Three Years Old

Well, this is overdue, but I figure better late than never, right? So here goes...

My baby girl, Shingil Taylor Ryals, has turned THREE YEARS OLD. She is now a full-grown toddler just oozing with independence. Quick to tell me "no," but just as quick to run into my arms and tell me, "Momma, don't go to work." Three very short years ago, I walked into the hospital int he morning, saw my giant heap of a belly reduce to about half the size, and saw the most beautiful baby I had ever set eyes on in my life. That little baby, Shingil Taylor Ryals, changed my life - our lives - permanently.

On Thursday, March 10th, I still had to go to work, but I wanted to make sure I sang Happy Birthday to her before I left, so I woke her up and brought her to the kitchen table. Then, I went into the kitchen, put three candles in a Ben&Jerry's mini ice cream cup (Chocolate Fudge Brownie!), lit them, and brought it to her. We sang Happy Birthday, she blew out the candles, gave her a big kiss, and I was off to work. Yes, she got to eat chocolate ice cream for breakfast, but it was her birthday! That evening, I brought home a small princess cake (delicious!) made by the fabulous CakesBySweets Tonia and went over to Beth's house for dinner. Beth made a delicious birthday dinner, we ate, sang Happy Birthday once again and had her blow out another candle. We consumed the delicious red velvet cake and by then, it was the girls' bath time, so we drove home, washed, and went to bed. [Jeff was still down in Daegu supporting exercise at this time, so it was just us.]

Sunday, March 13th, was her scheduled birthday party. What a crazy morning. We got the girls up and ready, drove to pick up the cake and cupcakes from Gerry of ButterSugarCream fame, got lost enroute and almost got wedged between two buildings in a back alley of Itaewon, successfully got the GORGEOUS cakes and cupcakes (that probably took her like 100 hours to make), and finally made it to Olympic Park where Dalki Kid's Restaurant/Amusement was located.

While I set up the room and the cake with Riley, Tay and Daddy got to go play on all the play equipment with almost no one else around!  JOY!  I can't WAIT to see the pictures taken by the great Close To Home Photography's Jen Lucia!

I expected most folks to show up around 11, so I stood outside near the drive-in gate to the parking lot around 10:30...luckily the weather was NICE. I think had no one gotten lost, everyone would have been there by 11, but about four or five families got lost in the exact same spot (near Lotte World) and I was useless in guiding them in.  Luckily, they all found their own way to the location, so the party finally got started around 11:45.  The food started to come out...and boy, was that a surprise. A fancy course meal for the kiddos starting with soup and salad?  Odd.  I should have read the menu better.  Anyhow, it was delicious and probably healthier than pizza (if I had a pizza option, I would have gone for that, but nay, that was not an option), although the kids didn't seem to enjoy it much. I will just chalk that up to the fact that they just wanted to get back to playing.  :P

Another surprise was that there was a SCHEDULED PLAN for how the party was going to occur...with dressed up characters and all!  Who knew???  I clearly did not because I thought maybe they'd come out and wish Shingil a happy birthday and be done with it, but there was an MC who did magic tricks and everything!  Unbelieveable. Funny (and a bit sad) thing was that Tay was brought to stand on a chair in front of the cake and we all sang Happy Birthday to her (TWICE! 'cause we didn't sing it enthusiastically enough, apparently), and then after she blew out the candle, she was asked to make a wish. Then the MC asked her what she wished and she said, "I wished to go home."  ::sigh::

I think she was having a great time, but I think she was getting tuckered out by that time...it was around 12:30 by then, and she usually naps at 1, so maybe that's what it was.

Another awkwardly funny part was when Sam (of the Withington clan) had to come up (by direction of the MC) and give Tay her first gift. The MC just kept talking and poor Sam was just standing there holding the gift and Tay wasn't receiving it because she was distracted by all the talking...anyhow, I finally just had to tell Tay to receive the gift and say "thank you" so Sam didn't have to keep standing there...::phew::
None of the kids wanted to take pictures with the "characters" that came out (a strawberry gal and a watermelon guy), so that was another odd part of the "party." They just wanted to get back to playing...which they happily did...all of them except...the birthday girl.  Hahahaha...when Beth said she was going home, Tay said, "I wanna go with you, Tita." Hey, it's her party, so when she was done, she was done. So, we let her go with Beth and after the rest of the families went home, we closed out the rooms, packed all the lovely birthday presents in the car, went by to pick up Tay from Beth's house, and went straight home. She got to open her presents that night, which she LOVED...and yes, we are still working on thank you cards!

