KaiserTales

My last post ended with this: I have all sorts of stories about our first venture out (4 days after Eli was born), our first road trip (to the cabin to hang with Cousin Hazel), and milestones, but they will have to wait until I find a chunk of time or until I see you in person.

I didn’t really find a chunk of time, but here’s a written account of our first venture out and our first road trip, starting with the road trip. (I know, sounds official, huh?)

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Damn. It’s TOUGH traveling with an infant. Actually, it’s tough to get ready to travel with an infant. Or at least it was tough for me the first time around. I won’t lie; there were tears.

Circa July 30. Eli age: 3 weeks old. We were headed east to introduce Eli to the cabin. His cousin Hazel was nice enough to invite us along to the tail-end of the Barker Family Vacation aka BFVGPS10. I was responsible for getting myself, the kid, and the dog into the truck. Nate had packed up most of the gear already. I just needed to load the final bags and the young ones, then pick up Nate in Pioneer Square before heading out. No big deal, right?

Eli in his snap-in carseat... the easy one.

Eli's not sure what to make of the cabin.

I tried to remain cool as Eli screamed his head off while I ran around loading the last-minute stuff and the dog. I had everything ready to go, and I was only 10-15 minutes behind schedule. Lastly, I grabbed the crying baby and set him into the carseat… where the straps were too tight to go around his little arms. Dammit. As it turned out, the carseat was my doom. For the life of me, I couldn’t figure out how to loosen the straps.

An hour, several phone calls, several curse words, several more curse words, tears, cries (from Eli), and a $30 taxi ride later, Nate came to save the day. He fixed the problem in about 30 seconds, which brought on even more tears of frustration (from me and Eli). Eventually, we got to the cabin just fine.

And we had an awesome time.

Jet ski on the Columbia! Whoo hoo!

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And while that was the worst to date, there have been some comical other firsts in regards to “traveling” with Eli. The first outing we took as a new Kaiser clan (aside from heading home from the hospital) was on July 11, just four days after Eli was born. It was Nate’s birthday, Eli’s actual due date, and we headed to Redmond to join Keith and Susie at church.

Nate aka “Clipboard Kaiser” had a schedule that he wanted to keep and an ideal time to leave the house. Being that Eli was four days old and we had just come home from the hospital two days prior, everything from getting ourselves showered and dressed to getting the diaper bag packed was a challenge. But we were up to the task!

The task included a load of laundry prior to our departure, washing Eli’s intended outfit for the day. We were both certain that everything would dry by the time we had to leave… We were wrong.

• 40 minutes prior to our intended departure, I started feeding Eli, all the while shouting out things like “Don’t forget the _[fill in with random baby item]__” to Nate who was running around getting himself and the diaper bag packed up.
• 20 minutes prior to our intended departure, I decided Eli had had enough to eat and needed to get dressed. Nate took the laundry out of the dryer, only slightly damp.
• 15 minutes prior to our intended departure we changed Eli’s diaper and put him in his outfit for the day.
• 10 minutes prior to our intended departure we assessed that the outfit was still pretty damp and we should attempt to dry it further before heading out into the chilly elements (and sadly, it was fairly chilly and overcast for a mid-summer morning). We turned on the hairdryer and pointed it at our son. Yes. When our son was only four days old, we dried his clothes with a hair dryer while he was wearing them. I’m not proud of it, but he didn’t seem to mind, and the hair dryer did the trick.

You’d think at this point that we’d realize the need for additional layers, but you’d be wrong.

We managed to get out the door 10 minutes behind schedule, which wasn’t bad given our antics prior to intended departure. We snapped in the carseat, started the car, backed out of the garage, and we were off! … So we thought.

As we were backing out of the garage, I noticed that the blanket wasn’t in the carseat. “Nate, did you grab the blanket?”

“No Mars, I thought you did!”

Next, I noticed that we’d forgotten to put socks on Eli. By this time, we were at the streetlight, but with a damp clothed son, no blanket and no socks, we determined the need to turn back around. Needless to say, we were late to church.

Amusingly enough, the sun came out just as we crossed the bridge, and we ended up stripping the kid of all his clothes once we got to Grandpa and Grandma’s house. Go figure.

Eli sans clothing and loving it

In Grandpa's lap, sporting his fly dry outfit

The shirt says "I'm a sloppy kisser." It should say, "I drool in my sleep."

