fifteen weeks: sweet bea is getting bigger everyday...she loves to look around and is so curious about the world around her. her giggle is absolutely infectious...
she spent time with grandmas & grandpa, uncle larry and lots of friends last week and she sure got spoiled. she loves being around people and seems like a pretty social little lady.
i love being her mama & i miss her when she's sleeping...i'm still concocting lots of plans to stay home longer with her...who knew she would steal my heart?
ok...shameless promotion. patty has several projects in the works and this is one of them. psychic friend. she's in the band with will schwartz & bo boddie...
i saw these guys on another blog & for the love of god i can't remember who introduced this band to me...so my apologies...
but ever since i read about this band, i've been listening to them...mumford & sons have a great sound {gotta love a banjo!} and i'm especially enjoying the acoustic bookshop sessions, from which i posted above...nice soundtrack for the rain we've been having here in los angeles...
what are you up to this weekend? if you are in los angeles, please consider donating toys to children's hospital los angeles. they have run out of toys! it breaks my heart to think of kids in the hospital at all, let alone on christmas, so please consider brightening one child's life this season...since they only accept new toys, i try to purchase eco-friendly wooden toys, that are safe and non-toxic. these kids are already so exposed to toxins, why expose them to more...
in fact, continue to spread the love for children with cancer, eschew the gift giving frenzy and for the adults in your life, consider a donation to a favorite charity. one of my favorites is the pablove foundation, fighting childhood cancer with love. the foundation was started by our friends, jeff & jo ann, who lost their sweet boy, pablo to cancer. they have turned their struggle into an amazing foundation that helps other kids...truly an inspiration.
ok, i'll admit it: not everything i buy for beatrice is vintage, home-made or from a re-sale shop...sometimes i buy her some basics, toys, books & other sweet stuff from zulily or gilt sales. basically they are invite only sales where they feature great deals on clothes, books & toys for babies and maternity & nursing gear for mamas {gilt also has women's, men's, gift & home sales, but i only shop children's!}...i've gotten a few of my favorite glamourmom nursing tanks on zulily for half price...
this morning i bought a super-sweet tunic from kayce hughes, an adorable striped sailor suit & floral playsuit from coccoli. pretty cute items that i probably wouldn't have purchased full price...
lucky thirteen weeks old...beatrice is really much more alert to the world and enjoying every minute of it. smiles, smiles and laughter. she's also graduated to facing out in her moby wrap. she can hold her head up very well and loves looking at the world go by...she's still a great sleeper at night, although lately she's been waking a bit more for feedings...but i can't complain...
she also took her first plane trip last week...it was a short flight, just one hour home to oakland, but she did great! she nursed on take off and landing and didn't fuss at all. i'm so glad i bought an extra seat for her, it's so much safer...i never understood just holding a baby on a flight. both my parents are in the airline business, though, and they always said it was better to have a baby secure in their own seat if {god forbid} anything happened. patty & i were flying home once and the plane had so much turbulence, the wings were at a ninety degree angle to the ground! i can't imagine having to put beatrice under the seat in front of me in that situation...
so if you're traveling this upcoming holiday season with baby, spring for the seat & bring her carseat, hopefully you won't need it, but it's worth it!
in the morning, beatrice loves to have a dance party...we put on music and i dance with her until she falls asleep for her morning nap. one of her favorites is home by edward sharpe & the magnetic zeros, but lately, we've been listening to a children's station on pandora. i keep bookmarking the same artist over & over again, so i decided to check them out...renee & jeremy.
they are not new to the kids' music scene, their first album, it's a big world, came out in 2007...but i am new to the kids' music scene, so i'm just now learning of them. the songs i kept bookmarking on pandora are from it's a big world, and they are all really beautiful, loving, sweet songs...their voices together give me goosebumps. you absolutely do not need children to enjoy these tunes...but being a parent just enhances the already lovely listening experience...
i'm excited to really listen to their other album, c'mon, of which this is the title song...and who can resist little drummer boy...i had to download that one right away!
so i was off to such a good start posting every day, then i had to go away and it all went down the tubes. it's been quite a week, i went home to a funeral, celebrated my aunt's birthday, visited with family, showed off bea to my parents' friends {at their urging, of course}, mourned a lost dog, celebrated the safe return of said dog, found out another favorite dog has heart disease, talked to the vet after one of our long-time client dogs got out of surgery, and did more work on a project that will hopefully allow me to spend more time at home with the baby...phew...
