Life as new parents

What a thrill it has been to get to know Stella and learn how to care for her. In the first ten days of her life, Nick and I have grown together and experienced more affection for this little girl than we ever though possible.

Stella is thriving. She eats well (and often!), sleeps much of the time and almost never cries. I don't want to jinx ourselves, but I'm pretty sure she is the easiest, sweetest, most loving creature we have ever met.

At night time, we tuck her in with us and stare at her with amazement. To think that we created and brought her in to this world together only brings us closer together. Our little family has grown and so have our hearts. She makes the sweetest sounds when she sleeps and when she nurses. It's really hard not to fall in love with her :)

Even Pepe seems to enjoy having the bambina around! He definitely doesn't get as much attention as he used to, but he enjoys cuddling up next to her when she's sleeping and doesn't seem to mind at all when she wakes him up in the middle of the night with her soft cries when she's hungry.

Life at our house has definitely changed. The rolls that Nick and I were previously accustomed to are redefined. I am no longer the main house keeper and chef. Nick has taken over most of the cooking and cleaning duties and to my surprise, he can actually prepare a delicious meal! Now he's never going to get away with saying he doesn't know how to make anything!

For now, the house is still quiet. Nick and I are thankful for Stella and we look forward to the days that she starts talking, walking, singing and playing... just not too soon :)

How Stella came in to our lives

Stella's birth story begins on Saturday, July 19th at about 7:30 pm. Nick and I had our friends, Sara and Dan, over for BBQ when contractions started. We finished our dinner out on our deck in the wonderful summer warmth and sat around chatting for a while.

After timing contractions for about an hour, we decided to call one of our midwives and let her know that they were coming regularly. She knew we would likely have a while to go before active labor began, so she told us to continue on with our normal evening routine and maybe go for a relaxing walk before settling in for the night.

Sara and Dan came along with us as we strolled down our street with Pepe and enjoyed our last night as a two-person family. Nick and I knew that our lives would soon change forever, and we were very excited about it.

Although we didn't sleep well that night, Nick did an amazing job timing the contractions and keeping me comfortable.

The next morning, contractions continued and I was pretty sure that this was the real thing. Stella would come today! Nick called his Mom (Marlane), my Sister (Jessica) and my Step-Mom (Sonja) to let them know that they needed to get on the next plane to Salt Lake City, as they were all planning on attending the birth.

At 1:00pm, we went in to the birthing center to be checked and to our surprise, the midwife (Becky) informed us that I was only 1cm dilated. Becky was concerned that I wouldn't be able to handle the upcoming labor and delivery because I hadn't had any sleep the night before, so she gave me a pain killer and a muscle relaxer and told me to go home and try to get at least a few hours of sleep before the labor progressed.

We arrived back home, I took the pills, and within 30 minutes, my contractions were so intense, that I couldn't hold still. I thought to myself, "I thought I was going to SLEEP! These pills did not help at all!"

Nick helped me change laboring positions for an hour before calling Becky back and letting her know that I was completely unable to even talk between contractions and was obviously in second stage labor. (Thankfully, Nick was very well educated on the stages and emotional signposts of labor thanks to the Bradley Childbirth classes that we took.)

By about 3:30pm, Marlane had arrived at our house and the three of us left to the birthing center. Upon arrival of the birthing center, Becky checked me and I was 4cm dilated. Becky left Nick and I alone in our birthing room to walk around and try different laboring positions for the next few hours.

By 7:00pm, my contractions were closer together than they ever had been. I was in the birthing tub trying to work out the pain in my mind. With Nick's help, I was able to wrap my mind around the sensations I was feeling. I knew that at this point in my life, I needed Nick's support more than ever. He helped me through each and every wave of pain, talking me through them, pushing on my back with his fists and whispering motivating comments in my ear.

By this time, Jess had arrived at the center and was waiting in the lobby to be called in for the delivery. I quietly asked that she be brought in to the room, because I knew the time was coming and I wanted her with me.

Soon, I told Becky that I felt the urge to push. Without even checking me, she quietly told me, "Livia, if you feel the urge to push, do what your body wants, and push." So I did. It was the most relieving feeling. The waves of pain didn't seem so intense anymore!

Nick knew that keeping me up and mobile was the fastest way to labor, so he told me that we would finish the next contraction in the tub and then move to the bed. Once we were back to the bed, I knew the time was coming close for us to meet our little girl.

