B's biggest fan

The other morning I woke up to Billy playing his guitar with our little boy sitting, watching and listening mesmerized. The first time hearing guitar sounds are just one of so many firsts that we are experiencing with Reed. Other firsts include...Reed's first dinner party with his new friends Maya and Edmund, his first dinner at a restaurant with Nana and Papa, his first time in a garden. For more pictures of Reed's second week click here

[Reed (11 days), Maya (5 weeks) and Edmund's (4 weeks) photo shoot]

[Visits from good friends the Hoefers ]

[Napping in the garden]

We are really getting to know his cues and discovering that most of the time, if he is fussy (and it's not time to eat) it is because he is over stimulated and what he needs is to cut out the busy and over stimulating world around him for a while. As long as we notice this need, he responds amazingly well and is able to remain calm.

[Sweet calm and alert time]

Billy and I are doing really well. We are keeping ourselves busy with learning about and adoring Reed. We are sleeping well, eating well, and working well together. So far, we both get up 2-3 times a night for changing, swaddling and feeding the little guy. Once I start pumping next week B plans to give Reed a bottle once during the night. We are also getting outside for a walk or park visit every day and Billy has even gotten out for a few bike rides and runs with Samba. I have more and more energy and am feeling the desire to become more active again.

A day in the park

With all the recent time we've spent at home and thanks to the beautiful Berkeley weather, we were feeling the need to get outdoors the other day so we packed way too much stuff and headed to Tilden park. Laying on a blanket on the grass, under a tree with a warm breeze and our boy (8 days old) laying on our chests was just what we needed.

[Naked time at the park]

[Outside time with mama]

In the last few days Reed seems to be adjusting well to life at home with us. He is a voracious eater, which in turn helps him sleep pretty well (I think). He gets all tanked up with milk and then either has some of our favorite soft-eyed alert time or totally conks out. From the beginning we have wondered how to help him decipher day from night and encourage him to sleep longer at night. So far, we think it's working and he seems to sleep his longest bout of sleep (usually 4 hours between feedings) in the early morning hours. After that he usually sleeps for around 2.5 - 3 hours between feedings and that’s with a fair amount of rocking him in his hammock.

Billy has the swaddle-side-swing-shhh-suck (the 5 S’s) down and is a master soother for our little guy when he is fussy. We are learning to recognize Reed’s cues for being tired, hungry or uncomfortable, and so far, he seems to respond well and can be calmed relatively easily. He is eating faster and more efficiently, which means his feeds are shorter in length but he uses a very strong sucking action to get what he needs. In turn, I am a bit sore at the beginning of each feeding, but don’t mind a little soreness as long as I know that he is getting what he needs.

I have discovered that one of my favorite times with Reed is when he is in the middle of feeding and I take him off to burp. At some point during the burping he lets out a big sigh of content which melts my heart. This moment is such a peaceful time between he and I and I completely treasure it.

Our families have been visiting and soaking up as much Reed time as they can, as well as helping with meals. We are grateful for their help.

[Cousin Hannah with Reed]

In other news…we woke up this morning to see that he had lost his umbilical cord and he is trying his best to hold his head up for a second or two at a time.
Signing off for now...

Our first week!

Reed's first week has been a full one! We had a great short stay at Alta Bates Hospital. It was nice to have the expert help of so many pediatric nurses who have been swaddling babies for decades. They showed me how to do the "Mother Teresa" swaddle and were very sweet about giving tips on breast feeding and answering any questions we as eager new parents had. We had a room on the West side of the building that looked right into the inside of a big tree and felt like we were inside our own little tree house. Unfortunately we were not able to see the full moon rise on Thursday evening but we could feel its glow all curled up inside of our tree. We headed out of the hospital just short of a 24 hour stay and got home on Friday in the afternoon. It was pretty silly to see Reed in this gigantic car seat that got him home.

The first day at home was very settling. We had left a pretty clean house as I had been running around during the early stages of laboring cleaning the place from floor to ceiling. Our first night went pretty smooth, we had a couple hours of sleep and we learned what we needed to get ready for the next night: a better night light, a robe to stay warm when changing between feedings, more practice with the swaddle, and try something different than co-sleeping.

By day three, much to Reed's excellent feeding from the very first moments out of the womb, Kris's milk came in and since then he has been one satisfied customer. After a good feed he seems to be either out like a light or drunk with love. It's definitely been the best time for having folks come by and be with him as more often than not we catch a lot of bright-eyed time with him after feedings.

[Keith with bright-eyed Reed]

Before the next nights sleep we had a night light, robe and we had re-arranged his sleeping spot to be complete with our awesome (borrowed from Mike and Nicole H. on their glowing recommendation) baby hammock bed. We'd also read about having ambient noises that mimic the womb so I hooked up a speaker next to his bed that played some ocean sounds that I had recorded a number of years back in my wanderings down the central coast of CA while I was at school in San Luis Obispo. [Amby "baby hammock" and ocean sounds]

This seemed to really settle him down and we really liked the sound in the room as it quiets down the smacking and rustling noises Reed makes and it brings me back to one of my favorite beaches in CA. We slept well this night clocking in a combined 6-8 hours of sleep together and was great to have the bed to ourselves.

We've had a fantastic array of visitors come by. So many wonderful Aunties, Cousins, Uncles and Grandparents to welcome Reed into this world. It's been a good balance of time for Kris and I between alone time with Reed and shared time. Our new family feels complete after seeing Reed in the hands of our community. See our smugmug site for all the visitor mugshots.

