had two surgeries on my shoulders from trying to catch a guy that fainted and I'm not going to do that again for you. GO AND SIT IN THAT CHAIR." My fuse got a bit shorter and I was adament this time. I knew Keri needed me. "Look, I'm not going to sit in that chair. My wife needs me. If I faint, let me fall. After we're done I'll follow all instructions but I am not sitting in that chair." That settled that and I helped Keri though the spinal. It actually wasn't bad at all. She hardly flinched. She was laid down on the operating table and everyone got to work prepping her for the procedure. The room was filled with the anesthesiologist, two doctors and five or six nurses. Keri was spread eagle on the table and all the nurses stood at the foot of the table having small talk with occasional glances at Keri's privacy. It's all so nonchalant it took me a bit off guard. They lathered the iodine on Keri's belly and put in a catheter. She didn't feel a thing. The Doctor that performed the c-section was Dr. Bray who came on duty at 8:00 am. Dr. Carder assisted. Dr. Bray was late so we got started around 8:20 am. The anesthesiologist asked Keri if she was ok and her two replies were "I feel fine. I feel so skinny" because she couldn't feel anything below her arms and "I feel like a bug on a windshield" because she was on the table in the crucifix position. They put up a "tent" in front of Keri that is supposed to block the view but it's only about 12 inches high. I could see right over it unless I ducked behind it. I spent a lot of time ducking down and looking at my shoes so I didn't see too much of the surgery. Dr. Bray looked over the tent and said to Keri "Did you feel that?" and she replied "no". Dr. Bray said "Good, because I just pinched you really hard with something really sharp and you didn't feel a thing." They got to work like they were technicians at Jiffy Lube and Keri was a Honda Civic. They really dive it let me tell ya! The worst part for me was the smell as they cut into Keri's abdomen. They don't use a scalpel. They use an instrument called electrocauterization which cuts using electricity. It cauterizes as it cuts and you literally smell the flesh burning. Not pleasant. It only took them about 15 minutes to get Riley out. I couldn't help but look on a couple of occassions but thankfully I didn't see much. Just lots of red. The anesthesiologist said "here she comes if you want to look" to which I replied "not really" but I did anyway. The first thing I saw was her full head of dark hair and then her purple little hands and feet. I told Keri she had a long head of hair. Keri was most curious about how much Riley weighed. They whisked her off to clean her up and she let out a good cry. Keri overheard someone say "she's a 9" which is a really good sign. They were talking about the APGAR score which assesses the health of a newborn immediately after birth by grading the heart rate, reflex irritability, muscle tone, and breathing on a scale of 1-10. I walked over to check her out and snap a few pictures. Then they took her to the scale to get her weight. It showed 8.04 lbs. I wonder what her lucky number will be? Dr. Dickey estimated that she would be a 9+ lb baby so Keri was glad that she wasn't too big. It took another 15-20 minutes to get Keri all buttoned up during which time I was going back and forth between Keri and the baby. They swaddled Riley and handed her to me and I walked out of the OR behind Keri on her hospital bed. I really can't believe how well Keri did and I am so proud of her. She laid on that table so relaxed that you would think she was sun bathing at the beach. I'm also pretty proud of myself if I may say so. I was dreading going into that OR but at the end of the day I'm so glad I did. Enjoy the pictures:

In my scrubs and ready to go.

Riley just a few seconds old.

I'm so cold! 8.04 lbs.

Char Pei?

Look at my full head of hair!

Daddy holding Riley for the first time.

Mommy holding Riley for the first time.