I realize that we’ve been absolutely terrible about updating the blog. Eli is growing up quickly! He’s 7 weeks old now, and in the past week he’s begun “talking” and cooing at his mobile, sucking on his hands when he’s hungry, and rubbing his eyes when he’s tired. He’s also a pretty big flirt.

Eli still turns over from his tummy to his back… something he’s done since he was 2 weeks old (aye, yai, yai!), and I’m hoping that any day now he’ll sleep through the night (fingers crossed!!!). He’s a pretty good sleeper when he’s in someone’s arms.

I have all sorts of stories about our first venture out (4 days after Eli was born), our first road trip (to the cabin to hang with Cousin Hazel), and milestones, but they will have to wait until I find a chunk of time or until I see you in person.

It’s been two weeks since we’ve last posted! Where have we been? What have we been doing?

We’ve been figuring out our new lives, learning a new sleep schedule (waking up in three-hour intervals), and watching our new addition grow every day! We adore him, and it keeps getting better…

Here’s some pics of Eli’s first few days, all taken at the hospital.

Eli's first day; Asleep at the hospital

My! What big eyes you have!

Of course, we fell in love

Eli Chandler Kaiser

Born July 7, 2010

Eli’s cousin Hazel has some perspective on Eli’s arrival. She was around the day before Aunt Marissa went into labor and showed her aunts and uncles how to play in the playground, she splashed in the water with Aunt Marissa at Greenlake the day that Marissa went into labor, and she decorated Aunt Marissa and Uncle Nate’s new walkway with sidewalk chalk.

When Eli finally arrived, Hazel wasn’t too sure about this competition for the Kaiser family’s attention. Check out her perspective on Eli’s birth here. By the way, CUTE ALERT!!!

Hazel eyes Uncle Nate and Eli

I must say, Eli (@elikaiser aka @babykaiser aka Dim Sum) is a handsome boy  and @mjkaiser is one beautiful mom!

Eli in the first few minutes

A tale of the new Kaisers

Kaiser family with Aunt Ailey and Uncle Ritchie

Fun times at the park:

1. Hormone roulette is real and scarier than you can possibly imagine. The best defense is a good offense and HUMOR is the only thing that can save you.
2. Listen to everyone and ignore all of them -> They are all well meaning, but this is your experience and it will be far different than anything they experienced.
3. Be safe and make the right decisions for you -> if you are high risk, take that seriously, if you aren’t high risk, take that seriously as well. Make the right decision for you and your family.
4. The Borg will consume you! How did our parents and their parents have kids that lived to see their 2nd day without all the crazy stuff you can buy at Kids-r-Us or anywhere else?
5. Have as much sex as possible… (partner willing).
6. Men are affected by hormones as their wives are (at least I was – poor @mjkaiser).
7. Delight in every moment, from the messy to the sublime.
8. Make fun of the baby classes and those that attend (including yourselves) – People are crazy, they should be ridiculed mercilessly.
9. Don’t listen to your Dr. about sports, @mjkaiser was playing soccer into her first trimester (until she got nailed in the belly by the ball), tele-mark skiing well into her second trimester and sail boat racing well into her third trimester.
10. Ignore this post completely!

Enjoying the Sun at the 4th of July Parade in George, Washington

This is an annual trip for the family, and this year we decided to stay home as Dim Sum could arrive “at any time.” What we should have read into that was that he/she would arrive on their own time. And good for him/her!

At the end of the day, I think this process has brought Mars and I even closer and I couldn’t imagine experiencing this with anyone else.

Those are the best words that I’ve received in terms of labor advice. And damn if it’s not true!

@nkaiser and I have been on baby alert for over two weeks now, and it’s been the longest two weeks of our lives. Dim Sum still hasn’t shown up, but there’s been three false alarms, including one trip to the hospital. I have to admit, I’ve been a bit… defeated these past few days. Folks have called, texted and emailed, and in my melancholy state, I’ve let them go unanswered. Sorry, friends. I’m just a little withdrawn, a little tired, and a lot frustrated. Please don’t stop checking in, but please don’t take offense if I don’t answer you right away.

Some, in an effort to comfort me, remind me that I’m not due until July 11. While that’s true, our doctor put us on high alert beginning June 18 saying, “Get that car seat in the car, make sure your pediatrician is lined up, and BE READY.” That was the fateful day I was diagnosed as being 3 cm dilated 3 weeks early. Not that my doc was lying or did the wrong thing… it could have happened any day. But the fact that it’s now July 4 (oh yeah, Happy Independence Day!) means that Nate and I have been waiting with baited breath for a LONG. TIME. We’ve gone to bed at night saying, “Maybe tonight is the night!” and we’ve woken up saying, “I wonder if today is the day?”

