Sunscreen

Since we are heading to North Carolina in May, I have been thinking of the sun exposure for Gwen. We will certainly try to keep her out of direct rays as much as possible, but we all know that complete avoidance will be impossible.

Here's some information that I just found on the internet. I know that you have to take what you find on the internet with a grain of salt, but non the less, here you go:

"The first line of defense should be clothing. On warm days, dress your baby in lightweight cotton clothing that covers her arms and legs, and make sure she wears a wide-brimmed hat for every outing. Try to avoid going out when the sun's rays are strongest, between 10 a.m. and 3 p.m.

The American Academy of Pediatrics has recently restated its policy on babies and sunscreen. Previously, it had recommended against using sunscreen on babies under 6 months of age. Now, however, it says there is no evidence that small amounts of sunscreen on young babies pose any risks. Still, don't rely on sunscreen as a substitute for protective clothing or sun avoidance. Use it to cover your baby's exposed face, hands, and feet."

We'll end up asking her pediatrician at her two month well-baby check up to assure this.

Here is Gwen in what I call a soother, and many people call a jumper. I don't get the jumper name. It rocks if you manually move it. Otherwise it can vibrate. Hence, the soother name. We spend most of our daylight time in the living room. This way she can recognize the difference of the day from the darkness of night. Hopefully this idea works for more sleep during the night.

Gwen loves her bath time in the "big girl tub" still! She doesn't cry. She just looks at Adam and me with these eyes that communicate "I'm not sure what's going on here, but I think I like it".....so completely cute! Since we had a picture of Adam bathing her earlier, we had to put one up with Mom too.

I wanted to put a picture up of her outfit today, but she's been sleeping. I will add it later.

Vitamin D Information from WebMD Website

Vitamin D, infants and teenagers: Your basic rock and hard place

Lately there have been a bunch of good news / bad news studies about vitamin D.

The good news: its benefits and preventive properties. The bad news: low levels of vitamin D in teenage girls and breast fed infants.

What should a pediatrician or a parent make of this new information? That's a tough question because it's not yet clear what it all means nor what (if anything) we should do about it.

Even tougher (at least for me): one of the conclusions I've come to from the new information contradicts some of my previous advice! That doesn't bother me: the beauty of science is that you must always be open to being wrong; you always need to re-evaluate in the face of new evidence.

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Advice-giving and sausage
Some advice-givers feel their advice should be like sausage: better to just consume the final product, but never see how it is made.

But I want you guys to be informed consumers of medical and parenting advice. Whenever possible, I'd like you to understand the science (or lack) that goes into the latest recommendations. And I'd like you to keep an open, questioning mind about about what people like me advise you to do.

Anyway, I've done my homework about vitamin D. Here is what I've found and here is my opinion.

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First, a crash course on vitamin D

• Vitamin D is more like a hormone than a vitamin. It plays a vital role in regulating the calcium in our bodies and making our bones strong.
• Vitamin D is usually made by converting a natural form of cholesterol - via exposure to ultraviolet (UV) light while in the blood vessels of our skin - to a non-active vitamin D, which is then further transformed in the kidneys and in the liver into its active form.
• Sun exposure is the most important source of vitamin D.
• As teenagers, we add on about 1/3 of our adult bone mass. It is widely accepted that if weaker bones are made during adolescence, there is a greater risk for softer bones ("osteoporosis") in later life.
• Breast milk contains inadequate vitamin D.
• Before cow's milk was supplemented with vitamin D, a nasty bone disease called rickets was quite common in children.
• The Institute of Medicine estimates that 2000 International Units (IUs)/day (e.g., found in 16 ounces of milk or formula) is needed to maintain good levels (some believe it should be even higher in older children and adolescents).
• The darker the skin, the less efficient the sun's rays are in activating vitamin D.

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The benefits of vitamin D
There is good scientific data to suggest that adequate vitamin D levels in children and adolescents has major benefits, including:

• Stronger bones as adults (especially in post-menopausal women).
• Better lung function in teens.***
• A protective effect against contracting some cancers (e.g., colon, breast****, prostate, ovarian).
  

Low vitamin D levels
Two very recent studies suggest that low vitamin D levels may be a lot more common than we thought:

• In a study of 51 (14 white/37 non-white) teenagers in England, 73% had low vitamin D levels. Dark-skinned girls were especially likely to have much lower levels. The low levels were felt to be due to reduced sunshine exposure, not to reduced vitamin D intake*.
• 78% of breast fed infants in Iowa who did not receive supplemental vitamin D were deficient (especially in the winter). **

Now, it's not clear how low is "too low" and what the consequences of low levels might be (if any). I'm going to make the leap - given what has been learned of its potential benefits - that low levels are not a good thing (especially in adolescence) and that children should maintain good levels of vitamin D.

