With blogging, when you finally get over the guilt and start to write, the very first thing you have to write is all about your guilt. So I have done that.
We have two girls now. Isobel joined our ranks in May, similarly to her sister, and we're all just starting to get use to each other. Grace has been especially wonderful with her new sister. Entirely loving and gentle in every way. I've seen not a hint of jealousy or anger or any negative emotion directed towards this little screaming thing we've brought home. I've had more negative emotions than her. The worst I've seen from Grace has been a little yelling when her sister has been screaming, but mostly she has settled to cover her ears.
So now, we have a girl whose first initial is G, and we have a girl who's first initial is I. It occurred to me, that maybe I could weekly blog about my girls, my thoughts on them, or things about them, maybe on Fridays, and then I guess that would mean I have a Things about Grace and Isobel Fridays, or TGIFs.
That's the plan.
We'll see how long this blogging adventure lasts.
The things I want to remember this week:
Grace was being unresponsive to some questions I was asking. I went to our Positive Discipline book for some advice. It suggested that I use humor for a young child. It even suggested a tickle monster might be just the the thing to get a child to start talking again.
A minute later I was saying, "Grace, here comes a tickle monster." We were talking about the issue at hand in no time. Later, she stopped answering my questions again. "Grace, here comes another tickle monster!" It worked great.
Later at dinner: Betsey sneezed. I said, "Bless you!" Grace says, "Mommy, here comes another Bless You! ... Bless You!"
That just really tickled me, almost as good as a monster, and I did not want to forget it.
Isobel has started smiling back at us recently, which is pretty grand. Not much new besides that. However, this blog is still deficient a birth story about her.
It was Saturday, May 25th and Betsey's mom and grandma were over to visit Grace (any pretense they come to see us has long since faded). It was almost time for them to go, so Marg says, "Hey, I'd love to get a call on the freeway that I need to turn around, but if you want to save time and have your water break now, that would be fine." It was something like that.
Three minutes later, Betsey comes out of the bedroom, "I think my water broke."
We called Leah, our doula in Corvallis, and had her come up. Grace's labor from the first contraction to delivery was 8 hours. Betsey had started contracting immediately after the water broke. So getting Leah alerted was a priority.
Betsey called the hospital to let them know we'd be coming in. They said they were full, but if a spot opened up they'd admit us, otherwise it was a longer trip to somewhere we'd never gone before. I called back about 10 minutes later and asked if someone could just call us when a room opened up so we could rush down and grab it. We'd been planning to labor at home, but if supply was limited, we could labor at the hospital. The gal on the phone laughed, said, "Just a second," and then came back, "We've reserved you a room. Come on in." I like to think my sense of humor got us a room.
Betsey's contractions were coming pretty fast at this point, and we hurriedly filled the car. Betsey's grandma said I went up and down the stairs a few hundred times. She was quite amused. I guess when you have 6 kids of your own and an uncountable number of grandkids and greatgrandkids, you get to be amused by whatever you want. We left Grace home with the "traveling grandmas" as they call themselves (which was basically the plan anyway), and headed for the hospital.
I got on the the on ramp and realized that traffic was not moving... at all. I think every guy dreams of getting this excuse, and I wasn't about to pass it up, so after a half-minute's hesitation, I put on the hazard lights and raced down the freeway shoulder, passing a few hundred cars in the process. It was exhilarating. I told Betsey I hope any adrenaline I induced didn't slow down her labor. Little did I know...
We arrived at the "Birth Center" and immediately got to work. Leah showed up shortly thereafter. I did my job of running interference on the nurses and encouraging Betsey. Leah helped us remember good positions and everything a good doula does. A couple hours later, Isobel Niamh Catchpole was born. From water broken to born in just under four hours.
After a few minutes recuperation, I fetched Grace from the waiting room. She would be the first to meet Isobel. She seemed so grown up walking down the hall with me to meet her. I hope I never forget that image.
Besides Grace, we had six visitors that night. Betsey's parents, sister, and brother-in-law, Leah and her wife Rachel. My parents made it the next day, and my sisters were all off doing their own thing. Chrystal was getting engaged, and Kim was enjoying her beau Jay's birthday in Colorado. They'd have to meet Isobel later.
Isobel has started smiling back at us recently, which is pretty grand. Not much new besides that. However, this blog is still deficient a birth story about her.
It was Saturday, May 25th and Betsey's mom and grandma were over to visit Grace (any pretense they come to see us has long since faded). It was almost time for them to go, so Marg says, "Hey, I'd love to get a call on the freeway that I need to turn around, but if you want to save time and have your water break now, that would be fine." It was something like that.
Three minutes later, Betsey comes out of the bedroom, "I think my water broke."
We called Leah, our doula in Corvallis, and had her come up. Grace's labor from the first contraction to delivery was 8 hours. Betsey had started contracting immediately after the water broke. So getting Leah alerted was a priority.
Betsey called the hospital to let them know we'd be coming in. They said they were full, but if a spot opened up they'd admit us, otherwise it was a longer trip to somewhere we'd never gone before. I called back about 10 minutes later and asked if someone could just call us when a room opened up so we could rush down and grab it. We'd been planning to labor at home, but if supply was limited, we could labor at the hospital. The gal on the phone laughed, said, "Just a second," and then came back, "We've reserved you a room. Come on in." I like to think my sense of humor got us a room.
Betsey's contractions were coming pretty fast at this point, and we hurriedly filled the car. Betsey's grandma said I went up and down the stairs a few hundred times. She was quite amused. I guess when you have 6 kids of your own and an uncountable number of grandkids and greatgrandkids, you get to be amused by whatever you want. We left Grace home with the "traveling grandmas" as they call themselves (which was basically the plan anyway), and headed for the hospital.
I got on the the on ramp and realized that traffic was not moving... at all. I think every guy dreams of getting this excuse, and I wasn't about to pass it up, so after a half-minute's hesitation, I put on the hazard lights and raced down the freeway shoulder, passing a few hundred cars in the process. It was exhilarating. I told Betsey I hope any adrenaline I induced didn't slow down her labor. Little did I know...
We arrived at the "Birth Center" and immediately got to work. Leah showed up shortly thereafter. I did my job of running interference on the nurses and encouraging Betsey. Leah helped us remember good positions and everything a good doula does. A couple hours later, Isobel Niamh Catchpole was born. From water broken to born in just under four hours.
After a few minutes recuperation, I fetched Grace from the waiting room. She would be the first to meet Isobel. She seemed so grown up walking down the hall with me to meet her. I hope I never forget that image.
Besides Grace, we had six visitors that night. Betsey's parents, sister, and brother-in-law, Leah and her wife Rachel. My parents made it the next day, and my sisters were all off doing their own thing. Chrystal was getting engaged, and Kim was enjoying her beau Jay's birthday in Colorado. They'd have to meet Isobel later.
I think that wraps up this weeks TGIF. Cachew next week.
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