ANYWAY, all in all, I think she and everyone else had a wonderful time at the party, and we thank all of you for coming to celebrate our Shingil Taylor's 3rd birthday! I think maybe next year, we'll probably just do a small birthday at home...this one just WORE ME OUT.  And I didn't even have to do any decorating!

Happiest birthday to my Shingil.  I love you!!!

The First Tooth! ...and sitting up.

Poor little Riley has been drooling and biting on things non-stop for the past week or so and now we know why: Riley has cut her very first tooth. It seems a little early for me since Tay didn't cut her first tooth until she turned seven months, but what can you do...

Tay's came with a low-grade fever and a bit of crankiness, but none of the drool and incessant biting(!). Riley had no fever, but she made it very obvious that her gums were itching by chewing and biting on everything to include (but not limited to) her spoon during feeding, her bottles during nursing, ME, and her fingers! Oh, and the drool!  Her little mouth had a never-ending leak.  :)...

Another milestone she has almost mastered is sitting up by herself (not from a lying down position, although she has been working ever-so-hard on those flutter kicks). She's very good at the "tri-pod" and now prefers that to any other placement (not her back, not her tummy). I still try and avoid sitting her up after she has eaten or nursed because she still doesn't sit up quite straight, so some of it comes right up when squished properly...ugh. Her back strength is getting very good, I think because she LOVED tummy time for a while, so she always wanted to be on her belly. I got a few really cute video clips of her sitting up and toppling over, but I want to merge them together because watching them in series is just that much funnier...if I can figure out how to do it. 

Yay for developing! She's already starting to scoot around on her belly (with every bit of strength she has in that little body) and grunts all the while, but she doesn't get far...yet. She hasn't figured out that if her face is down on the mat, it's gonna hurt if she scoots too far. I'm hoping her "inch worm" maneuver transitions into a more of a face-up low crawl soon. 

OH! I also forgot to mention that she CLEARLY knows who "Umma" is...if you ask, "Where's Umma?" she'll turn her head and look around for me and when our eyes meet, she gets this HUGE goofy grin on her face...then she tucks her little chin down to her chest and squints her eyes with a smile like she's being bashful or something...hehehehe...adorable.  Riley's just starting to grow out of that immobile newborn phase and about to move into the uber-cute melt-your-heart charmer phase...Tay went through that transition and can still melt your heart in the blink of an eye...now we're gonna have TWO of them in the house! How am I going to get anything done?!?

Well, we've got another fun-filled weekend ahead of us, so here's to hitting a few more milestones!  Yay, Riley!

Date with Shingil

Yesterday, 27 Feb 2011, was a long-overdue Mommy-Shingil date since probably before I got pregnant with Shinah. We've always done things as a family whenever we had time off, and yes, Tay and I did stuff together when Jeff went away for exercise, but for me, it was mostly to fill time for her so she doesn't get stressed (and I don't get stressed) about missing Daddy. What we did yesterday was something entirely different. The day focused on her and her alone...and she's been needing this for at least the past five months.

As usual, Riley woke up around 6am so instead of just going to the living room as I usually do, I just went into the guest bedroom so we wouldn't disturb Tay from her slumber. She got to sleep in until 8:15 when she woke up on her own in a fantastic mood.  Great start to the day!  We got ready and were out the door by 9:15.  We went straight to Beth's house to drop off Riley, and then we were off to start our mommy-daughter date. I was a little concerned that the rainy weather would put a damper on our day, but we decided to make it fun instead by trying to dodge the rain, splashing in puddles along the way, and driving safely.  ;)

First, we went to the DHL for breakfast.  We just went down to the bakery and I let her pick out whatever she wanted, so she chose a donut with chocolate glaze and sprinkles ("because [she] loooooves chocolate!").  I got myself a cinnamon roll. We some milk, too.  We ate it right there in front of the bakery chatting about what we were going to do today. We finished our happy breakfast and we went to our next destination - the salon! We were going to get our nails done.  :)  She was so excited...this was her second or third time getting her nails done at the salon...so we got seated and they started. They first had her pick out what color nail polish she wanted with an array of different colors and as the lady flipped the pages, she pointed out a few she liked, but ultimately she settled on an unbelievably bright pink shade and then proceeded to ask me what color I would like. Then she asked if I would like pink, too. Okay!  :) I thought, wouldn't it be nice for both of us to have the same color.  Day-glow pink.  Yeah!

After our pampering session at the salon, we make a quick stop at the toy store to take a look around, "dodged" the rain and made it to the PX to pick up some batteries and a pack of M&Ms (to keep her awake in the car ride to our destination), and "dodged" back to the car...only partially soaked. Who needs umbrellas anyway?

