10:47 AM and I’m waiting with my phone in my hand in the back of the conference room at work. You see, I’m in a class learning all kinds of fascinating things about plastics and how to use them affectively in designs for high volume mass produced consumer electronics products. Kristy is supposed to pick me up at work so I sat in the back of the room near the door and I put my cell phone on vibrate and made sure I kept it in my hand so I wouldn’t miss her call letting me know that she was right out front waiting for me. I was actually expecting the call like 10 minutes ago, but evidently she is running a bit behind the schedule I created in my mind and didn’t tell her about.
Flash forward a bit and now we are in the car. Carter is not joining us today; he is playing with his buddy across the street, Matthew. I’m excited, this time we are meeting with Joy, who delivered Carter and who will be replacing Jill this time around.
Ladies and Gentlemen… The return of Collete. That’s right, she’s back in my blogs. She was there this week and this time she had a name tag. I sat down, scanned the magazines and then got my pen and paper ready to take blog notes like I always do. Collette let out a big Yawn and said “Oh, excuse me, I just keep doing it!” She seemed a little more subdued that usual and she had a little bit more grey in the hair. Kristy double checked, “bag’s are in the bathroom, right?” and Collette said yes. Kristy went to the bathroom because she was about to explode (her words).
There was a gentlemen waiting across from me and he was watching the jungle book on the TV in the kid’s book area, then Collette started fast forwarding it for some reason. I think the guy wanted to finish watching it but just sat there and started looking for something to read. I sat there too, waiting for Kristy and the nurse to call her name before she got back. Then a few seconds later the nurse called for Kristy and just like I thought; Kristy still wasn’t back. So I told the nurse she was in the bathroom and she said okay.
Then the nurse (Toni) went over to Collette and they started talking about Collette’s flowers. Toni said that she tried to clip them the other day and Collette said they were Irish Bells. She also said that they pricked her, so she got “ticked off” and she threw them out, that’s were the yellow ones went. Then she showed Toni the scripture she sent out via email and then Kristy came walking out. I said Kristy Ray is right there and pointed and Toni said, oh, she brought me a present (brown bag present).
We went back to the scale for Kristy’s weigh in and I noticed that there used to be a little seat that I would sit in right next to the scale, but it was gone. It was replaced by a small cart with a TV/VCR combo and some women’s health video tapes. Kristy weighed in at 136 pounds this time and her blood pressure was 104/62. Then Toni led us back to our room and gave Kristy the third installment of our Kaiser “What to Expect/You Are Going Through” pregnancy hand out.
Once in the room I got to practice some Spanish by reading the flyer across from me but now I think I regret it? The NovaSure brochure in the holder read “Controle El Sangrado, Recobre El Control De Su Vida”, it was a women’s health thing and I’ll just leave it a that.
Joy came in shortly after and started talking and then I think she recognized us and asked if we had met before and Kristy told her that she delivered our son about a year and a half ago. Then she looked at my little paper and my tiny writing and asked what I was doing. We told her about the blog and she expressed interest in reading it. I was going to tell her that when Kristy delivered she was sideways on the bed, to help spark her memory of us and that she was in love with Carter’s lips, but I didn’t say anything. I thought I would save it for this blog and if she reads it then maybe it will spark a memory.
Joy said I needed short hand, what she didn’t realize is that I was using my own form of shorthand that helps me capture a ton of detail. I right town key words or phrases and they trigger precise memories and then I write about them. Kristy studied this in one of her psychology classes I think.
Everything went by really quick, she told us some stuff, asked us some stuff and then said it’s time to listen to the hear beat. She busted out the Doppler listening device; put some nice cold gel on Kristy’s belly and right away we heard it. Of course we could all identify that first sound we heard as the heart beat because of our veteran skills, Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh. Joy has heard thousands of these before and I was surprised how acutely my ear was tuned and remembered the sound quickly and I could tell by Kristy’s face it was the same for her. It was about 150 beats per second, nice and fast like it should be.