The Night From Hell

I drove to the hospital as fast as I could without gaining the attention of the WSP. There was a Shoreline Police car in front of us the entire way to the hospital traveling at a steady 80 MPH in a 65 MPH zone so I tagged along for the escort. Keri was contracting pretty badly at 5 minute intervals all the way to the hospital and we arrived around 10:00 pm. Keri made it to the registration desk under her own power and I grabbed a wheel chair for her. She was pretty uncomfortable and bit leaky but like she has been all the way through the pregnancy she was a little soldier. It's always amazed me that hospitals make you go through the registration process before you receive any care. I guess the almighty dollar is always more important than anything else. After we got registered we were escorted to the Birthing Center where they had a room waiting for us (Room 710). Our nurse (Rachel) got Keri situated and asked all of the normal questions and what we had been through in the previous 48 hours. I helped Keri get into a hospital gown and she put on some sexy mesh panties and a pad big enough to soak up the Exxon Valdese oil spill. The nurse tested some of the fluid with a piece of paper that turns blue if it is touched with amniotic fluid. It turned blue immediately. BINGO! It looks like we'll be having a baby some time before midnight. The nurse also took another sample of fluid that they place on a glass slide to be sent to the lab. Amniotic fluid dries into a fern pattern that can be seen under a microscope. Keri was contracting pretty badly and she was extremely uncomfortable so they got an IV started and got her on some fluids. The nurse said that the fluids should ease the frequency and severity of the contractions. The doctor that was on duty wasn't from Sound Women's so I was doing my best to find whatever information I could about her using my iPhone. I came up empty. There's definitely something to be said for the ease you feel when the doctor you've been seeing for the past 9 months is scheduled to deliver your baby. When you know it will be a doctor you have never met it adds an additional layer of anxiety. We waited for a half hour or so and the nurse came in and said the lab test was negative. That was NOT expected. Keri and I looked at each other with 'oh crap, now what?' looks on our faces. The nurse wanted to retake the test since more fluid had probably pooled and would provide a better test. Another half hour later we got a positive test. Game on! The doctor (a really nice lady named Dr. Carder) came in to see us around 11:30. Keri had a bowl of ice cream around 7:30 that night and told the nurse when she asked "when was the last time you ate?" The doctor said that she had heard Keri had ice cream around 7:30 so they wouldn't be able to perform the c-section until morning. She also verified that Riley was still breach. She said that they would try to keep Keri comfortable and perform the c-section at 8:00 am. Keri got a shot of morphine in her IV and another shot of morphine in her gluteus maximus (bum to you and me) around midnight. The contractions got progressively stronger and more frequent as the night progressed. I tried to get some sleep sitting in the most uncomfortable recliner I have ever sat on in my life while Keri was writhing around in agony. I felt so helpless because there was nothing I could do to help her. I tried stroking her hair or talking her through it but she just wanted me to shut up and leave her alone :) Understood. I knew Keri was at her breaking point around 4:00 am and we paged the nurse to the room. She said something like "we'll get more fluid in you to see if helps with the contractions." My protective instincts were kicking in and I thought to myself "if the last three bags of fluid and two shots of morphine aren't helping one more sure as hell isn't going to." I said to the nurse "does she just need to suck it up and make it to 8:00 am or are you guys going to do anything about this." She said "oh, sure. We're going to give her a shot right now that will stop the contractions." What? Are you frigging kidding me? She's been in agony since 10:00 pm and you could have just given her a shot that would stop the contractions? How sadistic is that? I bit my lip and couldn't wait for Keri to get the shot. Luckily the contractions subsided after the shot and we were able to get some sleep until around 7:00 am. If it wasn't for that bowl of ice cream Keri never would have had to go through any of this. She might have thought labor was a cake walk if she strolled into the hospital on Thursday morning and delivered Riley. I told Keri that maybe she'll appreciate Riley a bit more when she arrives since she had to go through the pain. That didn't go over very well. We were one hour away from delivery. I was as nervous as a turkey in November...

Wet Tuesday

A lot has happened since the last time I was able to blog. Not the least of which being that we are new parents. Yee haa! Tuesday was a VERY interesting day to say the least. I decided to work from home. Actually the reality is that there was no way in heck Keri was going to let me out of her sight considering the events from the previous night. We had a somewhat relaxing day with Keri sitting on the sofa watching The Price is Right and every show on daytime TV that has a judge of some sort presiding over the shallow end of the gene pool of our society. Keri made a bee line for the toilet around 4:00 with another gush of fluid. Of course our immediate reaction was "told you so! Why didn't they just do the c-section last night?" We phoned Sound Women's Care (OB) and they advised us to wait it out as long as there wasn't a continuous flow of fluid or contractions. So we got Keri comfortable again and played the waiting game a bit longer. Around 9:30 pm the dam broke and another mad dash to the bathroom. We said to each other "now what the hell do we do? They keep telling us to stay at home." This time there was a steady trickle of fluid accompanied by contractions painful enough to make Keri cry. I called the Birthing Center at Stevens Hospital this time and they said "get her in here so we can evaluate her." No problemo! We gathered up all of our things that we had packed that day in response to the fire drill from Monday night. At least we were a little bit more prepared and we had a feeling Riley would be with us that night. Tuesday was October 7th which is also Keira's birthday (my little sis - well, she's not so little anymore at 21 but she'll always be my little squirt). When we walked out the door we thought there was a really good chance that Riley would be sharing a birthday with her Aunty Keira. Out to the garage and into the Yukon. The saga continues...

False Alarm

We had a bit of a false alarm last night. I'm looking at it like it was a practice run. Keri leapt off of the couch at about 6:15 pm faster than I've seen in quite a while. She headed straight for the downstairs bathroom. I asked her if she was ok and I got a reply through the door "I think my water just broke." That's a 'holy crap' moment let me tell ya. After I got my composure I called the hospital and asked them what we should do since we weren't 100% sure her water had broken but we were pretty darn sure. They said "You better come down here. You're probably going to be having a baby tonight." So we grabbed everything we could think of that we might need and headed for the hospital. It was pretty miserable out last night (rain) so I drove as fast as I could get away with to get to the hospital as fast as possible. We got Keri all admitted and were quite sure we were going to have a baby by Tuesday morning. It turns out they don't think Keri's water broke. We never got a good answer about what actually did happen but SOMETHING happened for sure. Keri sure as heck didn't pee her pants! So it looks like we're back on for Thursday morning. I'm staying at home as I don't think Keri will let me out of her sight. Riley seems to be full or surprises so I don't want anything to happen while I'm 50 miles away from home :)

3 Days and Counting

I don't have anything much to report from the past week. We did a lot of work around the house again this weekend trying to get as prepped as we can. Lots of cleaning, laundry, etc. I'd say Keri is pretty much at the 'miserable' point. I don't think Riley can get here a minute too soon. I'm pretty much useless at work today. All I'm thinking about is the little girl arriving. It feels a lot like waiting for xmas or the last day of school. Work is the last place I want to be right now. We can't wait to see everyone so that you can share in our joy welcoming our little girl into this world :)