We plugged in our destination into the navigator, turned on some Disney princess music, and we were off to our special destination - Hello Kitty Town! She didn't know where we were going, to it was fun to keep her guessing, even up until we got all the way to the parking garage. She still had no idea (the signs are not so obvious). When we got there, we found a great parking spot (or so I thought) and then proceeded to get a little lost on our way to Hello Kitty Town. We went up and down a couple escalators and elevators...then finally found the right elevator that spit us out RIGHT in Hello Kitty Town!  :)  Now I know. 

Hello Kitty Town...what a WONDERFUL place! It's definitely on a smaller scope than the Dalki Farmer's Kids Cafe, but it also had much less traffic (and younger kids) than Dalki, which worked great for me.  Getting there is longer, but it's actually because of distance and not traffic.  It's about 30km away, but pretty much a straight shot instead of a bunch of turns and such.  Anyhow, on with the place.  The play area, I think, is smaller than Dalki, but the seating area is much larger...or at least it seemed like it was because perhaps there were fewer people.  There are a couple different ball pits, a train ride (just for the little ones), trampoline areas, small slides and climbing things, a book/puzzles/games/blocks room, and a dress up room with a few different outfits for the kids to wear around.  Tay's favorite was this floor-length Cinderella dress.  There was a full length mirror for her to admire herself, and she did that for about five minutes...turning and looking and turning and looking...very cute. While she was doing that, a little boy...probably about five years old...was watching her as his little siblings were getting dressed up, too...apparently he was quite taken with her many facial expressions in the mirror because after that, he'd periodically show up where ever she was playing and just watch her play with this goofy little grin on his face. He never did approach her or anything...the closest interaction they got was when they were in the ball pit and she was putting some in her "basket"...he helped her load up the basket a couple times and just grinned the entire time. It was really cute to watch...she said "hi" to him a couple of times, but I think it just made him grin even wider. He was clearly smitten. Back to the dress...it was slightly too long for her, but she loved it nonetheless, so she wore it around pretty much the entire time we were there. It got in her way when she tried climbing much of the equipment, but she still wanted to leave it on, so I let her...since it was her day.  Just had to keep watching in case she slipped. For lunch we just shared a crispy chicken salad, fries (not impressive), and a mud ice cream pie slice. Delicious. Tay was so busy playing, she didn't want to sit down to eat!

Finally, when it was time to go, she REALLY didn't want to go, but she was so tired and on the verge of getting really cranky. I told her she could pick out two things she wanted from the store before we left, so she agreed and picked stickers and a small Hello Kitty cup. I promised her we'd come back soon so we could play some more. We made our way down to the car, buckled her up in her car seat, turned on some princess music again, and we were off. Five minutes after getting on the road, the Tay was out cold and slept the entire way back to pick up Riley.  It took us about 30 minutes to get there with no traffic and it took us about 45 minutes to get back...with traffic.  Not bad for a RAINY day.  :)

My sweet sweet girl...we really needed that time together.  My goal is to give her a little more personalized attention every day, even if it's only after Riley goes down for the night. I must get back to my rule of "no computer or internet (to include smartphone) while the girls are awake...especially during the week.  So...please don't be surprised if I don't respond or see your email until late at night or only during the work day. I need to focus more on my kids...I miss out too much while I'm at work...::sigh::

I love you, Shingil Taylor Ryals.

Lazy Momma?

Perhaps I have become lazy now that I have two little girls to write about except one...

I feel sorry that I can't capture every developmental milestone like I did for Tay, but the world still knows what's going on because of Facebook.  I think because it's so much easier to write short status rather than writing a whole blog entry for each event, I have resorted to doing that to let people know what's going on with our little family.  Anyhow, that's just lazy, I think, on my part...so I really ought to get on it and write. Enough making excuses and on with the post...