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The rock and the hard place
Not so long ago I railed against direct sun exposure and urged you to obsessively apply sunscreen to your kids. That's my story and I'm sticking to it (pretty much).

But now I'm thinking I may have gone a little overboard in saying the only good sun exposure is no sun exposure, since it looks like too little direct sun exposure may lead to low vitamin D levels. (Alas, sunscreen probably blocks vitamin D production in the body. For more details, see this story)

So, what to do? Sun or no sun? Vitamin supplements or no? The rock or the hard place?

Kim's comments on this topic:

A comment that someone made to this article is that they find it hard to believe that the purely complete nutrition that breast milk provides does not give and has not given in the past everything that the baby needs. They want more research. I agree along these lines.

Also, my Mother had a good comment that you have to be careful about too much iron. If we do give Gwen the multi-vitamin supplement we should opt for the one without iron. I know they make both versions.

Maegen Connollyand Jade Brandstetter, since you two have education and experience with nursing, what do you think?

Vitamin D and Much More

I have a question for anyone that would like to respond. At the pediatrician appointment last week, the doctor told me that Gwen needs to have a vitamin D supplement. She mentioned that even if you did take them out in the sun (which we're not suppose to) that wouldn't produce enough vitamin D. Since then I've found out that they don't have a supplement with vitamin D only, and that it's a multivitamin with iron drop for infants. Does this sound familiar to anyone that has infants?

Sleeping habits or routines are forming a bit. For about 4 days now, Gwen has been sleeping for 3.5 to 4 hours from any time between 8pm and 9:30pm. Then she is fed and burped and changed for 45 mins to an hour. Then she sleeps for another 2 t0 2.5 hours. Then the 45 min to hour feeding ritual again. Then finally another 2 hour sleeping time. That all spans from 8pm to 8am give or take an hour. I am loving that, because it gives me any where from 7-8 hours of sleep, and Adam gets some good sleep for the next work day. Granted, the night before she was up from 3:30 am to 6am and nothing would calm her crying. I just had to take her into her room and close the door, so that Adam wouldn't be absolutely insane the next day at work.

We did give in and give her a pacifier last night. It's our secret weapon now against the crying. We were trying not to use one, but it's so wonderful when I'm changing her before feeding her. I can actually wash my hands and throw the diaper away without her crying and me running around like a chicken with my head cut off so she doesn't cry with the tonsils rattling. Does anyone have opinions or words of wisdom about using a pacifier?

Gwen and I have been walking around the "court" of houses yesterday and today. I ran into two different neighbors while going to the mailbox. It was nice to talk with adults. ;)


The other night was her first "big girl" bath in the baby tub.


Daddy holding Gwen in her hooded towel. She was really good for the bath and didn't fuss much at all. The main thing is that we get her dried off and warm asap when we're done.


Here you can see how Gwen's belly is growing. The quilt she is on was made by Kim's great Grandmother. That's why the burp rag is under her mouth area. You never know when she's going to spit up. As far as the cross eyed look, the doctor said that's to be expected for up to 4 months. It happens when she's trying to focus.

There, now I'm dressed and ready to go for the day. Does it matter that it's 11:30am and Mom's just getting to this? No, I don't care as long as I'm loved. ;) Today my hair reminds my Mom of Ace Ventura- Pet Detective.
I took this picture, so I cut myself off on accident (kind of ;) ) to show the front carrier and how small Gwen is in it. This is how we get things done around the house and get out of the house.

This is while Gwen is on the changing holder in the pack and play. We keep a burp rag under her at all times, because she spits up a lot! Look how big the pacifier looks compared to her face. Gotta love her!!! This is one of the burp rags that a spouse sewed some neat fabric too. Otherwise it would be a plain washable diaper.

Now it's time for me, Kim, to eat some lunch, brush my teeth and hopefully get a shower in. Gwen is in the front carrier sleeping while I'm writing this. I think she likes to hear my heart beat when she's leaning on me. ;)

Tonight is the second to last day that the spouses are bringing over dinner. The gal bringing it has a 6 month old that was born at 27 weeks. She now weighs as much as Gwen does and she was born September 3rd. Blair is a really cool woman. She is going to try to get a group together that likes to meet weekly on base to stroll our babies around. She's been home bound too, and loves to exercise. I told her I'd be up for it in a couple of weeks (playing it by ear).

