Paper Pie

Outside

A few Sundays ago, we all got up early and went to Temescal Gateway Park for a hike. Ryan strapped on the Baby Bjorn and we were on our way (after our pre-hike pastry and coffee of course.) It was quite a baby friendly hike, only a few rough spots. Rylie loved it and she got a lot of attention from her fellow hikers. When we came back down there was an amazing grassy meadow with lots of big shade trees and plenty of privacy to breastfeed. We all agree that it is so wonderful and rejuvenating to get out-of-doors.

Similar Behaviors

This morning, when baby #1 was doing this . . .

baby #2 was doing this . . .
birdwatching, apparently.

Then, this afternoon, when baby #2 was doing this . . .

baby #1 was doing this . . .
whale watching!

Up until now, Zipper has kept his distance from Rylie. I See him sneek a glance here and there, and sometimes he'll mosey over and give her a sniff then run away as fast as he can when she moves. But, I have a feeling that he is slowly but surely warming up to her and before long they will be practicing their common interests together. Well, at least the napping part. I'm not sure that Zipper's birdwatching techniques are appropriate for the tiny set - or humans in general for that matter!

Smiley Rylie

Oh My Goodness . . .

. . . what a cute baby, don't you think? The little lady has a very predictable routine when it comes to bathtime. When she first gets in the tub, it is all crying and wailing as if to say "Get me out of here, NOW!" Then, after a few seconds, she discovers how nice it is to soak in warm water and she quiets right down. When she is all fresh and clean and we pull her out, the crying and wailing picks back up as she tries to tell us, "Put me back in, NOW!" She has liked her baths from the beginning. She lost her umbilical cord stump early so she only had a few sponge baths before moving to the full immersion tub.

I would love to have the time to take a long and relaxing bath. But nowadays, I am lucky if I can squeeze in a shower. If I happen to get a few spare seconds, I get in, scrub, rinse, and get out at lightening speed. You never know when she will be hungry, tired, poopy or just in need of some time spent in Mama's arms.

Keep Movin' Mama

Thank you so much to my wonderful husband Ryan for writing such a beautiful birth story. It is great to hear about the experience from his perspective. I have found it difficult to put something so profound into words, so this is where having a professional writer-husband really comes in handy. I keep remembering something my friend Mandy said when I told her I was finding it hard to express my feelings about the birth, she said: "So hard to describe and yet so cherished in your soul for forever." Exactly! It was an unbelievably positive experience for us. Though I can not say it was pain free, our Hypnobabies course went a long way in preparing us for a calm and confident childbirth experience. I would definitely recommend the classes and techniques for any expectant parents that are interested in natural childbirth.

Today is Ryan's first day back at work since the babe was born. It kind of feels like the first day of school, everything is so fresh and exciting. We have a whole new lifestyle to settle in to and figure out. Here are a few things that we have learned about Rylie so far:

• She sleeps very well at night, waking only to feed, which we praise her for every morning. During the day she is more fussy, making it challenging to get much done around the house, on the blog, in the studio, etc.
• She loves the sling and Baby Bjorn and spends much of her time in either of these two carriers. When put in the sling, she promptly falls fast asleep and sleeps very soundly. When she wakes, she is a happier and calmer baby.
• She has a tendency to overfeed and has become a bit of a spitter. I've had to pay really close attention to how much she is eating so that all of it does not come back up on herself, me, the couch, the pillows, etc.
• She loves to rock, bounce, jiggle. She definitely wants to keep it moving at all times.

She reveals herself to us more and more everyday and at the most unexpected times. Like last night on the changing table at 3:00 am she flashed me the most fantastic smile. It was a real deal smile, not just one of her many facial contortions that happened to look like a smile. She smiled because she was happy to be clean and dry. Over the course of the weekend, Ryan and I took her out on a few adventures like the grocery store and to a restaurant. It wasn't the smoothest of sailing, but we are learning and we can't stay on lock down in the house forever. We have maintained our sense of humor through it all and that has helped us immensely and makes things seem easier and builds our confidence too. Now, the next big skill I need to work on is breastfeeding discreetly in public, that seems impossible! It sure would make life easier if I could get good at it, though.

Rylie's Birth Story, July 28th 2010

Written by Daddy

Our appointment on Tuesday morning was one we never wanted to come. Just two days from the 41st week of our pregnancy and showing no signs of labor, we headed out to see the Midwives at UCLA knowing too well what they were going to tell us: Our daughter was too big to wait any longer. We would have to induce labor.

