Siena In Action

Here's a quick video of Siena this morning.



We're home from the hospital now and getting settled in. Siena's dozing in the baby papasan, Amelia finally settled in for a nap (after much screaming for more time to "see it", where it=Siena), and Beth just crashed on the couch to catch up on a bit of rest. Me, I'm just taking it all in and reflecting on what it is to be a Dad once more.

Friday started out simple enough, two alarm clocks telling two people who never really fell asleep that it was time to stop lying there and go have a baby. We made it to the hospital by 6:15 only to realize that shift change is at 7 so nothing really happens until 8...further reinforcing my sick joke theory. We had a great nurse in Lisa Beverly (if you're having a baby at Williamson Medical Center - which I would highly recommend - ask for Lisa). Beth started her petocin drop around 8:15, had her water broken around 10 and signed up for an epidural around 11. Progress was rapid, life was good. We were cutting it up with Lisa and 4 o'clock was the over/under time for delivery. By 2 o'clock, Beth was dilated to 9 cm (10 cm is when you're supposed to start pushing). It looked like the under was in the money.

2:30, still at 9 cm.
3:00, still at 9 cm.
3:30, still at 9 cm.
4:00, still at 9 cm.
4:30, still at 9 cm.
5:00, Dr. Stafford walks in with a confident grin on her face that says, "Let's get this show on the road". She does her magic.
5:30, still at 9 cm.
6:00, still at 9 cm. Lisa tells us she'll stay with us until the end, even though her shift ends at 7.
6:30, still at 9 cm. Epidural starts to wear off...where's Glenn with the booster?
6:45, Lisa takes off at a dead sprint down the hall
6:46, We get word that Lisa's daughter was in a car wreck, she's unconscious and on her way to the ER by ambulance. (Fortunately she is alright)
7:00, Dr. Stafford says "What do you know about a C-section?"
7:30, Beth is on the table, I'm decked out in surgical garb and ready to watch
7:41, I pop my head up over the curtain to see Seina's head emerging from Beth's belly. It's really a beautiful thing for being so disgusting.

Apparently Siena was just a bit too big to make it through Beth's pelvis. After 5 hours, only a tiny bit of her head was able to make it through the cervix, the rest was just wedged up in there giving her one heck of a cone head (with a little ring around the top where part of it just made it past the cervix). She's here now though and beautiful as they come (even with the cone, she was beautiful, but that's gone now). She's been a perfect baby so far. The only crying has been either when she's hungry or in need of a diaper and as soon as her needs are satisfied, it's back to sleep or peaceful alertness. She's consistently sleeping 4 hours between feedings and eating great. Apparently the long sleep is typical for big babies...to which Beth says that she's shooting for a 12 pounder next time...with another C-section of course!

Amelia's been a great big sister as well so far. She constantly wants to kiss, touch and hug the baby. She's always looking for ways to help us out be it by handing us a diaper or by jamming the wrong end of the pacifier into Siena's mouth. She had a bit of jealousy when we first got home, but that's to be expected, and it all fairness to her, she was due for a nap. It will be really interesting to see how they interact over the next few days.

That's all for now...but to show you what a wonderful nurse Lisa is, here are a couple quotes:

"lots of beautiful things come out of the vagina during labor"

As Mike shys away from taking a peak at the beautiful things "Oh, yeah, sorry, I forgot that's supposed to be a happy place for you".

Siena Day Two

Some more pictures from day two in the life of Siena Mae. So far everything is going great, both Mom and baby are doing well. Siena is even sleeping like a champ...two four hour stretches last night! More to come in a couple days, back to the hospital now.

Welcome Siena Mae

Siena Mae Rustici




8 lbs 15 oz
21 inches
Born July 27, 2007 at 7:41 pm

Welcome.

T minus 8 hours 15 minutes

8 hours, 15 minutes, an average work day, a good night's sleep and all that stands between us and the start of a new life....well, the start of the process of getting that new life out the door, but that's not very poetic. I thought I'd be filled with profound thoughts and insights tonight, but only one thing sticks in my mind. Everybody knows we're not going to sleep for the next 2-3 months. Who's idea of a sick joke is it to make us be at the hospital at 6:15am! Give me a break! At least let us sleep in a little bit on our last day of peace and quiet!

We're all a bit nervous, a lot excited, and anxious to get the show on the road. Even Amelia seems to know there's something big in the works. Today on the swings she said one of the sweetest things I've ever heard. Without prompting or encouragement, when I asked her what she was going to do when she met her little sister, she answered "hug". I'll remember that for a long long time.

Fame and Fortune

Well, really only tiny bit of fame and really no fortune. Amelia stars in the dramatic conclusion to the sure to be Emmy nominated "Gymboree Promotion" on the critically acclaimed infomercial show "Pinpoint", broadcast throughout the entire Southern Nashville metropolitan area.



