Be My, Be My Baby

River Isaiah

(God is Salvation)

1.22.10

9lbs 7oz 21in

River is a week old today! This past week has been surreal, trying, beautiful, restful, and exhausting all at the same time.

Last Friday I went in for my induction. Hopeful, but realistic. I honestly expected River to be born on Saturday, based on my experience with Kade. I was really hoping that all I would need was to have my water broken, but they had to start pitocin early afternoon. My midwife agreed to keep it on the lowest dose possible to see if my body would take over. It did! Things progressed pretty quickly. Bill held my hand and was so patient. We were alone for most of it. The nurse kept commenting on what a great team he and I were. Our midwife's role was minimal compared to our first labor. It was so beautiful how comfortable and in control we felt. I was really disappointed with my first birth experience (had hoped for a water birth). Water births and home births are illegal in PA, so I was at least aiming for a natural birth. Well, I got stuck at 8 cm and started losing control of my pain management. I started asking for an epidural and the midwife reluctantly agreed. Well, as soon as I got it and laid down on my side for it to kick in, I felt River crowning!! Although it negates by natural birth experience, I was so glad to have had it...the epidural had taken effect by the time I had to deliver the placenta. I was hemorrhaging (I have very low iron) and the midwife had to manually take out my placenta. I was able tot stay calm and hold River. I was even able to nurse right away.

He was very bruised from coming out so fast, but beautiful and healthy!!

We stayed in the hospital Saturday and came home Sunday. Except for a few tense moments, it has been a very peaceful week, full of joy and blessings. My family has visited, but no one else so far. It's been nice to keep things so low key. Next week, Bill's mom will arrive for her week stay. I'm excited to have some help when Bill returns to work on Monday. Kade loves his baby "brodder", but likes to poke him in the head when he is feeling jealous.

I was stressed about finding a pediatrician last minute, and we were blessed to have a surprisingly pleasant experience with a doctor we found on an online MD rating site. So far, we like his minimally invasive style and he had been respectful of our beliefs. River is doing great. His weight dipped a little more than desired (8lbs 2oz), so we have to go back in tomorrow for a weight check...no big concerns though.

We are going to try to do his newborn photos today. Hopefully he will cooperate; then we can send out his announcements.

Bill is an amazing dad. My mom slept over our house Wednesday night and she kept commenting on how impressed with him she was. He takes such good care of us!! All while trying to finish his thesis. Just before I had River, Bill had said a few things that were just too sweet:

- He was sad that he couldn't go to my post-date ultrasound because he really was excited to see the baby. I told him that in a couple days he could see the real version.

-He said that every morning when he got dressed he thought to himself that these could be the clothes I'm wearing when River is born.

- He asked me in the middle of the night if he could go get Kade and bring him to bed with us because he missed him.

I think it is really helping Kade adjust to have so much Dada time. They play while I nurse and all I hear is Kade's sweet laugh!

So, Happy One Week Birthday River!! I'll share more soon.

Thank you all for your thoughts, congrats, and well wishes.

Lullaby

Written by Ben Harper for Heath Ledger's daughter

Baby Bongos

Kade loves his farm animals!! All animals actually. This new barn set is from Nana, and just after Christmas Kade lined up all the animals and said "play song." He got out his bongos and started making up lyrics. It was too cute! We've been singing songs lately, learning the words, but also making up our own. In the car the other day he sang a version of Twinkle Stars that started "Twinkle twinkle mama and dada..." haha. Bill and him worked on some Bob Marley tonight. Now we'll have to petition Auntie Cole to send him a ukulele from HI.

Sorry Julie and Baby Update

We've been sticking to simple dinners lately because I don't feel like cooking much and I don't want to have a ton of fresh ingredients in the house in case I ever have this baby... so I tried the Julie/Julia bruschetta again, but followed the recipe this time. Well, sorry Julie Powell but mine was way better. I don't love raw tomatoes though, so maybe I'm a little biased. Bill has yet to weigh in his vote, so I'll let you know. But you should definitely try my version I posted a couple of days ago!

p.s. The Earl Grey cupcakes are gone; and they were yummy!

