Introducing Lukas Anthony Lager

As most of you probably already know or probably have guessed from my lack of posts, our little boy Lukas has finally arrived. There are 2 of you out there who guessed it correctly. It's been a whirlwind experience, but here's how it all started...

On Wednesday morning, I woke up around 7AM and went to the bathroom like I do every morning. I went back to bed and 10 minutes later I noticed that the bed was wet. I'm thinking to myself, "Oh no, not again. Did I just pee on myself again?" Then I remembered that I had just gone to the bathroom, so I probably didn't pee on myself. I called Jeannette, who is an OB, Edwin, and my OB's office. My OB's office told me to call them when my contractions were 5 minutes apart. I stayed at home for most of the day and Edwin came home from work to wait for those contractions. Here were my activities that day after my calls:

1. Had some breakfast.


2. Took a 2 hour nap. (I mean, I should get some rest before the big event, right?)


3. Had some lunch.


4. Watched some TV, emailed, and read. Edwin decided he would clean the house.


5. I called the OB around 4:30PM because I wanted to talk to them before the office closed. They told me that I would need to check into the hospital that night because there would be a risk of infection if I didn't deliver within 24 hours of my water breaking.


6. Went out to dinner with the Banerjees for Korean food.


7. Checked into the hospital at 9PM.

One of the worst parts of the process happened at the beginning as I was getting admitted into labor and delivery. I had to have my blood drawn and an IV inserted in my arm. The nurse that inserted the IV was terrible. She missed my vein which hurt a lot and hit a valve, so there was a gauze pad full of my blood. Then, she had to do it again and I'm thinking to myself, "Do you know what you're doing?"

After checking in, they brought us to the labor and delivery room. The original intent when I arrived at the hospital was for them to give me a drug to start dilation, but when the OB checked me at midnight, I was already 3cm dilated which meant that I didn't need it. At 2AM, they checked me and said that I my contractions weren't strong enough or regular enough, so they wanted to give me pitocin to make them stronger and more regular. They seemed strong enough to me! The contractions were the worst part of the process. Edwin suggested trying to sleep between contractions, but they were so strong that there was no way that I could.

Edwin was pretty sleepy since he spent his day cleaning while I took a nap during the afternoon. I'm also more the night owl than he is because he is more a morning person than me. To focus on something other than the pain from the contractions, I asked Edwin to talk to me. Edwin thought that this meant that I wanted to converse, so he started asking me questions like, "When are your parents arriving?" This was not the type of distraction I was thinking of. I didn't say that I wanted to talk. I just wanted him to talk to me. Then, Edwin had a brilliant idea. I had put together a playlist on my ipod for the labor and delivery. He put the music on and I was able to focus on the words and sing along. They should offer karaoke for women in labor. Just a suggestion.

At 4AM, the nurse asked if I wanted an epidural for the pain since the anesthesiologist was nearby. My original thoughts on a drug free delivery were that I would try and do it without the drugs for as long as I could, but that I was not opposed to an epidural. Several of my friends have had them and I have not heard of anyone having a bad experience with it- though my friend Lei said that her bad experience was that her epidural stopped working. I thought for a minute that I could rough it a little more and then I thought, "Why am I doing this? This hurts a lot. Who knows how long this will take?" So I changed my mind and said, "Yes, I would like an epidural, please." Labor after epidural was VERY nice.

After the epidural, I was able to sleep from 4:30AM to 8:30 AM. This is the closest thing I can think of to sleeping through labor. It was SO nice. The nurses and doctors were still coming in to check on me intermittently throughout the night and I didn't care. Some people say that they don't like epidurals because it doesn't allow the mother to feel how she is pushing. At around 9AM, they told me to start pushing and an hour and a half later, Lukas showed up. Funny thing is, I had a dream when I was 8 months pregnant that I was sleeping and woke up with a baby. Maybe it was a premonition.

The labor and delivery nurses said that they really liked my playlist. Maybe I'll publish it someday to the blog. It was like 5 hours of music, so we'll see. We were listening to Cowboys and Angels from George Michael when Lukas arrived.

Another funny anecdote about one of the labor and delivery nurses who was a nurse in training was that a Jem song started playing and she said that she used to listen to that song when she was studying in high school. I think that Jem became popular only 5 years ago. How old was this nurse? Just a little scary, but the other nurse was clearly more experienced, so it was OK.