the passing of my friend's brother at the much too early age of 36 really put things in perspective. the funeral was a wonderful celebration of his short & full life...the church was full of friends and family, it was quite a showing. since this was a friend from childhood, there were many faces from the past at the funeral that i hadn't seen in ages. of course it was great to see them, but too bad such unfortunate circumstances brought us together. i brought baby bea and when i hugged my friend at the service, she said, "i'm so glad you brought her, it reminds me of the cycle of life and that life continues on..."
i'm so grateful for all the friends, family, dogs and love in my life.
have a wonderful weekend! i'm going to put together posts for next week, do lots of laundry, go to the farmer's market, spend time with friends, family & dogs, and of course nurse the baby...
i'm writing this post with a heavy heart, a good friend of mine's brother recently passed away and i'm preparing to travel home for his funeral. i've known my friend since we were eight, and her little brother was in my little brother's class.
i'm going to be flying for the first time with beatrice, but at least it's a short flight...
sending love & light to my friend and her family...
jamie at a desert fete has just launched her new business {cactus & quail}, an amazing design & paper studio. she offers both custom & ready-made options, which can be helpful when on a budget. there's even a flea market with some great handmade pieces hand made my jamie. how beautiful are the cactus blooms...
clean, beautiful design...go check it out post haste!
i cannot believe she's eleven weeks old already. so cliche, i know, but time flies...
this is a really fun time, she's still very cuddly, but really starting to wake up to the world. she really loves to look around and see what's going on around her. she loves mirrors and mobiles...she's even starting to grab for toys and smile a lot more. she's still a pretty serious baby, though! everyday it seems like there are huge milestones. she still doesn't want to take the bottle, so i've had to stick pretty close to her...i'm trying to concoct some plans so i can stay home longer with her. production hours don't really work too well nursing a new baby. so fingers crossed...
over at natural mommie, they are doing a great green giveaway. how sweet are these fabric wall stickers from quick brown fox of dulwich? i especially love the twitter for girls...the sweet birds...i would love to have these in little bea's room. i have a bit of a fabric and woodland theme going in there, so they would be perfect! and to top it all of, they are eco-friendly, with eco inks and recycled packaging...right up my alley.
i'm posting my birth story on music monday because my music playlist really helped me through the birth. when i was about three months pregnant, i started going to yoga at golden bridge yoga in hollywood. the classes there are kundalini yoga, and the prenatal yoga classes and meditations are based on gurmukh'sbook, bountiful, beautiful, blissful. since i really enjoyed the classes and meditations, i asked one of the yoga teachers for a doula recommendation. my yoga teacher also helped me put together a labor and birth playlist. this song was on that playlist.
long time sun is a blessing sung at the end of every kundalini yoga class. you sing once for yourself, once for those in need, and the third time for your baby.
so i feel like my birth story starts there, when i began yoga at golden bridge. i loved my classes there so much, i decided to take the birth class they offered. so about three months before the baby was due, patty & i took a birth class at golden bridge yoga from my favorite teacher, akal {she is also a nurse at cedars sinai, where i was giving birth, so it really made me feel good about my hospital birth}. i'm so glad we took the class together, the yoga teacher taught us a lot about some exercises we could do during labor; breathing to help through the contractions; the benefits of avoiding interventions such as pitocin and epidurals; and how a labor doula could really support our decisions to have as natural a birth as possible in the hospital.
about two months before beatrice's arrival, i made our first appointment with carmen, our doula. carmen was great, she came over three times before the birth. the first time was to discuss our birthing preferences...we really wanted to have a natural birth and she helped us come up with those guidelines for the doctor and nurses at the hospital. the second visit she showed us some labor exercises to do. and the third visit was my favorite--the massage. she's a certified massage therapist, which proved to be so amazing during the birth.
