Baby

Oh boy, FINALLY! This didn’t take forever…NOT! Mommy & Daddy have been neglecting to write regular posts in our blog so I, Guilliana, had to take it upon myself to blog now! Seeing how both my parents are total geeks, looks like I have inherited these essential qualities too! Whoohoo!

Now let’s get to it…

Lately my parents think I play with my toys however, over the past few months, I have been watching my dad and studying what he’s been doing on the silver, rectangle-thingy. Daddy calls it his “Mac”. Oh SWEET, he has decided to detour to the bathroom so I’m going to play “with his Mac”.

A couple weeks ago my mommy and daddy dressed me up in this silly monkey outfit. Once I saw myself in the mirror the only thing I could think was, “E-gad, I look like the sponge monkey I have in the tub at bath time!” But they kept telling me I was “cute”. I don’t know, what do you think?

At least when they put me in the dreaded car seat, I had a padded behind in my monkey suit! That made it a nice, comfortable ride! Then to top it all off, mommy & daddy dressed up in clothes I have NEVER seen either of them wear (in my 7 short months of life so far)! Hats and all, you should have seen them. What a pair! Shhhh…don’t tell them but I think they looked funny! Oh wait, let me grab daddy’s “iPhone” and upload one he took of all of us. Looks like they were opting for a “Safari” theme for Halloween this year. Well, DAMN…mission accomplished, Steve Irwin! Just look at our pic.

Anyways…we drove to Dave & Carrie’s house so that I could hang out with Sydney, Londyn, Dominic, and Blake. Us kids needed to get our sugar-fix and trick-or-treating was our first order of business that night. We perused Syd’s hood in our wagons/strollers with our parents in tow and were out for a couple of hours! MAJOR CANDY SCORE! Heck, we even saw a live band playing in some dude’s driveway! Not a bad night at all, in my honest opinion. We made out like bandits with candy and saw all kinds of others with great costumes too. It was sooooo much fun! I can’t wait until next year…then I’ll be able to walk on my own. Buahahahaha, lookout world!

OH CRAP!! Speaking of walking, I hear mommy or daddy footsteps coming so I need to grab one of my “noise-making” toys and look busy…’til next time, this is G-monkey!

Well…it finally made its first appearance. Guilliana’s first tooth cut through on her bottom right side! It’s only really been…oh…a SOLID 4+ month of drool and constant wiping. Hmmmm…maybe that’s why G has been a bit of a ‘Crank-o-potamous’ lately and waking up a few times throughout the night for the past couple weeks! Needless to say, it’s been a bit rough on mommy and daddy’s sleep schedule and amount.

Last week it was family portrait day for all of us! Guilliana is now 6 months and we figured since she is sitting up all on her own and much more engaged than she was at 3 months, it was time for family pics. A couple of months ago we called our amazing photographer, Alan Mermelstein of Moments Found Photography to book a photo session with him.

Alan did such and incredible job at our wedding that we wanted him to photograph our new family. While he had an extremely busy schedule with weddings and vacation, we decided to hold out until his schedule fit ours. Yes, he’s THAT GOOD!

Both Katherine and I would HIGHLY recommend Alan for your wedding which is pretty much all he photographs. Here are the final photos put into a slideshow with music on Alan’s site:

Wilson Family.

However with our adventure, he might be looking at doing some family portraits in the future. All we can say is…”You will not be disappointed!” Check out his website and drop him an email to find out about a potential appointment for the best photos you’ll ever have taken. Alan and Moments Found Photography can also be found on Facebook. Be sure to check out his page!

Hanging out with G over the past couple of weekends, she has been getting very good at sitting up all on her own. Playing in her room one Saturday morning, we captured this video on my iPhone. Judging from the mediocre quality of the video, it looks like Katherine and I need to get the software installed on our laptops to download the HD video of our new HD camcorder! I have no excuse…I just need to do it.

Guilliana wants so bad to get up and start running for things especially Teemu (‘tee-moo’), her kitty, who happens to be one month older than she. He really loves her and is always coming around to see what she’s up to. On the flip-side, you can forget keeping G’s attention once Teemu prances into the room. She is just totally interested in whatever he’s doing. Surprisingly, he has been very gentle with her despite G getting a handful of kitty-fur and pulling on his stomach, tail, and ears! He’s a glutton for punishment as he keeps coming back for more. However, he has figured out his ‘safe’ radius from Guilliana’s reach and takes advantage of it here and there. In the end, Teemu just can’t help himself, he walks a bit too close and is reminded where that radius is again. Silly Teemu…but he loves Guilliana!

