Cameron's Adventures

We received many bouquets of flowers and cookies over the past week from friends and family. Here are just a few pictures of them.

        

     

Once we came home, more people came to visit Emma. Our friends Jesse and Laurie, Keith and Betsy with Jack and one month old Sara, Tim and Courtney and a few neighbors. Everyone has been really nice and they made sure that we were well fed. So needless to say, we’ve had plenty of food in the past week. It sure has been very nice.

Jesse and Laurie came to meet Emma. Jesse is a natural with kids. He held Emma like a pro.

Below is Betsy with Sarah who’s 1 month and 1 day older than Emma. They came by to visit us. Sarah is Betsy’s second child. It’s been great to learn from Betsy and be able to have someone that though more experienced than me in “mommyhood” will be going through similar issues as me in the coming months.

My sister in law Courtney and Tim came by to meet Emma.

During some of the afternoons, Rory had belly time with Emma. And sometimes, Emma was hungry and went after his t-shirt.

     

And sometimes she needed to be changed. All the time Teika, our dog not knowing what to do. Who is this creature that has appeared in our house? She’s getting better day by day but she is a bit skittish still and not sure of Emma.

     

Our little family, now has grown by one.

Welcome baby Emma Mae Cameron into our lives and into this world. You are more than anything we could have expected and desired. Our love for you has been growing with every growth of my belly for the past nine months, but nothing has made our love flourish as seeing you for the first time, holding you, feeding you and smelling your sweet little being.

I want to start this blog with some gorgeous pictures of Emma taken by Bella Baby Photography when Emma was just 1 day old.

 

    

 

     

    

But before I go further with photos of our little pride and joy, I’d like to start at the beginning of the birth story.

The beginning

It all started in July 2009. We’ve invited some friends over for July 4th BBQ and then to watch the Lake Union fireworks. But as there was drinking involved, I’ve decided just for kicks to purchase a pregnancy test kit on July 3rd. Sure enough it said “Pregnant” clear as day.

 

I could not believe it. Rory could not believe it. But it was true. We were pregnant! Soon, our lives would change forever…

Then on July 4th, Rory went to the dog park with Teika. We did not want to tell anyone the news yet until we went to the doctor to confirm for sure. At the dog park, our friend Keith mentioned that his wife is pregnant. What a surprise and even more so that we were pregnant too…

A few days later, I went to the doctor and confirmed that I was 5 weeks pregnant. That put the due date of Emma for March 8th, 2010. And thus, the rollercoaster of being pregnant began.

I have never experienced such a feeling. The first trimester was summer time. And what a summer it was here in Seattle. The warmest we’ve ever been through. And here I was pregnant. I hated it. In fact, I stopped going to the GYM which is a big thing for me as I’ve normally been going five days a week. Also, I would go to work but as soon as I got home, all I wanted to do was sleep. I felt nauseated and hated being awake because my head was spinning. Luckily, I never really got the morning sickness they talk about except in the last few weeks of third trimester and beginning of second.

So after sleeping the first trimester away, the second one was much better. I started to have more energy and no longer felt nauseated. I returned to the GYM though only three times a week and started mainly to swim. This was very nice as I felt like I wasn’t pregnant, light and agile.

Third trimester was more of the same. My appetite was very good and I could eat anything. It was great not to feel sick around certain foods. I enjoyed food so much that I’ve gained around 45 lb or so during my pregnancy.

As I progressed through the pregnancy, my belly grew bigger and bigger. In fact, many people commented on how big it was but basically, I carried all the belly in the front. So of course it looked big! Also, many people guessed that the baby is a boy. This was because I was carrying it all in front and because the belly itself was sitting very low. But the ultrasound at 20 weeks and my colleague’s famous baby guessing string test said it was a girl. Still, I had my doubts until the very end when they said “it’s a girl”.

As March approached, many people said that I’d probably be early. They were amazed that I chose to work until March 5th, with my due date of March 8th. But March 8th, came and went and no baby. In fact, after a week and 2 days of waiting, we finally went to the hospital…

Going to the hospital

On Tuesday March 16th, at 2:00am in the morning, I woke up regularly for a visit to the bathroom. All through the pregnancy, and especially towards the end, waking up during the night was a routine as my bladder no longer held the amount of liquid it used to. Thus, natured called often.

So that Tuesday I experienced my water breaking. Well it was more like leaking but still. A progress towards the final arrival of our baby… of course we also had an appointment with the doctor to be induced for the labor that same day. I was not thrilled to have to be induced and was hoping that the labor would start naturally. However, I was a week past my due date and 2 cm dilated already. The doctor wanted me to be induced because I had Group B Strep Infection as well and if/when my water broke, I’d have to be medicated so that my infection would not pass to the baby.

Thus, the plan was that when my water broke, I’d go straight to the hospital and stay there until the baby arrived. Naturally, since my water happen to break on the same day I was scheduled to be induced, I was thrilled. Because this hopefully meant that I was starting labor all on my own.

