Introducing...

Cyanne Marie Ellis Blabey

Born September 26th, 2007, 5:56 pm
5 lbs., 9 oz.
19 inches


More details to follow soon. Mother, baby, and proud Papa are all doing well, if not a little tired (Mom and Dad, at least!).


















Thanks for the many phone calls, text messages, and emails over the past few days.

Off to the Hospital... (4 1/2 wks early!)

During a visit to her OB for a routine pre-natal visit, where Kristen expected she might be told she would be put on bedrest for the remainder of her pregnancy (due to low amniotic fluid), she instead learned that she would be induced that day, within a matter of hours! After a quick call to me at the office, we both scrambled to tie up loose ends at our respective work places and met up back at home to gather our senses, call our parents, and pack for the hospital. For the record, we took a minute to take a few final photographs of Kristen's pregnant belly!

Then, off to Santa Barbara Cottage Hospital we went...

Symptoms and Complications of Pregnancy

So... We had yet another ultrasound this evening. For the most part, all things look good. She weighs 5 1/2 pounds and is now in the head ward down position - which is where she should be!
She's in the 50% for growth/size so right in the middle. He said we were on course to have approximately "a 7 pounder." He said he couldn't do length measurements anymore as she's too large to fit into the screen and as he said "we can't uncurl her and there's not enough room to do measurements like that..."
We got to see her head, heart, liver/stomach area, spine etc... I inquired what the hard ball in the upper top half of my stomach was and as I suspected - it's her behind... with her legs that kick me quite frequently in the ribs...! So - it was nice to get that confirmed! It all makes sense to me - as I can completely feel her butt and then each of the kicks.
The other thing we learned though... Wasn't as good.
My amniotic fluid is very low. He said it was low and so we asked what the range is for normal. Normal is 14 and up. Mine is 7. He said "once it hits 5 to 5.5, we induce."
Basically, what it means is that I need to take it easy and that I've been doing too much, too often.
No more walking the dog, no more gym trips - per doctor's orders, I'm to cut out "all intentional exercise."
The placenta isn't getting sufficient blood flow and therefore, the baby is dehydrated and isn't peeing like she should which creates a low amniotic fluid level.
I have a sinking feeling that what this means is bed rest. My OB already told me to "cut back a few hours each day" from work when I saw her on Tuesday for my weekly check-up. I am sure - once she receives the fax from the MD tonight - that tomorrow she might very well tell me I need to go on partial or complete bed rest which is really, really not what I want to have happen. (we still have so much to do and I have much to do at work!)
As I'm told - I need to make a concerted effort to sit down, put my feet up, and/or lie down on either side - all to increase flow to the baby. Otherwise... I deliver early as they have to induce if the fluids drop. A couple/few weeks early is okay but she really should stay in there a couple more weeks at the very least to get larger so we at least get to 6 - 6 1/2 pounds. And hopefully avoid having a baby that needs to go to the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit.
So..... Yet another 'fun' symptom/complication of pregnancy. At least I'm trying out quite a few this round. Perhaps the next go at it will be less 'exciting...'
With 5 weeks to go - bed rest for that period seems like a long time and I'm sure the folks at my office wouldn't be too pleased. However, if it comes to that - hopefully I can still read and write and work on a laptop - while lying in bed... maybe??
But as we know - making sure she's as safe and healthy as possible is the first priority. If that means bed rest for the next 5 weeks - so be it. I have a very helpful, useful, efficient, and loving husband... who will, I'm sure, relish all of his new "tasks..." =)
And the thing is - it's a very busy weekend coming up!
I have to speak at the Laguna Blanca School 75th anniversary kick-off celebrations tomorrow then we have Karen's Baby Shower (very exciting!! Lots of cheese!!) tomorrow night.
Saturday is Tom's 30th Birthday!!!
The day starts with one of my showers hosted by Missy & my Mom - and then we all go out to toast Tom and the end of his twenties...
Plus... Devon has amazingly flown in from Boston for the weekend - so I want to go around and see the town with her!!
Perhaps 'bed rest' can wait until Sunday afternoon?