In mid-August, Guilliana received her first birthday party invite. Good friends of ours, Ken & Raquel,

organized a 4th birthday party for their son Owen at a local ice rink. Though Guilliana doesn’t know how to skate at the moment, you should have seen the excitement on her face when she learned the party including public skating! Owen, being a huge hockey fan, couldn’t have chosen a better place to have a party. Guilliana picked out the perfect gift for Owen since he loves our arcade-sized Chexx Canada vs USA bubble hockey game. G selected the Sure Shot table hockey game and she told Owen that next time we stop by, he will have to play her daddy, for the title of “Table Hockey Champion”. Here are some pics from G’s first ice skating experience.

Following my last post and continuing on the topic of new things Guilliana is now doing or has done, this was taken at 3.5 months and this was her first giggle(s). It was both precious and hilarious! I think I laughed just as hard, if not harder, than she did. Some of you may have seen this already but, for those who haven’t, enjoy…I know I did!

Ok, so it has been a while since our last post. Yeah…I know what you’re thinking, “Bob & Katherine aren’t too frequent in the blogging arena.” Well, you’re right but in our defense, we are first-time parents adjusting to life with a 4-month old. While the adjustment was abrupt in the beginning, it has become a bit easier as time goes on.

It’s hard to believe but our Guilliana is now 16 weeks old!

For whatever reason time seems to move so quickly now with her. Just the other night Katherine and I were discussing ‘gone are the days where G slept on our chest’. She’s even graduated from the pack-n-play in our room and sleeps in her ‘big girl’ crib in her own room. At first we were a bit leary of moving her since one always has worrisome thoughts when she wasn’t in sight. But, that was just something we, as new parents, had to get accustomed to. There was something comforting about having her in our room with us. Let me assure you, things are just fine now…we have baby monitors!

I would honestly say, at this point, the toughest period we’ve had was the first four weeks. Having to get up every 2 hours for feedings was rough! I’m not kidding. We are both used to sleeping until whatever time we want on weekends. Now…our sleep schedule is dictated by our daughter. However I have to say that from the time that she was 4 weeks old, G was sleeping 6 hours a night. Now that’s something we were able to cope with. I can easily live on 6 hours of sleep however Katherine, in the other hand, requires at least 8. Of course she has learned over the past 4 months to live on less and, I should say, she has adjusted well!

Fortunately our saving grace with G’s sleeping pattern is that she takes after the two of us! On any given night she usually sleeps a minimum of 9 hours but, like last night, she slept 11.5 hrs! Can you say, “WHOO HOO!!”. Let’s hope she keeps her nightly minimum of 9 hours sleep up and we won’t complain one bit.

Guilliana is now completely supporting her head and wants to constantly sit up and see what’s going on around her! G is also now standing albeit with our ‘balance’ help for about 5-6 minutes at a time. She loves it! She is actively engaged in ‘conversation’ with us and certainly likes to talk. Her ‘coos’ and ‘squeals’ are comforting and enjoyable to listen to all day! Last weekend while entertaining her with my various ‘fart’ noises, she giggled! It was the one of the most incredible noises I have ever heard in my life! It was magical! I laughed and cried at the same time. Believe me when I say, ‘there is nothing like the laughter of your own child(ren)!’ Enjoy this video of my conversation with Guilliana.

Well, we made it! Katherine and I are now home from the hospital after witnessing, firsthand, the birth of our daughter. What an amazing experience! I can’t think of anything else in my life that can compare to this…just unbelievable! Anyone who already has kids will relate to what I’m going to say next. There is no better feeling in the world and see your first-born child and experiencing that with your wife.

Fortunately for us (Katherine more than I), labor was relatively quick in the grand scheme of things. We arrived at the hospital at 10pm Wednesday evening and by 10am the next day the doctor broke Katherine’s water. I had a little bit of time and decided to run down to the cafeteria to grab a quick bite to eat since I hadn’t had anything thus far that morning. No sooner had I returned from grabbing a takeout salad from the hospital cafe and Katherine was having some serious labor contractions.

I quickly set my food aside and asked the nurses where I could help out. At this point, the contractions were so strong that Katherine had ordered her epidural however they told her that she would have to ingest a full bag of saline ingested via IV. While we waited for the IV saline bag to empty, Katherine had a number of contractions; all with increased intensity and pain.

I really felt bad that this point. I hate seeing my wife in pain and always want to trade places with her in such instances especially when it comes to needles. I’m not a fan of needles and Katherine absolutely fears them for good reason. Usually when she has to have her blood drawn the technician, more often than not, has to stick her 2-4 times due to her small, squiggly veins before they actually are successful. I stood behind Katherine and attempted to help alleviate the some of her labor pain on a pressure point that the nurse showed me. Unfortunately, some times I wasn’t pressing hard enough. The hard part was that I saw her in pain and was a bit unsure of exactly how much force to apply. She continued to breath through the labor pains and as she completed each one her legs would shake involuntarily. At this point, I was afraid of Katherine’s legs giving out at the end of a contraction.

