Zoey's Birth!

Happy New Year and welcome 2014!  I don't think I did much blogging at all in 2013, so it's time to start fresh.  I'm still not promising a whole lot, but I'll aim for one update a month, and then maybe semi-monthly.

As most of you know, our second precious girl arrived Thanksgiving eve 2013 - Zoey Meiyin.  A few friends have asked about her birth story, so I decided to finally put it "down in ink".  Honestly, it was probably as far from Olivia's birth as possible (35+ hours, epidural, vacuum-extraction, exhaustion, etc).

I honestly thought we would have a peaceful Thanksgiving and Zoey would arrive near her "due date" of 1 Dec.  Instead I felt mild contractions early morning on Thanksgiving eve, 27 Nov.  Now, knowing what happened the last time I thought I had plenty of time.  So I went to work as usual, and around lunch time I was experiencing more contractions, but nothing regular.  Things started to get a little more intense during my boss's Wed afternoon meeting.  He decided to move the meeting up since it was Thanksgiving eve.  After I let the office go in a staggered-fashion, I made sure everything was locked up and proceeded to the commissary to pick up a few last items for Thanksgiving.  My contractions started to get more intense but I was still able to be somewhat distracted and I would have to stop and work through them at times.  I'm sure people were wondering what was wrong with me.  I called Nick (who was already home with Olivia) and told him what was going on.  I got home around 5 pm and called my mom in Lincoln and let her know.  But I told her, "I'm sure it's still going to take forever so if you, Dad and Elizabeth can start driving up sometime tonight I'm sure it'll be fine".  Around 6 pm I was starting to get some powerful contractions and asked Nick to start timing them.  They were fairly long, around sixty to ninety seconds, sometimes lasting two minutes.  Although to me they felt like fifteen seconds had gone by, it was very strange, this time distortion.  We asked to see if my parents can come up earlier, but since I told my mom to take her time she had rescheduled her dental appointment and was now at the dentist's!  They said they would start driving up as soon as she was done.  Oye...I drew myself a bath and decided to use some peppermint essential to calm myself.  It did the trick, and I was using the warm water to try to relax.  Now...this is kind of gross, but I lost my mucus plug in the bath.  After about 45 minutes I got out and cleaned up.  By now I was really having a hard time staying relaxed through my contractions.  I told Nick I'm not sure how much longer I can hang on.  Out of desperation we asked our neighbor to watch Olivia until my parents can get into town.  (Remember, we just moved here in September so we really didn't know many people yet).  We got to Bellevue hospital around 7:30, luckily only about 8 minutes away.  By this time I could barely walk.  I was powering through contractions and taking them on one at a time, trying to stay focused.  There were times I wanted to scream, and did yell, but they didn't help much.  If I can breathe through them I found that easier on the body and required less energy.

I was triaged around 7:45, I think.  I was 8 cm dilated!!!  I had no idea I had gone through transition probably on the car ride over to the hospital.  My water broke as the nurse checked me.  I was quickly transferred over to the birthing room.  I "wanted a little help", probably not a epidural but a little bit of something.  I was told, "sorry, it's too late".  ARGH!  OH NO!  With Olivia I was insistent on a natural birth that did not work out at all, and now I'm a bit scared to go through everything "naturally".  But there was no choice.  Nick and the nurse held my hands as I worked through contractions.  Oh yes, I forgot to mention, the OB was en route but did not make it to the hospital yet.  She bursted through the door and started putting on scrubs and gloves.  Before I knew it they said I was complete and was ready to push!  I think I had wanted to push earlier but was told to hold off.  I tried pushing for about five minutes on my back but found it ineffective.  I couldn't get power behind it pushing that way.  I requested to push on my arms and legs.  The OB was fine with that.  I turned over, and in about three pushes Zoey was out.  It was a miracle!!!  It was painful but it wasn't all that horrible.  I think deep down I knew the better I pushed (hold my breath instead of yelling out), the quicker the baby would come and the faster it would all be over.  So I did just that.  Zoey was born at 8:36 pm, less than an hour after we got to the hospital.  I was thankful it was all over so quickly.  I did have to have some local anesthetic for a little bit of repair work but it wasn't too bad.  Zoey was a bit smaller than Olivia (7 lbs 11 oz) at 6 lbs and 15 oz.  They were about the same length.  I suppose this did help me push her out faster.  :-)  Either way I was grateful.

