hana has lately become obsessed with tinkerbell, fairies, princesses, and magic wands. this is why it was a stroke of brilliance when grandma manzy and grandpa jim sent hana a care package for halloween that included this lighted wand. she LOVES it. she keeps this, and other wands she's collected - not all of them lighted- in the closet "so bailey won't eat them". but at bedtime, she likes to have them with her.

"i da big sister!" - meet kai james walker pettigrew

kai james walker pettigrew was born on 9/10/09 at 10:57 p.m.as suspected he was a big boy, weighing in at 9lbs 12 oz and 22.05" long.

with the stats out of the way, let me back up and recount the days leading up to lil' man's arrival.

unlike hana's pregnancy which was virutally asymptomatic and fairly easy, this pregnancy has not been without its challenges. for starters, much of the 1st 20 weeks, i was fraught with anxiety (and of course, morning sickness). after losing a baby boy last year (finding out at our 20 week ultrasound when there was no heartbeat), i really couldn't relax and enjoy expecting a new baby until i knew he was ok. the 20 week mark was a big milestone. but right before the ultrasound, we got a troubling genetic testing result, which turned out to be a false positive (so, OK ultimately). at the 20 week ultrasound, our doctor was concerned with hydronephrosis(dilation in his kidneys). this is usually caused by, in this case, a partial blockage in the urethra. normally this condition resolves itself in utero, but in rare cases, surgery is required shortly after the baby is born. generally, they monitor the baby's progress more closely so that they can see if the situation is resolving. sometimes, it doesn't resolve until after the baby is born, when the baby starts peeing... something about equalizing the pressure now that the baby isn't floating in amniotic fluid. i had an ultrasound at 36 weeks where his kidneys finally had a normal reading, however, baby brother was breech!

a breech presentation (in my case, head up and legs folded in front of him) was going to neccesitate a c-section. i was desperately trying to avoid a c-section so i was willing to try a "version" (where a doctor manually, externally, and painfully for me, flips the baby). if it worked, then i could carry the baby until i went into labor naturally and have a standard delivery. if it didn't work, not only would i need a c-section, but i would need to take extra care that i didn't go into labor prior to the scheduled delivery... also known as bed rest... and generally pretty crappy.

but on the day said baby flipping was scheduled, and indeed in the hour preceeding the flipping, baby brother flipped on his own. i attribute this miracle to several things: daily coaching from me and hana to go "head down baby brother!", playing the black eyed peas's "i gotta feelin" for him right before the procedure, learning that the doctor doing the procedure is an onery s.o.b. (so he probably figured it would be best for him to keep his hand off his mama), and the collective baby flipping vibes sent by the facebook universe. anyway, he flipped with the doctor not having to touch me so we moved on.

by this point, i'd stopped working which was good because i was pretty tired and uncomfortable most of the time. but this meant that i was home a lot, in my hot, non-airconditioned house during a ridiculous heat wave. at least the office had a/c... sigh.

jon's scheduled last day of work was 9/3/09, the baby's due date. i didn't expect the baby to be early, or even on time so i wasn't worried about jon working until the last minute. jon happens to have a number of staff either having a baby (or two!) or who've just had babies and their respective leaves were going to overlap with his. needless to say, he was working at a fever pitch in preparation for his departure since he was leaving behind a skeletal crew.

at about 8:30 p.m. on 9/3, jon's last day at work (he'd planned to work late into the evening to get everything done), we learned that jon's mother was in the hospital in southern california (where she lived). so instead of jon, finishing up work, and spending some quality time awaiting the baby, he flew to southern california to be with his mother. he was to be gone from 9/4-9/8 and we just hoped that baby brother was going to wait for daddy to get home. well, he did. and he probably would have waiting even longer had he had his choice... fortunatley, my mom had already planned to be in town on 9/4 so that she could spend about 3 weeks with us attending the birth and helping out with hana. so i wasn't alone while jon tended to his mom. while jon was away, we quickly became aware that his mom shouldn't live on her own any longer (at least, not so far away) so it was decided that she would move in with us temorarily until she could find a place close by that was a supportive living environment (jon's an only child so there were no other family members who could take this on). so now, instead of adjusting to going from 1 to 2 kids, we were also going to have to adjust to caring for an elder family member as well. (kay moved in when kai was 12 days old...)

dr. gentry, my obgyn, had set me up for antepartum testing where they check baby's heart rate and amniotic fluid levels to make sure he's still doing ok. they repeat these tests every couple of days until the baby comes so that the dr. can determine if it's safe for you and the baby to carry on with the pregnancy. my first appointment was on 9/10/09. baby brother's heart rate was a little high (perhaps excited about starbucks debuting pumpkin spice lattes that week) and his amniotic fluid was low (signaling that the placenta was breaking down and he was no longer getting adequate nutrition... because he was GIGANTIC). dr. gentry determined that baby brother's time was up, and served an eviction notice. she pondered not even inducing me and just doing an emergency c-section, because of his heart rate, but once again, baby sensed that mommy doesn't want a c-section and settled down. i think that makes him a mama's boy from the start!

