Wednesday, September 4, 2013

Tuesday, August 27, 2013

We did it!

Henry Thomas Jenkins arrived at 1:05 PM on Tuesday, August 20th, 2013. Here is how it all went down, as well as some notes from our first week together as a family of three.
our little man
We had a busy weekend prior to my due date (Monday, August 19th). All I wanted to do was have a day for ourselves where we weren't running around "preparing". Well, we got it on Monday. We went to Alana's for breakfast, the chiropractor for an adjustment, the gym for a swim, and Santa Ramen for some spicy labor-inducing soup. That night, there was lightning (a rare occurrence around here) and a full moon (a blue one, specifically, which happens every 3 years)...we should have known someone important was on their way!
banana pancakes - Henry's favorite
swim + sun
Then...
12:00 PM - M & I fell asleep, about 2 hours later than usual
2:20 AM - I woke up to what I thought was a real labor contraction, I woke M up to start tracking them with...what else?...an app
5:15 AM - left for the hospital
5:45 AM - arrived at the hospital
6:00 AM - registered and was placed in Labor & Delivery Room 1, 6 cm dilated
7:00 AM - epidural administered by Dr. Hilton; Lucy, my nurse, arrived
8:00 AM - 8 family members arrived and waited patiently (that's an embellishment)
11:20 AM - started pushing
1:05 PM - HELLO HENRY!
Giving birth, much like the pregnancy, went as well as we could have possibly hoped.
laboring at home with my boys
drive to the hospital
pleased to know how far along we were 
last pic the two of us
first pic the three of us
stud in the nursery - 6 lb 13 oz, 20.5" long
studs in the nursery
Uncle Dave
handsome little devil
handsome little devils
day two
about to head home - 6 lb 5 oz
Because I am operating on fumes, our impressions from the first week will be in list form:
- it's all about feedings / diaper changes / sleep around here
- feedings are going well; painful, but less and less each time (forget my 'push present'...where's my 'suck present'?)
- HT's umbilical cord fell out on day 6 (Sunday); sorry...that tidbit (pun intended) is more for me so I will remember
- my body is on the mend and my hormones are starting to even out; I feel much more like myself
- we are equal parts exhausted and joyous 
- we are cherishing this time together where M & I are taking care of each other...I am not looking forward to him going back to work after Labor Day
home 
first doctor's appointment - 6 lb 7 oz
my fave
making friends
chilling with Gangy
a visit from JAT 
zonked 
zonked some more
Auntie Sambina
staring contest
flowers for HTJ
note the nutty professor hair
looking like mom
clap your hands...one week old!
nursery curtains arrived...just in time
as did the glider...XO

Saturday, August 17, 2013

Nursery, etc.

Two days until my due date - 8/19! An update is way past due...I have been waiting for the nursery to be complete before posting pic's, but it looks like it will not be done for another week or so. We are waiting for our glider to make its way from Toronto and a seamstress is sewing the curtains. Here is what we have so far:

alphabet - most of these vintage letters were table markers at our wedding
bassinet + dad's obsession with old newspapers + fam of 3 elephant lamp


baby's first rock climbing wall
sleep spot #2 + NC & CA pages from a 1950s almanac

clothes with writing are annoying...until Mike wears it, then it's plain brilliant
Had my last OB appointment and non-stress test yesterday. I am 2 cm dilated and his head is in the -2 or -1 position. Everything is going well and I feel great but, given that "we have been playing chess with my blood pressure", we have taken out an insurance policy (e.g. scheduled an induction) for Wednesday 8/21. That's a full moon and gives me 24 hours to birth a fiery Leo. :)    

Thursday, July 25, 2013

Bump @ 34 Weeks

Baby Jenks receives a smooch from his #1 babysitter, my baby sister.

Nothing much to report here, just wanted to post a more recent bump photo. This was taken at my little brother Jake's 18th birthday party on Sunday July 7th. 

Okay, two things.

One: When Jake was born, I was in the delivery room. I was 16 and the experience left quite an impression (and is possibly the reason I "maintained my purity" longer than most, ahem). It was far less dramatic than I had imagined. Not sure if this was because he was #5 or they had perfected the epidural by then, but the day was pretty relaxed. All 5 of us were born at Stanford Hospital and it means a lot that Mike and I are continuing the tradition.

Two: Samantha - my sister who is 10 years younger than I - is quite possibly more excited for the arrival of this baby than Mike and I combined. She loves kids and kids love her. Honestly? Whenever I start to get the tiniest bit anxious, just thinking about her with the little one puts my nerves to rest. If I don't know what to do, she will. And, more importantly, she will infuse whatever the moment is with pure joy. Sharing this experience with her, from appreciating tiny socks to choosing nursery drapes, will be something I will always cherish. 