I did not have a birth plan, I went into this birth with an open mind to stay flexible.  I wanted the least amount of intervention but knew I may need medication.  I think a few things helped me out with this natural birth: lots of time spent on my hands and knees throughout pregnancy, especially in the third trimester, staying active and fit with running, yoga, and aerobic classes (for baby's optimal positioning), Zoey's smaller size, always sitting up with my pelvis out and my hips higher than my knees, this being my second baby, great support and counter-pressue on my back from Nick while I labored.  and a good hospital staff.

Whew!  We're all so glad, blessed, and thankful for Zoey.  What a wonderful Thanksgiving gift!
Here are two quick snapshots after Zoey's birth.  :-)

A day at the park!

Beautiful day in Dayton!

Today's high was 75 - in March in Ohio! It was supposedly the fourth highest temp ever in Dayton history. Olivia, Maggie and I had a little picnic. Nick had to go a work dinner so I picked up some noodles & co and we dined on our front lawn - it was gorgeous and so nice out! Here's a few pics!

7 months and 5 days!

Lazy Sunday afternoon at home!

Fun in the Mid-Day Sun

Doesn't this one look like the Adele cover.....

Happy baby can you see my Teeth?

ummmmm.....

More pretty light.....

First Burger

Woah..... That girl can eat!!!!

Olivia on her piano

Sent this out before but i wanted to repost.

What a Pain!

So we had this great idea for an Olivia collage.... Oye!
Sent from Nick's iPhone!

So Clean!

Bath-Time Fun!

Olivia's Half-BDay

Well, Olivia is 6 months old today and that means....... first taste of solid foods! Enjoy the pics.

Porthole

Finally getting around to playing with some of my x-mas toys!!!  (16mm fisheye lens, ringflash and Adobe Lightroom!)  More of a novelty pic but still pretty neat eh?

~Nick

Autumn in Ohio

The leaves are changing to beautiful hues of gold, red and orange.  There's a chill in the air, but the afternoon sunshine is still warm enough for a calming walk.  I love Autumn in Ohio!  Although...as it gets closer to November it's getting colder everyday.

I can't believe it's been about a month since the last time I blogged.  It's literally almost a daily struggle to get a clean and fed baby out the door on time and get her back at the end of the day and put some food on the table.  Our daily routine: I get up around 0610, wake up the baby (if she's not already awake) to eat at 0615.  Next comes a diaper change, and I put her in warmer clothes for the day.  I get dressed, wash my face, put up my hair.  I pack all of my work stuff and double check Olivia's stuff...cloth diapers for the day, clean pacifier, bibs, extra change of clothes just in case, swaddle blanket, all my pump stuff for work, milk bottles, extra milk for her if necessary...whew...we're in the van, we're on our way.  I make it to work around 0730, I read emails, I work on projects/training/lesson prep.  I pump around 0900.  At around 1130 I eat my lunch, I'm out of the office by 1150 to make it to Bekah's around noon to nurse little O.  I'm back in the office...I pump again at 1500 and I leave around 1630 to pick O up.  We make it home a bit after 1700.  It depends at this point whether O is tired or hungry.  Sometimes I nurse her and she takes a nap.  Sometimes she just wants to play while I try to put something together for dinner.  Best case scenario, I have something halfway prepped from the weekend.  Some days I have no such luck...I have to cook from scratch but most days I can get dinner on the table by about 1830 to 1900.  Usually O will take another nap while I clean up her bottles and do dishes for the evening.  Nick and I sometimes will watch a quick show on Netflix while we eat.  I'd rather talk about the day but sometimes we're both just so exhausted.  Olivia will usually sleep until about 2100.  I wake her up if she's not up by 2200.  She nurses again, we read a few books together and Nick may play the guitar and serenade us.  It's our family time.  Maggie usually will hang out too.  Every other night I will get the diapers in the washer and soak them over night.  If O is a bit fussy I may be behind on dishes.  Once in awhile I just give in and clean up the kitchen the next day, although this leads to a vicious cycle.  O's usually out around 2230/2245 and Nick and I try to make it to bed around 2300.  I'm usually asleep before my head hits the pillow.  I wake up again the next day around 0610 and is starts all over...whew...I can't wait for Friday every week!  :-P