Becky continued to listen to Stella's heart beat with the doppler and noticed that with each push, her heart rate was dropping from 140 to 20. This wasn't acceptable. Becky and the nurse attendant (Jennifer) knew just what to do - and they quickly transitioned me to the McRoberts position for delivery.

Even in the new position, Stella's heart rate continued to drop dangerously low with each push. Becky is normally a very quiet and calm woman, but at this point, she was very assertive. She told Jennifer to call an ambulance.

Becky then told me, "You have about two minutes before the ambulance arrives. Your daughter is in trouble and she needs to be born right now. I need you to forget everything you learned about delivery. I know you were taught to only push when you feel the urge, but you need to push and get her out even if your body isn't ready. Push, and don't stop. If you don't get her out in the next 2 minutes, you're going to the hospital."

With Jessica and Nick both spilling out encouraging and loving support, I pushed and was frightened to know what was happening inside of me. I couldn't even imagine being taken away in an ambulance mid-delivery. I decided that I wouldn't let that happen. Stella was born just as the ambulance arrived. Jennifer left the room to tell the EMTs that she was born just in time, and neither of us needed to be transferred to the hospital.

At 7:45pm and with great relief, Stella was placed on my chest. Nick and Jess were both softly weeping tears of joy and ooh'ing and aah'ing at this amazing little girl. Becky and Jennifer checked Stella and I and confirmed that we were both perfectly fine. Stella scored 9 out of 10 on her APGAR scores and to my surprise, I had not traumatized my body as I had thought. Becky was amazed.

Shortly after, the placenta was delivered in to the special bowl that Nick and I painted just for this occasion. Stella was soon nursing and Marlane joined us in the room to stare in amazement at the new addition to our family. At this time, Becky told us that Stella's heart rate was likely dropping during the pushing because the umbilical cord was being clamped between her shoulder or head and the inside of my cervix. The midwives often deal with situations like these, but they were amazed at how quickly I was able to get her out and we all sat in quiet thankfulness for the miracle that had just taken place.

Not only did we win the best prize in the world that day, but we also happened to be the 600th birth at the birthing center. Becky and Jennifer came in with a large basket filled beautifully with gifts and a lovely card as a congratulations. In the basket, there was a boppy pillow, a layette set, a bathing towel set and a silky smooth baby blanket. I felt like I was dreaming. Could this day get any better?

Just two hours after delivery, Becky and Jennifer were completing Stella's check and statistics so that we could head home. Stella weighed 7 pounds, 1.5 ounces and was 19.5 inches long. She had her foot prints taken to be added to the yearly quilt made of all the foot prints of babies born at that birthing center. Becky then gave Nick a tutorial on how to bathe a baby - and I'm thankful for that - because I was entirely too exhausted to pay attention to anything besides keeping my eyes open!

By 10:45pm, just three hours after delivery, we bundled Stella up and headed home. I was relieved to be home and surrounded by my family. Stella and I settled in to bed and fell in to the most wonderfully deep sleep I've ever had.

Jess's experience

Jess posted a beautifully written blog post on her experience of watching Stella's birth. You can find her blog along with some great photos from just minutes after delivery by clicking HERE

Week 37. Only 3 weeks left to go!

You wouldn't believe how fast Stella is growing. I'm not miserable like some women seem to be at the end of their pregnancy, but I have found that there are a good number of things that I cannot do no matter how hard I try. Such things include but are not limited to: running up the stairs, cleaning all three bathrooms in one day, getting up from any seated or laying position using my abdominal muscles, standing or walking for more than an hour... and I'm sure there are a few more.

For now, I will continue to be thankful for having Nick here to help roll me off the couch and take care of the dirty work at the house :)

Nick and I are both getting really excited for baby to arrive. Almost everything is ready... except Pepe... he might not ever be ready for an addition to the family!

4 weeks left to go

I can't believe we will be parents soon. How exciting/nerve wracking/crazy is that?

Life in SLC has been pretty busy lately. Nick finished his Ironman race (see race report below), the weather is now consistently hot (in the 90's) and we are busy getting everything ready for the birth and arrival of baby Stella.

Everything at our house is growing—the vegetable garden, Pepe's hair, and my belly :)

Sara and Soup put together a wonderful baby shower/luncheon yesterday to celebrate the upcoming arrival to our family. Even Pepe had a good time!

Ironman CDA Race Report

Race: Ironman Coeur D’Alene
Distance: Full Ironman (2.4 Mile Swim, 112 Mile Bike, 26.2 Mile Run)
Date: June 21, 2009
Race Strategy: Survive the swim, push hard on the bike, and survive the run.