Driving to our appointment, I was filled with a feeling of defeat. After months of classes and preparation for a completely natural childbirth, and weeks of endless walks, special diets and acupuncture to try and coax our daughter along, the terms of her birth would soon be beyond our control.

After speaking with our midwife for several minutes about the next steps, she finally asked Liz if she would like an exam. “Sure” Liz begrudgingly replied, and it was at that moment that a small miracle occurred. Almost as soon as our midwife began the exam, her eyes went wide. “Why, you’re already at 4 centimeters” she proclaimed with a bright smile.

Despite the fact that our daughter was indeed on her way, the midwife still recommended that we schedule an induction for Thursday morning. It was only two days away, but we left the appointment with smiles on our faces knowing that there was still hope for the birth we wanted, and one way or another our daughter would be here soon.

After our appointment we headed to lunch at one of our favorite restaurants, and spent the afternoon walking in our old Venice Beach neighborhood. We walked past the first apartment we shared together in Los Angeles, and took a long stroll along the beach. We hadn’t spent much time in the neighborhood in years, so it made for a charming trip down memory lane as the next chapter of our lives was about to begin.

As we finished our walk I began to come down with the achy feeling of flu pains all through my body. Mind you, I never get sick. Liz will tell you that in the entire six-plus years we’ve been together she’s never seen me sick. But something was up, I was feeling heavily fatigued and the second we got home I fell into bed for a nap.

I woke up around 5pm and everything was still pretty much normal. Liz said she had been feeling contractions on and off, but with no consistency, just as she had been for weeks. We made a pizza for dinner and tried to get a few things done around the house.

By 6pm Liz’s contractions were coming on a little stronger and more regular and shortly after 8pm we decided to start timing them. The first contraction we tracked was at 8:07pm, and lasted about 45 seconds. I was cleaning up the kitchen and remember running with soapy hands to the notepad to jot down the time when Liz’s contractions would begin again. We slowly packed our bags and went over checklists for the hospital, stopping every few minutes to time the next contraction.

Some time after 11pm the contractions were getting so strong that Liz got into bed to relax and listen to some birthing affirmations while I hung some mirrors and a mobile around what would become our daughter’s play area.

When Liz returned the contractions were getting much stronger and closer together and we decided to draw a warm bath for her to relax some more. As she lay in the tub, I sat on the floor of the bathroom with my notepad and computer close at hand to document and time each contraction. Liz seemed so peaceful, calmly saying “OK” as each contraction began and ended. Meanwhile my flu pains had returned and I was feeling rather awful on the cold bathroom floor, but knew my discomfort was no match for what Liz was feeling. I laid on the floor, quietly chugging bottles of juice and trying to keep myself awake.

After more than an hour in the tub Liz decided to take a shower while I finished packing. A few minutes later Liz got out of the shower and suddenly seemed exhausted. “I want to go to the hospital, and I want some medication” she flatly told me from the hallway. I remember feeling a little disappointed because medication wasn’t part of our plan, but I could see the struggle on her face and quickly placed a call to the hospital to speak with the Midwife on call.

The midwife told Liz that she should try to rest and wait at least another half hour before coming to the hospital, but the moment Liz sat in bed she jumped up again, telling me she was “feeling pushy.”  It was time to go.

We left the house at three in the morning, a time we would later praise our daughter for choosing as it is the only time of day when LA roads are free of traffic. Liz’s contractions were almost constant now, and she would cry out with every bump I hit in the road. I nervously steered around the potholes and dips in the road, at times ignoring things like lanes or stop signs to assure a smooth ride.

Though we had driven the route to the hospital more than a dozen times, and used the valet entrance for labor and delivery before, we arrived to find the 24-hour valet stand closed. Somehow I had missed the fact that valet parking was only offered at the emergency room entrance late at night, but I didn’t have time to care. I put the flashers on and left the car in the hospital driveway as we hurried inside. I yelled “She’s in labor I’ll be back for the car” to a security guard as we rushed to the elevator.

