Birth of Sadie

On Sunday night, we went out to a bar downtown to see my colleague, Martin, do a guitar-playing and singing slot. There was a nice little group of us and it was fun to be out. The bar does fish and chips, so we had that and heartily enjoyed it. However, we didn’t get back until about midnight. Then, at about 3:45 a.m., my waters broke (although it wasn't at all clear to me that that's what it was - nothing like in the movies!). Normally, that doesn't mean you have to go to the hospital until labour starts, but because I tested positive for a bacterial culture (that 10 - 30% of women have), which does no harm to the mother but can be passed to the baby, I had to go in immediately, although I thought I might get sent home. It was not to be, however, and they sent me to a labour and delivery room, put me on an antiobiotic drip (for the bacteria) and started inducing labour with a mild dose of Pitocin. Well, they ended up having to increase the dose later, since things weren't really progressing (the contractions weren't hurting at all, although for a while I thought I was just really hardcore!). I didn't like the first nurse, who apparently gave me the wrong dose of Pitocin (too low) and told me I couldn't eat, even though I'd had nothing since the night before, but got a much nicer nurse in the evening, who kept increasing the dose and let me have dinner. The contractions started to hurt at about 6:00 pm. The problem with Pitocin is that it makes them more intense (apparently) than natural labour. I had some pain relief (a drug that made me feel drunk for the first time in months!) at about 8:30 pm or so, but that soon wore off. Feeling very tired, I asked for an epidural at about 10:00 pm. Well, it was wonderful! I honestly don't know why everyone doesn't have them! I could still feel the contractions but they didn't hurt. Unfortunately, I didn't manage to sleep, but I did get some rest and so did Jon. By about 2:30 am on Tuesday, May 5, I was ready to push the baby out. However, we actually had to take it slow because someone else was having a baby at exactly the same time, and there was only one obstetrician on call. The pushing was really easy, painless and fast when I got into it, and our daughter was born at 4:30 a.m. She looked good and sounded good (cried constantly for 1½ hours) and weighed in at 8 lb 1 oz. We were moved to a recovery room (with a view to the west, just about as far as the Pacific Ocean) about two hours after her birth. The hospital (California Pacific Medical Center) is about 2 - 3 miles from where we live, and - if anyone has seen the movie - is located about two blocks south of where the taxi driver gets murdered in "Zodiac"!

The first day, Sadie slept almost constantly, but I was too excited to sleep. We were both overwhelmed, not really knowing what to do. By nighttime, however, she was waking up every hour, so we didn't get much sleep at all and were rather overwrought on Wednesday morning. Jon came back to the apartment to do some e-mail handoffs (Sadie was a bit early, so neither of us was fully prepared with regard to sorting things out at work), but also to take a break - he really needed it! I got some time alone with Sadie, which was quite good for me. We also got the birth certificate paperwork sorted and I went with her to the nursery while she had some blood drawn for tests and a hearing test performed (passed the latter, we'll have to wait for results on the former). However, Wednesday continued to be difficult - Sadie cried all the time when she wasn't feeding. I was nervous about the feeding, but she seemed to know (and still does) what to do once she got going. In the evening, we had our "celebration dinner" courtesy of the hospital, but we were both stressed out and tired, so it didn't feel very celebratory, to be honest! That night, we took her to the nursery so we could get some sleep. I felt guilty about that, but had hardly had any sleep at all since Saturday night. Unfortunately, they soon brought her back for a feed, but took her away again afterwards and allowed us to get a few hours rest until early next morning.

On Thursday we were discharged at around 1 p.m. A lovely pediatrician came round and checked Sadie over and my doctor checked me over. I don’t need to see him again for six weeks unless I have a problem (seems weird, since I’ve been going there every week recently). I had to pick up some medications from the pharmacy in the clinic next door (where I go for my doctors’ appointments) and also went up to pick up my forms for disability pay (pregnancy/childbirth is counted as a disability!). Here, you hardly get any maternity pay from your company (two weeks, and that’s it!), but the State of California pays out half your pay for about 12 weeks. After that, it was off home.

