A Family of Three

London Yvonne Cenedella finally made her debut into the world in the wee morning hours of Thursday June 10, 2010. This was after a long day of ups and downs during the labor process. Contractions began around 10 AM June 9, 10 minutes apart and lasting up to 20 seconds. They quickly progressed to every 3 to 4 minutes and 40 second durations. We checked into the hospital around 1 PM and at 3:30 PM I received an epidural. I quickly progress from 5 to 8 cm in about 2 hours. We were sure London would be arriving on June 9 and before 9 PM.

That's when we learned that London was sunny side up and needed to turn before I could push. I spent the next several hours laying in weird positions in hopes of turning her. At 11 PM I was 10 CM but London was still in the wrong position and after a boost in the epidural medication I was completely numb and couldn't feel the contractions at all. The medication was quickly turned down. At midnight the nurse said London had turned and it was time to push. Of course, it was at this time that my contractions slowed to 10 minutes apart. After some pitocin, the complete loss of any epidural affects, and 3 hours of pushing, London was still stuck at station +2. That's when my doctor came in and declared I would need to deliver via c-section. Boy was I ready - I'd said I was done 45 minutes earlier and ready of a c-section than but the nurses talked me into trying a few more pushing positions. I was quickly drugged up again and wheeled into the OR.

Thankfully my dad had come into town and was allowed to be in the OR with Cameron and me for the delivery. I wanted him there to check on London and let me know she was A-OK when she came out. According to Cameron and my dad she came out bright-eyed and ready. My dad also thinks she had never actually turned from the sunny side position and that's why she was stuck at station +2. London weighed in at 8 lbs and measured 19 inches. She also scored very well on her apgar scores (initial vital signs score at 1 and 5 minutes after birth) - scoring an 8, than a 9. She also showed no signs of Jaundice.

We spent the next few days in the hospital adjusting to being a family of 3. We finally came home on Monday, June 14. London has been wonderful, albeit a few fussy days, but we're learning to read her cries to know when she's hungry, wet or just in need of some cuddles. She is quite the cuddler. We were very lucky to have my mom stay with us for the last two weeks to help with the adjustments. It was so nice to hand London off to my mom in the morning so we could sneak in a few more hours of sleep. Sadly, she headed home this last Thursday and we had since been adjusting to a little less sleep than before.

London is already growing by leaps and bounds. Her first pediatrician visit was on Monday, June 21. She weighed in at 9 lbs 2 oz and was accurately measured at 21 1/2 inches. She's so healthy that Dr. Grant doesn't need to see her until she's 6 weeks old! It's hard to believe she's already over 2 weeks old, and yet in some ways, it seems like we've had her here for much longer. She came out strong and already has quite a bit of control of her neck. My dad said I gave birth to a 1 week old, not a newborn - which makes sense since she was exactly 1 week late. She had probably even lost a little weight in the womb from being late as in the last two weeks of the pregnancy I lost 3 lbs. My weight loss has already began too. I'd topped out at gaining 40 lbs in the pregnancy and have already lost 26 lbs! Look to the side of the blog, as I'll be creating a Picasa album for all photos London and will update it as we take and load more. And we'll definitely keep you posted on her with blog updates.

Tootles,
Sarah

Dirty Thirty

May is a busy birthday month for us between friends, family and our own birthdays. This last Saturday was our friend Lynde's birthday and not only her birthday, but her 30th birthday. It's been a runnning joke that since Cameron turned 30 that he's old, as in 80 years old. So of course Lynde has been dreading joining the Dirty Thirty club with him this year. Our present to Lynde, and early birthday present to Matt (he's 30 on June 9) we took them for an hour-long foot massage after having belgian waffles with fresh berries for breakfast. But we couldn't let the day go by without giving Lynde a little grief, so borrowing a page from my mom's Over The Hill gag gifts ideas, I spent Friday creating this master piece:









Yes, that's a bed pan serving as the flower pot. Surrounding the base of the giant gerber daisies (debated on getting all black, but wanted some color) are individually wrapped prunes. Also included was a deck of Old Maid playing cards, an Oh No, the Big 3-0 pin, and a 30 sucks sucker. And of course, I bedazzled the crap out of the bed pan. I know its coming to me next year when I turn 30.