Also, it was so nice, because she called me this morning to see what time would be best to bring the dinner. Even that is super considerate. Huge smile!!!!!

Much love to all!

Mini Golf

Ama, one of the spouses in Adam's squadron, made these four mini golf holes. It reminded me of the movie Overboard. She's super talented. She's the one who made the wood carving with the Guardian Angel prayer for Gwen. Lindsay, the stand up comedian friend, says Ama's so energetic and that's why she's 65 lbs. ;) It was raining, so they put up the gazebos. The white lights made it even more fun.


Lindsay, the comedian, striking a pose with a hole in one.


Leanne at the Paris hole. She's having a good time. Wine was provided and she had a hard/ exhausting week, so it was time to let loose. Someday I'll have some wine again too. ;)


From left to right: Alayna is pregnant and due in June. She's borrowing my maternity clothes....one of those Air Force perks. Lindsay, being goofy with the ball over Leanne's head. The hole behind them had pyramids. Ama even made some hieroglyphics encoding a special message.


This is the patriotic hole where you had to go around the boxes by banking the ball off of the sides.


Adam and I have discovered that I need to have adult interaction outside of the house for my sanity, so the spouses monthly meeting of mini golf and food of course was my treat of a Friday night. At times earlier in the week I wasn't going to attend, but Adam insisted that I must. I ended up staying from 6:30pm to 8:15pm. In total I was gone from the hungry baby for two hours. It felt really good to laugh and talk with the gals. There's one friend in particular that should be a stand up comedian. She's a lot of fun to talk with!

Adam came to the party also for a brief while with Gwen to show her off to the ladies, and ask them to help out with a BBQ that will be coming up in the near future for the test group. Unfortunately, she started crying for him when he was almost home, and wouldn't have stopped until I fed her if he didn't put his finger in her mouth to pacify her. He handles her crying so well. He walks around with her and dances with her while singing.

On another note, the Pastor from the church we've decided to attend stopped by last week to say he was thinking of us. He offered meals and any help or support from the congregation. I told him the AF was very supportive, but I'd get in touch if we needed anything. He drove up in a 1971 volks wagon bug like my Mother's 1972 one. I complimented on it. ;) He also offered the use of his church if Frank would want to baptize Gwen here in town. I told him our plan of doing it in Colorado, but thanked him none the less.

Yesterday, we also went to my doctor as a family. It was a check up to see how my healing was doing from the stitching. The doctor wants me to come back in 6 weeks, because there's something not healing like we want.

That's all for now!

Two Week Check Up

What we look like when we came back from our exhausting first outing.


See the bandage on my foot? That's from the PKU testing.
They pricked my heal and squeezed out blood.


This is how I like to sleep...with my arms up and free.



Here's another shot of how I like to sleep. The picture is at an awkward angle. I apologize.


I'm yawning during my sleepy time here.
Grandma Vicki made the blanket that's keeping me warm.


Gwen is officially two weeks old. Yesterday she and I (Kim) went to the base pediatrician...our first outing without Adam. He wanted to attend the appointment badly, but a meeting did not permit it. She slept through all of the transporting, and only cried a bit because she was hungry when we were meeting with the doctor. She was an angel more or less.

In two weeks she has gained 1lb and 3oz. Now she weighs 9lbs and 15oz which is 90% compared to others her age. She grew 1.4" and is now 21.4"which is 75% compared with other babies her age. The doctor said that is great. That's our only job right now she said....to grow.

Gwen is gaining strength in her neck. The doctor told us to only put her to sleep on her back. We were told at the hospital that the side was alright too, but I guess not. We went through two diapers through out the 2 hour span at the hospital, and had to undress and dress her twice as well in order to check her breathing, weighing her, feel her glands, head and muscle flexibility. We don't go back to the doctor until she's 2 months old.

These are pictures of her sleeping again yesterday (March 21st) after the big doctor's appointment. It really pooped her out. She slept an hour and a half on me like this while I snacked on some pretzels and watched tv.

Happy St Patty's Day

Todays a day to reveille in being Irish (even when you're not...) Staying in the spirit, Kim dressed up Gwen in an outfit given to us by my Aunt Patty (fitting, isn't it?) Gwen later peed all over it, but no worries Patty, we don't think that's an indictment of it...

Happy St. Patty's Day!