We were glad to be home and Sadie had a pretty good day overall. However, the first night was terrible. She screamed for four hours solid and we couldn’t calm her. Jon took her off in the car around the city at around 2 a.m., but that didn’t work either. We were both overwrought the next morning and didn’t know how we’d cope on 3 hours sleep a night. However, I spoke to my parents on Skype, which made me feel better, and it was a lovely sunny day, which brightened our mood. We went out for a short stroll and picnic to Washington Square park. We were concerned, however, because Sadie had stopped wetting her nappies and was just passing the nasty orange crystals from the kidneys, which is a sign of dehydration. When the pediatrician called, I explained the situation. He advised me to go and see a lactation consultant at the hospital, but when I called them, it was just an answering machine and no one called back for a few hours. Instead, we decided to take her to the pediatrician’s (she was supposed to go on Monday anyway for a check-up). Well, that was an excellent decision. The pediatrician made me feel so much better! She was down in weight to 7 lb 5 oz, but that’s not uncommon. The doctor didn’t have any real concerns, but said I could supplement the feedings with a little bit of formula if it made me feel better, which it did – just to have that safety net. I felt so much better that I decided to stop by the office where I work on the way back to show off the baby!

Friday night was also so much better. Although I was up three times to feed her and only got just shy of 5 hours sleep (although I could have got more – weirdly, I wasn’t tired), it was all a lot calmer and she didn’t have any prolonged screaming fits. We had her in the other room instead of in our room, which made a big difference, and meant that Jon could get lots of sleep. It was really important to me for him to sleep, so I was delighted, even if I still didn’t get that much. On Saturday, I was surprisingly energetic. We gave Sadie a sponge bath in the morning (you can’t immerse babies fully until the umbilical stump has dropped off), then headed out for a walk along Fisherman’s Wharf to the sealions and on to get some groceries from Trader Joe’s.

Last night, she slept incredibly well. In the end, it was me who woke her up because I felt she needed a feed and I was feeling sore, so I thought it might help me too. In hindsight, it wasn’t a great idea, because she then woke up an hour or so later, which was the time she really wanted to wake up. If I hadn’t woken her, however, I think she would have only been up once. However, I still couldn’t sleep – not sure why. So, since last Saturday night (a week), I’ve had less than 20 hours!

Today is Mothers’ Day. I received a card and a couple of lovely presents – Baileys (hurrah!) and chocolates. We went on another outing to Babies R Us across the Golden Gate in Marin, because there were a couple of things I wanted to get. We then went for a picnic and short stroll at Fort Baker, on the waterfront by the Golden Gate. After we returned, we had our first visitors – my work friend Molly and her boyfriend came around for tea.

So, in short, things are looking a lot better than they were a few days ago. I just hope the good behaviour continues!

The waiting game

It’s well over a month since we returned from Hawaii now. We haven’t moved too far in that time, except for a trip to Tahoe at the beginning of March. I really wanted Jon to have a chance to ski (it’s been too risky for me to do that for a while now), so when we heard that a group was going up one weekend, we decided to join them. This time, we went to the north shore of Lake Tahoe, which I’d never visited before. It was about the same distance and took the same sort of time to get there as South Lake Tahoe, but involves travelling a different road from Sacramento. One of Jon’s colleagues had booked a three-storey condo right on the lakeshore for the weekend. It slept 10 in 5 bedrooms and was truly amazing. The lounge looked right out on to the lake and you could walk straight out of it through the snow to the water’s edge.

On each day, Jon and the others went off to the Northstar resort to ski, while I took it easy back at the house. I also went on a walk into the village and took some photos. The weather was glorious – it may have been -5 C most of the time, but because it was so dry and sunny, it didn’t feel that cold. I managed to amuse myself pretty well the first day, but by the second day, I was feeling a bit bored on my own.

Since then, we’ve mainly been at home on the weekends, making the odd reconnaissance trip to Babies R Us (there are stores in three directions – one over the Golden Gate Bridge in Marin, one in Emeryville in the East Bay and one just south of the city in Colma!), going on smallish hikes and just doing general chores. Jon has been extremely busy at work, which has put him behind with maths and guitar practice (!), so he’s been doing that at the weekends too. During the week, we’ve had pre-natal classes too. We had 4 x 3-hour evening sessions in March. The first two were about childbirth (extremely scary!) and the second two were about looking after the baby in the first few weeks/months. I seem to have put my head back in the sand once more after the childbirth ones, since I’m not feeling particularly afraid. Placing my hopes in the powers of the epidural!