my due date was september 10, and that on that early friday morning, about 1am, i started having contractions. i called carmen at about 4am, and she told me to try to sleep in between them, which i did. i had an appointment with my doctor, dr paula mc allister, at 9am, so i went to that with patty. once at the doctor's office, they determined i was 3 centimeters dilated, and they put the baby on the monitor--then my contractions really amped up. the doctor suggested we check in to the hospital! after an hour or so at the doctor's office, and a phone call with carmen, we decided to go home. i really wanted to labor at home & i knew this was early labor {and it retrospect, i'm really glad i went home!} and i didn't want to get to the hospital too early and chance them "rushing" my labor. so i got home friday at about noon. that evening, the contractions really revved up so we called carmen & she came over. she was amazing, really helpful getting me through the contractions...she massaged me non-stop. her hands are magic...
and by the way, a week before i went into labor, patty broke her foot going down our stairs! and it was her right foot, so she couldn't drive us to the hospital...so carmen was such a blessing! she was helping us so much, doing things that patty couldn't do, and she has a van, so she set it up so she could drive us to the hospital.
carmen stayed over friday night massaging me & generally helping out, but the contractions subsided a bit on saturday morning {september 11}, so we decided that carmen should go home & get ready and come back later in the day. saturday i went for a walk, ate lunch, did laundry...tried to get ready as much as i could.
saturday night the contractions really revved up again, so carmen came over...and we did it all over again, contractions, breathing, massage...at about 3am sunday morning {september 12} we decided it was time to make the trip to the hospital, so we called the doctor and loaded up in carmen's van. i was contracting pretty intensely at this point, so the car ride was a bit torturous...thank god it was 3am and there was no traffic on the streets of la!
once checked into the hospital, i was 5 centimeters dilated...we thought baby would be coming soon! we were lucky to have a wonderful nurse and got a room with a tub. i promptly got myself in the tub to relieve the intensity of the contractions...well i guess i relieved them too much...they started to subside by about noon on sunday. it was really weird...the doctor came in and said "you look too comfortable!" so i took lots of walks around the hospital and really tried to intensify the contractions. the doctor came back sunday afternoon and we decided that she should break my water...we hoped that would speed things along. so around 4pm, she broke my water and the contractions really intensified!
in my birth preferences, i indicated that the nurses should not offer me pain meds, and i told patty and carmen, if i ask for them, that they should let me ask three times to really make sure i wanted or needed them. i wanted to avoid interventions such as pitocin or an epidural that might lead me down the road to have a c-section. if i couldn't birth at home, i wanted to stay as natural as possible in the hospital. so, i went for about 3-4 hours with incredibly intense contractions and was really tired. at this point, i'd been in labor since early friday morning {thursday night really!} and hadn't really eaten much since saturday...i was getting worn down.
i asked for an epidural. carmen talked me through it and i went a bit longer. i asked a second time...she said, "let's see how far dilated you are, if you are close, you can get through it!" i figured, if i'm already at 8 or 9, no problem, so i agreed, and a nurse came in to check me. i was still 5 centimeters!!! i was stuck at 5 centimeters since i checked into the hospital! at this point, it was about midnight on sunday and i was ready to quit! the baby could just stay inside!! so i asked--well demanded really--for the third time "GET ME AN EPIDURAL!!!!!"
so the anesthesiologist was dispatched post haste and i had my epidural. at that point, i was able to get some much needed sleep. at some point the nurse shift change had happened and another amazing nurse came on...she asked me if i wanted an italian ice sorbet. it was the best thing i had ever tasted in my life.
so about 3am on monday {september 13}, they checked me and i was dilated to 10 centimeters! the epidural did its job and i was able to relax and fully dilate...one more complication, however, i had developed a fever while on the epidural {pretty common i hear}, but that meant that they had to put me on antibiotics...not ideal. but the main disappointment for me was that because there was a chance of infection, the nurse informed me that when the baby came, she would not be able to go immediately to my breast, the pediatrics team would have to evaluate her first, then she could be placed skin to skin. but in the meantime...
the baby was not falling...so the nurse told me to hold on before i should push, she had called dr mc allister and she wanted to wait for her to drop a bit more. well, i wasn't really having it. i asked the nurse to set up the bed for me to squat so i could start pushing...i figured if i was in a squat, i would let gravity work in my favor and the baby would drop. i did this for a while {about 2 hours, but i really lost track of time!}, and the doctor arrived around 5am. she did a check and informed me that not only was the baby stuck on my pelvic bone, but she was "sunny side up." so she thought that i should lay on my back and push, allowing the baby to fall towards my back and hopefully get "unstuck."