Swim: During practice sessions, I was coming in at around 90 minutes per 4K so I was anticipating a swim slightly less than 90 minutes. My strategy (after watching some youtube videos of previous CDA starts) was to give the fast swimmers a few seconds and then swim slightly on the inside of the buoys, making sure to get out and around the corner buoys to stay ‘legal.’ Compared to starting in the middle of the pack or way out on the outside, this would allow me to sight easier, stay out of the madness, and not add any distance to my swim.

My strategy worked. I was able to get out to the first turn without much more fighting than in a typical tri. Things congested around the turn and my momentum was killed but I got it started up again and was soon headed back to shore to complete the first loop. With the lake temp around 65 degrees, breathing wasn’t a problem. I took a breath every other stroke and, at times, was able to alternate. The chop picked up during the second loop and I found myself failing to see buoys when I went up to sight. It wasn’t a big deal but I didn’t swim as straight as I would’ve liked. I got a nice cramp in my calf midway through the second loop. Don’t ask me how…I wasn’t even kicking! I swam through the cramp and the other random shoulder pains and general tiredness. Soon enough, I was out of the water. I survived the swim (#1 goal of the day) and came in under 80 minutes, which was a pleasant surprise. I was very happy that I maintained the perfect mindset during the swim…focused, calm, and patient.

T1: Nothing special. Took my time, knowing it would be a long day. Tried to empty the bladder as much as possible before the long ride.

Bike: The first goal I had for the ride was to finish it. If that happened, I also wouldn’t have minded finishing in less than 6 hrs (based on examining 2008 results.) So I used the first hour to warm up draft a bit off the mass of bikes (unavoidable, of course). I was fortunate to ride with some friends off and on during the first hour or two (Murray and Tsunami Tri Club peeps)…familiar faces just added to the overall enjoyment and excitement of the race. I battled a side ache for the first 1.5 hours but knew it would eventually go away and it did, right before the hills. I ripped through the first set of hills, thankful I had been up training on them the prior month and knew exactly how I wanted to approach them mentally and physically. The first loop was solid and I was somewhere around 2:45 at the halfway point. Coming through town on the bike was exhilarating. I don’t think I’ve ever participated in a sporting event with so many spectators. I was surprised by the energy the crowd put off.

I pushed it on loop two despite all the recommendations to hold back and save something for the run. My take was that I’m weak on the run and decently strong on the bike so I’ll take advantage of my strength. Makes sense to me. Note: Once my run improves I will change my strategy here, maybe. I passed a grip of people on loop two and felt perfect through the hills. At about mile 90, I was feeling light headed and hungry and slowed way down for a mile. With 5 or 6 100+ training rides under my belt, I knew exactly what to do. I munched on my spare Cliff Bar and downed a PowerGel (both on hand for this purpose). Soon I was back at it and feeling as good as one can 90 miles into a ride. I did a rough calculation and I had an outside shot of coming in under 6 hours so I continued to push all the way back to the lake. I came in at 5:57. Definitely satisfied with that split. I was mostly grateful that I had an uneventful ride and came through in one piece.

T2: I didn’t relieve myself during the entire bike so I spent a little extra time in the bathroom again, emptying that bladder. Not to dwell on the pee but I was pretty amazed that I held it for so long on the bike. Probably not too healthy…

Run: Goal for the run: Finish. I was most concerned about how my IT Band would hold up considering my long training run was about 9 miles. So leg pain and cramping were my main concerns. However, with the lack of training on the run, I had no expectations for time or the amount of running or walking I’d have to do. The only marathon I’d finished before was the Mid-Mountain trail marathon. It was a hard run and I finished in 5 hours. I figured that might be a good time to try to beat (I know I said my goal was just to finish but I find it hard not to have any loose time goals and figured 5 hours wasn’t putting on much pressure).

My calves were so tight the first 3 or 4 miles that I thought they’d never ease but soon they loosened up and my mind shifted. I ran a few 9 or 9:30 miles and was getting passed by most people. This usually happens to me when I get off the bike. I slowed a bit more but tried not to walk, figuring I would hold out on the walking as long as possible (I was already running slow enough). I made it through the first loop, albeit slowly but didn’t stop much for water or other nutrition. Miles 10-14 were the biggest struggle. I posted a few 12 minute miles and was now slowly walking the aid stations while I grabbed water, bananas, and pretzels. By then, I was in town starting the second loop and just picked up my special needs bag. I took the twix and kit-kat out of the bag. Right then, I tossed out the ‘healthy’ nutrition plan I was trying to stay on. In a quick turn around, my nutrition went from water, bananas and pretzels to twix, kit-kats, and cola. I didn’t forget the warm chicken broth either. That was a nice touch since the rain and wind picked up during the second loop. Around mile 16, it all kicked in and I picked up the pace. I should mention that at this point I hadn’t felt any pain in my leg but I’d stretched out a few cramps. Luckily, they didn’t stick and I was feeling probably about as good as I could’ve 10 hours into a race.