so i was induced at 2:30 p.m. - while jon was out getting me a sandwhich to eat after the baby was born (we weren't going to be relegated to hospital snacks in the middle of the night like last time). i got an epidural at 7:30 p.m. and kai was born at 10:57 p.m. after 3 pushes. believe it or not, the labor was the least eventful part of the whole pregnancy!

kai was actually delivered by dr. sandhu, who delivered hana as well. and once again, we were greeted with a collective "whoa!" when kai came out because he too was a big baby.jon got to cut the cord again as well. kai looks just like hana (and ergo, jon)... right down to the angry "hulk" face shortly after birth. this picture was taken within minutes of his birth. here's nana holding baby kai shortly after his birth... i'm so glad she got to attend the delivery again this time.
kai getting his first bath at the hospital.

i should take a moment to explain how we arrived at kai's name. we wanted a name that would be meaningful to us and we also liked the idea of another hawaiian name, as long as it would work well in the context of oakland. also it needed to sound good with walker pettigrew, since we decided that both of our children will carry both of our names (as i do... with no hyphen). this also meant that the name should probaby be pretty short, since there was a lot of last name. this limits a lot of names. we liked kai because it means ocean in hawaiian and also means rejoice (a fitting name after such a difficult year). kai's middle name is named after my father (and his father, who died before i was born). since kai was born, we have heard that many languages claim the name kai (we've heard thai, norweigian and vietnamese so far) so it will be interesting to know what it means around the world.

in the above 2 pictures, kai isn't just wearing mittens over his hands, he's wearing a 12 months shirt so the sleeves are little long for him. he was too big to fit into the traditional newborn shirt and this was the best the nurses at the hospital could scare up! this was also true for hana...

this time around... jon slept and i sat up all night looking at kai, which is the exact opposite of the first night with hana. soon we were all sleeping all of the time, trying to keep up...

we got several visitors at the hospital.... jenny (party of 5!) came by...

as did leah...

and did paul, nadia and cole...

dr. bean, kai's pediatrician (as well as hana's), came by the check the "little" guy out. he said he was great! dr. bean is pretty great too...
but the most special visitor was his big sister hana. she'd been so eagerly awaiting kai's arrival. her first remark upon laying eyes on baby brother was "he came out!" it was priceless.

she is a very attentive and gentle sister and likes to show him off to people... "that's MY baby brother!"

the first of daily kisses...

we all got to go home on 9/13. here's kai in his going home outfit clearly trying to figure out what's going on now...

and here we are being wheeled out of the hospital. there had been a big electrical storm followed by a good rain shower the night before, breaking the heat wave that had been gripping the bay area for weeks. it was muggy but not nearly as hot. had i known it wasn't going to be hotter than hades, i probably would have packed him a warmer blanket...

and here we are home at last... hana is super excited that we're all home now.

to thank hana for "sharing" mommy and daddy, baby kai got hana a very special gift...

for which she FLIPPED HER LID!!!!! it was a great homecoming.

baby brother's blistering shower

i must apologize that is has been many moons since i last published. i am trying to catch up now but a lot has happened as you will see over the next few posts. bear with me...

august 29 was really really HOT! but that didn't stop the girls from throwing me another fantastic baby shower. we anticipated nice weather and i wanted something low key, casual and involving nadia's fabulous heated pool. the affair was a brunch thing which involved lounging ladies, good food (including nadia's signature dish, white chocolate and cashew waffles) and no shower games. the weather was beautiful... but near the triple digits... yowza! what else is a pregnant girl to do but spend the day wading in the pool?

not long after noelle and i arrived, i hit the water. that is where i spent practically the whole rest of the day (i did dry off briefly to eat brunch). the invitation told people to bring their suits but i don't think people really believed that we would actually swim. the couple of people who actually did swim were glad they came prepare. most of the others eventually dangled their feet in the water because the pool was just so doggone pleasant!but those that didn't swim lounged in the shade and we had great conversation. everyone looked so good too althogh some questioned why they were wearing pants!here's a shot of the gift table... we made out pretty well. lots and lots of cute clothes n' such.for those of you who don't recall the baby shower they threw for me with hana, these girls are masters of decor. the setting was beautiful and devoid of the cliched baby shower detritus...all in all, i couldn't have asked for a better day. the day was just supposed to be a couple of hours over brunch and swimming. but 6 hours later, we were all sitting around wondering where the time went. everyone was so relaxed and many people stayed way longer than expected as we all simply lost track of time. so many of the group have young children at home so it had been a long time for most of us that we were able to sit leisurely, poolside no less, and chat. it felt quite luxurious indeed!there were several complaints through out this pregnancy that there weren't enough belly shots... i must say it's hard to rally oneself for a photograph when you feel hot, puffy, sweaty and is as big as a house such that not even maternity clothes fit anymore. in fact, my swim attire here is really a running outfit because i'd outgrown my maternity swimsuit 2 months before. so there i am, in my preggo glory.