The picture below is a gift Grandma and Grandpa Fisher. It's a Gund teddy bear that's incredibly soft, plays all sorts of songs, and straps onto the crib when Gwen in small. When she's a little bit older, the compartment that plays the songs can be removed, and now she has a teddy-bear companion.

Gwen and teddy bear

My parents also got into the food giving mood with a unique gift. Seeing as how they could not be here immediately following the birth, they gave Kim and I gourmet meals (already cooked) from Home Bistro. These meals included included Pork Loin in a Reduced Apple Cider Sauce and Chicken with Biscuits. Both meals were fantastic and very easy to serve (just had to boil some water.)

Kim and I have also been blessed with a great spouses club from my work, for every-other day this coming week, another family will be bringing us dinner. This is on top of the meals that Vicki and Morgan put together and froze for us. Kim and I cannot express our thanks for everything that our friends and families have done for us.

Kim and I also received a great package from Cory and Andrew today, which included two outfits that Kim calls "the cutest things ever." Thank you guys.

"The cutest things ever!" -KF

Kim and I thought it would be nice to give the readers a feel for our set-up... Although we have a room devoted to Gwen, Kim and I feel she is just too small to be that far away from (its on the other side of the house from our bedroom.) As such, we have her in a "Pack and Play" crib at the foot of the bed.

Our bedroom. Complete with art and designer baby crib.

The 'Pack and Play'

In the Pack and Play, you'll notice two burb rags (one in the lower section where she sleeps, one on the upper changing table portion,) wipes, and a toy that plays lullabies and changes colors. As she is still small, there's plenty of room for other things in her crib.

Now, when she needs a feeding, Kim sits in this fine designer rocking chair, complete with blow-up donut, while I get Gwen out of her crib and bring her to Mommy. After several minutes, its now my turn to change Gwen, at which point Kim can start the process all over again. Basically, Gwen is feeding/pooping/being changed one out of every three to four hours during the night.

This rocking chair was given to me by my Grandma Fisher who bought it at a tag-sale and refinished/reupholstered it. The lamp was bought from Kim's Aunt Connie's store.

Well that's the latest look into our lives. Again, Kim and I can't thank everyone enough. The support has been amazing. Thank you and God Bless.

An update on Kim...

So with all this talk of Gwen, a couple kind individuals always ask how Kim is doing. As Kim is the modest sort, I am forced to post this message.

During the course of the pregnancy, Kim exercised, managed to eat right, and tried to drink the necessary amount of water each day... As you can see from the picture below (sorry for the re-post,) Kim remained as healthy as can be throughout the pregnancy. In fact, she was so good, that she only gained 32-lbs. Of which 8-lbs 12-oz was baby.

Kim at 39.5-weeks (all belly)

Well today, due in large part to her workout regiment before and during the pregnancy (she was swimming until week-37, and walking 3-miles (or more) per day right to the very end) that during an unofficial weigh-in the day after returning from the hospital, Kim had lost 25-pounds. That number has grown and today she has lost all but 1-pound! (and that was after dinner.) Begrudgingly, Kim allowed me to take a one-week later picture (although I don't think she knows I'm posting it.)

Kim, 1-week after delivery

As you can see, Kim continues to amaze... there's certainly a reason why mommy and baby remained healthy during and following pregnancy. Also, I'm sure Kim's fitness played a large role in how she handle that marathon of a labor.

Happy 1-week Birthday Gwen!!!

Wow, how time flies when you're having fun! Adam and I have received numerous requests for more pictures... so after waking up... here they are...

Gwen has been on a sleep during the day, terrorize Mommy and Daddy at night, schedule. As a result... this is generally what happens around 10:00 am, when Gwen and Daddy share a much needed nap.

A self family portrait... Gwen is 1-week old today!

Our little princess, striking a pose... oh boy Adam's in trouble!


An outfit from Aunt Josie... could this be an Easter outfit too... stay tuned...

Our first bath... We heard that they helped to signify bed-time... so much for this theory.

These anklets have small bells attached to them... therefore every time Gwen moves Mommy or Daddy will know. Pia Setti gave these anklets to me when I was a baby. Pia was an Thai exchange student with my grandparents, & has been a beloved part of the family ever since.

Catching some rays. Daddy jokes that he will only allow this act of naked sunbathing for a couple more years... we better get it out of her system now.

Gwen's hair is unusually shape-able. In this photo Daddy gave her a little mo-hawk. She is so peaceful.