During the weekends we slow down a bit.  I cook us brunch, my latest creation, a tasty omelet with peppers and garlic from our garden, a bit of cheese and tomatoes...it's delicious!!!  I try to prep the week's meals, and we usually walk around our outdoor mall here known as the Greene.  Today we went to the Harvest Festival where a "Life is Good" store just opened.  I wanted to get O a cool "Life is Good" onesie but $20 for a onesie???  I'll wait for a sale...

I've started to work out again...although it's been tough trying to squeeze it in my busy schedule.  Running has been different as I'm still adjusting to my postpartum body.  I'm almost back down to my "before" weight...still have about 7 pounds to go my mom told me to give it some time.  I have my PT test end of Jan and I better get on the push-ups and sit-ups...oh and the running too...I've really slowed down but hopefully I can get back into shape fast.

Enough about me...let's talk about Olivia!  Oh where do I start?  She's the most amazing thing in the world, and the cutest!  For proof see this following pics:

We also took a trip to Pennsylvania and Maryland Columbus Day weekend.  Nick's pop-pop is ill and this may be our only chance for him to Olivia so we bit the bullet and went on our first road trip.  Olivia did really well most of the time and slept for a good amount of the time.  Our stops weren't too bad and we even took Maggie with us.  Luckily we had a van!  Here's a pic of the three of us, well, Daddy took the pic:

We're so glad we could see Nick's aunt Nadine, uncle Robbie, his cousins Anthony and Samantha, and of course, his grandparents - grandma Ware and pop-pop.  We made it to Penn the first day and stayed with his aunt and uncle.  We all got up the next day and drove to MD and spent the afternoon there.  We had to drive back the next day.  It was exhausting but we were glad we did it.  Here are some more pics:

Oh and we had 5 dogs under one roof, and 2 birds, but no pics of them here:

From left to right: Lily, Maggie, Noel, Blackie, and Nikki.  Maggie had a blast and fit right in.  They had a great time playing "laser tag" in uncle Robbie's backyard.

A sweet pic of mommy and baby at the grandparents' house:

Lastly, here's to show off Nick's photographic skills - baby O with her favorite toy...she loves her glowworm:

Well, it's late and Nick and I have to hit the sack...hugs to all!

AF marathon, first half day at work, and an active baby!

Has it really been another 2 weeks already?  Yup, coupled with a very busy AF marathon weekend, I'd say time has not slowed down one bit!  Some of the highlights of AF marathon weekend: we got to see Kristen Ott and Kris & Erinn Merritt and their boys Cooper, Lucas and Noah at the "carbo-load" dinner at Bekah Stueckle's house along with Bekah and Jon's little boy David (Jon was still TDY) and Nick and I ran our 10K races without much training (don't do this at home), and Olivia did great with her Godparents Mark and Jackie.  Actually Nick and I both did fine, considering we have not been able to train much.  His time was just over an hour and I finished in 1:16, with a little walking.  Yes, he beat me this time...but it'll most likely be the only time...ha.  We were both a little surprised that we weren't way slower.  It did take quite a bit of planning to wake up early, pack the van (yes we have a van - an '03 Honda Odyssey courtesy of my generous parents when my mom upgraded vehicles - I love it but Nick isn't always thrilled about driving it, but admits that it has a lot of power for a van), dropping off Olivia off early in the morning with all of the items she needs (cloth diapers with accessories, extra clothes, blankets, outfits, milk that I had pumped and stored in advance...I'm sure there were more stuff...).  The weather was absolutely amazing, starting out at around 50s and rising to maybe around 68...absolutely gorgeous!  We were not going for time, we just wanted to participated.  Thank goodness we did NOT sign up for the half marathon again...one actually needs to train for that distance!