When we arrived at labor and delivery the nurse at the desk gave me a look of disbelief. As it turns out, it was an incredibly busy night in L&D and they were out of rooms, and our arrival at 3:30 must have been enough to put them over the top. With Liz unable to even talk at this point I simply blurted out “she’s in labor” to one of the nurses. She nodded at me and asked for Liz’s ID which, as it turns out, was in the car. After a few questions they rushed to find us a room. 
With even the overflow rooms in use, the nurse led us into a room we later found out had rarely, if ever, been used for delivery: It was small, windowless and about the size of a supply closet. Liz’s contractions were so strong at this point it didn’t matter, I don’t know that she even noticed as they helped her into bed. With the nurses, midwife and me in the room there was barely enough room to even stand.

The midwife arrived and within minutes gave Liz an exam. Unbelievably, Liz was a full ten centimeters, and it was time to get ready to push. While it was always our goal to endure as much of the labor as possible at home, we were still shocked to hear that we had arrived for the final push. I held Liz’s hand as we answered the numerous administrative questions and the nurses began to prepare for her to deliver our daughter. At least half an hour passed before I realized that I had left the car, with everything we packed inside, illegally parked downstairs. The midwife told me I’d better hurry, so I ran to the car and sped off to the proper entrance, with no regard for the red light before me.

When I got to the late night entrance the valet brought me a wheelchair, and I loaded it with bags, pillows, and our enormous “birth ball,” none of which we would end up using for our delivery. As I rushed in to the hospital, I yelled out to a nearby nurse for directions, and ran down the hospital corridors pushing my precariously stacked wheelchair. In that moment, I was playing the role of the disheveled expectant father like a pro.

When I arrived back at our room, our midwife had suggested stripping the membranes to help Liz prepare to push. Though this was also something we had originally wanted to avoid, we were so close that Liz agreed. Moments after the Midwife left the room to get prepared for the procedure, Liz’s water broke on its own and I darted out to the nurse’s desk to get assistance.

I glanced at the clock as Liz began pushing, and it was just past four in the morning. I put on some of the CDs from our Hypnobabies classes as Liz would bear down and push with each contraction. A few nurses gathered in our room to watch, each one of them commenting on how amazingly well Liz was doing, all without any medication. One after another would comment about how perfectly everything was going, and this put me at ease as Liz worked with every push.

In what felt like no time at all, the midwife told us that she could see our baby’s head, and proclaimed that she had “a head of black hair!” Liz and I exchanged a surprised glance, as we had both been assuming her hair would be blonde like her mother’s. Soon after, I caught my first glimpse of our daughter’s head and I was overcome with the reality of her arrival.  After nine months of fuzzy black and white images on computer screens, and kicks through mommy’s belly, here was this head, and this beautiful hair!

From there I admit it gets blurry for me. Maybe Liz pushed two more times, maybe four. Whatever the number it wasn’t much. I helped hold her legs back as she pushed, and watched our daughter’s head inch further out with each effort. With one last powerful and lengthy push our daughter slipped easily the rest of the way out.

At 5:25 am on Wednesday, July 28th, Rylie Beverly Scott entered the world, and she was a perfect, 8 lbs. 10oz. Far from the purple, wrinkly newborn I had prepared to meet, our gorgeous little Rylie lit up the room as Liz brought her to her chest. Our midwife and nurses seemed blown away at how well Liz had handled the delivery, and the little supply closet echoed of congratulations as we cuddled with our sweet baby daughter.

Despite our concerns in the final days of pregnancy, Rylie’s birth ultimately went better than we could have ever planned. Liz was an absolute champion throughout, enduring the majority of the labor at home with calm and confidence before gracefully completing the all-natural birth we’d been hoping for all along.

Now a month after that most beautiful day, our life has never been so rich. Every day with Rylie is a wondrous new adventure as we get to know her and learn our new roles as parents. As she changes subtly from one moment to the next and our own confidence continues to grow, I am made more aware of just what a rewarding journey we’ve begun.  After all the months of planning, waiting and trying to imagine what life would be like with Rylie, I’m already left wondering how we ever got on without her.

Her Many Looks

Carefree and slightly bored . . .

Quiet contemplation . . .

Serious and sassy . . .

Rylie has so many different looks it is hard to keep up. I can already tell a big change in her in the mere three weeks that she has been on the planet. Her little face is filling out and she is definitely getting longer. She has already outgrown some of her newborn sleepers. Jeesh, kids really do grow up too fast! She is getting stronger too. She practices lifting her head on her movement mat and just in the last few days she has started cooing.