It sounded like something from Battlestar Galatica, if you happen to watch that TV show. On the show they are all advanced with all this advanced equipment and then when they talk over wireless communications it sounds like they are talking with two tin cans connected by a string. That is the one thing on that show that bugs me a bit, when we talk on our RAZRs or iPhones it usually sounds pretty good, not like shouting to each other from opposite ends of a tunnel. Returning from my great divergence, it sounded very hallow and somewhat faint but it is a very unique sound none the less and one that brings great joy to your heart.
There was no belly measurement for Kristy today because she is still too small and we wouldn’t get any usable info from it other than she is a fit trim mama. The next visit we could have the optional Quad Screen (we knew it as the Multiple Marker) if we wanted it. She reminded us to call and setup the ultra sound appointment again and then turned us loose with Toni to setup or next appointment.
We went back to the nurse’s station and we noticed Toni still had some 4th of July decorations that were in a basket she said she was getting ready to finally take to her car. That made me think of these people in our neighborhood that had their Christmas tree up until like May and they just moved it to the garage, it’s still decorated and I see it every time their garage is open. It’s fake of course! I also noticed there was a ton of Dell stuff at the nurses station, I’m sure their jobs would be much easier if they were outfitted with HP stuff!
So we setup our next appointment for November 6th at 12:15 PM. Kristy also asked about her due date, which I thought was confirmed for April 12th 2008. Toni consulted the magic paper wheel it said April 12th or 13th and Kristy was not reassured because the precision of the date still isn’t good enough for her. She wanted an early ultra sound to get a more precise date, she is annoyed that she has to live with a +/- 5 day window. To give you an idea of what I’m talking about, Ingrid measured her and by that measurement her due date was April 11th, but by the info from Toni (which is only 1 day off mind you) her date is in the range of the 11th or 12th, but that is too much unknown for Kristy because she likes to countdown the weeks and she needs a the exact day to roll the week over. And all of this folks means a ton because she’ll probably deliver a week, maybe more earlier and we have no idea when that actually is. Oh what to do!
Sunday, October 14, 2007
August 30th 2007
Here we go again on our own, going down the only road we've ever known, like drifters!... That is the Whitesnake lyrics that played in my head this morning. So, here we go again, only this time things are starting out a bit different. For example, last time before the first appointment we just got up and went. This time we got up early, something we have grown accustomed to the last year and a half and we made a full breakfast and watched the Wiggles. Funny how life changes after you have your first kid! And on this morning Carter was really using the new word he had recently learned, pronouncing it flawlessly: “No, NO, No, NO, No, NO!” Timing is another aspect of life that changes after kids, as many can attest to, it’s much harder to get to places on time, so we left in a rush and I forgot to brush my hair and Carter’s and Carter has some wild morning hair.
En route to the doctor’s office we passed a construction site with a bunch of diggers, scrapers and road builders and Carter was in awe. I think he demanded for us to stop and watch but we had to keep going to make up time. A few minutes later we arrived and there were a bunch of parking spaces, big ones too which is good because we upgraded to a larger Sport Utility Vehicle (SUV) since we had Carter. No more Subaru Outback Wagon, we traded Northwest cool for European safety.
Once inside I was immediately busied with entertaining Carter over in the corner with the children’s books. Collete wasn’t at the desk and now I was thinking, does she still work here? What else has changed? Kristy checked in. We didn’t get to meet with Jill today because you guessed it. Change! Jill now only works at the hospital and not in the doctors’ office so we had to find a new doctor or midwife for our visits. Now I don’t even know what’s going on. The brown bag presents that used to be out front in the giant basket with the sign that said “Take One” was gone. Now the presents are already waiting in the bathrooms, totally different from before. For those of you that don’t know what the brown bag presents are or want to know what it was like in the olden days, please read my blog from August 19th 2005 documenting our rookie year experiences.
We went over and Kristy weight in at 134Lbs and her blood pressure was 102/64, at least this was similar. Then we were taken back to the room where Kristy and I waited. She made a comment about her belly and the possibility that it might be “pooching out” a bit early. I gave her a hard time about having twins, explaining any early “pooching” and she made me take it back. Yes, with force if you were wondering!
Today we met with Ingrid. We had met with her before as a couple back in January 2006 and Kristy had seen her a month or two before for her final post natal checkup, where she got a clean bill of health, which we obviously took advantage of to make another little Ray!