Now onto the first half day at work.  Why half-day?  It's a weird AF rule that says if you're taking leave the next day and your supervisor approves, you can take off after a half day.  Why was this important?  Well, I can get home Olivia sooner that way!  I also don't have be charged leave for over the weekend.  If I didn't come in that Monday and continued to be on leave from the Friday prior to the weekend I'd be charged for Saturday and Sunday...yes, unfortunately that's how that works.  I was very appreciative that our good friend Mrs. Misuk Goltz could come over and watch Olivia until I came home around 11:30 am.  I'm not going to lie, it was strange going to work, starting up my computer and logging in.  I think I had something like over 600 emails, of which probably 50 said "your inbox is over its size limit"...yeah, by just a little!  :-)  I spent the morning going through emails, catching up with the office (there has been a of changes), and orienting myself in my cubicle.  Yes, I lost my office during my maternity leave.  We had a few incoming officers who all outrank me so I've been demoted.  :-P  But, I'm not super sad about my cubicle, it's by the large row of windows so at least I'll have natural lighting!  I finished going through emails and proceeded to take more leave.  Then I hopped over to my grad school building to get my flu shot and flew back home.  I was glad to see Olivia!  (Yes, I had only been to work since 6:30 that morning, but I missed my little girl!).  She was in good hands though, although Mrs. G was probably too nice to her and held her most of the time whereas I'd let her fuss and cry for a little bit before going to soothe her since I don't want her to rely on being held too much...but she's still little so I let people hold her usually for as long as they want.  :-)  That afternoon I started to get a headache and felt really tired...and this upgraded to a low-grade fever and mild chills that night.  It turns out the flu shot was to blame.  Luckily I got over it the next morning.

Nick, being a computer scientist, loves technology, electronics, and gadgets.  He installed this awesome little camera that allows our phones to be used as on-the-go baby monitors that we can use everywhere!  This is super helpful as we always have our phones on us and can log on anytime to look at the baby.  Our parents and friends can also log on from the internet to check in on Olivia anytime they want too - double dose of awesomeness!  So, two nights ago, I woke up around 3 am, as I'm accustomed to doing since that's usually when a night feeding takes place.  I thought I'd check in on my phone to see how Olivia is doing.  Mind you, this is what she looks like when I put her to bed, all swaddled up: (Yes, I can take pics using the app from the camera!  I love technology!)

This was what she looked like at 3 am when I checked in on her from the phone:

I had to keep from laughing hysterically in an attempt not to wake Nick up.  Yes, she managed to break out of her swaddle completely, proceeded to move 90 degrees clockwise, and was happily and loudly sucking on her thumb.  Yes, unfortunately she has found her thumb and loves sucking on it.  My mom and grandmother tell me that I was also a happy thumb-sucker whose thumb looked slightly deformed because I sucked on it so hard... embarrassing...but apparently that's a sign of self-soothers and not always a bad thing.  She wasn't crying one bit and who knows how long she had been like that...silly girl...

I guess the last thing I wanted to say is that I have been fairly proud of a lot of things I've done in my life.  Immigrating to the US at 10 years old, learning English from scratch, getting settled in the U.S., becoming an American citizen, being accepted and graduating from the Air Force Academy, becoming an AF officer, marrying my best friend, graduating with my master's from graduate school, but of all of those things, nothing compares to having Olivia.  Yes, I'm most proud of myself for having her...with Nick, of course, and becoming a mother.  :-)  Funny, most people may not list that at the top of their life's list of accomplishment...but life's funny that way...

Getting into a routine...

1 month 9 days old - that's how old Olivia is today!  It's hard to believe my 6 week maternity leave is up in less than a week!  Fear not, I've been told I can take more time off (fingers crossed).  I had a really nice visit from our friend, neighbor, and fellow USAFA '05 graduate Paula Delapasse, her kiddos (Lilith and new son Jacob) and her mother a few weeks back.  I picked Paula's brain about how to put a baby on a schedule that enabled her to go back to work with Lilith, and as always, she provided some excellent ideas.  We're making some progress toward a schedule, although O is still feeding on demand, which makes predictability spotty at times. 

