Julian Ray

Julian Ray is here!

Just two weeks ago, I was in active denial that the baby who had been roosting for 38+ weeks was going to finally come out, sooner than later.  All signs pointed toward impending delivery - dilations & effacings & getting huge in the mid-section - yet I still couldn't envision becoming a family of four.

Playing in the last of the winter snow

But that's exactly what happened one week ago today when Julian Ray arrived just five days short of his due date.  Here's the story:

Thursday, April 7th:

In a re-creation of the eve of Luca's birth, we took what our family now calls "an ice cream walk."  The night before Luca was born, T & I walked to Liberty Frozen Custard for ice cream and within 24 hours we had ourselves a baby.  This time, the three of us drove to Sebastian Joe's and walked back home along the lake.  We only half thought that the result would be another start to labor.

Chocolate ice cream fu manchu

Friday, April 8th:  

When I awoke to fairly regular contractions at 2:30 a.m. that morning, I thought that the coincidence was too ridiculous to be true.  Could it be that the ice cream walk is our personal secret to jump-starting labor?  Apparently so, because after downloading a contraction timer app onto my phone and spending a couple of hours finishing our hospital bags and tidying the house, the time had clearly come to call the doctor & wake T up.

5:00 a.m.

After a lightning-fast shower, T called Auntie Sara who came over to stay with Luca.  We gave Luca goodbye kisses as he slept, loaded the car with our numerous bags & cameras, and drove to the hospital around 5:45.

6:00 a.m.

My contractions were neither strong nor regular, but since I was already dilated to between 4 and 5 the doctor advised that we proceed with admitting.  After getting settled we tried a walk around the maternity ward to get things going.  Despite several explorations of the loops & dead-ends of the 6th floor, we only managed to get a solid 5 reading at the end of our work.

7:30 a.m.

Shift change time...we traded out Julia and Dr. McKeand for Erin and Dr. BJ Harris.  At this point, the contractions were becoming more irregular and spaced out, like our little bundle had changed his mind about the due date.  We entertained the idea that a second delivery could be just that much more painless than the first, but in our hearts we knew this was too good to be true.  The doctor started talking about getting things moving by breaking my water or giving me pitocin, which I hoped to avoid.  

9:30 a.m.  

We decided to try the warm tub instead, since that had been the tool that sped us through the tough part of Luca's delivery.  After 40 minutes in the tub and no noticeable change, we returned to our room for some rest.

T & me, happily waiting out the baby

11:45 a.m.

After reading and dozing in the delivery room for an hour or so, T decided to go get some lunch while he had the opportunity.  While he was away at the Global Market, Dr. Harris came in to break my water. 

Apparently the baby got the message, because after this the contractions became far more intense and painful.  They continued to escalate until 12:30, when the time came to push.  The only trouble was that Dr. Harris had left the hospital to get some lunch.  The nurses paged her and got backup staff in place, including one nurse who would turn out to be my saving grace through some terrible contractions.  Dr. Harris showed up in time and I pushed through one long, multi-crested contraction.  At 12:47 p.m. we had another baby!  

Dr. Harris held the baby up for a suspenseful moment in order for T to identify the gender.  39 1/4 weeks of wondering were at an end...baby boy, Julian Ray, had arrived.  He's a peanut - 7 lbs 10 oz and 20 1/4 inches. 

 

From the first moment they met, Luca has been a sweet big brother to Julian.  He has impressed us with how gentle and loving he is to the baby, and how instantly he accepted having a new member of the family. We'll see how he likes it when Julian is big enough to steal his toys, but for now he thinks we have a very cute baby in the house.  And we do.

Tick Tock...

The red lines below show A's progress to-date.  I'm suddenly very aware of the fact that there's a baby coming our way.  The second chart indicates that there's a ~70% chance we'll be a family of four in the next 9 days. (!)

              Pregnancy, Birth, and Family Planning, Alan Frank Guttmacher, Penguin Books, New York, NY, 1986

Luca welcomes spring

Here's some of what Luca has been up to lately...

Playing "barber shop"

The happy shoveler, flinging melting snow every which way

Where's Waldo Luca

33 weeks

 

 Less than two months to go, and the belly to prove it.

Minnesota is for (Train) Lovers

Trains are a nostalgic favorite in this town.  So when T got the idea to spend Saturday morning at a waterpark, it should not have come as much of a surprise that the downtown park at the Depot is all about a giant choo-choo train water slide.  What could be more perfect for a 2 1/2 year old boy and his dad?

February Roundup

As I sit at our kitchen island to write this, the snow continues to pile up outside our window.  This has been the whitest winter since we moved to Minnesota, and if we get another storm like this one, or the record-setter we had back in December, we won't be able to see the deck railings any longer. 
 