She basically said that today was the big “take a lot of blood” and “do a bunch of testing for common diseases” day and if something is wrong we’ll call you. If not we’ll send the results to you in the mail for your reference. She asked if this was a planned pregnancy or a surprise and we said “planned” (Kristy has been running calculators and crunching numbers for dates for awhile). Ingrid said it was really great to hear that, which makes me wonder what the percentage of planned versus surprise pregnancies actually is?
We went over our hand out that tells us what to expect, our first ultra sound would be planned for sometime in the 18-20 week of pregnancy range, which is a lot later than our first ultra sound with Carter. At that time we would be able to find out the gender of the baby if we wanted to. We told Ingrid that we would be finding out the sex and gave her the reader’s digest version of my October 7th 2006 blog.
Kristy asked for suggestions on what she could eat to get more protein in her diet and Ingrid suggested hard boiled eggs and peanut butter, both of which Kristy has already introduced into her diet. Then Ingrid left the room and came back wheeling a portable ultrasound machine. We had seen one last time in one of the rooms but we never used it. Ingrid said it isn’t very good compared to the regular ones and she was right, it was like a 12 inch black and white cathode ray tube TV with dials compared to a new 42 inch High Definition LCD TV. We had to use it though, because it was too early to locate and hear the babies fluttering heart beat with the Doppler listening device. It was much easier to make sense of the blobs of stuff on the screen, even with the lower resolution, veteran skill. We got to see the amniotic sack and it’s associated fluid and a little flutter that was the baby’s little tiny heart. The baby was like the size of a standard lightly salted peanut shell with both nuts in place.
Kristy had to have a pelvic exam and one funny thing that I noted was Ingrid had car washing mitts on the stirrups to protect women from the icy cold supports that obviously were designed by men who had never been required to use one before and have that icy cold steel touch their bare skin. Kristy also asked about her moles since some got bigger during her last pregnancy with Carter and she also acquired a large number of new moles during that pregnancy as well. Ingrid measured a couple of the larger ones, said we’d watch them and if any became concerning Kristy would get a referral to a dermatologist.
And that was about it for our first appointment, the second time around.
En route to the doctor’s office we passed a construction site with a bunch of diggers, scrapers and road builders and Carter was in awe. I think he demanded for us to stop and watch but we had to keep going to make up time. A few minutes later we arrived and there were a bunch of parking spaces, big ones too which is good because we upgraded to a larger Sport Utility Vehicle (SUV) since we had Carter. No more Subaru Outback Wagon, we traded Northwest cool for European safety.
Once inside I was immediately busied with entertaining Carter over in the corner with the children’s books. Collete wasn’t at the desk and now I was thinking, does she still work here? What else has changed? Kristy checked in. We didn’t get to meet with Jill today because you guessed it. Change! Jill now only works at the hospital and not in the doctors’ office so we had to find a new doctor or midwife for our visits. Now I don’t even know what’s going on. The brown bag presents that used to be out front in the giant basket with the sign that said “Take One” was gone. Now the presents are already waiting in the bathrooms, totally different from before. For those of you that don’t know what the brown bag presents are or want to know what it was like in the olden days, please read my blog from August 19th 2005 documenting our rookie year experiences.
We went over and Kristy weight in at 134Lbs and her blood pressure was 102/64, at least this was similar. Then we were taken back to the room where Kristy and I waited. She made a comment about her belly and the possibility that it might be “pooching out” a bit early. I gave her a hard time about having twins, explaining any early “pooching” and she made me take it back. Yes, with force if you were wondering!
Today we met with Ingrid. We had met with her before as a couple back in January 2006 and Kristy had seen her a month or two before for her final post natal checkup, where she got a clean bill of health, which we obviously took advantage of to make another little Ray!
She basically said that today was the big “take a lot of blood” and “do a bunch of testing for common diseases” day and if something is wrong we’ll call you. If not we’ll send the results to you in the mail for your reference. She asked if this was a planned pregnancy or a surprise and we said “planned” (Kristy has been running calculators and crunching numbers for dates for awhile). Ingrid said it was really great to hear that, which makes me wonder what the percentage of planned versus surprise pregnancies actually is?