After 25 minutes the saline bag has finally drained and we can have the anaestetician to come do perform the epidural. It was another 15 minutes before the anaestetician showed up and a few more painful contractions occurred in that time. As the doctor placed the epidural needle I helped Katherine through a few more contractions. Once completed Katherine was allowed to sit back in bed and let the drug take its affect. Almost instantly she noticed the intensity of her contractions to be less that the previous ones. This made me feel somewhat at ease knowing that the pain was, at least, slightly “curbed” for my incredible wife! Shortly thereafter and a couple of exam checks our nurse, Grace, informed us that Katherine was pretty much fully dilated and it was time to push. No time for a catheter now as things progressed very fast.

The clock was closing in on 12pm, Thursday, April 8 and our OB doctor (Dr. Szmuc) had come in to check on us and re-assured that things were right on schedule and progressing perfectly. As contractions came Katherine pushed as instructed and a student nurse and myself assisted Katherine’s numb legs in the labor process. At around 1:30pm Dr. Szmuc came back in to check on us and inform us that he would be staying to deliver our daughter instead of heading back to his office for the afternoon. We were very thankful for that since he is whom we both wanted to deliver the baby. All the while, Katherine had been pushing for each contraction that she was having and making great progress. The baby was so close to coming out, or so I thought.

I kept reassuring Katherine, who was doing an incredible job, that the baby was sooooo close. Twenty minutes later the doctor was suiting up and getting ready to deliver our baby. As this point the baby was so close she was starting to crown and I could see her full head of black hair! Once ready Dr. Szmuc sat down in position to help Katherine deliver the baby. From this point forward, Katherine literally only had to push 4 more times and Baby Guilliana arrived into our world at 2:17pm. What a relatively quick labor…about 3.5 – 4 hrs in total! Both Katherine and I were very appreciative for this.

Again, seeing my daughter born into the world was the most amazing feeling I had ever experienced. I thought I had experienced it all when I married the love of my life at the top of Aspen Mountain in Aspen, Colorado. Don’t get me wrong, the feeling of watching your wife walk down the aisle to you at 12,000 ft was incredible and one I will never forget. However, seeing the birth of Guilliana I have to say it was truly amazing!

We welcomed our daughter Guilliana at 2:17pm on April 8 weighing 6 lbs 1 oz and measuring 19.5 inches long. We love you and are so thankful for your safe arrival!

In less than 4 hours we will be heading to the hospital at Banner Desert to be induced. I’m a little nervous, but I think that we are ready! All of our friends and family have been so great and so supportive! I talked to Holly for nearly an hour today talking about what my expectations are for the whole labor and delivery. I do kind of wish that she was here with me to experience this with me.

Bob came home last night and painted the wall around the laundry room and put the final trim up. Other than one piece of bottom trim being a bit too short it is all done. He also vacuumed for me, which I really appreciated. There is still an hour or so of work to get it completely “done”, but I finally feel good about it!

This is it…I can’t believe it after all this time it is finally happening, there is no turning back now! The next time I write something, I will be a new mommy and probably exhausted! I’m already happy and amazed…the next chapter starts tomorrow!

Today was our “last” OB checkup for Number One baby! I am 3 cm dilated and 80% effaced, which is GREAT progress and bodes well for a much faster than normal labor! Dr. Szmuc said that most first-time moms are in labor between 15-18 hours but mine would likely go much faster since I was dilating so well already.

Funny thing…I haven’t gained any weight in 3 weeks…still at 184.5, which I’m ok with! I also still don’t have any stretch marks on my belly, unbelievable! Also, there is still a little bit of a belly button there, made it through the entire pregnancy and gaining nearly 40 pounds.

So, Bob and I had talked over the weekend about possibly getting induced and we discussed with the Dr. about the pros and cons. I was happy that I was making progress and the only downside was skipping over early labor by getting the Petosin to start the contractions. I really didn’t see that as a down side, especially considering that I was planning on getting an epidural…I don’t think I’m missing out on much by skipping “early labor”! I am also really positive and feel really good knowing that my Dr, the one I have had for 11 years and who has taken me through this pregnancy and the trials we had getting pregnant, is going to be the one to take care of me and deliver my baby. That more than anything I think sealed the decision for me, and having a plan knowing exactly when everything is going to happen really makes me so much more comfortable.