As each day draws out, things get more and more frustrating.

Exercise in active surrender. But it’s awfully hard to get two type-A personalities to surrender.

So here’s our new coping mechanism: Get out of the house as often as possible. Go to a coffee shop, visit a bar, eat out, take Galt to the dog park. Distract, distract, distract. A big shout out goes to our friends, Eric and Alli, who kidnapped me at 11 p.m. the other night and took me to a movie. That was awesome. Tonight, we’ll head off to a BBQ at Marina and Damon’s house. More distraction. More awesome.

Until Dim Sum decides to come, exercise in active surrender.

Marissa and I have been wondering if Galt (@galtthedog) knows that there is serious competition around the corner… Though, if he does suspect I can certainly say that he wasn’t expecting this…

Thanks Aviel and Corwyn!

Here’s a direct citation from “What to Expect When You’re Expecting” about labor and childbirth (apologies if you think this is graphic, but it’s presented as clinically as a layperson can get):

“Childbirth is divided (more loosely by nature, more formally by obstetrical science) into three stages. The first stage is labor, divided into three phases: early (or latent), active, and transactional ending with the full dilation (opening) of the cervix; the second stage is delivery, culminating in the birth of the baby; and the third stage is delivery of the placenta or afterbirth [QUICK! Call Tom Cruise! -- sorry, had to add that]. The whole process averages about fourteen hours for first-time mothers…”

“STAGE ONE: Labor

Phase I: Latent or Early — thinning (effacement) of cervix and dilation to 3 centimeters

Phase II: Active – dilation of cervix to 7 centimeters

Phase II: Transitional — dilation of cervix to 10 centimeters (fully dilated)”

Now that you’re fully versed on the clinical science behind childbirth, let me share with you that I’ve been 3 cm dilated for an entire week. Remember that line about the whole process taking about fourteen hours? Bullshit. Seven full days of waiting, and God knows how much longer this will go on. At the doc’s appointment this past Wednesday, she said I was between 3-4 cm dilated. Shouldn’t that imply that I’m moving from “latent or early” labor to “active” labor? No, apparently this doesn’t apply to me.

Dim Sum, you’re such a tease!

I digress… You’ve probably read my “freak out” post. Despite last Friday, I went on to have a fairly normal, albeit, busy weekend.

Father's Day (with Mom)

Gung Gung (grandpa) and PoPo (grandma)

Nate and I hosted my extended family for Father’s Day, and the whole event went off beautifully for us and the 20+ folks that came over for dinner. Everyone got to see the yard (in progress), the baby’s room, and most hadn’t ever seen the house, so it was nice for my aunts, uncles and cousins to come over.

It was a busy night, but I managed to go to bed early, since I had a 7 a.m. conference call to attend the next morning. But Dim Sum had other plans… I was awakened by some intense contractions at 1 a.m.! I woke Nate up so we could freak out together. We read through “What to Expect When You’re Expecting” (see above) and got a sense for what we could/should do. And then, after an hour… the contraction went away.

And they haven’t returned. This entire week. Seven full days. It’s been a crazy, exhausting, emotional roller coaster of a waiting game. Sigh.

What has happened is that I’ve gotten REALLY tired. Yesterday, I napped for most of the mid-day, and the naps were book-ended by two very full nights of sleep. My abilities to focus suck, and I’ve been taking a lot of walks to fill the time. I guess it’s been a blessing, since we’ve experienced our first 2 days of summer this past week. After a record amount of time, Seattle weather finally reached 75 degrees and above! The last time it was that warm was September 23, 2009. I’ve had a massage, I’ve had friends and family over for dinner… I guess I should be enjoying all of this.

But Nate and I both just want Dim Sum to come. This being said, there’s a Dim Sum for Dim Sum Baby Party this weekend. So I guess I need Dim Sum to wait a few more days… Hang in there Dim Sum. Hang in there Marissa. Hang in there Nate.

… Our lives will change soon enough…

Marissa and I were all excited to hear that she was 3cm dilated and that Dim Sum could arrive at any time. This excitement was fed by the “fake” contractions that occurred early Monday morning. All of this led to both of us getting quite anxious and ready to GO should Dim Sum decide to make an appearance.