Tootles,
Sarah

Swim Lessons

Since our neighborhood isn't fully developed yet, there is a lot of spare land with tall weeds that has been very useful when training Tulley for her future hunting adventures. When she uses it, she can find anything using her nose.

We also have what we call "The Pond" a few streets over from us, which is where the eventual Elementary school will go. For now, its been a great location to take Tulley for swim lessons. I didn't get to see her first lesson, but have been present for her second and third lessons. All I can say is each time she seems to get better. Her main reservation is when she first steps in the water and getting started when the water is murky and cloudy. As soon as she clears the first few feet she's off to get the retrieving dummy. Here's some pictures from one of her recent lessons.






Here Cameron is trying a double retrieve

The idea is that Tulley retrieves one, brings it back and then go gets the second

If you look closely you can see she got both the dummy duck and bright orange dummy all at once. Didn't think her mouth was big enough for that!


Tootles,
Sarah

False Labor

Friday, May 7th was my 29th birthday. We really didn't have much planned. The intention was to BBQ and have chocolate fondue for dinner, but Vicki and Joe were in the neighborhood on Thursday, May 6th, so we moved the dinner up a night. Good thing we did too, as after what I experienced in the AM of my birthday, I was not up for anything Friday night.

I'd felt uncomfortable Thursday night, but attributed the feeling to eating so much and to the fact that really, when am I not uncomfortable these days? Lynde doesn't ask how I'm feeling anymore but asks for a rating on the miserable/uncomfortable scale instead. Mainly hanging around a 3 or 4 these days.

Any how, I got up a little earlier than normal Friday still feeling uncomfortable and proceeded to feel more uncomfortable as I did the dishes from the night before. By 10AM I started to experience extreme lower abdominal pain, a tightening, that I could only think was a contraction, and in essence, was. This one contraction basically lasted the next 2 1/2 hours. We couldn't establish any sort of pattern as I was always in pain, it just had some valleys and peaks. We called the doctors office, but with neither doc in for the day, we decided to wait things out versus risk another $1000 hospital bill for possible false labor. We were suspecting false labor because of the lack of pattern, and because we were told in class most labor starts out as back pain. I did have the true labor symptoms of nausea, but any one would get sick to their stomach from such intense, constant pain.

Finally we went for a walk. Two of our neighbors, who are nurses, were sure I was in true labor by the way I was reacting. It was pretty warm outside and Matt had the day off so we stopped in to cool off during our walk. There I laid on my side on the floor. Guess what, the pain stopped. I'd tried every possible position at home to stop this as we were told false labor should stop in a change of activity or position - I'd even tried laying down on the bed and couch. Guess the floor had the magic touch.

From there the contractions slowed and eventually stopped, but not before leaving my spent and sore. Changing positions or activities the rest of the day meant having a small contraction each time - just standing up from a sitting position meant a contraction. I spent the afternoon sleeping. The next day I wasn't as sore and the contractions were gone.

All I can say is I am proud that the only place I was sore was in my lower abdomen - which means I didn't tense up the rest of my body in response. The breathing we learned in class helped. Tensing up during true labor can slow labor so to get through intense false labor correctly must mean I should do ok during true labor, right?


Only time will tell I guess. Cameron was great through the whole ordeal, offering up ideas to try and relieve the pain some for me and mainly was just a good support for me while I was going through the false labor. The whole ordeal did get us to finish packing the labor, hospital and diaper bags for when the big day does arrive.

Speaking of which, we're both ready for London to arrive. As of Friday, May 14th, she is considered full term which means she should thrive outside the womb and means she can come any time she likes. We're hoping she decides to come soon.