We went over our hand out that tells us what to expect, our first ultra sound would be planned for sometime in the 18-20 week of pregnancy range, which is a lot later than our first ultra sound with Carter. At that time we would be able to find out the gender of the baby if we wanted to. We told Ingrid that we would be finding out the sex and gave her the reader’s digest version of my October 7th 2006 blog.
Kristy asked for suggestions on what she could eat to get more protein in her diet and Ingrid suggested hard boiled eggs and peanut butter, both of which Kristy has already introduced into her diet. Then Ingrid left the room and came back wheeling a portable ultrasound machine. We had seen one last time in one of the rooms but we never used it. Ingrid said it isn’t very good compared to the regular ones and she was right, it was like a 12 inch black and white cathode ray tube TV with dials compared to a new 42 inch High Definition LCD TV. We had to use it though, because it was too early to locate and hear the babies fluttering heart beat with the Doppler listening device. It was much easier to make sense of the blobs of stuff on the screen, even with the lower resolution, veteran skill. We got to see the amniotic sack and it’s associated fluid and a little flutter that was the baby’s little tiny heart. The baby was like the size of a standard lightly salted peanut shell with both nuts in place.
Kristy had to have a pelvic exam and one funny thing that I noted was Ingrid had car washing mitts on the stirrups to protect women from the icy cold supports that obviously were designed by men who had never been required to use one before and have that icy cold steel touch their bare skin. Kristy also asked about her moles since some got bigger during her last pregnancy with Carter and she also acquired a large number of new moles during that pregnancy as well. Ingrid measured a couple of the larger ones, said we’d watch them and if any became concerning Kristy would get a referral to a dermatologist.
And that was about it for our first appointment, the second time around.
February 18th 2006
It was a damp morning, but sunny with a briskness in the air. After waiting all night for something to happen we were kind of impatient, like kids waiting for presents to appear under the tree on Christmas day, you know the waking up at 3 in the morning and laying there wondering what might be awaiting you until 5 in the morning and then sneaking out and asking if your parents are awake yet and then they say no, go back to bed for a little while longer. And then around 6:54am your parents give in and let you get into your stocking, to buy them a little bit more shut eye.
So we decided to go for a walk because sometimes that gets things going. So we walked around the neighborhood for about an hour and then Kristy said stuff was happening, but wasn’t sure if this was it. So we went home and I got my Personal Data Assistant (PDA) and started up the contractions timer program I had download because I read that it was good to keep track of those type of things and they would ask us about it at the hospital (which they totally did). They started out about 4 minutes apart but after about five minutes they sped up to 2 minutes or less apart and this went on for about 6 or 7 minutes so we decided it mosey on over to the hospital.
We got a parking place near the birthing center so that was pretty nice. We went inside and got all checked in and went to the waiting and verification area. It’s this closed off place with a bunch of curtains and monitoring equipment sectioning off very small areas. They basically monitor the mom for a bit and make sure she is really in labor before assigning an actual birthing room. After what seemed like forever but probably about 20 minutes they confirmed that Kristy was in labor for real and they started getting our room ready. Maybe 10 minutes later we were in the room.
Kristy’s parents had arrived while we were in the waiting and verification area. So they stayed with Kristy while I brought in all our supplies that had been packed for about a week and a half. Kristy’s pillows and extra clothes, my laptop, my portable HP photo printer, our camera stuff, my North Face hydration pack with the double pack of beef jerky from Costco, our ipod mini and Altec Lansing InMotion (mobile speakers), my book of course and my sleeping bag, all the essentials for having a baby or going camping.
Kristy’s sister came to the hospital too and that about rounds out the family delivery team and of course the excellent hospital staff. Jill wasn’t working today though so we didn’t know who we would get, basically whoever was around when the baby decided to come out, that’s who we got. Kristy’s smooth sailing kind of stalled out a bit and her water had to be broken with a medical instrument that looked suspiciously like a crochet needle. After that, things really started moving; literally the baby was on his way out.