The really good weather took a long time to come this year, but we’ve just had two truly beautiful weekends. Last Sunday, we had a picnic on Mount Tamalpais in Marin. The views from there down the steep but rolling hillsides to the ocean are stupendous. Today has been really warm (people were in the pool, but I didn’t quite feel like braving it, since the apartments are north-facing and the pool is in shadow until later in the Spring). We went for a gentle jog and walk along Crissy Field to the Golden Gate Bridge this morning. I’m delighted that I can still jog about 2 miles in spite of weighing 157 lb! It’s a great start to the day, and something we’ll also be able to do with baby when she’s here.

Other than that, it’s really a waiting game now (waiting for baby’s arrival, that is). Obviously, I’m still going to work, but outside work, my mind is on little else, day in, day out, which is a little strange. I’m gradually getting my stuff together for the hospital stay and last week Jon purchased the stroller and car seat. I see the obstetrician every two weeks, but after next time it’ll be every week until the big day. Last time he told me he thought the baby was in the right position (head-down), which is a relief, although she can still flip over the other way! I’m still feeling well, but do get backaches and am finally starting to feel the fatigue inherent in carrying around that extra 20 lb or so.

Big Island, Hawaii

I’ve not blogged for ages AGAIN! However, I now have something to blog about – we just returned from a week in Hawaii. This time, we went to Big Island (that’s how it’s known by most people – its real name is actually Hawaii, but it sounds odd to say you’ve been to Hawaii, Hawaii). Big Island is the “youngest” of all the islands – it’s still being formed by volcanic eruptions and is the only island in the chain that is still located over the hotspot and consequently has active volcanoes. In a few hundreds of thousands of years or so, it – like the others – will have drifted away from the hotspot and will be getting smaller as erosion takes its toll.

We began our trip by heading north from Kona airport (on the dryer, western side of the island) to the Kohala coast. We camped for our first night – at a really nice campsite by a beach. It was either that or pay $300 per night to stay at one of the very fancy hotels in those parts. The only downside was that the ground was rock-hard and we ruined half our tent pegs trying to hammer them in! It was actually the most pleasant night I’ve ever spent in a tent temperature-wise – as warm, if not warmer than sleeping in a cosy bedroom at home.

After decamping, we headed over the top of the island to the Waipio valley on the eastern side. This is one of the more scenic areas of the island, and one of the few that has the characteristic, vertiginous sculpted “pali”, or bluffs. However, we weren’t able to enjoy it as we’d hoped, because it was pouring with rain (the eastern side is the wet side), so we couldn’t do the hike down to the bottom. Instead, we headed back to the dry Kohala coast and had a lazy afternoon on one of the attractive beaches.

The next two nights were spent near Kealekekua Bay on the Kona coast south of Kailua. We stopped in the town of Kailua on the way down – it was actually a very pretty, historical little town with a lovely waterfront. I wished afterwards that we’d stayed in the town, because the accommodation we had near Kealekekua wasn’t great – pokey and situated right by a very busy road. However, we did enjoy the area. We rented snorkels and hiked down (once we found the trail – which was no mean feat) to the Captain Cook monument – a memorial right by the water, erected on the spot where Captain Cook was murdered in the 1700’s. Before you feel too sorry for him, it’s worth bearing in mind that he did kind of ask for it by kidnapping the island chief after some petty crime was committed against him by one of the islanders. When we arrived at the shore, a group of humpback whales was putting on a show on the other side of the bay – breaching, blowing and showing us their tails. I’ve never seen whales put on such a display (by comparison, they were very low-key in Alaska). Unfortunately, they were too far away for photos, but we got a great view with the binoculars. Afterwards, we went snorkelling in the water, which was fabulous. Admittedly, it was a little scary getting in and out, because we hadn’t brought flippers or sandals down with us and the rocks were covered in spiky sea urchins, but the actual snorkelling was incredible – probably the best I’ve done anywhere apart from the Great Barrier Reef in Australia. The coral and the sheer variety of tropical fish were stupendous. Later, while eating lunch, we were entertained by a few mongooses (I don’t think it’s “mongeese”) – but these are not so welcome on the island. They were introduced to Hawaii by westerners who hoped they would keep the rat population down. What the people didn’t take into account is that rats are nocturnal while mongooses are diurnal, so the scheme didn’t work and the mongooses promptly gorged themselves on the eggs of Hawaii’s native birds, causing many species to become extinct. After lunch, we headed back up the steep path in the shadeless heat, which was a bit gruelling, but fortunately not too long (the whole hike was just over 4 miles).