Tootles,
Sarah

Hopland Wine Passport

Over the weekend of May 1 & 2, we headed to Mendocino county with our friends Matt, Lynde, Alyssa, Jeremy, Kim and Pat, to part take in the Hopland Wine Passport, and our 4th annual wine tasting trip.

The Parents-to-be

Jeremy & Alyssa

Matt & Lynde

Kim & Pat


Friday night started with Matt, Lynde, Alyssa, Jeremy, Cameron and I piling into the Yukon for the long drive. Of course, there was a stop at Granzella's for dinner along the way. We finally arrived at our hotel around 11 PM, just in time to get some much needed rest for the day ahead of us.

Saturday we all got up and headed to Denny's for breakfast while we waited for Kim & Pat to arrive. Before we knew it we were on our way to the first winery, Jaxon Keys. I have to say this was a very well organized event. For $35, your ticket got you a Hopland Wine Passport wine glass, a reusable wine tote that can hold up to 6 wine bottles and entrance into 15 winery tasting rooms over a two day period. The tour also provided shuttle services between the wineries and a few hotels in Ukiah, including the Holiday Inn where we stayed. This would have been great, had I not been the pregnant DD. Did I mention that DDs got into these places for free, and could enjoy the live music and delicious food? The other cool thing about this wine passport? It's held twice a year! So any one interested should go in October!

As mentioned, our first stop was Jaxon Keys. The tasting room was a beautiful Victorian-era home up on the hill over looking the little valley the vineyards claimed. Cameron's favorite wine there was a Sauvignon Blanc, produced in a steel barrel. Upon smelling it, I can only imagine how good it tasted - of course, we forgot to buy a bottle of it. Oh well, we'll just have to go back.

The Gang at Jaxon Keys

From there we headed to Brutocao Cellars. Their tasting room is actually located in the old Hopland Highschool in downtown Hopland. Boy, could I have spend money in their gift shop as it contained all kinds of items I could decorate the house with. This tasting room also had a nice picnic area and Bocce Ball courts. Matt & Cameron didn't turn down a chance to pick up a game while the rest of us lounged in the sun.

Brutocao Cellars

Bocce Ball

Many other tasting rooms were located in Downtown Hopland as well, so we did some walking while took in McDowell (another great gift store attached to this one), McNab Ridge Winery (where I saw this great end table made out of a wine barrel), McFadden Farm and Graziano Family of Wines (where they gave me a $5.99 magazine, called Touring and Tasting, for free - will be great for ideas for next year's annual wine trip.)

I want to make end tables just like this one for our loft!

This set up was also nice for the pregnant DD. I could walk to each winery with everyone and while they partook in their tasting, I'd wander the nearby shops. I even found a shop that sold old wine barrels for $15! The whole wine barrel. Too bad we had so many people in the car, otherwise I would have bought two so Cameron could make me my end tables!

We ended the day at Weibel Family Wine Group, which was located on the winery. Driving up to it I noticed we were passing many of the wineries we had been introduced to in Downtown Hopland. Can't complain when driving through vineyards - its just so beautiful around them this time of year. Turns out Weibel makes a non-alcoholic Champagnette, so I got to do a little tasting myself. It was a little sweet, but not pure grape juice like every other non-alcoholic wine I've tasted during this pregnancy. Matt & Lynde even bought me a bottle to enjoy later.

From there, we ended our day having dinner at the Ukiah Brewing Co. where the cuisine is all organic. Have to say the day did take a toll on my poor feet from the walking and warm weather. By the time we got back to the hotel, I was ready to soak my feet, which I did in the bathtub, full of cool water. Cameron and I went down to the spa later where I soaked the feet some more, but ended up making them worse. When we got back to the room, Cameron got a bucket of ice and folded the ice in cool, damp washcloths and laid them over my feet. The ice melted pretty quickly. Luckily my next doctor's appointment was Monday, and by then my feet were back to normal and my blood pressure was great so we knew it was strictly from being on my feet in warm weather.

And that was our last weekend away. Now we sit and wait for London to arrive.

Tootles,
Sarah