I can’t believe that I haven’t written in so long…holy cow a lot has happened, although I haven’t had the baby yet! I’m going to break this down into a timeline when I should have been writing all of this stuff since there were a few milestones.

35 Weeks 1 day (March 6th)

We went to Sydney’s birthday party today, Carrie got a bounce house for the kids and they LOVED it! We got there early to help her out with some prep which was good since apparently the dog got out the previous night and they spent several hours looking for the bad boy, putting them behind schedule. It was a lovely day, about 25 adults and nearly 20 kids…CRAZY! Carrie told everyone she was pregnant with baby #2, she wore a cute shirt that said “Yes I’m Pregnant”.

After the party I was pretty wiped out but we had been talking about getting another cat since Myah was so obviously depressed and lonely. We went to 2 different PetSmart stores and found what we thought was a good choice at the 2^nd one. Adoption fees had gone down to $50 and we gave a $25 donation along with about $50 in supplies (litter box, his food, cardboard carrier, some toys). The cat we got is about 14 months old, all orange striped, but subtle stripes with orange eyes. We (Bob) named him Molson.

36 Weeks (March 12)

The baby dropped! After I had my massage today the baby noticeably dropped down and isn’t sitting under my rib cage any longer. You can see the shape of my belly is far different. I had actually been thinking about it all day so it’s kind of ironic that it occurred when it did, even said to my massage therapist “I’m just waiting for her to drop that is the last milestone before she arrives”.

36 Weeks 3 days (March 15)

I got the Group B Strep test done today…quick and painless just a swab of outside of the 2 “areas”. Everything is still wonderful; my blood pressure is still low and no other issues.

37 weeks (March 19)

So Bob’s coworkers decided to throw him a surprise baby shower and contacted me over FaceBook to invite me as an added surprise. He figured it out in the morning when he saw all the food coming out for potluck and Sandy had to tell him it was for him, but he still didn’t know that I was going to be there. It was pretty funny when I got there as Bob was the only one who was still heads down working while everyone else was pretty much waiting around for the lunch to start. He was very shocked when he actually popped up after Fred told him it was time to go eat. The food was really great, and so was the CAKE! The group was so generous, I was so humbled by the great gifts, they really went far beyond what they should have and it was very much appreciated.

37 weeks 1 day (March 20)

I finally put up some decal polka dots on the closet door, they are pretty cute! Bob got some progress made on the mudding on the laundry room, I think he might actually finish this!

37 weeks 3 days (March 22)

We now go to the Dr. every Monday morning. Got the results of the Group B Strep…NEGATIVE! YAY! Not like it’s a big deal, but honestly I’d rather not have to deal with the 5 hours of antibiotics if I can avoid it, which I now can!

37 Weeks 6 Days (March 25)

I had woken up yesterday morning and let out a big cough and could feel a bunch of crud rumbling around in my lungs. I didn’t cough any more all day until later at night during the HOA meeting and then it seemed to be pretty regular. Well I woke up this morning and I’m definitely sick…I coughed and hacked all day and finally called the Dr. around 4 to ask if there was anything I could take. I did pretty much no work all day and spent a lot of time in bed…I didn’t get up until 2 pm and took a nice long hot shower. So I spoke to Beth the NP and she said that because I was so close to my due date she was afraid that I might get pneumonia so she prescribed me a Z-pack. We missed the Target Pharmacy by literally 4 minutes so I have to go back tomorrow to get the thing filled…which upset me a little since I want to get rid of this crap as soon as possible. It is difficult to breathe and it scares me to think of going into labor and having limited lung capacity plus feeling like crap!

“gifts” I got for Bob arrived. I got him 2 books that were supposed to be very funny, but goo practical advice on being a first-time dad. Keeping the Baby Alive Until your Wife Gets Home and The new Dad’s Survival Guide

38 weeks 1 day (March 27)

I have the best husband in the world. When I woke up this morning he was gone! I thought he might be down in the garage or up playing games or something, so I called his cell phone. Nope…he was out and about somewhere and told me he’d be back in about an hour with a surprise and not to eat too much. So…I got up and took a shower and started getting ready.

When Bob came home he jumped in the shower and then told me that my surprise was a picnic in the park that he had gone out and gotten all of the stuff for it. So we went across and had a wonderful picnic with AJ’s sandwiches and a strawberry daiquiri cheesecake and chocolate covered strawberry for desert. He got me a card that was so touching and thoughtful, it made me cry. The weather was beautiful and sunny and breezy, it was just a great couple of hours with my wonderful husband. I know that he will be as amazing a father as he is a husband and I am so incredibly grateful!