Since November, Riley has hit quite a few milestones.  She has grown like a weed, of course.  At her two month check-up, she weighed over 15 pounds and was already rolling from belly to back.  At her four month check up, she was 17 pounds and 10 ounces and rolling in both directions.  We thought we had a thumb-sucker on our hands because for a while she constantly sucked her hands and her thumb, but now she has relinquished the thumb and just licks her hands or whatever happens to be near her mouth and sometimes she sucks it for a few moments and then resumes licking.  Riley must have been born with an appetite for solids because even before she was three months old, she would drool and demand whatever food we were eating.  We got a really hilarious video of her getting mad while her sister ate a cheese stick right in front of her without sharing.  I decided to start her on solids just a little past her four-month birthday, and it has been hugely successful.  I made my own rice soup for her and she ate it like a champ.  One day after work, I was so hungry I was eating a pita and dipping it in some homemade hummus.  Riley was watching me and drooling a waterfall...and then she started getting mad that I wasn't sharing.  I decided to give her a taste, so I dipped my finger in the hummus and let her taste...oh my.  She LOVED it.  She was demanding more.  I didn't think she could handle a lot yet, so I just gave her one more dipped finger, and she grabbed my hand as soon as she saw it and shoved my finger in her mouth!  I knew she was definitely ready for more than just rice soup.  Then, we introduced green beans and rice puree, which she loved even more.  We introduced some prunes as well because she hadn't poo-ed in more days than I was used to...she made some interesting faces to that, but she did get to liking it.  She has also had a couple tastes of banana, too, as Tay and I made some banana muffins one evening.  :) 

Riley seems to enjoy getting read to...especially if she can see the books and the colorful pages.  I enjoy lying in between my girls and reading a book to them together...it doesn't last super-long, but it's so wonderful while it lasts. 

I'd like to mention here that this post is not chronologically arranged...I'm just writing as I remember.

Christmas was a blast with the two kids.  Of course it would have been nice to see some family, but it was also very nice having a nice cozy Christmas, just the four of us.  Christmas was even more fun this year than last because Tay had a blast opening all the great presents she got and even helped Riley open her presents.  We had a nice lazy day.  I absolutely love the Christmas season.

Shortly after Christmas, on 29 December 2010 to be precise, Riley turned 100 days old so we got a little cake, dressed the girls up in pretty dresses and had our own little party in the comfort of our home.  Also, that day marked the first day that Riley rolled from back to front!  What another great way to mark a milestone.  On a side-note, we didn't do a big 100-day celebration because our entire household was recovering from the sniffles...that nasty cough lingered for over two weeks!  Yuck.  For the first time ever, I had to suction a baby's nose so she could eat easier. Poor thing. 

2011 arrived and I made us dduk-guk for dinner that night.  I can't remember what we did that morning during the day, though...why? 

I've noticed that Riley really enjoys being on her tummy for the most part.  She sometimes seems to prefer being on her belly rather than her back.  Perhaps it's because she's on her back the majority of the time, but she definitely gets a kick out of rolling over on to her belly and looking around. Now her arm strength is getting much stronger so she rotates on her belly as she needs to to reach toys and such.  Just recently, (mid Feb) she has started to scoot on her belly by doing the "inch worm"...she puts her face down on the mat, scoots her behind up in the air, then pushes forward with her knees on her belly and face.  She doesn't scoot far, so I'm not so concerned that she'll get mat-burn on her face, but it's a concern that we'll probably have soon enough...ugh.

This past weekend was the Coex Baby Fair.  Riley and I were "live" models to demonstrate the use of the Moby Wrap for two shifts - Saturday morning and Sunday afternoon. It was quite an adventure with SO many people, but because she's just so darn cute, she made an excellent model because everyone would first look at her and then ask me about the wrap!  :)  It worked out well...hopefully we helped make some sales. 

Well, in other news, I have changed jobs and this week will be my first week at the new job.  It'll be a steep learning curve, I think, but I will enjoy the challenge!  Hopefully this job will also motivate me to write a bit more regularly...maybe.  Or maybe it'll have me so busy I'll give up writing all together!!!  Hopefully not...

Looking forward to another great month with my family and my ever-growing sweet baby girl.  Happy five month birthday, Shinah Riley!

Riley Rolls Over; a catch-up entry...

At a mere seven weeks and four days old, our little Riley rolled over from her belly to her back, much to her surprise!  Usually in the mornings when she wakes up, I bring her out to the living room floor mat and we do stretching and some tummy time because she's fairly content and relaxed and quite playful.  This morning, we were moving slowly, so Tay was also awake and Tita Beth had already arrived at the house.  I placed her on her tummy on the mat to see if she'd reach for some toys we had set in front of her, and after doing a little mini-push-up and holding her head and shoulders up a while, she suddenly rolled onto her back going to the right.  She looked so surprised and we were all so surprised that we yelped with joy and laughter (which I'm sure startled the little one even more).  Anyhow, we wanted to see if it was just a mistake, so I placed her once again on her belly, and less than two seconds later, there she went, rolling immediately to her right and startling herself again and flailing on her back.  :)  We decided to let her try again, so she went on her tummy again, and with a few more grunts this time, she flipped herself right over onto her back once again.  YAY!  :)  Perhaps tomorrow morning, I can get it on video...