8:00am: Tuesday 03/16/2010

Unfortunately, when Rory and I got to the hospital at 8:00am on Tuesday 03/16/2010 and they confirmed that my water did indeed break, I was not having any natural contractions of my own. Thus, besides putting me IV for medication to protect the baby from my infection, we also started the medication for induction. So when things began, I was 2 cm dilated. Everything was set in motion and we hoped we’d have the baby by 8:00pm that night at the latest, allowing us to leave the hospital the following day on Wednesday, St. Patrick’s Day.

But nature has a mind of it’s own and one we cannot control unfortunately. Even with human medicine and science, the prediction of when I’d have the baby was unknown. But how bad could it be, I thought? The pain of the contractions started to be felt over the minutes, then hours that passed. But I could handle it. After all, how long could it really take? Sure the contractions could get stronger and more painful, but if it’s a matter of a few hours enduring the pain and keep things as natural as possible, I was up for the challenge.

To my surprise, getting from 2 cm to 4 cm dilated was no small task. It didn’t just take a few hours. It took 16 hours, from 10:00am on Tuesday to 2:00am on Wednesday. Finally, at that time, I was 4 cm dilated and could opt in for an epidural to ease my contraction pain. I was now in “active labor”. Honestly, when the process began, I thought I could handle doing everything natural. But after 16 hours of painful contractions (induced contractions are stronger and more painful than natural ones), I opted for the epidural.

2:00am: Wednesday 03/17/2010

At 2:00am on Wednesday morning, the Anesthesiologist came in to administer the epidural. I hate needles and at the thought of putting on in my spine I started to shiver. But it had to be done. And luckily, the pain in my mind was greater than that in reality. Within minutes of the epidural being administered my legs started to feel numb and the contractions were very manageable. In fact, it was really easy now. I could still feel them but it was not painful at all. What a difference medicine makes…

So all drugged up, we were now hoping to breeze through the next 6 cm and get to 10 cm dilated to start the birth process. Unfortunately, that wasn’t in the cards for me. From 2:00am to 8:00am I finally got to 5 cm dilated. Six hours for 1 cm was not a very fast progress. But we continued. After some time with no progress, the doctor recommended that she monitor the contractions by inserting a tube inside me next to the baby’s head and the uterus. This would more accurately detect the strength of the contractions as sometimes, the gear hooked up on the outside of my belly did not accurately detect the contractions. Sure enough, when we did this we found out that the contractions were a lot lower than desired. Thus, we increased the medication for contractions. Unfortunately, even with increasing the strength of the contractions, the cervix wasn’t opening any faster.

11:00am: Wednesday 03/17/2010

The doctor recommended a c-section. My water had been broken for more than 36 hours by now and with Strep B, the longer we waited the more chance for infections reaching the baby. I wasn’t thrilled to hear that I might need to get a c-section. You see, I went in keeping an open mind to do whatever needed to be done. But even so, I did not want a c-section. Who wants to be cut and have major surgery after all?

When the doctor first recommended the c-section, she said that we can wait another hour and see if the cervix starts to dilate. After all, we had just started to increase the medicine for contractions.

12:30pm: Wednesday 03/17/2010

Around 12:30pm the doctor checked the opening of the cervix. Surprise, there was some progress. It now looked like the cervix was 6 cm dilated. This gave us all some hope. The doctor, just as much as us did not want to have to do a c-section. So she said we can wait 2 1/2 hours and see what the progress is like. During this time, the medicine for contractions increased from 4 – 16. Unfortunately, at 3:00pm the cervix was still only 6 cm dilated. So no progress at all.

3:00pm: Wednesday 03/17/2010

Around 3:00pm, Rory and I agreed on a c-section. After 38 hours of labor the health of the baby was the most important thing on our mind. Though the c-section was not appealing, there were no other options. So we waited and got physically and mentally prepared for the surgery.

Rory got dressed in scrubs and was able to barely fit the shoe covers over his sandals. He is after all the “sandal and socks” guy from the Geico car insurance commercial.

Amazingly, the process was better than I could have imagined. After moving me to the surgery room and giving me a spinal tap to make sure that I would have no feeling whatsoever during the surgery, the process started. The doctor that performed the operation is one of the best in Washington and has been doing c-sections for more than 25 years.

At about 10 minutes into the operation, Emma Mae was born. With the exception of a faint push feeling on my belly, I did not feel anything as they took Emma out of my womb. It was a very surreal experience. I was awake and knew what was happening to me, but could not feel anything.

When they pulled Emma out, they said “it’s a girl”. That was magical. I did not see her right away, but I did hear them say something to the effect that she’s a big girl and “look at all that hair”. At this point, Rory who was sitting by my head holding my hands got up and went to meet Emma. He later said that it was an awesome moment. There was our little daughter, well not so little. She was 9lb 4.4oz, 21 inches long and a head circumference of 15”. That is a big head as the average is around 13.5” to 14”. This is a decent size for a baby. And perhaps one of the reasons why a c-section was necessary.