after some more unsuccessful pushing, the dr mc allister said that she wanted to try suction to help guide the baby down. at this point, i was so exhausted and i knew that it would be the "last ditch effort" before they would resort to a c-section, so i agreed. well, it worked, thank god...and after another couple hours of warrior-woman pushing little bea came into the world!
baby beatrice rinn schemel was born on monday, september 13 {my birthday} at 7:06am...the best birthday present ever...
although she was whisked away, she was only gone for about two minutes, and they brought her right back to me to place her on my chest skin to skin. she started nursing almost immediately! that long labor must have worked up her appetite...
i cannot say enough wonderful things about my partner, my doula, my doctor and the amazing team at cedars. it was long and not exactly as i would have imagined it, but it was indeed the perfect birth.
today we went for a nice walk, drank lots of nursing tea and visited with some friends...avoided the black friday sales altogether. isn't it ironic that the biggest shopping {consumption} day of the year falls the day after we are reminded of all the blessings in our lives...
i'm definitely guilty of being a consumer...i'm signed up for sales at zulilly and gilt and immediately click over when i get a notification to see what cute baby clothes are on sale...i've gotten some great deals there, i'll admit it!
but every time i'm tempted to make a purchase, i try to ask myself: "do i need this?" if so, "can i buy it used?" at the very least, i can be conscious of what i purchase...but today i refrained an opted out of the consumerism...
i can't believe it's been ten weeks since baby beatrice arrived. i swore i would blog everyday...but that proved a bit difficult one handed while nursing! but here's an attempt to catch up.
happy thanksgiving...there is so much to be grateful for!
one week
two weeks
three weeks
four weeks
five weeks
six weeks
seven weeks
eight weeks
nine weeks
next time, i'll let you know what she's wearing...
i just ordered the sweetest doll from warm sugar on etsy. can you stand the cuteness? it was so fun, i got to choose the outfit, hair color, socks, almost every detail! i told her that our nursery colors were pink, white, grey, green & black and she choose fabric accordingly. can you believe the little shoes with vintage buttons? i love them!
didn't she turn out so cute? now she's just waiting for the baby to arrive...one week to go...
...we got legally married in california! this pic is from our one year wedding anniversary in paris. this year, i'm also exactly 38 weeks pregnant on our wedding anniversary...we took some pics yesterday of my HUGE belly, which i'll share soon!
i know this song is all over...but it makes me so happy. they played this weekend in our neighborhood at sunset junction, but my preggo feet were too swollen to make it down the street! i'll have to catch them another time...
i've been falling down the etsy k-hole a lot lately...the other night i was up until midnight favorite-ing {i'm making that a new word} a TON of cute vintage baby clothes. i didn't purchase them all yet, but i'm close. {expect a post about that soon.}
so what do vintage baby clothes hang on? vintage hangers of course. so cute, i can't stand it. yes, they are plastic & i'm anti-plastic...but they are vintage {and mostly made in USA}, so i'm not contributing to the plastic consumption, right? it's reducing and reusing...
over the past week or so, i haven't really posted much about the overturn of prop 8 in california...it goes without saying that it's pretty amazing. i'm happy that starting august 18 so many more couples can tie the knot...
but i just wanted to share a really cool give-away from pink cloud events. they are an eco event planning company in los angeles! eco- & gay- friendly...right up my alley!! go check it out & good luck!
but i'm definitely feeling more and more pregnant everyday. since it's summer and the heat has just really hit, my feet and hands are swelling up like balloons. oy. i can only wear my one pair of silver birkenstocks and my many havaianas. since flip flops aren't the most supportive shoes, it's been the good old birks' most of the time. so i had to find some somewhat cute (at least not horrible) old lady sandals.
i got a bronze pair of worishofer sandals and a pair of light brown patent dansko clogs. they are both adjustable, so i can wear them as my feet swell up and go back down. i'm actually thinking about getting more colors of the worishofers...they're not bad, right?
sweet bea is getting bigger everyday...she loves to look around and is so curious about the world around her. her giggle is absolutely infectious...
sweet bea is getting bigger everyday...she loves to look around and is so curious about the world around her. her giggle is absolutely infectious...
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