 
So an inventive imagination isn't required in order to come up with a reason to escape to California, which is just what Luca and I did a couple of weeks ago.  Omi came down from Portland and we all spent a few perfect days in San Jose with the Mazzoccos.   Luca and his cousins form the most adorable mutual admiration society, and he's talked about them nonstop since we've been back.  For my part, I was so happy to see my everyone, and to spend some time with my mom and sister before the baby arrives.

While we were away, T did the opposite of avoiding winter.  This year he bought some cross country skis and participated in the Luminary Loppet on Lake of the Isles.  The photos are so cool that I'm almost sad that we missed it - but playing in San Francisco at Alta Vista park on a February day was undoubtedly worth it.  Plus there's always next year.

Luca "la bomba" Tomba

I wanted to add this slightly fuzzy iPhone pic so Luca would have something to look back on to remember his first day on his skis after he wins the downhill in the Antarctica 2030 Winter Games (global warming).  No pressure little buddy!

2010 Recap: L-Train

We are closing the books on 2010 a little late around here...but better late than never.  Here's the 2010 Top 40 pics of little LTR.

Ok, that's it.  Not feeling well after watching the Packers win the Super Bowl.  Terrible.

Luca at 2 1/2 years

Faces:  fifteen seconds' worth 

Sometimes I forget that Luca is still a little guy.  He's such a hurricane of activity - messes, shenanigans, sweetness, demands, proclamations, laughs - and he fills up our mental and physical space so thoroughly that most days he feels like a giant.  Then I'll step back, look at him, and remember that he's still miniature.  He looks especially tiny when bundled to the brows and attempting to traverse the snow piled all around us.

He's been up to a lot of new tricks lately.  In general he's very physical and boyish.  For example, a while back he figured out that skidding down the hallway on his knees is a pretty cool move, so he does that a lot. And whenever T is home, Luca's favorite thing to do is order his dad to recline on the couch, then jump all over him.

When he's not wrecking shop, he's busy doing all the things 2 1/2 year olds do.  He loves music - the more guitar, the better - and still likes to "rock out".  He's sweet to his stuffed animals and cabbage patch kids, and can spend hours playing with legos, playdoh, or his train set.  Though he refuses to sing his ABCs, he recognizes all of the letters and knows what sounds they make, and can count from one to "thirteen, thirteen, thirteen."  Apparently, his number elevator stops there, for now.

Some favorites from Luca's current repertoire:

"You're my best friend":  we have no idea where he picked up the idea of a best friend, but he picked it up and how, though his use of the term tends to mean something closer to "I like you."  It started with the cabbage patch kids, then playmates, and then moved on to T & me.  No matter how many times he says it, and to whom, I still feel special when he gives me the "you my bess fren, mama."

Superhero stories:  again, the concept of superheroes is one that neither T nor I remember introducing, though its arrival probably has something to do with an episode of The Backyardigans.  He started by proclaiming himself a superhero, then quickly transitioned to wanting to hear stories about them.  Though he enjoys Batman and Superman, his far and away favorite is Spiderman - to the point where he defends the Webbed One's honor against all others.  Strangely, after the big three comes the pizza delivery guy, who has attained superhero status in Luca's mind.

Riding his skateboard:  As you can imagine, there's not a lot of outdoor skateboarding going on in Minnesota right now, but that hasn't stopped Luca from getting hooked on the idea.  He regularly takes one of our couch pillows that is shaped roughly like a skateboard, throws it on the ground and jumps on for ride.  This is yet another idea of unknown origin, but he is half Californian, after all.

Big boy bed:  Luca transitioned easily to his big boy bed in November, a big relief to T and me.  Especially me, since I feared lifting 35 lbs of boy in and out of crib while pregnant.  Every night he climbs into bed with a few books and one of a rotating selection of toys.  He doesn't have one particular beloved stuffed animal, but needs some object to keep him company while he falls asleep - could be a ball, or a lit flashlight, or even a pretty big helicopter.  The funniest and most convenient thing about his bed is that once in, he acts like the ground is hot lava.  If he needs something that has fallen on the ground, he'll call us to retrieve it rather than venture out himself.  We'll take it for as long as it lasts.

And that's our boy, halfway between two and three.

Introducing #4

True to all the lore about second children getting infinitely less attention, our little cabbage is making a rather late blog debut. Even these photos are now several weeks old, which I'm going to say is due mostly to the holidays. Whatever the case, we'll be trying to step it up a bit so that we don't give junior(ette) a complex.

Jackie, the ultrasound tech, says this is a picture of the baby drinking fluid.

We tend to think the baby's laughing.

We don't know whether the baby is a boy or a girl, but we know that it's flexible.

Our only side shot of the expansion so far, around 24 weeks. You can compare for yourself, or take my word for it - I'm certainly growing bigger more quickly the second time around.