Dog sitters are lined up, the bag is packed (complete with duct tape and real Gin-u-Wine Texas dirt), gas tanks are full, Twitter updates are already written, camera has a full battery (a first), and much, much more. It is all sitting their waiting as the clocks keeps its incessant tick-tock, tick-tock.

I have an iPhone, I am on Twitter, I drive too fast, am always online and to put it simply I am horrible at waiting. Tick-tock, tick-tock. Maybe this is teaching me a good lesson… Who knows. I am still not good at it.

I continue to wait. When all is said and done, I am simply excited to meet Dim Sum. Boy or girl, I just want to meet him/her.

Is that so bad?

Tick-tock, tick-tock.

Yup. I give up. I am now all-consumed with Dim Sum’s pending arrival. All that wishing and hoping, running and exercising, spicy food and *ahem* other activities that are supposed to stimulate baby to arrive have apparently worked, cuz I’m 3 cm dilated with 3 weeks to go until my due date.

And I’M COMPLETELY FREAKING OUT. Thus the 5 a.m. blogpost. (I’ve been up since before 3. Ugh.) Forgive the following ramble, as it’s mostly a tool for me to put down my feelings… I hope it’s somewhat entertaining.

Nate’s sleeping, and I’ve got enough on the To-Do list that I need him to get his rest, so I’m trying to do “quiet” things… make lists, make more lists, check email, write blogposts… My attempt to make a cup of tea has already woken him up once. (I’ve never been a quiet person.)

I’m experiencing this very odd combination of elation–a slightly early arrival is exactly what I’ve been hoping for–and anxiety–my uber-planner self had estimated at least 2 more weeks of productive work before I’d have to batten down the hatches and really be ready to be a mom (!!!)

Yesterday was my 37-week check up at the doctor’s office. A baby is expected to gestiate for 40 weeks before it’s “due,” but they’re considered full-term around 37 weeks. The final three weeks are spent putting on extra pounds… about 1/2 lb. per week for baby. As mentioned in my previous post, I’ve stayed pretty small throughout this pregnancy. In fact, according to yesterday’s weigh-in, I’ve gained a total of 15 lbs to date. (I don’t know how, but I’ve lost a couple of pounds over the past 2 weeks.) Lately, I’ve been feeling really good. I’ve been energetic but careful not to overdue things. I’ve been active, and Nate and I have had a number of outings with good friends. Heck, I even went sailing last weekend.

Dim Sum will be raised a sailor

And all this, I conveyed to our doctor. As usual, she measured my baby bump and checked the heartbeat. All is tracking well–the bump is measuring just right at 37 weeks, and the heartbeat is appropriately starting to slow down. At this point, the baby is estimated to be about 5 lbs… (but really, they can’t estimate with that much accuracy). My doc seemed pretty happy with things, and then we did a further exam to see if I’m at all dilated. Her words: “OK, don’t freak out, but you’re 3 cm dilated and your cervix has shrunk about 70%.”

I didn’t freak out… (until later)… I did a little happy dance and glanced over at Nate. Nate, who was hoping for a birthday present on his real birthday, was a bit more surprised. Further explanation from the doctor put things into perspective: “I’d be incredibly surprised if you made it to your due date [7/11], and you might get to bring Dim Sum to your dim sum party.”

I still didn’t freak out, but Nate grasped the reality of the situation way before I did. “Awww! I was really hoping to share my birthday with Dim Sum. Can we use duct tape to keep things closed? Duct tape is an amazing product.” –Maybe Nate’s humor doesn’t translate to the blog, but he was hilarious.

I walked out in a daze, booked another appointment for Wednesday (next KaiserTales update: Wednesday afternoon!), and we both headed in to work. I think it was there that everything started to sink in and I started to freak out. In response to my news, one of my co-workers shared with me that she and her family all tend to deliver at 4 cm dilated–forget this 10 cm stuff! She then went on to mention that I could conceivably deliver in the next 72 hours. HOLY SHIT!!! It hadn’t really occurred to me like that.

While highly unlikely, it’s still a possibility. And I NEED the next week or two of non-motherhood status for my sanity and to get shit done. There’s lots to do around the house, but more so, there’s so much at work that I want to finish up before maternity leave! Yet, my brain is mush, my hormones are all over the place, and, forgive me, but I have to get up and pee again. Dammit.