All Gwen, all the Time

Due to popular demand... here was Gwen's schedule during the first night...
6:45 - 7:00 pm eat
7:00 - 8:00 pm cry/sleep
8:00 - 8:45 eat and poop
8:45-10:00 sleep
10:00- 11:00 eat
12:00 - 1:45 am (yes 1:45...) cry/eat/poop x 2
4:45 - 5:50 eat/pee
7:00 - 8:00 eat

So without further a due, more pictures...

Gwen's first outfit... many more to come

Mommy and baby

Daddy putting Gwen in the car seat...

On the way from the hospital

Kim and Gwen at the car

Home with Gwen

The proud grandma...

Gwen in all of her sleeping glory...

Mommy and Daddy bonding...

We even took Gwen to base for a quick walk

On a separate note... it appears Kim's milk is comming in... time for more spitups, but fuller bellies.

The labor timeline... a Husband's commentary.

O.k. Now that Kim and I have made it through our first night at home with Gwen, I have a chance to give the play-by-play...

Tuesday 1415...
Kim calls my work stating she is having contractions. She's not too worried about it and when I ask her if I should come home, Kim tells me that she will call me about 3 o'clock after they have been able to monitor the contractions for a full hour.

Of course with this, I realize I have only ~ 45-min to clear up several loose ends. I immediately send out a couple of emails, and run around my office trying to delegate what needs to be done.

Tuesday 1430...
Mark, from my office, runs back to my area and states that Kim called the front office stating that it would be a good idea if I came home. I send off a quick email to my home email account (so I can do some work at home) and I speed home...

Tuesday 1445...
Kim is loaded into the car and we are on our way. We get to the hospital and are sent into a delivery room for 'observations.' At this point Kim's contractions are ~5-min apart and 1.5-min long. On the scale from 1 to 10, Kim says the pain level is about a 5. After the exam, its determined that Kim is 1-cm dilated, 80% effaced. Still a long way to go... During the next three hours, Kim and I try various techniques to help with the labor. We sit on a 'labor ball' in the shower (really just an exercise ball,) we dance around the maternity ward (yes, thanks mom and dad, your dance lessons helped quite a bit,) and we walk around the hospital.

Tuesday 1800...
The mid-wife comes in, examines Kim (still 1-cm but now 90% effaced) and tells us there is no reason for us to stay and that we would be better off and more comfortable at home... So we pack up our things and depart the hospital. After a good dinner (thanks Vicki and Morgan,) a bath, more dancing and breathing exercises in our bed, the pain has grown to a 7... so we pack some more things and again depart for the hospital.

Tuesday 2200...
There's a cliché about being stopped by the cops on the way to the hospital. Well that cliché became a reality when going about 65/70 in a 55 we got stopped. I'm not proud of the fact that I know this, but cops will take upwards of 10-min calling in your license plate; and I was not about to wait ten-minutes to tell the cop we're in labor... So, I did the only thing I could think of and that was to get out of my car and approach the cop car with my hands in clear sight. The cop didn't like this, and he kept yelling 'get back in your car!' to which I would respond 'my wife is in labor.' After yelling 'I don't care,' it was obvious he was never going to talk reasonably until I return to my car, which I did, begrudgingly. He approached the car and lecture me on the fact that I am not an emergency vehicle and if it was truly an emergency that I should have called an ambulance. He then proceeded to slam my car door and return to his vehicle... not saying another word. He turned off his lights and sped away. I turned to Kim and said some not so nice things before resuming our journey to the hospital.

Once at the hospital, Kim is told that she is only 2-cm dilated, 95% effaced and a -3cm... we still have a long way to go. We are again admitted for observations... and after four more hours of dancing, showering and breathing, Kim has not progressed. The mid-wife gives the nurse orders (over the phone) to release us, but the nurse takes pity on Kim (who's contractions are now 7/8 level) and allows us to stay.

Wednesday 0400...
After an examination, Kim is now 4-cm dilated, and according to the mid-wife, we are 'officially' in labor. I know there are several nurses/mid-wifes that read this blog, but this 4-cm rule is hogwash. I saw my wife in the worst pain in her life and they wouldn't classify her being in labor even though her contractions were regular and were lasting 2-3 minutes/contractions. So, regardless of what the medical types say, the labor started at 1315 Tuesday. Anyway, so with the 4-cm dilation, Kim was officially admitted. The next 7-hours were spent dancing, showering with the birthing ball, etc... During that time Kim's contractions averaged ~ 3-min and were about 5-min apart with the intensity about a 9/10. All of this was for naught as Kim gained just one cm of dilation.