Next week Rylie will get to meet some of her little friends. Fauna, who is almost 10 months old and Olivia, who is almost 3 months old. It will be fun to see how much the babies change physically and in their personalities in the span of just a few months.

Today I finished reading the La Leche League's book; The Womanly Art of Breastfeeding. I had started it when I was still pregnant and eager to learn all I could about the subject. It has been relaxing and enjoyable to finish it up while actually breastfeeding. It is a pretty exhaustive guide on the subject and covers most everything you'd need to know. Besides a great breastfeeding manual, it also touches on a lot of important issues regarding parenthood and becoming a mother. I would highly recommend it to all new mothers, and fathers alike. Ryan just finished The Happiest Baby on the Block and we also watched the DVD last night. This one is a method put forth by a local pediatrician for soothing a crying and fussy baby. It has many good techniques and tools that have worked for Rylie, but overall it is a little simplistic in it's approach. That being said, it is worth a read or at least the time to watch the DVD. As brand new parents, we welcome thoughtful insight into the world of a newborn. Slowly and surely, we are learning how to weather the rough spots.

Life With Baby

Wow, time really flies when you have a sweet little angel living in your house. We have been fortunate to have the help of our family and friends these past few weeks. People have been so kind to bring us dinner in exchange for a few baby squeezes here and there.

Life with baby is definitely different. In the past three weeks we have learned so much about this little person and slowly and surely we are finding our groove. There is no time for things like laundry and housework, right now our world revolves around our little girl and her appetite and sleeping schedule. Did I say schedule? There is no schedule, just a slow and peaceful pace. Joyous moments in which we get to know each other, bit by bit.

Things do get done, just in a more fragmented way. For instance, I have been crafting this blog post since this morning and it may not actually be posted until much later this evening. Completing a task in one sitting is a thing of the past and we are getting accustomed to this new way of working. The crafting continues too, just in smaller increments, a stitch here a stitch there. Projects get put aside when the little one is hungry or needs to be calmed. Ryan has been off work since Rylie's birth and it has been such a blessing to start our family life all together, each of us being present every day during this very tender time. We are getting to know our daughter and she, us, and at the same time Ryan and I are getting to know one another in our new roles as parents.

Here is a look at what I was able to accomplish last week in little bits and pieces:

This is Mostly Marvelous Ms. Rabbit made from a kit bought from the Bird and Little Bird Etsy shop. You should definitely check out the shop if you have never visited before. Annie, the shop owner, offers up handmade toys, kits and patterns just like this adorable rabbit. It was so nice to order the kit and receive all of the materials and all of the precut fabric I needed for the project. Just perfect for this busy new mama! The directions were really straightforward and easy to follow. Ms. Rabbit is not perfect and it is ok, because after all, she is only mostly marvelous. I, no doubt, think her imperfections give her character, don't you?

This rabbit is just darling with lots of cute details like movable limbs and these little felt flower appliqués. The fabric used on the ears and the legs is from the beautiful Far Far Away collection by Heather Ross. Ms. Rabbit seems to be getting along famously with her crib buddies.

(The Bla Bla kitty is a present from Daddy to Rylie and the frog is from sweet Julia. I love them so much and I know that one day very soon Rylie will too.)

Until the next time I can squeeze in a few moments to say "hi!"

Sweet Dreams

Bunting for the New Baby

Thank you for all of your wonderful comments and warm wishes for Rylie. Ryan and I are really touched by your kindness and one day I'm sure Rylie will be too.

Ryan is fortunate enough to be able to take a month off of work and it has been just dreamy having him here as we all get acquainted as a family. With him here to change a poopy diaper or to soothe Rylie when she is fussy, I have been able to get in a tiny bit of sewing between feedings.

You've seen this bunting before, but I couldn't add her name to it until she arrived because it was a surprise. I was able cut these letters from some of my Sugar Pop fabric, fuse them to the bunting and top stitch them in place all in the span of one of Rylie's catnaps. The rhythm around here has changed a bit, or I should say that things have been turned around 180 degrees. But in the best possible way. We spend countless hours staring at our girl, contemplating her impossible cuteness. So now, my crafting and sewing has to be done in bits and pieces when I have a free minute or two, in between folding laundry and singing Rylie to sleep. And it is just fine with me.

Time to go cuddle with my baby.