I feel awful that this is my first posting on Riley since she has been born, but life is much more hectic with two little girls to entertain than it was with one.  As for milestones, the rolling over one is probably the first really big milestone for her, but she has already passed many of the smaller ones.  She has been lifting her head when lying on her tummy since birth, almost...whenever I'd put her on my stomach as I lay on my back, she'd lift her head to look at my face.  She studies faces like they are the most interesting things on Earth...especially new faces.  She always turns toward the sound of her big sister...:)  She smiles and coos a lot in the morning and after every nap when she's at her happiest.  She chuckls in her sleep...which I personally find hilarious...when she's dreaming, you can actually hear her go "hm-hm-hm-hm-hm" with a huge smile on her face.  She hasn't actually done that awake yet, but I think she's going to have a great sense of humor much like her big sister.  Around five weeks, she noticed her hand for the first time and stared at it for a while before hitting herself in the eye with it.  Then, she didn't know what to do, so she got all upset and made sad faces until I picked her up.  Earlier this week, I had laid her in her little floor mat gym and she stared intently at the hanging toys for a while with her hands by her side, then suddenly, she swung her right hand up and batted one of the toys!  When she did that, her eyes got really big and both her arms and legs started flailing, but she didn't do much more coordinated hitting after that...mostly accidental batting, I think.  She smiles a lot at any face that's smiling at her, including stuffed animals and dolls. 

I have a feeling she's going to be as talkative as her big sister because she'll gurgle and coo at anyone who's talking to her, but especially her big sister.  She really enjoys the interaction and will spend quite a long time just lying on the mat as long as someone is talking to her and listening to her.  She's generally a very happy baby and also a very good sleeper.  Her hardest time is between 6 and 8pm when she's most cranky.  Our nightly routine now is she gets a bath while her big sister is getting a bath, then a nice little massage and swaddling, nursing, then put down for sleep...usually by 7:30.  Then she'll sleep until three or four in the morning!  Last night, she slept until 5:15 in the morning and woke up STARVING!  :)  She's been doing that for a couple weeks now already...it makes my life so much easier.  :)  If by chance she doesn't get a bath, though, she definitely wakes up many more times in the night.  I think the bath relaxes her and she sleeps so much better.  Her big sister was much like that as well, and I had a good sleeper until around 4 months when she started waking up more frequently in the middle of the night...I attribute it to a growth spurt...perhaps it will be the same with this one, too. 

Speaking of growth, Riley's growing like a weed!  Her birth weight was 3.47 kgs (7lbs, 10oz), her one week weight was 3.85 kgs (8lbs, 8oz), and her one month weight was 5.2 kgs (11lbs, 7oz)!  I have her two-month appointment scheduled for the 18th, so we'll see how much she weighs then, and perhaps they'll do a length measurement, too.  She looks fairly long now, as opposed to when she was first born and she was just this tiny, curled-up bundle.  I'm thankful that I am able to breastfeed and that it is plenty for my little one because it is just so much easier than having to prepare and warm bottles and such, but I must admit, pumping is not my favorite thing in the world...

Going back to work full time in a short six weeks after delivery has been a rough adjustment.  Work has been very lenient with my pumping and feeding schedule, so I am able to go home at lunch time every day and pump twice/three times a day.  I don't really like having to pump in the bathroom - it's quite chilly and not the most comfortable environment - but luckily, my milk lets down pretty quickly and my quantity is going up since I nurse on demand when I'm home, so the routine is getting easier.  I think the first week back, I had some major tension headaches because of the stress of coming back to work and getting back into the swing of things while having to leave my little baby at home.  Luckily, the baby is not with a stranger and I know she's very well taken care of, so that part was a little easier than I thought it would be.

I can't complain about how things are going right now because it is only getting easier.  The girls are doing very well and are generally quite happy the way things are.  I'm getting accustomed to being at work again, although it's hard to focus on work when all I can think about are my babies back home.  I look forward to the holidays this year as a family of four...although it would be nice to be able to spend them with our extended family back in the States. 

How thankful I am for the life I lead...I truly cannot ask for more.

Rosa

Postpartum...

I titled this post a long time ago...about two weeks after birth...and never got around to sitting down and writing.  I have been meaning to write about this thing called "baby blues" because I think I experienced this for the first time, even though it was my second pregnancy and birth.  The first time, I know I was a bit moody, but I didn't feel completely helpless and hopless like I did in that first week after I gave birth to Shinah.  The term "baby blues" is much to "sweet" of a phrase to describe this terrible feeling that can overcome a new mother.  It's not just a feeling of being sad or overwhelmed...it's this rush of spiraling out of control where you feel there is nothing, no one, who can help you and there is absolutely no sign hope of improvement in the future. 