Now at this point something changed, Kristy went from just the tough breathing like athletes do when they tear apart their ACL, to pain with a lot of yelling, screaming and crying. This was “The” toughest part of the day and the whole delivery experience. This may not be true for all men, but it was for me. Why? Because here is my wife who I love dearly and do everything I can every day to keep her out of harms way and far from pain and here I was helpless and I just had to watch her endure this immense pain. It was really a painful time for me, but I knew that it was unavoidable and had to be done. I held her hands, kissed her forehead, kept eye contact and let her know that I was right there with her and hopefully that all did something, but she was still in pain, how do I know this? Because Kristy was gripping my hand so hard that you would have thought if she were to let go that she would fly off the face of the earth or something. Her dad and sister were brining her water, you know, like people do for marathon runners and cold wash clothes to cool her down. Her mom was right there too, massaging and helping reposition her when she needed to stay comfortable. It was a lot of activity for a person lying in bed.
There was a shift change for the medical staff and it turned out that the doctor that would be delivering the baby would actually be the doctor that we had picked like 9 months ago (Joy) but was completely booked and not taking on any additional clientele, which lead to us continuing to look and finally giving the nod to Jill.
Pretty much one hour after the water breaking event, it was finally time. Joy had been in and out checking on Kristy and monitoring progress. Now she was in the room with us and Kristy was all turned sideways in the bed. Joy asked if she wanted to straighten out and Kristy said no way, don’t move me. Joy said “Well, I have never delivered sideways before, but there’s always a first time for everything” and after a few pushes (if you ask Kristy she’ll say a few hundred pushes) our first son was born. It was amazing, he was crying right away so we all new his lung capacity was good. He was put right up on Mom, well after Joy was like, “Where is Dad to cut the cord?” and at that moment I already knew I was busted, I put down the cameras and ran around the bed and then I cut the cord. During all this time Kristy’s Mom was able to call like 30 people or something to announce the successful delivery. I just watched Carter and Mommy and try to savor the moment and take it all in. All the nurses and Joy were all in love with Carter’s lips. Kristy and I were pretty much in love with all of him! Carter passed APGAR and then took a bath in the sink and then went back to Mom (Kristy).
Eventually it got late and Kristy’s parents and Sister went home for the night. And for the first time our new family was all alone with each other. That first night Carter didn’t sleep much in the unfriendly looking hospital crib, we all slept together in Kristy’s bed, well I kind of slept half on the bed and half floating in space. We did use the heater box for warm diapers and clothes and I even got to change a tar diaper, for those of you Dads-to-be reading this, I’ll save that description and let you experience that little joyous and memorable moment for yourself.
The next day Jill was on duty at the hospital and she stopped in to see us and meet carter. We gave her a same day picture printed on that portable HP printer I mentioned earlier. Actually we gave all our visitors same day pictures of our brand spanking new baby. We were also allowed to go home the next day and it was funny, I drove like the back of the Subaru wagon was filled with eggs free to roll around without any protective cartons. I don’t think I have ever driven so carefully before in my life. And so ends this fantastic experience that has led me to write these blogs and I have had a great time writing each and every one. Hopefully it will help out some future Dads and maybe provide a laugh or two for those who have been patient enough to read them all.
So we decided to go for a walk because sometimes that gets things going. So we walked around the neighborhood for about an hour and then Kristy said stuff was happening, but wasn’t sure if this was it. So we went home and I got my Personal Data Assistant (PDA) and started up the contractions timer program I had download because I read that it was good to keep track of those type of things and they would ask us about it at the hospital (which they totally did). They started out about 4 minutes apart but after about five minutes they sped up to 2 minutes or less apart and this went on for about 6 or 7 minutes so we decided it mosey on over to the hospital.
We got a parking place near the birthing center so that was pretty nice. We went inside and got all checked in and went to the waiting and verification area. It’s this closed off place with a bunch of curtains and monitoring equipment sectioning off very small areas. They basically monitor the mom for a bit and make sure she is really in labor before assigning an actual birthing room. After what seemed like forever but probably about 20 minutes they confirmed that Kristy was in labor for real and they started getting our room ready. Maybe 10 minutes later we were in the room.