From the Kona coast, we headed to Volcanoes National Park, the site of the active volcano, Kilauea. On the way, we stopped at a black sand beach (formed by volcanic activity, of course) and happened upon a sea turtle among the rocks with its head under water. At first I thought it was dead, but when it moved I concluded that it was actually feasting on algae. When we arrived at the volcano area, we decided to do a hike straight away and set out on the Kilauea Iki trail, which takes you through rainforest (characterised by giant tree ferns), then down into and across a crater punctuated by steam vents. It was a lovely walk, and since it was much cooler up there, I found it a lot easier than the one we’d done the day before.

We stayed in a cabin in the volcanoes area, a decision which I ended up regretting, because it wasn’t heated and it turned out to be surprisingly cold, even though it was only 4,000 feet up and 25 miles or so inland. However, we ate and had coffee at the Volcano House hotel, which is perched on the edge of a huge crater and enjoys widespread views across it. Unfortunately, though, at least half the park was closed when we were there, because one of the craters was spewing a large amount of poisonous sulphur dioxide. The next day, we visited a museum which was just half a mile from said crater. While we were there, the wind changed and sent the sulphur dioxide in our direction, so we beat a hasty retreat (past all the signs that said “no at-risk people [including pregnant women] past this point”, which I had ignored a few minutes earlier).

Jon was very keen to see some actual flowing lava, so we enquired about this and were told that we’d have to travel some 40 miles outside the park to view it (you used to be able to see it from the 25-mile-long “Chain of Craters” road within the park, but the flow had shifted since then). We set off and enjoyed some more time at a lovely black sand beach backed by coconut palms along the way. The lava viewing area was managed by the Department of Civil Defence or something. In any case, it was heavily guarded and restricted. We drove as far as the old road went (until it got covered by erupting lava), then continued on a dirt track to a car park. Amazingly, some people had remade their homes (admittedly, mostly just shacks and trailers) on the barren black lavascape. We had to walk about half a mile across the lava to the viewing site, which we were told was another half mile from the active flow. Well, it looked a lot more than half a mile, and the flow was not what I would call active. It was extremely slow-moving, and the only thing to distinguish it from the surrounding rock was a little steam or smoke. When it started to get dark, you could pick out the odd faint pinprick of orange, but that was all. There was a lot of steam where the hot lava hit the ocean, but it was falling from a cliff that faced away from the viewing site, so all we saw was, in fact, the steam. In short, it was a huge disappointment and not worth the drive, although the surrounding area was very nice, which meant that it was not a wasted journey.

After two cold nights in the cabin, we headed back to the Kona coast and visited a coffee plantation there. We received a free tour (very interesting) and tasting. It was like visiting a winery, but for coffee. As well as coffee trees, there were avocado, papaya and orange trees, and we were allowed to take away whatever had fallen to the ground. Afterwards, we headed to a Hawaiian cultural site (a beautiful royal compound/religious site right next to the ocean). Most of these sites are a big disappointment because very little remains of the indigenous settlements and temples, but this one is actually the best preserved in the whole of Hawaii, so it was very pleasant to visit, not least because of its gorgeous setting. In addition, there were a couple more sea turtles on the beach there (this time with their heads fully out of the water and therefore more satisfying to photograph).