During the first week of being home with the baby, I had a moment where and overwhelming feeling of guilt, hopelessness and helplessness came over me and I just lay in my bed and cried and cried...probably for a good hour or so.  My mom was there with me and she was talking to me and consoling me, reminding me that "this, too, shall pass," and that this is the way it is at first as a family readjusts itself to grow into an even greater family...and all I could do was lie there and cry, feel guilty, and feel sorry for myself.  Why did I feel guilty?  Well, it was way past bedtime and the little one needed me to nurse her and the older one just needed me to hold and hug her, but I couldn't do both, so daddy took the older one to try and put her to bed because she was starting to get a little rough to deal with as I sat and nursed the little one.  Tay's now screaming in the other room, yelling for Mommy and completely out of control, the little one is crying and trying to nurse at the same time, and all I could think about was putting down the nursing baby so I could go console my big girl, knowing that the little one needed me physically and the big girl needed me emotionally...

I was one person and two people needed me simultaneously and I felt like I was letting both of them down.  I couldn't be a good mother to either children by having both children...I wanted to be the mother that I was for Tay for Riley, but I knew I couldn't.  I wanted to continue to be the mother that I have been for Tay, but I couldn't.  How much more helpless could I get?  All I could do was to cry along with the girls with this numb feeling coming over me and a painfully aching heart because it just couldn't love the way I thought it could because I was physically just one person who was trying to physically recover herself...

At that one moment, I thought for certain that I could never succeed as a mother of two.  I had let down both my children and I had only been a mother of two for a week.  How was I ever to survive many more years of this? 

After I finally ran dry of tears, the little one had fallen asleep and the older one had finally escaped from her daddy to come to my bed and tell me she's sorry and that she needed me.  I hugged her and told her I was sorry, too, choked back some more tears, and told her good night so she could go back and go to sleep in her bed.  After she left (after some more cuddling with me in my bed), I stayed up half the night just talking to my mom about parenting and how I was going to overcome this incredible guilt I felt at my shortcomings for both girls...and ultimately, my mom told me that my love for them will overcome any "shortcomings" I may feel I have...and that feeling of guilt is unnecessary because love only doubles with more children and never divides into lesser amounts.  Only time spent becomes less with individual ones, and that will be an adjustment...but the love a mother feels for all children can overcome all odds.  Thanks, Umma.

Now that I'm seven weeks into being a mother of two, I think I can handle it.  I've had a few successes that have given me the confidence to know I CAN do it and I love both girls more and more each day.  Hopefully you'll be able to read about them here someday...when I have time to sit and write for longer than a minute!  ;)

Happy and healthy...
Rosa

My Second Labor Story

After about a week of recovery, I finally feel sane enough to right down my second labor story.  So here goes...

My mom arrived in Korea at 4:30 in the morning on the 19th of September.  Jeff went to pick her up and after they arrived home, we got cleaned up and mom, Tay, and I went to church while Jeff got caught up a bit on sleep.  The rest of that day was spent just catching up with mom and we made a run to E-Mart for some basics to fill the kitchen and prepare for after the delivery.  After the trip to E-Mart, I was exhausted, and when we got home, I felt a little cramping in my lower stomach, but nothing I thought that was worth noting or worrying about...

Later that evening, we had a nice dinner and my mom left for her sister's house because the next day, 20 September, was the anniversary of my grandmother's passing, so my aunt had rented a van to transport all the sisters down to Daejeon in the morning to visit the grave site.  Jeff and I put Tay down for the night around 8:30 and we actually went to bed around 9pm.

I was feeling a little anxious for some reason so I tossed and turned for a bit, but I eventually dozed off until I was awoken by a stronger-than-normal contraction.  I got up out of bed because I wanted to know what time it was...it was only 9:30.  I didn't think I could fall back asleep right away, so I decided to check my email and facebook.  A short while later, I felt another one of the contractions, so I checked the time and it was 9:40.  No pain associated with the contractions, though, so I didn't think anything of it.  As I'm facebook-stalking my friends, I have another contraction...9:49.  Another one at 9:59.  Now I'm curious...could this be...early labor?  I Google early labor and continue timing the contractions.  They keep coming regularly at 9 to 10 minute intervals...still no pain.  Then they get a little closer...about 7 to 8 minutes apart.  Still no pain...but the Google findings are confirming that I am probably in early labor since the contractions are coming on regularly and getting progressively closer together and not going away when I "change positions" by walking around or sitting for a while or lying on my side.  I still haven't woken Jeff yet because I am still not convinced that I'm in labor...