That means everybody currently born in our family except me has been featured in a commercial :-(. Not one to be out done, here's Mike's 1.5 seconds of fame broadcast NATIONALLY back in 1996...yes, I'm the last tipsy guy heading up the stairs ("N") in a futile attempt to keep our Dores ahead of Notre Dame (it didn't work).



I also published some more video we had lying around on the camcorder to my channel on YouTube.

Priceless

Poo-poos in the diaper: One thousand two hundred ninety-seven
Poo-poos that escaped the diaper: Thirty-eight
Poo-poo trails along the floor: Eleven
Poo-poos in the tub: Six
Poo-poos extracted with the help of a very disgruntled Da Da: Two
First Poo-poo in the potty: Priceless

Yes, we had our first poo-poo in the potty the other day. So far it's been an isolated event, but there is light at the end of the tunnel! We know she's getting ready for potty training because all of her current poo-poos are done in the privacy of the kitchen pantry behind the door and in front of the spice rack. You just can't buy that kind of added flavoring in stores.

Forget potty poo-poos for a moment, I had another moment of enormous pride this weekend. Ayden's an energetic little boy. He's a bit bigger than Amelia and always going at full speed. As two year olds are apt to do, he decided that he'd give Amelia a big shove and push her over....not my little girl, she stood strong and Ayden fell backwards on his kiester! I've got to look into that rugby league.

Amelia's getting more and more talkative each day. Where does she come up with all these words? She's a non-stop chatterbox. She's really starting to put words together these days and her favorite is just to spew out some numbers or letters. She likes to count to 15 or so, but she always skips 4 (must be unlucky or something). Sometimes she'll stop after 10 and then comes "moon", 1-2-4-5-6-7-8-9-10-moon. There are no numbers after moon.

"Amelia" must be a hard word to say. While she can spell it (well most of the time she skips the "el", unlucky), she can't seem to say it. Instead she just calls herself "you". Makes sense in a toddler sort of way.

Amelia is definitely on the verge of the "terrible twos". She's got a stubborn streak that rivals both of her parents and she never forgets something she wants. Particularly donuts it seems. In Amelia's entire life, we've maybe brought Dunkin Donuts home four times, but no sooner did I get the box of office left overs out of the car yesterday did she start with "do-nuts, eat, you, mmmm do-nuts". We can't complain though, she's still sweet as can be and she knows when she's done wrong.

She's discovered routine. Things have to be done in a particular order. Take putting her PJs on for instance. First comes the pants. That is, unless she puts her pants on her head. In that case, the shirt should go on first followed by the pants. Thou shall not deviate. She's also become attached to one particular blanket, the venerable "yey yo memies" ("yey yo" = yellow, "memies" = blanket...where that comes from, I don't know). The yey yo memies is technically cream, but it is not to be confused with the white memies; it shall be available at all times.

Our little girl has joined Beth in the ranks of TV stars. Amelia was featured in the local Gymboree commercial. We have it on DVR, I'll try to get it up her soon. She starred in the exciting role "kiss Gymbo the Clown" and was featured as the grand finale. I expect the royalties to put her through college.

Trucks of any kind are all the rage right now. Every time we see a truck is cause for much excitement. "Big truck, orange", "Big truck, white", "Big truck, yey yo". Construction equipment is especially exciting. Get ready Great-Grandpa, this little girl is eagerly awaiting her first backhoe ride.

The time for number two is drawing near. It's looking like they're going to induce Beth on Friday July 27th...yes, that is next Friday, yikes! We "think" we're ready, but we're probably just deluding ourselves. Amelia seems to be ready though, she's eagerly pointing on the baby's car seat, the baby's room and constantly wanting to read her books about being the big sister.

This is probably the last blog post until we enter utter chaos. Until number two, I bid you adieu.

Hot Ra-Ras and a Proud Da Da

-"Amelia, what do you call that big red truck?"
-"Hots truck"

-"Amelia, would you like some more crackers?"
-"Mmmm, ra-ras plese.

-"Wow, Amelia, look at the firecrackers"
-"Hot ra-ras?"

Yes, Amelia was bedazzled by all the "hot ra-ras" on the 4th of July, she's still asking for us to turn them back on.

She also bedazzled her Da Da and everbody else at Todd and Sara's party. Amelia got right in the middle of the 7-10 year old boys' football game. They were great sports, handing the ball off to her and letting her run around with them. One boy wound up to punt the ball down field, but didn't quite get the height he was looking for on the ball. It nailed little Amelia right in the chest from no more than 6 feet away. It was a shot. We all gasped and expected her to fall flat on her back and start screaminig. Instead she stayed on her feet and chased down the fumble, yelling "ball, ball"! She took one for the team and kicked herself for not making the catch! So proud! I hear there's a local youth rugby league, I wonder if they're looking for a good toddler.