Wednesday 1200...
With Kim still at 5-cm after 7-hours of hard-hard labor, enough was enough, so Kim called for the epidural. After enduring several 10-level contractions while being hunched over with an anesthesiologist shoving a 5-inch long needle into here spine, the epidural was in... Then the doctor ruptured her bag of waters... Everyone all hoped this would relax Kim and allow little Gwen to become further engaged... Of course nothing was going to be easy during this labor, and of course while the epidural deadened Kim on her right side, she could still feel pain (albeit at a 4/5 pain level) on her left. Taking the nurse's advise, Kim laid on her left side... the theory was the medication would run down to this side and even out over her body. This was not the case, but Kim remained in this position until complaining to the nurse at 2000...

Wednesday 2000...
Kim complained about the pain in her left side. A new nurse recommended she lay flat on her back. Finally something worked and Kim felt numb. Soon she would fall asleep for an hour.

Wednesday 2100...
Kim's pain, now deadened, led to her being able to relax and meant she was now 7-cm, 100% effaced, and a -1. Progress was being made... finally. After this latest exam, Kim and I enjoyed (yes enjoyed) a good episode of Lost, and caught ~ 15-min of sleep. Finally at about 2330, Kim got the urge to push.

Wednesday 2330...
Kim's urge to push was greeted with great delight by myself and the nursing staff (and of course, most of all Kim.) At 2330, Kim was examined by the mid-wife who proclaimed we're ready (10-cm, 100% effaced, +2) and started to coach Kim in pushing. While one nurse held Kim's left leg, I held the right and the mid-wife was in the catchers position. Slowly but surely Kim and Gwen made progress... Kim's abnormally long contractions gave her the opportunity to push 4-times/contraction (as apposed to the standard 3-times)... and soon I got the first sight of Gwen's black hair. Kim pushed and pushed for upwards of an hour but then the mid-wife stated that an episiotomy was necessary... follow this link for more info http://www.babycenter.com/refcap/pregnancy/childbirth/165.html.

Although not really given a choice in the matter, Kim went along with it. In keeping with the theme of this labor, the episiotomy caused Kim to tear... nearly a 4th degree laceration (tearing everything from the vagina to the anus) was the result. The good news, at 0037 Thursday morning Gwen was out, a beautiful baby girl weighing 8lbs 12ozs and 20 inches long who instantly pooped on Mommy. For the next hour+ while I helped the nurses cleanup little Gwen, the doctor was called in to attend to Kim. Finally Kim was able to sit up, so I brought Gwen in... and instantly she went to breast. Gwen stayed the remainder of the night in our room, only getting up a couple of times to feed/be changed.

The Husband's perspective...
Everything I've ever heard about labor and child birth should have conditioned me for the hardship Kim went through, but until you witness it, nothing can do it justice. Many men cry during childbirth, and I will gladly admit that I joined the ranks. After witnessing such an amazing event (both for its grandeur and for its intensity) I don't know how anyone could ever question the existence of a higher being. For lack of a better word, it was awesome.

The amount of pain that Kim went through was awe-inspiring, and the experience made me love her more than I ever knew possible. I know our lives will "never be the same..." but I am eternally great full for this. I have witnessed the crowning moment in my life, and Kim will forever be closer.

For all the 'problems' with the labor, the nurses were terrific. I do wish Kim was consulted prior to the episiotomy as I think the tearing was directly caused by this. Perhaps a massage of her membrane to stretch it out would have worked... perhaps she should have allowed to tear naturally... but all of this cannot take away from the birth of our child.

Today, after day one at home, our lives have changed, for the better... and we eagerly await the ride.

Gweneth's Birth Day

Adam left their blog open so I thought I would just post right here. ;)

Adam and Kim heading out from
the house at 9pm on the sixth.

Kim modeling the fabulous hospital gown.
Look at that belly!

We must have clean teeth so we can grunt with
force and not upset the stomach of the nurses. ;)

The hospital bed.

We're at 4 cm.

Feeling the pain of a contraction.

Wahoo! We're at 7cm.

Ah... relief! If Kim laid down flat and the epidural
went on to the left side too. Previous to that,
it was only working on the right side, and
she was having front and back labor.

Proud parents.

Dad, Gweneth and Mom.

Hey! Put me back in. I'm cold.
Oh, okay, then give me some food!

8 lbs. 12 ozs.

Ah, mom fed me and now I'm good.