Around 12:45, the contractions are coming about every five minutes now and I'm debating whether or not to wake Jeff up, so at 1am, I decide it might be time to wake up Jeff and let him know I might be in labor.  When I tell a very groggy Jeff, he almost leaps out of bed and says, "Let's go!" but I am not in a hurry because I'm still not convinced I'm really in labor.  There's still no real pain coming with the contractions, so I guess that's why I just had no sense of urgency...I hadn't gotten to the active labor part yet...perhaps.  I finally call my mom at 1:30am at my aunt's house and tell her we're probably going to head to the hospital soon to check if I am in labor and my mom says she'll meet us there...then she says she'll just come straight to our house and go with us to the hospital because I told her we were getting our bag ready to go and that it might be a bit before we actually get out of the house.  By 2am, Jeff and I are packed up and ready to go, but my mom hadn't arrived yet...and Jeff's now getting antsy, but I'm still pretty relaxed although my contractions are still coming every five minutes or so.  My mom finally arrives, we pick up Tay from her bed (who is still sleeping), we head to the hospital and arrive there at 2:30am.  On the drive over, Tay wakes up and she's wired...poor thing. 

We first walk into the Emergency Room (ER) because I'm not sure if there's anyone in Labor and Delivery (LD), but the staff in the ER direct me to LD.  We walk over to LD and there seems to be only a cleaning staff there and one of the ladies tells me to go on in (no children allowed).  We leave a wide-awake Tay with my mom and Jeff and I go in to find out what's going on with me.  When I tell them my contractions are coming about five minutes apart and not painful yet, they have me fill out a card and direct me to a tiny labor room.  They have me change and such to prep me and check me and tell Jeff to wait outside.  Disappointingly, no one is really friendly or smiling, which is bothersome since this should be a happy time...but since it was the middle of the night shift, I assumed they were just all really tired.  There were a few other women I could hear laboring, which was also a bit disturbing. 

Jeff came back in after I had changed into the hospital gown, so we waited some more for them to come and do a non-stress test and check my contractions.  Jeff went out again to check on how Tay and my mom were doing and he brought in all the bags so that my mom didn't have to watch Tay and keep an eye on our bags. 

With the monitor on, the contractions were showing that they were still coming every four to five minutes.  They checked my dilation and effacement and I was only about 30% effaced and 3cm dilated.  After about 30 minutes of the NST, they removed the contraction monitor and kept the heart rate monitor on for the baby.  By now it was past 4am and I was getting antsy and uncomfortable from just lying there.  I was also getting upset because I had wanted to tell Tay that everything would be okay and that I love her before I was stuck to a hospital bed.  I also thought she'd be able to be in the labor room with me for a bit before they had to leave, but they wouldn't let me go back out to see her because I was already dilated.  I guess that's the difference between a Korean and American hospital system...I was restricted to the bed entirely even though I still wasn't in any pain from my contractions.  Quite frustrating.  Anyhow, it was 7am now and Beth was on her way to the hospital to pick up Tay and I really missed her so I asked the nurse again if I could go see her and at least tell her good bye before she went with Beth for the day.  They finally said okay, but after their shift change!  Ugh...I was frustrated, but I said I'd wait and waited and waited and waited...until finally I called someone in it was someone new, so I knew shift change had happened (by now it was about 7:30 and Beth was already there, but I asked her to wait so I could see Tay before they left).  When I mentioned to the nurse that the previous shift nurse had told me I could go see her after shift change, the nurse said she had to check me first and that it was not recommended that I walk anywhere.  NOOOOOOOOO!!!!  I told her I HAD to go see my daughter and that I would be very very upset if I didn't get to, so when they checked me, I was still at 3cm dilated and just a bit more effaced.  So they finally said I could go see her so I got up and walked out (all of 20 yards or so) to see her in the waiting area and got to hug and kiss my sweet big girl...knowing that the next time I saw her, our relationship would change drastically...even though I would still love her all the same...::sigh::  It made me so sad to see her go...seeing her so grown up. 

After the brief meeting and farewell, Jeff took Tay and Beth home (where Tay finally fell asleep since she woke up at 2am) and Jeff went into work...for a bit.  It was about 7:45 by now. 