I'll definitely be posting more pics of Lukas's first week, but here is the birth announcement that we sent out via email. The time was actually 10:44AM when Lukas was born, but who really cares except us?

False Alarm

So today is my due date and still no baby. The OB says that there is no dilation and we are scheduled to induce on Monday at 6PM which means that if baby does not come out on his own this week, he's going to come out next week. Thanks to everyone's well wishes. I can't believe people even remember what the due date is. I have trouble remembering myself!

I had a false alarm yesterday. I was meeting Matilde for lunch at her place. While I was waiting for her to open the gate, I felt a slight contraction and then warm liquid running down my leg. As Matilde approached, I told her that "Either my water has broken or I have just peed in my pants. Neither of which is good." I have experienced a little leakage before when I sneezed or laughed, but it was nothing like this. I called Jeannette to ask her and she told me that if I continued to leak, then it was my water. If not, then it was probably the contraction which also caused my bladder to contract which caused me to pee. Turns out it was just urine. Matilde jokes that she doesn't think that I even had a contraction and just said that I did so that I didn't have to say that I peed on myself for no reason.

So this past weekend, Edwin helped the Banerjees move into their new house while I watched Maika and Kai. After the move, everyone came over and had pizza at our house. That's when Show finally announced the news that she and Derek got engaged- though that's not entirely true. She didn't announce it, but that's when she finally showed us her ring. She had been hiding it all day and hadn't told any of us about it even though they got engaged last Monday. We were all super excited for them. We'll have to wait to hear Derek's side of how he proposed. Congrats you guys!

No baby yet!

So I went to the OB today and she tells me that baby is not coming out yet (no dilation.) She's not working this weekend and we are slated to help out the Banerjees this weekend with their move, so in terms of scheduling, I've told the baby that Friday, Monday, or Tuesday would be best for mom and dad. Depending on how long it takes him to come out, late Sunday night would not be a bad option either. Since we're getting down to the wire, I have put a poll on the blog to see when you all seem to think that he will be coming. Polls close next week because my OB says that she wants to talk about inducing if he doesn't come out within a week. The doctor is hoping that he comes soon because she thinks he's getting big- like he's in the 7 lb range and hopes he doesn't wait until he's 8 to come out. Mom hopes that he is not an 8 pounder either. Then I'll be able to say that I gave birth to a butterball. Small is good, but healthy is best. I told Edwin that people were expecting him to post the news, so maybe you will see a posting from the elusive blogger.

Year in Review

While I know that I have not been the best at posting this past year, I realized today that I have been even worse at keeping up with other people's blogs and updates. In the past, I would typically take a lunch hour about once a month to catch up on other people's blogs to see how my friends were doing. I realized that I probably haven't done that in a while because when I started looking at my friends' blogs today I noticed that many times, I was reading back to posts that were dated in early 2008. Yikes.

I found out that there were friends who were also pregnant and those who are thinking of moving. What was very amusing to me was the number of people that also apologized for not posting as often as they used to. I thought it was just me. You get busy and forget to document the things that you meant to. There are times I think to myself, "Surely, no one reads my blog anymore" only to be reminded of those handful of loyal readers who are somehow amused by my blathering. Or maybe there are more out there like me who decide one day out of the blue to "catch up with Michelle and Edwin" and read about what we have been doing for the past few months and are able to forgive us when we haven't posted anything for several weeks.

I wonder if the baby will leave me any time at all to post or check email. We'll see..

Happy Presidents Day!

Yesterday, we got a welcome day off. I know, I know. Everyday is now a day off for me. There are actually a lot of things to do during the day for someone who isn't working. I used to wonder what Edwin would do while he was home during the year of Edwin. I still wake up in the mornings- mostly because I either have to drop Edwin off at the BART or we have construction workers coming in to work on the basement. Here is my typical day. I eat my breakfast- usually cereal like Golden Grahams or toast with peanut butter or jelly. On the weekends, Edwin makes me bacon, eggs, and toast. Then, I'll shower or make some phone calls (not fun phone calls to friends, but companies on the East Coast) or calls to state disability, the OB, some pediatrician, or some childcare facility. I might clean up the house a little, check my email, or do a little prenatal yoga and then I'll start preparing myself some lunch or meet a friend for lunch. I have a few friends who work in Alameda and Matilde is still on her maternity leave, so I might meet up with her. After lunch, I'll typically run errands like buying groceries, going to the post office, returning stuff to stores, or some baby-related thing like go to the OB, send out Thank You notes, or setup something in the baby's room. By the time 5PM rolls around, I'm usually ready for an afternoon nap because it starts to get dark. If I have the energy, I'll make a dinner. If not, I'll take a nap before I pick Edwin up from the BART. We'll have dinner together, watch a little TV, and then go to bed. Time passes by quickly. I always have my To Do list. I keep trying to get things done without straining myself too much, but there's always so much to do. This is me without a baby. What happens when there is a baby and nothing gets done? At least Edwin will be home for the first 6 weeks.

