Birth Story

"umm, wha... I think my water broke. See, there!" We were both hoping for a straightforward birth, so much so that I think we assumed that we'd have one. Defined starting point, clean ending, and jazz hands to finish. At 10:30 on the night of the 27th, just as we had brushed our teeth, put on our jammies, and sat down on the bed, Laura reports a pinging feeling and her little trickle. Problem was, it was only a trickle, so it was hard to tell just what was going on. Laura had already used all the test strips the midwife had given us to test for amniotic fluid. When she could muster enough fluid, they were all negative, and now that we really needed one, we didn't have one. Hmmmm. We called Geraldine, the midwife, who said that it was likely that our water had broken, and that we should pay attention to see if the baby moved within the next hour. 55 minutes later, the baby had not moved, so we started poking and prodding it to wake it up. To no avail. Then we put on "Chan Chan" by the Buena Vista Social Club, and the baby started right up, dancing the night away. Within a few minutes, Laura's contractions started in earnest, a minute long and under 8 minutes apart, right off the bat. That's more like it. Laura breathed through the contractions, though she couldn't sleep between them. By 1:00 AM it was apparent that they were progressing, so we called Christa and Gramma Dee, and made arrangements with Geraldine to go to the Birth Center, 15 minutes away. We packed food, and drove off. Laura informed me that there were "too many bumps" on the drive. Once at the birth center, we checked the baby, and all was well, and then walked around the empty birth center, breathing, sipping Gatorade, contracting. Laura was both in her own world, but also hyper-alert (particularly to odd smells). Things continued to progress, and the contractions got stronger.  By 3, Laura and I got into the birth tub, with me behind holding laura, who was mostly on her side. At 3:45 she was at 5 cm, which was not quite as far as she was hoping considering how intense the contractions were. They surged and surged and surged, and for several she was unable to breath through them, instead resorting to yelping and grunting. She felt like she was losing control, and before long, Laura exclaimed "the baby is coming!" Geraldine was in the other room calling for Tracy, the other midwife, to assist. She came in, trying to calm laura down, who continued to insist that the baby was coming. At the next contraction, Geraldine looked down and said matter-of-factly, "oh. there's it's head." She guided laura's hand down to feel the head, and Laura's eyes got really big. The next contraction gave us the rest. We immediately pulled the baby onto Laura's belly and cuddled her, spreading the sticky vernix on our hands. The baby cried quickly, and soon lost its blue tint. It was 4:15 AM on 11/28/2012. This little baby had long fingers that wrapped intently around my thumb. It calmed quickly, laying belly to belly on momma, looking around at its family. Its legs and arms were also long, and it held its left fist to its cheek. There, we saw a bruised outline of the fist, and noted that its nose was completely squished to the right side. The left eye couldn't open because of the swelling, and it looked like a tiny boxer.  Its toes were also long, and it had very flat, adult-like feet, like they were ready to dance. After ten minutes, Christa couldn't help herself any longer: "Well, aren't you going to check the sex! You've got to, I'm dyin' here!" We chuckled, and turned the baby over. A Girl! A beautiful little girl! A fighter of a girl! A peaceful little girl.  Kinley Madrona Schoene. Our sweet baby, whose birth was extraordinary, calm, intense, and wonderful. What a big world we have for her, and what a superlative girl we have for it.
We spent another hour or two at the birth center, eating some food (tamales for some, milk for others), and headed home as the sun was rising. We caught Omie before she went to school, and soon little Sienna, who seemed soooo big now, came and met her sweet sister. "This is the baby in the belly?" She had many visitors that first day, though she probably won't be able to remember them because, well, she slept all day, saving energy so that at 11:25 PM she could start dancing again through the night. Look at what we started!

A Big Ball of Biology

Kinley's a bear.  You gotta watch out around her because she'll ferociously attack you. Your arm, your neck, your pride. She doesn't care, she'll take it. But that's today, cuz yesterday she was more of a giraffe, just hangin out, eating. Everyone had the zoo-noculars, pitchin a quarter to watch her eat. She didn't care. She actually changes every day. It's crazy. She only barely looks like she did when she was born. Because of this, we call her "the chameleon." Though that doesn't sound very cool, so I call her "El Diablo," which I've been told means "beautiful enchantress that changes by season." Seems appropriate. Either way, she doesn't care.

Seriously, Kinley has earned several nicknames. The squeek is strong in this one, but I am resisting the urge to point this out. Instead, she goes by Kinley B. I don't know what the B stands for. Bear, Beauty, Balthazar. Sienna calls her The Baby.

What's she like? She's quick to smile and laugh. I've seen far more smiles from her than I ever did with sienna. Like sienna, she is also very engaged. She likes looking around, pays particular attention to people (I remember sienna really liking white walls), and isn't too particular with who holds her. She is very displeased with wet diapers (sienna never cared), and these days is voraciously hungry. She probably has a nipple in her mouth 20 hrs a day (thus she has many dirty diapers). This is good, because she was initially slow to grow. Now she's fine. She is much more inconsolable when she's upset. I remember w sienna I could have her asleep within two songs. Kinley has yet to fall asleep in my arms. I thought I had a ringer with the elliptical, because that calmed her right down (and was a good way to get daddy working out), but she gets bored of it after several minutes, deciding she'd much rather have  a boob. This makes me feel a little inadequate, but that's okay because it's just me coming to terms w reality.

We feel bad that kinley doesn't get all the nakey time sienna got (who was born when it was like a thousand degrees), but instead is all bundled up all day and night. We have a space heater to let her air out, but alas, they aren't the most energy friendly things. What I can tell you, though, is that Kinley has very long legs, very long arms, long fingers, long toes. Very lanky. If you'll recall, sienna was, and is, stout. She has actually gotten even more stout in the last month. Kinley, however, is more like a spider monkey. Like a spider monkey, she is deceptively strong. The pediatrician was very impressed, as she was able to keep her arms flexed while being lifted by them, while also controlling her head on the lift. I can also do that, but the pediatrician seemed uninterested and refused to lift me up off the ground.  Her eyes have the same patterns that mama's and sienna's do, but it's too early to tell color, of course. Her ears are wonderfully round, and even taper a little at the top, making her elf-like. One of them is slightly fused between the helix and the scapha. Don't know if that'll stay. She has a very expressive mouth, and I think shares her mother's expressive brow. Her movements are different than sienna's. If you'll recall, sienna did the duck dance, and was always kicking her legs and poking her arms in sharp quick movements. Kinley's movements are slower, perhaps more deliberate. It's like she's doing an interpretive dance, which if I were to interpret it I would say that she was expressing the woes of the Daikon Radish.

Don't worry. The tree at the two foot level is stacked with ornaments.

Baby Burrito

 For those of you in seattle, you may be privy to this tradition we have. It's called the grande.  It's so grande that it dwarfs the chiquita, as seen below. I don't know if we were more excited by this, the waitress, or the random dude four tables down who also ran up to get in line for the pic. With any luck, we'll end up on the wall. And for those of you that are expecting, you get the burrito free. We plan on going back next week, this time giving up our first born. Thanks Gordito's!

Believe it or not, this actually wasn't posed

First bath. if she had her way, last bath

"Sienna, just look at the stupid camera. turn, look, now look over here. look!"

"Hey, this is kinda fun."