When I came back in, they checked my dilation once more and told me I was at 4cm now and almost 100% effaced.  A good sign!  They moved me into a "labor and delivery" room where they informed me I would be delivering there.  They also told me my labor was stalling (I was back to having contractions about every five minutes again), so they would be starting me on Pictocin to get things moving again.  I let Jeff know that they were going to start me on the drip so things may start moving quickly, so he started making his way back to the hospital.  Shortly after they started the drip, the contractions started coming back more frequently (no clock in front of my bed now, so I don't know how frequently) and I started to feel a little bit of pain along with each contraction.  I actually had to concentrate and breathe rhythmically to get through them.  Nothing worth yelling about, though.  Less than four or five of those times of contractions later, another nurse came and checked my progress and I was already 6cm dilated from the previous four!  Sweeeeeet.  Only concern was that since I had progressed that quickly, they were saying I'd probably be ready to push soon, but Jeff wasn't back yet!  Anyhow, the contractions continued to come on stronger, although I couldn't tell if they were coming on more frequently or anything.  A few more contractions later, they checked me again and I was at 8cm!  The room started to buzz with a few more nurses and they called the doctor to tell him I was almost ready so he should make his way down.  The nurse also broke my water (I think) when she last checked me to keep things moving (or else my water broke naturally while she was checking me, but whatever) and after that happened, the contractions were significantly stronger and definitely painful...but still not nearly as painful as I could recall from my first labor.  They told me to roll over on my side to help things move along (and reduce my back labor!) so when I did that, MAN, the contractions were much more painful, but still manageable with controlled breathing...and shortly after that, I felt Jeff's hand on my shoulder to tell me he was here.  I guess that was Riley's cue, too, because I had that sudden sensation that I really really needed to push really soon!  I started to say, "I need to push, I need to push!" but apparently no one understood me except Jeff and my mom...and of course, my mom runs to one of the nurses and tells her that I was ready to push...in ENGLISH.  :)  Hehehe...not so funny at the time, but funny now that I think about it.  Anyhow, eventually they got the message that I was ready to push and they told me not to push too hard because they didn't want me to tear.  One of the nurses coached me through the breathing so I wouldn't push too hard and soon everyone was ready to receive the baby and I was ready to push her out of me.  I'll spare any further details, but after only about five or six times pushing, Shinah Riley Ryals entered the world at 9:08am.  A healthy 3.47 kgs (7 lbs, 10 oz.) little girl born at 38 weeks + 5 days and a whopping 19.5 inches...a whole inch shorter than Tay was when she was born and almost a whole pound lighter than Tay. 

As they're discussing various things about the baby and such, one of the nurses asked if I had registered for cord banking and someone responded "No" and oddly enough, I was lucid enough to speak up and say, "YES I DID!" and they came over to me and asked me if I had any paperwork, and luckily...I had all of it, including the receipt of when I paid for it all together in my hospital bag that I had packed!  HA!  If this had happened with Tay, I definitely would not have been lucid enough to catch the conversation, much less remember that I had all the paperwork in my bag.  They brought the bag over to me and I fished out the paperwork and they banked the cord blood right away.  We didn't bank Tay's cord blood, but we did decide to do it this time...just on the off chance that we may need it someday.  Hopefully not.  

Unlike when I had Tay, they wrapped the little bundle up and handed her to me to hold while the nurses were massaging my abdomen so that Riley could get familiar with my scent before they took her to the nursery to be examined, cleaned, etc...I'm not sure where Jeff and my mom went (perhaps with Riley) but the nurses covered me in a super-warm blanket after the doctor left and I was left in the dimmed room to rest and recover for a bit before they moved me to the recovery room in a whole different wing.  I also had to remind the nurses again that we wanted to room in with Riley instead of leaving her in the nursery so they would bring her up to the recovery room as soon as she was ready. 

All in all, this hospital experience was much worse than my first time around with Tay, but the labor and delivery was sooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo much easier...and I felt lucid the entire time.  I never felt out of control and I can clearly remember the entire event with no negative feelings about it.  I have no negative feelings about my labor with Tay, but I also can't remember exactly what happened toward the end when I actually started having the stronger contractions.  I guess maybe because my body had experienced it before, it was more ready to take it on and my tolerance for pain had grown significantly.  I didn't even need to let out a yelp.  Jeff likes to remind me that I yelled at him quite a bit in Korean during my first labor.  I don't recall any of that. 

Anyhow, that is my second labor story, and it was surprisingly pleasant for me.  The recovery story will come at a later time.  :)

Welcome to our family, Shinah Riley.  :)  We're so glad to have you!