Shower at the Mislang's

Last Saturday we spent a wonderful evening at the Mislang's at a baby shower for Tom and me. The night was filled with excellent food (not that I'd have expected differently from those Secord women... talented as they are in the kitchen) - Shrimp with basmati rice, green beans with toasted sliced almonds and lemon zest (it is a real dinner party when zest of any variety is involved, after all...), bread, and an amazing dessert served in a martini glass (I was sadly pleased to be able to 'use' a martini glass, though not for its original purpose) of strawberries, fresh cream, and lady finger type cookies. There were mai tais and margaritas which I'm told tasted good... I may have had a sip or two (or five) when concocting them to make sure I wasn't passing along sub-standard beverages to my good friends... That would, of course, be unacceptable.

It was a great mix of friends and I'd say family because Dan, Mary, Lara & Jenny are basically just an extension of my family in my mind.

The setting was beautiful - it is hard to top an early fall evening in Santa Barbara when the mountains turn a deep purple-blue while the sun sets over the ocean. They had a table, under a large oak tree, decorated with white phalaenopsis orchids, candles, and quite the table cloth with matching place cards... But I'll leave the secret of that success to Lara.

Tom & I had a wonderful time and are so thankful and appreciative of all that Lara, as well as Jenny and Mary, did getting it all ready. Lara does have a few other things going on these days... namely Miles and Danika... so we were also very glad they gave their Mom a little time to get everything organized as well as some time to sit and enjoy a mai tai or two...

It was a fantastic way to celebrate the shortly to arrive Blabey baby. =)

We were lucky enough at the end of the evening to have a Danika sighting when she came back home - man, those kids are ridiculously cute. Lara & Robert are going to have their hands full down the road, that all I'm going to say. =)

Again, thanks to all for a wonderful evening.
Should I get photos... I will post them!

Pets in People Places

Ah... very funny.
Max & Sonsie decided to hang out in the baby's pack n' play... making she it would be comfortable for her arrival...




And Lucky decided to see how it felt to be behind the wheel.

Trying out the co-sleeper...

Max & Sonsie keep trying out the co-sleeper before the baby arrives.
Just to make sure, ya know, that it's comfy and all...
Apparently, they approve.

A crib for Blabey Baby's "crib"...

Finally... We have ordered the crib! It's the Pali Sabrina crib in Cherry - this is the natural color. I could not find a photo of it online in Cherry- but it's like the rest of the furniture we own, if that gives you any idea!
So... we should hopefully get it by the first week of October. It is still on the boat over from Italy...

Now we just need to get some sort of dresser type thing to put various items in!
And something on which to change her!

At least we can now cross this off the long list of "required for baby's arrival" items.

Ultrasounds, Cribs, and all things baby

So, all morning I kept telling her she was going to have her picture taken ("are you ready for your close-up??") in the hopes that she might cooperate and oh, say, show us her face or turn in a helpful direction. In response to my coaching and words of "encouragement," she seemed to be dancing up a storm - kicks, jabs, big swivelling side moves, my whole stomach moving to the left or right in an undulating motion - so I was thinking - well alright then! She's not going to be camera shy as she has been on all other occasions.
Alas.

After waiting quite a while (as an aside, I really think SB needs more than one guy who does ultrasounds but that's another issue... he's got quite the niche for himself frankly) we went in voila, there she was.

She had both of her hands in front of her face and was doing a "yoga pose" as he said - with one leg stretched out towards her head and the other one - basically in the splits - in the opposite direction. Apparently the position corresponds to the acrobatics I was feeling this morning...

Her head is facing down now "in the birthing position" but as he said, they move all over so who knows where she'll be tonight, next week, etc.
I can feel her butt on the left side of my stomach as this hard ball type thing.