Overall I strive to feed her at 3 am,  6 am, 9 am, 12 pm, 3 pm, 6 pm, 9 pm, and maybe 12 am if she's not asleep yet.  BUT, almost immediately after coming home she's been generally sleeping from approximately 10 pm until about 3 am, sometimes longer, skipping the 12 am feeding.  Last night she slept from about 11 pm until 5:30 am!!!  I was up by 4 am because I was so full and ready to nurse her...too bad she wasn't ready and I really didn't want to wake her up, so I just read on my iPhone until she woke up since I was so uncomfortable.  I'm thinking this may be a fluke and she's not ready to sleep "through the night" yet since at the most she is 10 pounds and babies typically don't start sleeping long hours until they're at least 11 to 12 pounds.  Still, it's wishful thinking...if only my milk supply would adjust too!  :-P  Overall (knock on wood), O has been a really good baby.  She typically only fusses if she's hungry, has a dirty diaper, is gassy, or REALLY tired to where she needs some soothing.  Generally she's a self soother and will "sing or talk" to herself to sleep in her crib, which is awesome.

Nick and I have talked casually about me leaving the Air Force and staying at home.  While I would love to do that, the AF did send me to graduate school while paying me full pay...so alas, I owe three years.  I really would love to stay home with my precious girl, especially while she's little, but go back to work when she's a bit older.  Too bad the military doesn't work that way.  One can't just leave for a few years and decide to go back.  So for now I just want to spend as much time as I can with her.  Nick's parents were here for Labor Day weekend, and on Sunday we left to go to the nearby outdoor mall known as the Greene, for lunch.  Even though we were only two miles away I thought about her almost constantly and even asked Nick to do a quick call-in to check on her...oye...Nick gave me a hard time about this and I'm sure I'll get better as I'm used to being away from her more.  Nevertheless, it won't be easy going back to work...hopefully mama and baby can make the transition smoothly...

While Nick's parents were here, Nick and his Dad had a good time riding their motorcycles (yes, his Dad brought the bobber he just built on a trailer from North Carolina - they're Harley fanatics, what can I say) and his mom, O and I had a good, but tiring time vising the mall with a grocery trip to Trader Joe's and Kroger's squeezed in at the end of the day.  Since O hates her infant seat, I have panic attacks trying to get her anywhere - so with a day out I must try to get to everything while I have the opportunity.  Really, it's getting better, as long as I time it just right with a feeding beforehand, a clean diaper, then off to run errands while she sleeps.

In general, I'm finally starting to feel like myself again.  I felt fairly good early on (aside from the healing pain), but took a dive when the mastitis hit around 3 weeks.  Now I try to rest as much as I can during the day, but I finally feel like I can get back to putting this house together.  Yes, I'm embarrassed to say I've really let the house go in terms of cleanliness...when my mom was here she literally scrubbed everything from the top down while O and I were stuck at the hospital for two days.  But since it's been almost six weeks, the house and especially kitchen can really use a good scrubb'in.  Luckily I think I can tackle some chores today!

I leave you with my new favorite picture of our baby girl!

Nick and V Photography!

As some of you know, Nick and I have been interested, learning, and shooting photos for a long time. Nick has about 10+ years of experience and I have about 3 in photography. Collectively, we have taken pictures in still-life, dogs, landscape, head shots, engagement photos, weddings, and now with the arrival of our little one: lots of pictures of our baby girl.

With the hefty price tags of upgrading equipment (camera, lens, lights, studio-set up, etc) we have decided to launch our small business specializing in Newborn and Kids Photography. We're not really in it to make a large profit, it's more to find a venue for funding so we can afford new and better equipment.

So if you know of any newborns and small kids in the Dayton, OH area we'd love to take pics fairly cheaply as we keep building our portfolio. We'll still take pictures in other categories but we're focusing our energies on capturing little ones right now. Here's our website, although it still needs work, it'll be where we post more pictures of our work in the future: http://nickandv.com/

We also launched a facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/pages/Nickand-V-Photography/257758877591641

Speaking of pictures, here are some of the latest ones...enjoy!