This will all end soon, right? And I’ll forget all this anxiety and worry. And we’ll have a little Dim Sum to dote on. OMG.

For, well… the entire pregnancy, really, people have been asking me to post baby bump pictures. Initially, I stalled cuz there wasn’t really a bump to speak of (see my post from January). More recently, I’ve been hesitant cuz I don’t want to be one of those pregnant ladies who’s blog becomes all about the growing fetus. This is a Kaiser family blog, and the Kaiser family does so many more interesting things than think about or talk about our kid. Granted, because of the state I’m in, Dim Sum gets a mention in just about every post… It’s just not the sole content of my writing.

But I get the whole preggy picture thing. There’s so many friends and family members that don’t live nearby, haven’t seen me pregnant, and would like to. So here’s a few pics, just for you

The first thing you’ll probably notice is that I’ve stayed pretty tiny. I’m 34 weeks along in a 40 week journey. That means I only have 6 weeks, or about a month-and-a-half to go! According to my last doctor’s visit, I’ve gained a total of 14 lbs, so yeah, my baby bump is tiny. I’m guessing I won’t put on more than 20 lbs throughout the pregnancy… in the final four weeks I’m expected to gain about 1/2-a-pound per week.

I’m pretty lucky on the size front. I thank good genes (thanks Mom & Dad!), being in good shape prior to the pregnancy, staying active throughout the pregnancy, and my general propensity to eat well. I don’t crave chocolates, cake, ice cream, fried foods, or all the saturated fats–but I’m happy to indulge in all of the above when presented with the opportunity

Staying small has afforded me some nice luxuries in keeping with my “normal” life:

• I was able to wear many of my regular work clothes until just a few weeks ago (thanks to an elastic invention called the Bella Band that held up my regular pants even when they weren’t zipped or buttoned).
• I spent the entire ski season in my own ski clothes, and managed to ski over 12 days this year. Even though I was prepared to hold up my ski pants with suspenders, I never had to use them–yay!
• I still wear “regular”-sized yoga pants, tee-shirts and sweatshirts from my pre-pregnancy days.
• I still wear my own underwear and don’t plan on buying any bigger-sized panties. (Despite warnings from friends.)
• I can wash dishes, do laundry and reach the bottom of the top-load laundry machine, and put things away in low or high cupboards just fine. (Again, despite warnings.)
• I still reach down to tie my own shoes, but it’s not the easiest thing in the world to do

So the question remains, Does size matter? At the very beginning of my pregnancy, a friend shared these wise words from her doctor: “At the end of your pregnancy, you’re baby will have taken 6-10 lbs of whatever you’ve gained. You’ll lose a little more from the weight of the amniotic fluid and the placenta, but the rest is for you!”

I’d rather have the “rest” be as little as possible.

… No, I’m not learning how to make Chinese pastries and tapas. I’m talking about baby preparations of epic proportions.

If you’ve been living in a cave and haven’t talked to Nate and I in months, or if don’t follow us on Twitter or Facebook, you’ll be interested to know that we’ve temporarily deemed the baby “Dim Sum.” We don’t yet know if it’s a boy or girl (just 6 more weeks *hopefully* until we find out!) and we needed to call it something.

So, as we near Dim Sum’s due date (July 11–also Nate’s birthday), we’re taking the opportunity to make some home improvements that have been on our minds for awhile. We’re taking this whole “nesting” period to an entirely new level. Who else do you know “nests” by ripping out their entire front yard?

Our front yard aka "the mud pit"

We started small and we started early…  Dim Sum’s room was basically done in February. We’ve been working on the final layout and furniture arrangement, but that’s minor in comparison to everything else.

Crib and changing table

Dim Sum's room part II

Just as I started to show and be obviously pregnant, we went out and bought new dining room furniture, new living room furniture, and we’ve been working to figure out how to best arrange our living room. We also bought a new television and spent last weekend mounting the flatscreen above the mantle. This is what our living room looked like before we decided to buy a new T.V.

Our new couch aka "the aircraft carrier"

Gratuitous baby bump pic - 7 months pregnant

Plans are to spot paint over the rough/dirty spots in the living room, and we really want to paint and rearrange our bedroom before the kid comes.

But really, the front yard is the most impressive. Here’s some before and mid-line video. We’re still mid-construction, but it’s shaping up! We’ll post more as the progression continues!