But, she did not cooperate (perhaps she'll want to be like her mom and be on the other side of the camera... =)) and show us her face hence the lack of photographs or ultrasound images to scan in here for you to see.

It's amazing the size difference from the last time we went in at 18 weeks. I'm now basically 31 weeks and she takes up the whole screen - there is no more whole body image, merely bits and pieces. A leg or an arm here, a hand there, a portion of the spine snaking along part of the screen.

We did get to see a close-up of the heartbeat which is always amazing and also reassuring. It was beating away. Apparently, if Tom puts his ear to my stomach and listens, he can hear her heartbeat. We have tried this and Tom was serenaded only by my stomach gurgling and enjoying it's last meal... =) We'll try again and perhaps I can 'borrow' my dad's stethascope...

Currently, she's 3 lbs. 12 oz.
That's in the 75% for size and as he said "she's a large baby. Not super large but larger. But not overly large." As the 75% would seem to indicate... Which he said looked fine but frankly, my first thought - the one that flashed through my mind in glowing neon was: Large baby = fantastically fun time during delivery! Ouch... but, we shall see!

I forgot to ask how long she is currently. And I forgot to ask what the heartbeat rate was.
You see, I'm already a good, well-prepared mother. =) I have a list of questions and poof, they all disappear. Can I still blame my mental lapses on "pregnancy brain?" I hope so.
It's oh so convenient an excuse.

Or as Tom has experienced - in the midst of me talking or telling a story I will say, "um, what was it I was just saying?" - having completely forgotten and/or lost my train of thought.
Note: This is not a thing that works so well at my job. But I try not to let on =).

So... all appears well after the ultrasound. Now we just get to wait about 5-6 weeks for another one. =)

And now we really do need a crib. She has a few things to wear but nothing to sleep in, sleep on, move around on, be transported in, carried with etc...
Nor a prepared room in which to sleep.
We're very on the ball, as you can see...

Shopping for a crib has been a ridiculous experience. Many types, kinds, colors - however, my few comments will be these: It seems overly difficult to find cribs with "hidden hardware" and a "drop down side" that are in a color/stain that isn't horribly awful looking. I take issue with Internet sites that have search features and claim to be helpful but have no specific search categories for the 3 things I just mentioned.
That and it takes weeks for you to get the crib. Here's to hoping we order one today or tomorrow that only takes, oh, only a few weeks to get here!

Poor girl's going to have a nice pretty dress to wear while sitting in an empty room... =)
So I think the ultrasound and the time ticking down will propel us to acquire more things that are "mandatory" or "necessary"...

That and Day Care... who knew when someone said "oh, places usually have wait lists" they meant over 120 children for a few spots!!!! That's an entirely different area we have to think about. It made me joke that "geeze, you need to put your name down on these waiting lists before you even know you're pregnant!" Kind of like some girls I've heard of who have put their names down to be married at certain places before they are even engaged...

So -
That is the most recent update! Thanks for checking in and we will keep the updates coming. =)

Fire (Take 2)

So as not to have a calm visit for tom's parents this week while they are in town...

Tuesday Night - it was about 11 (way past my bedtime but that's another story) and I was showing tom's mom the baby clothes we have gotten so far and various other baby stuff - and then we all decide - hey, it's probably time to go to sleep -

And I had been hearing this crackling sound but thought it was tom's dad doing something in the bathroom getting ready for bed -

Tom walks out into our hallway - looks out the window and yells:
"Holy shit!!! There's a fire outside!!" So we run & look out the window.

And holy shit is right. There were flames 8-10 feet high - behind our dog run - right below the poplar trees we have in the front yard - about oh, 20 feet from the house...
TONS of fire.... I'd say probably a line of fire that was about 15 feet long - licking up towards the trees... orange and red.

Tom throws on his shoes, runs outside, runs to get the hose, his dad wakes up and yells something or other - throws on his clothes/shoes - Anne runs outside - I run to the phone and call 911 for the 2nd time in my life - for a second fire...
And then go outside- there's smoke everywhere.