Our last night was spent on a small coffee plantation with beautiful gardens inhabited by jungle fowl, pet parrots and peacocks. It was definitely the best accommodation we had throughout the week. The next day, breakfast (included) was served on the lanai (balcony) with its splendid ocean views, and incorporated fresh fruit from the plantation. We were even visited at the table by a tiny but very colourful gecko. We had such a leisurely breakfast, that by the time we’d finished, we had to just pack up our stuff and head for the airport for our flight back to San Francisco.

Back in SF, I realized how much good the trip had actually done me. Work had been very tiring and stressful before I left, not to mention demoralising, since all pay raises and bonuses were cancelled as a result of the economic crisis and all talk was of slashing costs left right and centre. So, I think I derived a great deal from the holiday, even though Big Island can’t hold a candle to its older sister Kauai (which we visited two years ago) in terms of scenery, and even though it was horrifically expensive.

December doings

I begin the blog again with yet another apology for absence – a whole month without an update!

Just before December, we had Thanksgiving. We went around to a friend’s parents’ in Alameda across the Bay for a slap-up turkey dinner, which was lovely. Two days later, we went to one of my colleagues’ apartment for another delicious turkey dinner, followed by homemade pumpkin and raspberry pies. The next day, we went for a long hike along the coast in Marin to walk it off.

December has seen plenty of rain, but we have made it out for another couple of hikes. One was on Mount Tam with a friend of mine, her pug and her friend’s two Labradors. The pug sat on my knee on the way there and back in the car, and I almost got licked to death!

We’ve also had many Christmas parties. Jon’s office party was in the Rockridge area of Oakland, in a small restaurant that we completely took over. A week later was my office party, which was in a tapas restaurant in the Mission district of San Francisco. We also had a party at Jon’s colleague’s place in Castro Valley – they had a portable fire pit, which was a great addition. I’ve made a mental note to get one of those one day for my garden back in England.

For Christmas, we did a big dinner again – this time for 11 people. We ordered a super expensive free range organic turkey from the butcher’s in the Ferry Building, and cooked that with all the usual goodies. I also made my own Christmas puddings, which I must say were excellent, all modesty aside! We set fire to them with some rum. Jon made mince pies, which were likewise superb. To keep up the traditions, we watched the Queen’s speech, had crackers and listened to carols. Afterwards, we played White Elephant, which is kind of like Secret Santa, but allows you to “steal” gifts from other players. It was hilarious – Jon got a “Studs & Spurs Calendar”, which, fortunately for him, was stolen shortly afterwards.

I was back at work on Boxing Day, because it’s not a holiday here, but things were pretty quiet. We then went skiing at the weekend, driving up to Tahoe on the Saturday morning, and getting there in time for a half day’s skiing, which is a bit cheaper than a full day. Driving up in the morning rather than on Friday night proved to be a good idea, since we had our best journey ever at 3 hours 20 minutes. The roads were fine, in spite of the fact that there had been a lot of snow, but it was a little dicey in South Lake Tahoe itself, with plenty of near-frozen slush around, which caused us to skid a little a couple of times. We had a great time skiing – conditions were excellent, and surprisingly, it wasn’t too busy. We stuck to skiing on the California side on the Saturday, moving over to Nevada on the Sunday (the ski area straddles both states). It was clear and sunny, so there were good views over vast Lake Tahoe.

That night, we stayed in a casino-hotel just across the stateline, because that turned out to be the best value (casinos get plenty of revenue from gambling, so can afford to offer cheaper rooms) on a weekend that was very expensive accommodation-wise. We were starving after the skiing, so went out to the Montbleu casino for their all-you-can-eat buffet, which was very good. We then had a long sleep before embarking on another great day’s skiing, taking in one of my favourite runs a couple of times: the Olympic Downhill followed by the Stagecoach run, which takes you right down to the bottom on the Nevada side. I fell over a few times, but didn’t hurt myself. We were lucky that the journey back to San Francisco was snow-free, since snow had been forecast.

Of course, I shouldn’t have been skiing at all, because I’m five months pregnant! Another thing we found out this month, when I went for my ultrasound at 19 weeks, was that it’s a girl. We now need to get working on some names!

After a fairly quiet and unproductive New Year’s Day, we geared ourselves up for our visit back to the UK and braced ourselves for the 10-hour flight. We’ve now made it over and begun our rounds of visits.