Next post will feature the nursery! XO 

Tuesday, July 16, 2013

Final Exam

Once again, apologies for letting some time pass between my last post and now. We have had a rough few weeks, here's what's been going on. Oh, I should say that all things pregnancy-related are just fine. Also, forgive the long windedness of this post and the medical details / chronology...putting all of this down is probably more cathartic for me than anything else.

handsome little devil rules the roost
his favorite spot, our bed














For the last six months, our main dude Mookie has had a mysterious medical issue. On February 14th, we brought him to the vet for a gash on his left hind leg. Since it was wide open, he got staples / antibiotics / and (the dreaded) cone. It healed up nicely. On May 22nd, we noticed the wound was back. We brought him to the vet again and I asked if it could possibly be the result of something coming from the inside-out. We took an X-ray that proved inconclusive and the wound healed. On June 29th, I noticed a growth (I have photos for those of you with a dark side) that was causing the skin - in the same spot - to split open. Off to the vet we went, this time culminating in surgery to remove (July 1st) and biopsy (July 5th) the nubbin. 

Not good news. Mookie was diagnosed with fibrosarcoma - an aggressive, malignant soft tissue cancer that can occur at a vaccination site. We were told the growth was the "tip of the iceberg". The following days were trying, as we waited to visit with an oncologist at Sage Emergency Veterinary Center. On July 10th, we brought our much traumatized cat to yet another doctor's office. A series of tests - chest X-rays, abdominal ultrasound, blood work - were run to determine if it had spread. Two pieces of good news - it had not and the location of the growth, in the lower part of his leg, was considered ideal for treatment via surgery (e.g. amputation). On July 12th, Mookie had his left hind leg removed. 

perhaps some more pain med's, please

Surgery went well. Two things to note: 1) during prep (read: shaving), the surgeon found another growth believed to be an unrelated mast cell tumor and 2) that bump and the leg would be further biopsied to determine a chemotherapy recommendation. We already decided to forgo chemotherapy, regardless of the recommendation. There is not enough conclusive research about its merits and, to put bluntly, we just don't want to put him through that.

An update! I just received a call from the surgeon with some good news. Both growths were successfully removed with clean margins (key) and the tumors are classified as low / mixed grade, meaning they would not recommend chemotherapy. SO. FREAKING. GRATEFUL.

This post is called Final Exam because that is the way I choose to look at the past few weeks. We have been asked to make some tough decisions and our ability to communicate with each other and care for a little one under stressful conditions has been truly tested. At 8 months pregnant, sleeping on an air mattress, hand feeding kibble around the clock, and holding Mookie (all 15 lbs.) above his litter box has sucked, I am not going to lie. But, as I take care of Mookie, Mike takes care of me. And there have been laughs along the way to keep us sane. Mike threatened to make me a key chain with Mookie's leg and, as we both held him over his litter box last night and he kept peeing and peeing (not unlike Austin Powers), Mike asserted that Mookie had, once again, gotten into daddy's beer. My boys, my loves.


the nursery: where he...and I...have been quarantined


Friday, June 28, 2013

Big Head, Big Balls

This morning, we had a 3D ultrasound. The purpose was to check for a cleft palate, which runs in Mike's family, but none of the shots were conclusive. However, the nurse was able to look at the nasal cavity and gum lines and all looks good; he indicated we have no reason to worry. 

We learned a whole helluva a lot of other goodness, though. The nurse took a series of measurements (head, upper arm, thigh, abdomen) and plugged them into an equation that estimates weight +/-10%. His head measures as if we were at 38 weeks and everything else measures at 32 weeks, which is indeed where we are. He weighs 5.2 pounds, mostly dome. I happened to be texting with a dear friend at one point during the appointment (I know, I'm that guy) and she said all of her kids have big heads - the single quality all U.S. Presidents have in common, it has something to do with power. The nurse informed us that he also has big balls. I think Baby Jenks would make a fine President with that combo. 

his debut

Monday, June 24, 2013

"Is this the class where everyone shows their boobs?" - Mike

On Saturday, we attended the Breastfeeding class at Day One in Palo Alto - class 3 of 4 of the "WTF Am I Doing / New Parent" series. Pretty informative. Even though women have been doing it for eons, there seems to be new information and tactics. Apparently, it does not come so naturally for the mom. But I am guessing it does for the baby, referred to as a "snapping turtle" on more than one occasion? Such a highly politicized topic, but we still feel pretty grounded on the island of, "We are going to give everything our best shot and are equally aware that everything is out of our control." Okay, nuff said. Here is my champion of a husband who attended, and not just for the snacks.

pretending to read