It's now that I really really wish I would've taken a photo to record it all.

Eventually we could hear the sirens blaring...
2 trucks came - one left when they saw it was under control - plus a cop car.
They accidentally drove past our house 2 times - so I ran down the driveway - and was standing at the end waving this big flashlight - as these two firetrucks came my way, lights and sirens blaring - flagging them into our driveway.
So truly surreal.

So tom & his dad raked & tried put out the fire waiting for the firefighters to get there with our hoses.
You could see flames and embers flying around... Hot spots.

But then the firefighters showed up, doused the area with water and then put some kind of protective foam on the top to really put the fire out.

Turns out, Tom had dumped the ashes at about 6 PM that night from the BBQ the night before - and spread them out well - in an area near some dried brush/leaves etc. and that's what caused it.
He felt pretty bad but had left them there many times before so who knew it would happen. I suppose everything is just so tinder dry around here these days due to the lack of rain...

It was very alarming and scary. It was just very close to our house - I'm glad that tom & everyone else acted really quickly - and worked to get the fire out.
It was way too big - and too close for comfort.

So anyway ...That was our excitement for Tuesday evening.

Am not a fan of fire these days. Not a fan at all.

Anne & Richard's Visit to SB!

We had a wonderful few days with A&R here in Santa Barbara. We managed to do quite a lot in 3 1/2 days! A multitude of interesting things such as touring the garden, making fresh salsa (homegrown tomatoes, cilantro, jalapeños, Fresno peppers, onions, lemon and lime juice...!), BBQ-ing on the new deck, dinner with my parents and grandmother, hanging curtains, exploring the SB Natural History Museum and their Butterfly/Grossology/Chumash/Geology exhibits... Venturing down lower state street for the Farmers Market (so many incredible smells! Flowers! Vegetables!!) Anne got us the most beautiful flowers - including some tuberose that continue smell up our entire house. It's phenomenal. They seriously put scented candles to shame... Even my prized Diptyque...
Tom, Anne & Richard toured Lotusland in Montecito yesterday morning - seeing various types of gardens, plantings... We then ventured down to Fiesta! Partook of local fiesta fare. A&R were subjected to the usual "cascarones" - or confetti eggs smashed over the head! I do think (hope) they took some confetti home with them to Cooperstown...









And finally... sadly... had to take A&R to the airport after a great dinner at the beach.
We only hope they return - soon! - and often. Very often!
3,000+ miles will hopefully not be too daunting in the months to come! Just think of the frequent flyer status they could attain! =)

It was wonderful to have them here and the house now seems much quieter. I am certain the animals will miss them (and their suitcases to sleep on) in the days to come... But not quite as much as we will.

First Posting

Hello!
We wanted to find a way to keep everyone up to date and figured this would be an excellent way to do just that. Especially since I check blogs of friends each morning along with my morning coffee (decaf, of course...), I figured some of you may come back and visit us to see what has been going on in the wilds of Goleta.
Here are a few recent photos that pretty much sum up what we have been doing:
Gardening and preparing for Baby Blabey.
(and work, but that's much less fun to write about here).


We are very excited for Tom's parents to visit two weeks from now - they will be impressed by Tom's gardening prowess and skillz. We promise to feed them plenty of fresh vegetables and fruit while... perhaps... putting them to work on some baby project =).
I will try and figure out how to upload shots from our last ultrasound 6 weeks ago but I make no promises. That and you'd probably be hard pressed to tell what was what - except she's very good about giving us clear views of her hands, feet, and ribs/spine! I am really looking forward to our next in 4 weeks or so when we'll hopefully get a good idea of what she'll look like. (tom is hoping she looks more like him than me...=) but we've got some strong Norwegian genes that I have a feeling will reign supreme...!)

Thanks for reading & we promise we'll update this with news and more importantly, photos of the nursery, garden, attic conversion into a guest room, and the requisite belly/ultrasound shots.