So once I kicked it into high gear and managed to sustain the pace I finally started letting loose and really taking in the excitement (I’m really only talking 9:45-10:15 minute miles so it wasn’t too high of a gear so, if you have a mental image, it looked nothing like BJ from SLC or Paul from PDX). Up until this point, I avoided thinking about what it’d be like to finish the race. The last thing I wanted was to think I’m going to finish and then have a huge let down because something happened out on the course. I decided then that it was actually going to happen and I was going to cross that finish line, no matter what, so I was able to let loose a bit and take it all in for the remainder of the race. So as everyone on the run course was grabbing their Mylar to stay warm and dry, I was pushing, passing as many people as I could, and trying to smile and say thanks to the volunteers who were feeding the athletes with food and energy.

As I made the turn and headed down to the last few blocks towards the finish, the crowd was incredible. I was enjoying the moment in my own way, which was to run as hard as I could and trying to look like a racer who was competing for a Kona slot…it didn’t matter if I needed to cut a couple hours off my time to seriously have a chance. My quad was cramping and it probably looked more like speed walking than running but, to me, I felt like I did back in the 7th grade when I was coming out of the blocks during a 100m sprint. I focused intently on the finish line. As I passed a few racers skipping with their hand in the air elated to be finishing, I thought to myself “Fools. They just let me beat them. Who races for 12 hours and then stops 100ft before the finish line to celebrate?” Of course, they were taking in the moment the way they wanted and weren’t really fools. I felt kinda bad thinking that. Oh well. Somehow, I managed to sprint to the finish line without tripping or having my leg seize from the cramp. I heard my name called and I was finished.
Run time: 4:37 Total Time: 12:06

There were two points during the race where I was almost overcome with emotion: once around mile 16 when I allowed myself to think about the finish for the first time and once when I crossed the finish line. In the end, I held back and gave a little fist-pump down by my side acknowledging to myself that I was now an Ironman.

Right away, I was hugged and kissed by my wife, mom, and aunt. My dad was following religiously online with the Athlete Tracking and still knows more about my times and splits than I do. It was a great race and even better experience. I definitely couldn’t have done it without all of the support, advice, and encouragement from my family, friends and training partners. So a special thanks goes out to the Desert Sharks Tri Club family as well as the Tsunami Team up in PDX and the Murray Tri Club guys. Thanks for letting me be a part of your communities. I really appreciate it.

PS – Can you say addicting? On the long drive home, I was thinking the entire time about my NEXT Ironman and where I should focus my training to shave off the most time. I love it.

Nutrition:
Breakfast: 1 banana and 2 packets of instant oatmeal for breakfast
Bike: 2 bottles of Perpeteum with 5 scoops each (Only went through 1 full bottle), 1 Cliff Bar and 1 PowerGel (straw-banana), 1 Endurolyte pill every hour.
Run: Minimal water, 2 PowerGels, 2 Endurolyte pills, banana, and pretzels over the first 2 hours. Cola, kit-kat, twix, chicken broth over the second 2.5 hours.

49 days left to go!*

*Approximately ; )

I am 33 weeks pregnant. That means we have 7 weeks left to go! We are both getting very excited for Stella's arrival. We have everything that we can imagine that we might need for her once she arrives. Our birthing classes are going very well, too! Nick is the only husband who has read all of the suggested husband/coach books that our birthing teacher has recommended. We are definitely getting well prepared.

Here are some of the pregnancy photos that my good friend (Chandra Bickler) took for us. I was 28-29 weeks during the photo shoot, so you can just imagine my belly a tad bigger and that's how I look now.

The approximate due date is July 28th, but our midwife has informed us that most first babies are over due, so we are going to expect her the first week of August, so as not to be disappointed when July 28th rolls by with no excitement.

On a different topic, Nick's Iron Man is Sunday, June 21st and we are both very excited for it. I'm excited to go on another vacation and Nick is excited to get the race under way. I think it will be a lot of fun for him... Hard work, but fun. If anyone is interested in watching the race, let me know!