There are so many things about being new parents that we want to hold onto and remember forever: little sounds, big sneezes, hiccups, soft eyes, burping him and belly time to name a few.

[Burping in the morning]

[Soft Eyes]

We are already wanting to freeze him in time to savor everything more but this seems to be the first lesson in parenthood that you just have to go with the flow and appreciate the moments...Welcome Reed Wilder Witort! We love you to the full moon and back!!!

He's Here!

Reed Wilder Witort was born at 16:43 on July 17th (his due date, and a full moon!). Kris labored at home with Billy's amazing support and later the support of their doula. Here is a general log of what happened...

5am - Labor started mildly at 5am with intermittent lower back pain.

8am - Not sure what this back pain meant so we decided to go for a long walk to see if that moved things along.

11am - contractions (still mild) were coming every 2-3 minutes and still primarily in Kris's back.

12:15pm - contractions were intensifying slightly and we drove to the midwife's office for her to check Kris and see how far along she was.

1:30pm - at the midwife's office we learned Kris was 4 centimeters dilated and finally felt secure in our hopes that our baby would be born today.

2:30pm - doula arrives, Kris is deep into laboring at home, contractions were 2 minutes apart at most and intensifying to the point where it took all her mind power, focus and Billy's strong hands to get through them.

3:30 pm- called the midwife, described the situation and told her that Kris is also starting to feel the need to go poop. Midwife says go to the hospital.

4:15 pm- Got to the hospital, met Emily (doula) at the front, she walked with Kris in and helped her go through 2 contractions on the way up to triage. At the triage counter, Kris had another VERY intense contraction and really wanted to poop. After Emily rummaged through Kris's bag to find the insurance card and confirm who her midwife was, they directly admitted Kris to a delivery room saying something like "woman coming into room 10, ready to go feels like she needs to poop."

4:20 pm- Kris was checked by a nurse and they confirmed she was 10 centimeters dilated and ready to push. Another midwife came in to get Kris started and helped her push through 2 or 3 contractions.

4:33 pm- Hsiu-Li (our wonderful midwife arrived) and took over. She brought a calm and confident presence into the room. When the time came, she had Billy catch the baby's head and then told Kris to "reach down and grab your baby!"

4:43 pm - Reed Wilder Witort was born!

For the next 1.5 hours Kris had Reed on her chest and everything was perfect. Next, Billy gave him his first sponge bath. He weighed 7 lbs 11oz and was 20.5 inches long. A pediatrician checked him and everything checked out perfectly.

6:30 pm - Molly & John arrive to the delivery room and met Reed at 2 hours old.

7:00 pm - They bring the family to their own hospital room and they enjoy the next few hours together.

Kris, Billy and Reed are all doing really well and enjoying every minute of this new life together.

A first picture and many more to come....

more pictures here
http://kstarr.smugmug.com/gallery/5492559_pnncx#335916580_ygH3r

Recent babies in our lives

Since June 25 we have had three sets of friends welcome new babies into their families. As you know from our previous post, our first addition (June 25) is sweet Maya Christainsen Gearen (6lbs 11 oz). She is a champion sleeper, looks a little more like her dad (we think), and seems to be enjoying life in her new home in the world and not missing the womb too much.

Maya & Uncle B

Maya

Next (June 29) we welcomed Edmund James Styron Daucher (6lbs 14 oz), son of our new (and dear) friends Elizabeth and Carl. We met these two on a hospital tour and instantly clicked. Carl and Billy have gone on several bike rides together and Elizabeth and Kris have spent many an afternoon chatting about what motherhood will be (and now is) like. Edmund is a lively and happy boy. He is a champion eater and interested in all that is around him.

Edmund Daucher (a few days old)

Styron Daucher family

The most recent addition to our circle of friends is Audrey Rose Frazel (9lbs 3 oz), new daughter to Trudi and Tom. Trudi and Kris met in MSW school and became close friends. Audrey came out on July 6th with a full head of hair, and a face looking a lot like her mom. The Frazel family is doing well and getting the hang of all that makes up life as a threesome.

Audrey Rose (2 days old)

Trudi with Audrey

Welcome Maya, Edmund and Audrey, we're excited to get to know you!

New Bathroom!

After a month or so of working on it, we have a fabulous new bathroom and just in time!

Old bathroom

Old bathroom

New bathroom!

New bathroom!

Oh, and here is a picture of me with a little over one week until the due date

Welcome Maya Christiansen Gearen!

Last night Molly and John welcomed their baby girl Maya Christiansen Gearen 6lbs 11 ounces. Even though this little beauty was 2.5 weeks early, she was more than ready to come out and meet her world. Billy and I were blessed to be able to be with them during most of her labor as she labored at home from 8:30pm until they left for the hospital at 11:20pm. Molly was an incredible trooper and managed to stay relaxed through each progressively tougher and tougher contraction. She made it to the hospital just in time to push and she had the baby within that next hour hour. Maya's birthday June 25, 2008 at 12:45am!

Happy and beautiful mama and Maya

First diaper change

Maya was very calm and sleepy the first day so this was an unusual site

This was much more common

She couldn't ask for greater parents!

It was really incredible to go through this experience with my best friend and so close to my own due date. Although I understand that anything could happen and the goal is a healthy mama and baby in the end, no matter what it takes, I saw first hand the importance of staying relaxed, trusting in your body and in the baby's ability to get out, and relaying on your partner or friends.