 

Now as I’m sitting at home a week and a half later, healing from the surgery, I wonder how bad it would have been to deliver such a huge baby the natural way. Some people say that big babies are easier to deliver. Others say that they just tear you up so it’s better that I didn’t have to go through that. Whatever the reason, my path was through surgery and I am accepting that more and more every day. As I look into my daughter’s eyes, I am filled with a love I never imagined. And even though I didn’t experience the true way of giving birth, I am thrilled and blessed to have her.

Emma Mae, welcome into our family!

Visit from friends and family

After we had Emma, we stayed in the hospital 2 more days. During this time, friends and family members came to visit. It was great to see everyone.

The Camerons

Rory’s parents Ron and Carol came to see us. They were thrilled to see Emma and as you can see Ron was already with the camera taking pictures of her. Between him and I, we’ll sure have a lot of photos of Emma.

 

Trevor and Crystal also came to visit. They loved holding Emma and it was great to see them.

     

The Muresans

My parents David and Maria came as well. Mom was very cute holding Emma while dad seemed a little timid. I’m not sure if he was or not but he definitely held her for only a little bit. I think once Emma is older people will feel more comfortable holding her. I know I’m not comfortable holding infants. Emma is the exception because she is mine.

Bianca and Amy

My wonderful friends Bianca and Amy came to visit us at the hospital. It was very emotional to see them.

     

The rest of the days were spent recovering and just hanging out in the hospital with Rory and Emma. Rory was a great hands on daddy. He learned to swaddle and change her before I and did a great job with it. you could see the love and tender care he has for Emma. Before Emma was born neither one of us were big baby people. That is, we haven’t really held babies, let alone infants. However, as I’ve mentioned before, holding Emma was magical. And Rory did a fantastic job with that.

Throughout the days in the hospital, it was great to have the help from the nurses. They were there whenever I needed something and they were all pretty much lactation specialists so I got great advice on how to breastfeed from the. I really had a great hospital experience at Swedish in Ballard. I highly recommend this hospital.

     

    

 

Finally, on Friday March 19th (a day earlier than anticipated), around 5:00pm we were ready and left the hospital. I like to think of the fact that we left a day early that I am recovering and am gaining my regular strength faster. I can’t wait to be fully recovered and enjoy the sun and summer ahead with our baby girl.

That’s it for now. Our lives have changed forever. Baby Emma, we love you!

Today I baked my first apple pie. That’s right, I have never made an apple pie before. And this one was completely from scratch!

I got the recipe from the book “How to cook everything” which is wonderful. Halfway through, I was ready to toss it out before I finished it because the dough crumbled and I had a tough time rolling it. In the end, I decided to bake it anyway and called it my “Frankenstein” creation. But after I baked it, it did not look so bad and the taste was decent. Next time I know I’ll do better, but it was a great first attempt.

       

Bon appetite!

They say that only 5% of the time does a baby actually get born on the expected due date. Well my baby was expected on March 8th and sure enough no baby yet. I think it is comfortable to sit in the womb, be warmed, be rocked, be fed and have no worry in the world.

So this morning I am on day three past my due date and I’ve started to theorize that maybe, just maybe the baby wants to be an Aries. Thus, if the theory is true, I will continue to be pregnant at least until March 20th.

Since we haven’t met our baby yet, I couldn’t help but put a few pictures of the ultrasound we took at week 20. We are now into our week 40.

        

Yep I can honestly say that I’m anxious to meet the little one.

Over the past nine months, I’ve kept track of my belly growing. It’s been fun to document how miraculously the body changes to accommodate the needs of the growing baby. And along with that change, my state of mind, my priorities in life and my view on what’s important changed with it. I am calm, serene and happy with my only though being constantly on the little one.

 
Click image to view larger.

I can’t help photograph my dog. So here I am again taking a few pictures of her…

 

 

She loves her squirrel toy. It makes 4 or 5 different noises which drive her crazy. He he he…

            

Today is my due date. But so far nothing to report. I am still up and about just waiting. I do have a good book to keep me company and so I am waiting patiently for when the baby is ready to come out and meet us.

Yesterday Rory and I went to Costco for grocery shopping. We ended up buying a lot of fruits from papaya, to pineapple, oranges and apples. Then we went to Babies R’Us where we found a crib and changing table.

 

 

  

Last night Rory assembled them and I washed the covers and made the bed. The bed and changing table are set now. The room still needs more decorations and the cloths need to be better organized, but that will happen slowly as I’m not in a hurry. The first few months we are actually going to have the baby with us in the bedroom. For that, I bought a bassinet. This too is ready for the baby.

So we’ve nested pretty nicely. The only question now is when will the baby come. Looking by the size of the bump, I’d says I’m pretty ready.

I do want to show some awesome onsies that I got from work on Friday. The people I work with are amazing and it’s going to be hard to not be there for a few months.

     
Front                                                                       Back

    
Front                                                                       Back

Last Sunday, our neighbor made origami for our soon to arrive baby. She spent all afternoon working on them and they turned out amazing. We are really fortunate to live among such great neighbors.