So we had a pretty relaxing Presidents Day weekend. I already told you what we did for Valentines Day. Sunday, we spent most of the day cleaning and doing stuff around the house. On Monday, we hung out with the Schneiders and Banerjees (again!) We'll be seeing the Banerjees again this weekend if the baby hasn't arrived. Edwin is going to help them move to their new house in Orinda (yay!) while I help watch the kids. After that, we're hoping that the baby comes relatively soon. Seriously, the countdown has started! T minus 8 days! I think that I'll be ready then...

Happy Valentines Day!

So we had a pretty low key Valentines Day. We went to a wine bar and to go see a movie in our local theatre. The movie we saw was Taken which was entertaining. We thought that it wouldn't be too busy and showed up too late to get decent seats, so we decided to trade in our tickets for the later show. That's how we ended up at the wine bar next door. I thought it was kind of funny to be 9 months pregnant and in the front window of this wine bar. We have some pictures- don't worry, all I had was some fancy grape juice!

I also thought this video was kind of funny:

Maternity Leave

So I started my maternity leave this week. The week has gone by fast! Unfortunately, I started the week sick. I think I had either food poisoning or some kind of stomach flu. I thought that I would escape this pregnancy without vomitting once, but I was wrong. 3 times. And then when I thought I was finished, diahrrea was next. Given that we are about to have a baby, I guess I better get used to bodily fluids. Needless to say, I spent most of my Monday in bed except to go see my doctor and attend an informational pediatrician session.

Tuesday I got my haircut and had a breastfeeding class. On Wednesday, I went shopping for food and Target and then cooked. It takes a while to prepare food. I'm so used to just getting home from work and heating up food. I forget how long it can take to prep everything. I made steamed fish with ginger and green onions, napa cabbage soup with tofu and wood ear mushrooms, and rice. Actually, I cut and prepped everything and then ran out of energy, so Edwin did the actual cooking when he got home. On Thursday, I cooked some more. I made jook (Chinese porridge) with the leftover rice by adding chicken and century egg. Made phone calls and took a break. Then, I started cooking lunch which was pasta and Prego added with a seafood medley, red pepper, and squash. (I have no idea how Priyanka's hubby Matt does his gourmet dishes. I take short cuts like jarred sauce and pasta from a box and it still takes forever. I am in awe because he makes the sauce and pasta out of fresh ingredients himself.) Maybe one day I'll be that inspired. In the meantime, I'll stick to my shortcuts.

Everyday, I start with my list of To Do's and it doesn't seem like I get to half the things on my list! How would I get this stuff done if I didn't have maternity leave?

Baby Shower

Matilde and Jeannette threw us a baby shower yesterday. We had a great time. There were kids everywhere. The weather was beautiful so we were able to hang out outside on Jon and Jeannette's deck and backyard. There was a monkey theme since we'll be decorating the nursery in green, brown, and white. Guests were asked to design onesies for our little one and we never knew how talented and creative our friends are. Here are some pictures from the event. Thanks guys!

This past week was also my last week at work. They threw me a small baby shower at work as well which was very nice. I still have a few things to wrap up, but for the most part, I am done. People keep asking me what I'm going to do for the next 3 weeks since I'm not due until the 24th. However, I feel like I have a ton to do. My whole Monday is pretty busy. I have a nutritional counseling class that my OB recommended, an OB appointment, 3 pediatrician interviews, and I need to file for my state disability. I'll probably be out of the house from 9-7. Tuesday, I have a haircut appointment and a breastfeeding class. The things that I want to have done first are finding the pediatrician and figuring out what to do about childcare. I'll be setting up appointments on Tuesday for the rest of the week. It was really hard to make time to interview pediatricians and visit childcare providers while I was working since they are available only during business hours.

Here are some more pictures of me at 36 weeks. I keep thinking that if I upload the pictures in the smallest size I can, I won't look so big...you can compare it to what I looked like at 26 weeks in my posting on December 18.