Baby update: I am 41 weeks now and have an appointment with my midwife on Tuesday. They will do an NST to make sure River is still healthy and an ultrasound to estimate his weight. If he looks like he's 10lbs or more (a possibility) they want to try to talk me into an elective csection. NO WAY!!! I delivered my first baby at 9lbs10oz so I think I can deal. Plus, u/s aren't that accurate on weight prediction, so I'd hate to have surgery for no reason. If I do not go into labor on my own, then they will induce me at 42 weeks (next week). Here's hoping for some labor!!

Cupcaker

As some of you may have heard from my facebook post yesterday, I had cupcakes on the mind. I thought that I might as well indulge before I have to go on my post-baby diet. I first found inspiration from these cupcakes from http://cupcakeblog.com/.

That last one is quinoa and fig and I definitely plan on trying the recipe during my diet!

I was really wanting to make matcha green tea cupcakes, but I couldn't find any matcha powder at Whole Foods, so Earl Grey it was. Earl Grey happens to be my favorite tea, so it was a quite fitting second choice. I got the recipe from the coolest cookbook ever: Vegan Cupcakes Take Over the World.

The icing is blue in hopes that River will be here soon. They are delicious. I sent some to work with Bill for his coworkers who make a weekly cupcake run.

By any other name...

a boy would still smell like a boy. No help to us picking a name for our baby due...today. We apologize to our family who have gone through this process with us and have been undoubtedly confused by our wishy washy ways. We started the process with a few of our faves left over from naming Kade, but then found ourselves adding new ones to the list. We LOVE the name Malakai (Malachi), but decided that we want to save it for the boy we hope to adopt one day. I've always liked Mason, but it is sooo popular. My sister and I both have found a fondness for the name Cohen, but it's also getting too popular, and we know a couple with a boy named that. So, Bill and I had narrowed it down to around 6 and ruled out most for various reasons. In the summer we had decided on River and started telling people about it. Well, many hated it, or just said "oh, like River Pheonix." So we revisited the poll we had posted online and went with the most popular name, Ryder. I believe this was summer, early fall, that we shared the name with everyone. A month or so later I read in Parents magazine that Ryder will be one the top names for 2010. Then on babynames.com, it was listed in the top 100 for 2009. I just really don't want him to have a popular/common name, so this started to bug me. THEN... I received a Pottery Barn Kids catalog in the mail and they now have a Ryder bedding line!

We were on the fence for so long about changing the name again because everyone seemed to receive Ryder so well; and Kade was already using that name. We put our other two faves (now River and Porter) back on the table and started telling family that we just weren't sure. For months we threw them around:

River Isaiah

Ryder Hayes

Porter Canyon

We weighed the options and have finally come back to River!

No, not like River Pheonix!

Although we run the risk of being called hippies or other, I love it! It will grow on you. I think it is a great boy's name and I'm so excited for him to get here!

River

Julie and Julia Bruschetta

from Sony Pictures

If you saw the movie, do you remember the scene when Julie and her husband are eating bruschetta and he is drooling all over it? I couldn't resist, so I tried to recreate the dish, without a recipe. Well, after doing so, I looked online and realized that this scene had created a bruschetta frenzy among viewers and the recipe was posted all over the place. I found out that what I had mistaken as colored peppers, were actually heirloom tomatoes. The actual recipe calls for the multi-colored baby tomatoes (heirloom) chopped and served atop the toast fresh, but here's what I did:

Chop 1 orange and 1 yellow pepper.

Add in whole grape or cherry tomatoes.

Toss in roasting pan with olive oil, salt, pepper, garlic, and balsamic vinegar.

Roast (around 300) about two hours, or until they start blackening and tomatoes burst.

Fry slices of crusty bread of choice in olive oil (Yes, FRY! I rarely fry anything, but couldn't pass this up. It makes all the difference in the world.)

Layer basil leaves atop the browned bread, then scoop on topping. Do not let sit with topping too long because the bread will get soggy.

Bill sounded just like the guy on the movie. MMM!