Riley, warming up for her first game!

It all started Saturday morning. I was on-call at our county hospital in the valley, Olive View. Got to work around 5:45am and pretty much felt like a normal weekend day. On the drive in I kept imagining what would happen if I went into labor, or baby stopped moving, or anything like that during my shift. It was my last call night, Tuesday (June 30) would have been my last day of work, but honestly I was ready to just be done with Olive View and have my baby. Anyway. The morning proceeded uneventfully until around 10am. It was busy… no time for breakfast yet, not a lot of sitting, but not really too out of the ordinary. I was admitting a patient in the ER when suddenly I distinctly felt leaking. I quickly ran to the bathroom and realized my water had probably broken… 4 weeks early. Part of me was excited, part nervous and scared, part embarrassed, all my body shaky. It was so unexpected, Riley was a week late and Dr. Johnson seemed convinced this one would be too. I found my team and told them I had to go see the Ob residents and get checked out. They were… well, less then thrilled. Anyway, the ob residents were awesome, especially considering I’m obviously not a patient at Olive View. They checked me out right away, did an ultrasound, and monitored the baby. Since baby looked ok they agreed to let me drive to UCLA as long as I wasn’t alone. Sage and Riley drove out to meet me and drove behind me just in case.

On the drive to UCLA I called my family. My mother immediately sprang into action and found a flight to LA from Boston. My brother Michael and his girlfriend Courtney offered to come down from Santa Barbara and help out with Riley. I distinctly felt like I was putting everyone out with this sudden news… first at work, and now with my family. My family is so awesome though, not put out at all, and Michael really made an effort to be sure I knew he was happy to be there.

Once we got to UCLA there was a whole lot of nothing going on. They gave me 6 hours to start contracting, and when my body didn’t get going on it’s own, they decided to start pitocin. By midnight my mother arrived and as nothing seemed to be happening, Sage went home to sleep and my mother stayed over. Took a break from the pitocin and tried misoprostel instead, so I was actually able to sleep much of the night as well. In the morning they started back on the pitocin and just waited waited waited all day. My no-nonsense nurse convinced me to get an epidural around mid-day when the contractions got strong. I felt like I was handling them pretty well (residency seems to have raised my pain tolerance), but she said she could crank up the pitocin and speed things along with an epidural. I agreed, and in no time the anesthesia resident was there and ready to go. Of course it was someone I’ve worked with, and he immediately recognized me as well, but somehow it didn’t seem too weird. My epidural at Stanford was pretty much a disaster, but this one was totally smooth and perfect. They put me on a rate where I could totally feel my contractions, but they weren’t overwhelmingly painful, and I could still move my legs. I had a button I could push for more, but didn’t really have to.

The day passed slowly and I actually got some rest… finally around 9:00pm they checked me and I was 7cm, 100% effaced. By 10:15 I called Sage and told him he should probably come back to the hospital (he had gone home to put Riley to sleep). I asked the Ob resident to check me again, and she said she could feel the head! ~20min of pushing later we had a baby boy! They weren’t worried about him at all and gave him to me right away (“skin to skin”) while Sage cut the cord. He cried just enough to let us know he was okay, then opened his eyes and looked right at me, very calmly. I know I’m biased, but I think he’s ridiculously cute and I love him. He was very active with his hands right away, grabbing on to things, and nursed like a champ in the delivery room.

We were in L&D for ~38 hours, but overall it was really very smooth and easy, not nearly as dramatic as the first time. Sage, Michael, Courtney and my mother took turns keeping me company (I got very emotional when left alone) and entertaining Riley. Riley was actually around a lot of the time. I wonder what the expereince was like for her. the first day was confusing I think… she didn’t understand why i couldn’t go home (and later why Damon and I couldn’t go right home) and the medical stuff was very foreign to her. I had a giant right antecubital IV that got in her way (very uncomfortable. They stuck me 6 times and had to call the anesthesiologist before getting one. I guess I was dehydrated? My veins are usually huge and easy to find…) and the monitors on my belly (one for the baby’s heartrate, one for contractions) and the blood pressure cuff… Just a lot of wires going everywhere, and she was mystified by the tacky hospital gown (she really didn’t like the pattern). For a while on Sunday she didn’t really want to come near me… but on Sunday night when I wasn’t feeling too good she climbed into bed with me and started showering me with kisses and hugs and telling me she loves me. She got up close to my belly and told the baby it was time to come out. That night she really didn’t want to leave and said she could just sleep in bed with me. She was finally convinced when we told her the baby would be there when she came back in the morning.

Overall I feel very lucky and grateful for how wonderful everyone was. Sage and my mother obviously knew what to do from last time. Michael and Courtney were so great to have around, especially for Riley, but I really appreciated having them there as well. My fellow residents Sigrid, Danielle and Aqsa had to scramble to cover my absence, but made it work. The nurses and care partners and residents were all great… even the food is good! Overall I’m very pleased with our UCLA experience and would recommend it to anyone. The resident who delivered Damon was fantastic, I think her name is Meredith.

So that’s the story! My mother took plenty of pictures, which I promise will be up soon. She tried to take pictures during the delivery, but I shut that down right away, don’t worry.

Riley wore a hole in her shoe! The first of many, to be sure. They were well loved (thanks, Chloe!).

We were still in Cambridge, which means Riley had her first bithday in the same house where I celebrated my first birthday. We had a little birthday dinner of pasta with some of her favorite veggies (squash, zucchinni), followed by Riley’s first taste of chocolate in the form of a cupcake with chocolate frosting. She didn’t seem super impressed by the chocolate, but did really enjoy the little flower sprinkles on top.

It looks like her favorite part of us singing “Happy Birthday” was the flame on her cupcake (three candles made the flame extra big). Her birthday loot also included an Elmo balloon and a red flowery stick thingy. Not too shabby!

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So I guess it’s been a year now that we’ve been writing in this blog. Not bad considering neither of us really consider ourselves to be “bloggers.” I have no idea if anyone is even still following the blog these days, but it’s nice to have it as a sort of journal of Riley’s life. Looking back through those early posts it’s amazing how quickly memories blur and fade…

Actually, it made me think of a bit of dialogue from Six Degrees of Separation:

I remembered asking my kids’ second-grade teacher: “Why are all your students geniuses?” Look at the first grade – blotches of green and black. The third grade – camouflage. But your grade, the second grade… Matisses, every one. You’ve made my child a Matisse. Let me study with you. Let me into the second grade. What is your secret?

I don’t have any secret. I just know when to take their drawings away from them.

Well, I suppose in this case Riley’s teachers might start by keeping kids on their own canvases. Those blotchy black finger smudges in the lower left? That was Riley’s friend wandering off her own sheet and onto Riley’s.

The class also painted baby pumpkins for Halloween. Riley was apparently the only kid to use sparkle paint. I was almost blinded by Elise’s beaming smile when she told me that bit of detail.

Riley went on her first camping trip this weekend! We were up in Ashland for my 10 year high school reunion (yikes!) and spent a night up and Squaw Lake with a few people the following night. Riley had a pretty good time, despite having a bit of a cold. Here she’s sporting her Camp Out outfit from Houston and Taylor.

The trip gave us an opportunity to finally try out the backpack baby carrier thinger (the “Wanderer”) that Eagle hooked us up with for Riley’s baby shower. It’s great! She has more room to move around than in the Bjorn, and there are some loops we can hook her toys through so that she has something to play with.

First successful one, that is. This means I can help out with the nighttime feedings… Yippee! Good thing she’s so cute. Well, both of them.

Of course deciding what to wear for such a big event was a challenge, but we found the perfect outfit… (Thank you to Josh and Margo)