Fish and Poi, Poi and Fish...

Don't you miss record jackets?

Growing and growing--8 weeks old already

I can't believe how the summer has flown by.  Dominic has already been smiling at us for almost a month, and now he coos and sometimes even goes to sleep without too much trouble.  Recently he got salmonella, probably from someone with dirty hands letting him suck on their finger.  He had a few very unhappy days, but now he is much better.  A few weeks ago we started easing into school, and mostly he has worked with me rather than against me by napping nicely in a pack and play in the living room.  

Dominic in his wrap and apron helping me make tortillas.

8 weeks old

Wearing his new outfit from our super great midwife

Enjoying some special brotherly love from James

Hail Holy Queen

We're not sure the tambourine is really appropriate for church....

Anti-versary

antiversary:  a term referring to the experience that despite 364 happy days a year, the anniversary always seems to be an epic fail.


Yesterday Bill and I both made a Herculean effort to be at 5pm Mass. In June Thomas borrowed $10 from me for a stipend so he could request a Mass for us as an anniversary gift.  August 10th was taken, so he chose the vigil.  I should have made it back from the airport with plenty of time but didn't count on a Charles having a nosebleed and 2 desperate bathroom stops for James to slow us down.  Bill should have been able to skate out of work early but didn't count on drama which only grudgingly allowed him to come for part of the Mass and then go back to work.

It was a lovely Mass, Anthony served, the kids were good, the readings inspiring....and Msgr. read the wrong intention.  He didn't just read the intention for the noon Mass; he read the name of the person who had requested the noon Mass.  Sigh.  He apologized afterward, and we all know it was meant for us.  :)

Over coffee this morning Bill and I discussed some of our favorite anitversaries:

Dinner of grease with a side of cigarette smoke while listening to our song on the jukebox at the Waffle House (1st)

Delicious expensive dinner at a mafia owned restaurant.  Unfortunately, we were not actually speaking to each other (3rd)

Paying for a sitter...so we could have dinner with the commanders of Bill's battalion (4th)

Overnight without kids in downtown Honolulu ending shortly after Bill got hit by a car as we were walking to breakfast (5th)

Bill in the ER with kid with possible broken arm and me at homeschool conference planners' dinner (9th)

Add to that ranger school, deployments, and other little bumps in the road, and this year seems pretty good.

Dominic's song

Here's some music to go along with the slideshow of Dominic's baptism.



My brother did an older baptism rite with a Mexican flair.  The bread, salt and lime were all integral to the baptism.  We saved the tequila for later.  The older rite is all about the godparents, so Bill and I stood aside and while Mike and Paula dealt with the very unhappy baby.   He just didn't know what was best for him.  Good thing we're the parents, right?


Created with flickr slideshow from softsea.

Dominic--2 week old cuteness

Dominic's birth

Dominic's story will always begin with our decision to have him at home.

With the 7 kids we already had filling our days and the two babies we lost last year, Bill and I have had a variety of good and bad experiences with hospital births. Over the the years good friends have shared their encouraging experiences with homebirthing, but it always sounded too risky and crunchy and not for us.

Our minds were more open after seeing the movie The Business of Being Born, and when we found out in Oct that I was pregnant again, we decided to look into homebirthing with Donna. It didn't take much--was it her saying "Stop running and gain weight"?--for me to feel like this was the right place for me to be. And that is how, after 40+ weeks of pregnancy, appointments that felt like Mom's Day Out with the kids in tow, and lots of repeating "a certified nurse midwife is a medical professional" to concerned friends and family, we found ourselves here.

At 8:40 pm on Tues I called Donna and told her--or she told me?--it was time for her to come.  Between contactions Bill and I got sleeping bags and kids together and Bill dropped them off at our friends' house.

Unfortunately, a severe thunderstorm blew up immediately after I called Donna to come, so they drove almost an hour in the pouring rain and on the way one of their windshield wipers blew off. The room we chose for the birth flickered with the lightning outside which was a beautiful distraction for me while I bounced on a birthing ball and waited.

11:10 pm About an hour after Donna, Dawn and Karen arrived, I was at 8 cm,
  in the birth pool and laughing with Bill while telling the story of how we met.

12:30 am An hour later I realized I was having too much fun and would have
to force myself to focus if I was going to ever have a baby.

Joseph's birth had been so fast and easy that when this baby didn't just shoot out, I was surprised...and even at one point missed Pitocin!  Well, Pit does the work for you.  Without it, I had to spend several contractions praying and telling myself to move into a better position.

1:10 am with minutes to go:  In the hospital it had been hard for Bill
to be close with all the wires and tubes.  When I felt him take my hand
and start rubbing my hair during a rough contraction, I instantly relaxed.
I felt so grateful that we were where we were.

And then...tada!  There was this little person in my arms and
Bill was grinning at me.  We all felt all along that the baby would be a girl, but we decided
to look anyway.  My determination: "It's ... an umbelical cord?"  I couldn't see.

A boy! A boy!  We have another boy!

So surprised and so happy!

Shortly after this things became more serious when I started to hemorrhage.  Donna's eyes became more focused and intense beneath her headlamp as she took control of the situation.  While Donna directed everyone and massaged my uterus, Dawn gave me meds and started an IV and Bill kept time.  The atmosphere was calm and under contol, and Bill and I felt very comfortable the whole time--not at all nervous or fearful.  In about 15 minutes Donna's face relaxed and she took off her headlamp and smiled. 

I thought my brother John would enjoy seeing this pic of the baby being weighed
on a fish scale.  The IV and the scale are also a nice juxtaposition
of the different ends of the spectrum of midwifery care.

Newborn exam shows we have a healthy 8 lb boy. 

We are so grateful to have little Dominic Peter here as a part of our family.  The kids are ecstatic and a little too enthusiastic to see him, kiss him and love him.  Bill will be home for a few weeks to help while I recover, and I feel typically tired but otherwise fine. Baby Dominic is eating, sleeping, snuggling, and working his way deep into our hearts just like he should