Kristy’s parents had arrived while we were in the waiting and verification area. So they stayed with Kristy while I brought in all our supplies that had been packed for about a week and a half. Kristy’s pillows and extra clothes, my laptop, my portable HP photo printer, our camera stuff, my North Face hydration pack with the double pack of beef jerky from Costco, our ipod mini and Altec Lansing InMotion (mobile speakers), my book of course and my sleeping bag, all the essentials for having a baby or going camping.
Kristy’s sister came to the hospital too and that about rounds out the family delivery team and of course the excellent hospital staff. Jill wasn’t working today though so we didn’t know who we would get, basically whoever was around when the baby decided to come out, that’s who we got. Kristy’s smooth sailing kind of stalled out a bit and her water had to be broken with a medical instrument that looked suspiciously like a crochet needle. After that, things really started moving; literally the baby was on his way out.
Now at this point something changed, Kristy went from just the tough breathing like athletes do when they tear apart their ACL, to pain with a lot of yelling, screaming and crying. This was “The” toughest part of the day and the whole delivery experience. This may not be true for all men, but it was for me. Why? Because here is my wife who I love dearly and do everything I can every day to keep her out of harms way and far from pain and here I was helpless and I just had to watch her endure this immense pain. It was really a painful time for me, but I knew that it was unavoidable and had to be done. I held her hands, kissed her forehead, kept eye contact and let her know that I was right there with her and hopefully that all did something, but she was still in pain, how do I know this? Because Kristy was gripping my hand so hard that you would have thought if she were to let go that she would fly off the face of the earth or something. Her dad and sister were brining her water, you know, like people do for marathon runners and cold wash clothes to cool her down. Her mom was right there too, massaging and helping reposition her when she needed to stay comfortable. It was a lot of activity for a person lying in bed.
There was a shift change for the medical staff and it turned out that the doctor that would be delivering the baby would actually be the doctor that we had picked like 9 months ago (Joy) but was completely booked and not taking on any additional clientele, which lead to us continuing to look and finally giving the nod to Jill.
Pretty much one hour after the water breaking event, it was finally time. Joy had been in and out checking on Kristy and monitoring progress. Now she was in the room with us and Kristy was all turned sideways in the bed. Joy asked if she wanted to straighten out and Kristy said no way, don’t move me. Joy said “Well, I have never delivered sideways before, but there’s always a first time for everything” and after a few pushes (if you ask Kristy she’ll say a few hundred pushes) our first son was born. It was amazing, he was crying right away so we all new his lung capacity was good. He was put right up on Mom, well after Joy was like, “Where is Dad to cut the cord?” and at that moment I already knew I was busted, I put down the cameras and ran around the bed and then I cut the cord. During all this time Kristy’s Mom was able to call like 30 people or something to announce the successful delivery. I just watched Carter and Mommy and try to savor the moment and take it all in. All the nurses and Joy were all in love with Carter’s lips. Kristy and I were pretty much in love with all of him! Carter passed APGAR and then took a bath in the sink and then went back to Mom (Kristy).
Eventually it got late and Kristy’s parents and Sister went home for the night. And for the first time our new family was all alone with each other. That first night Carter didn’t sleep much in the unfriendly looking hospital crib, we all slept together in Kristy’s bed, well I kind of slept half on the bed and half floating in space. We did use the heater box for warm diapers and clothes and I even got to change a tar diaper, for those of you Dads-to-be reading this, I’ll save that description and let you experience that little joyous and memorable moment for yourself.
The next day Jill was on duty at the hospital and she stopped in to see us and meet carter. We gave her a same day picture printed on that portable HP printer I mentioned earlier. Actually we gave all our visitors same day pictures of our brand spanking new baby. We were also allowed to go home the next day and it was funny, I drove like the back of the Subaru wagon was filled with eggs free to roll around without any protective cartons. I don’t think I have ever driven so carefully before in my life. And so ends this fantastic experience that has led me to write these blogs and I have had a great time writing each and every one. Hopefully it will help out some future Dads and maybe provide a laugh or two for those who have been patient enough to read them all.
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