We went back to the condo and put on some sunblock and headed out to the Tempe Festival of the Arts for a nice walk and to check out some stuff. We ended up being out for about 2.5 hours, which was probably a little bit too long for me to be on my feet. We picked up a few tasty spice packets but didn’t really see too much that we were interested in. We also tried out the ice cream shop “Sparky’s” that replaced Cold Stone on Mill Ave. Not too bad, but a little overpriced.

38 Weeks 3 days (March 29)

Dr. Appointment this morning and we are checking my cervix. I am really hoping that we have some progress.

The Dr. checked me and it kinda hurt actually…he said he was pushing on the baby’s head to make sure she was in the right position. So…I am 2 cm Dilated and 50% effaced! How exciting! He said she is in the right position and ready to go any time! I hadn’t really thought about this, but he said that if I am dilating before I go into labor it’s a good thing because it will make labor go that much faster. I guess I can technically walk around 2 or even 4 cm dilated for “weeks”…hopefully that’s not the case, but it is nice to know that we are making progress! He actually said that after I am 39 weeks he will induce me if I’d like…I guess I’d rather her show up on her own unless of course there is some sort of issue or problem…obviously. I have definitely been having more contractions over the last few days and there have been some that are a little painful, just nothing at all consistent that would be considered labor.

I have weighed 185 pounds for the last two visits. Ironically this is Bob’s IDEAL hockey playing, best shape of his life, weight. I will definitely not try to dwell on it too much, I feel great and I don’t have any stretch marks on my stomach (I realize how incredibly lucky this makes me). I’m sure I’ll be able to lose it…I plan on doing the P90X (I think Bob is going to join me) once I can be active after baby. It should be easy to lay off the alcohol too, which I’m sure was a contributor to the unwanted belly fat I had going on pre-baby. Don’t get me wrong, I’m totally going to enjoy some wine, but it will be far fewer times a week and fewer glasses per occasion. I think I can probably stay away from too much of my favorite Four Peaks Hefeweizen until football season starts too…I think…!

Today

So, I’m sitting at Liberty Market after we checked the ladies out of the Gilbert house tonight. There is this Mac/iPhone coder meet-up here every Tuesday that Bob has come to a few times to get some expert help with his iPhone app for work, I decided to come with him because I am cherishing the time we spend together and I figured it would actually force me to write this and catch up!! Looks like we’ve got some real GEEK POWER at the shindig, I see why he’s interested in coming here.

So the carpal tunnel really sucks, sometimes it is amazingly painful and I can barely do simple things. I have Bob open anything that requires a twist motion since that is nearly impossible. I am really glad that this is going to go away once I have her! I still feel pretty good, I took my last antibiotic today, I hope to God it kills whatever this is off because it really sucks. The thing moved to my Sinuses on Sunday…lovely. I’ve had lots of sneezing and my nose constantly running and leaking. I’m really glad that the Dr. cleared me to take over the counter stuff for it or I don’t know if I could take it. I took the humidifier out of the baby’s room a couple nights ago and put it in ours and run it all night. I think it helps a little, but it’s such a large area to try to humidify.

The little ones is definitely ACTIVE! We have discovered that she apparently likes (or hates) the “fight” music in Bob’s God of War III video game. When it’s on she is just going NUTS…Bob said it’s like she is playing basketball in there. She wakes me up a couple times through the night as well after she’s been exposed to it…strange.

The “rash” thing on my stomach under my right rib has not gone away, although it has gotten less painful since she has dropped and isn’t pressed right up there anymore. Her little butt is still in that area though, she is always on my right side, I don’t think she has really moved in over 3 weeks, position-wise.

I still have a barely belly button…sometimes it is completely flat, but others it has a little dip still…I am really shocked!

Holly & Chris have their trip booked for April 24-May 1. They are going to stay out in the Gilbert house since we don’t have any renters. It should be comfortable for them. Once they leave, depending on when Mary ends up coming out we are going to do the PODS thing and pack all of the furniture and everything up and put it into storage. If we can rent it unfurnished with minimal amenities then we are pocketing something off the place.

I found a bunch of the old photo albums that Holly and I had not seen forever and weren’t sure where they could be. I was pretty sure I had them, just hadn’t found them. There was a box that I literally had not opened since I moved out of the house for college…wouldn’t you know it, jackpot! Holly and I plan to scan as much as possible when she comes out and save them all to DVD and/or hard drive. They still look ok, but some of the very old ones are starting to fade. The albums themselves are trash…we need to move them into something else.

Blech, I’m getting tired and battery is at 30% so I don’t know how much longer I can take. Looks like we’re leaving.