I knew it was going to be hard.  I had no idea it was going to be that hard.  For a generally easy pregnancy, we ended it with about a hundred exclamation points and a 24-hour intense labor.  As I'm sure about any mother on earth would tell you, it was still worth it.  

I left work early on the 14th with a few crampy feelings that escalated through the night.  Mom got "the call" she'd been waiting for that afternoon and was already at our house by 5pm.  At 1:00am on the 15th, I woke up to my first intense contraction which was followed by several more every 20 minutes or so.   Dad and Margo got "the call" at about 3:30 in the morning and we continued laboring through the morning into the evening.  Contractions were all over the board 20 minutes - 15 minutes - 8 minutes - 20 minutes - 3 minutes - 8 minutes - 30 minutes - but most of them lasted about 90 seconds.   I thought I was well on my way by 3pm and we headed to the birth center for our first exam.  I thought packing up the car with crackers, juice, candles and music might be a bit on the optimistic side, but we were all hopefull that baby was coming soon. You can see with the photo above that I was still under the dreamy impression that pregnancy was a walk in the park.  With Dad and Margo en route, I hoped baby would wait long enough for them to get to the birth center, as it would be unfortunate for their 8 hour drive if they didn't get to see the baby being born - fortunately for them, but unfortunateley for me, we had a loooong ways to go.

After a few hours and lots of contractions, Miguel and I eased into the birthing tub and at some point I remember hearing my Dad's voice through the window.  They made it!  All my parents were there and photos were being popped off left and right as Miguel helped with my writhing and moaning in the tub (the first session).  I was so glad to have my family there, and even more glad that the end must only be 15-30 minutes away - as this was my thought:  "Oh good, they're here - just in time!"  Little did I know that things were just getting started - in time AND intensity.

I think it was near this point that I started feeling like this labor was moving from progressive to pure monotonous torture.  The contractions were unbearable, but I had no choice but to endure them.  Though I never voiced it, I had plenty of thoughts of going to the hospital for drugs.  Miguel pressing my back with tennis balls, cool wet rags and fingers to squeeze was all I had in my arsenal to combat the worst pain I've ever had.  My body convulsing on regular intervals with about 15 seconds of rest between 60 seconds of mounting pain - uuuupp and dowwwn.  For hours.  And hours.  I started losing logic and since I knew I had no way out, I tried to focus only on 2 things:  a low pitch noise I could make with my mouth, and a vision of a brown mountainscape that just went on and on and on with no end in sight.  At one point I asked everyone "Why are we doing this?" - wondering "to what end?"  I knew a baby was coming, but I felt like we were just doing this "exercise" as some form of way to pass the time.  Were we waiting for a visible shift?  A new urge to crop up in my system?  The clock to run down?  What in the hell were we waiting for?  I cried.  I gasped.  I moaned.  I squeezed my hands so hard.  I listened to Miguel and tried to imagine a baby in our arms.  At this point, however, I was sure I'd made a poor decision to put myself through this.  The problem was that the cervix wasn't entirely out of the way, so Kristin the midwife didn't want me to do any pushing, even though my body was trying to push.  I was told to moan in a low voice to prevent the "bearing down" of pushing - and this was so frustrating.  

We moved into the tub again and did some painful variations on my leg position.  Lunges for 6 contractions (lunges in the gym are no comparison), frog pose for 12 contractions, and lying on my left side for several more.  All were as uncomfortable as the last.  Finally Miguel suggested that we stand up for awhile, and even try a few on the toilet.  The pain is indescribable, so I won't try anymore.  There were 2 other women in the birth center that evening, both of whom came in after I did - and both of whom had a cheering squad and a crying baby well before I did.  This was a good example of adding "insult to injury".  But eventually, in my out-of-mind-state, Kristin told me with a smile that we were at a point where I could let my body do whatever it wanted and I didn't have to hold back.  That was a green light in my world of brown endless mountains and I set focus.  Two pushes on the toilet - sucked.  Then the water bath was ready and in we went.  Miguel slid in behind me and with each contraction, I screamed the deepest, loudest, most intense cry of pain as I squeezed the daylights out of his hands.  My parents all looked on in agony as I peeked at the room through my eyelids.  I could feel it though.  It burned.  It burned like fire, but it also meant progress.  So I pushed again.  I could feel that every time I released from pushing, the baby inched back inward and I really wanted this to be overwith, so I pushed 3 or 4 times in a row and finally, I heard "we have a head".  One more push and I swear I could feel her hips, knees and toes flow out of my belly like a large snake slithering through a stream.

Nobody could ever prepare us for the feeling.  The release of not having another contraction followed by a little purple blob of human being placed on my chest.  The baby was beautiful - slippery, but beautiful.  I'm not sure that I ever thought about what all this was for - I had no idea how that bony shaped alien in my belly would look on the outside, but it was a sight to behold as I'm sure any parent will tell you.  A little face with eyes peering out at us and real fingers and real feet and toes, and she just sat there staring at us.   Day had passed into night without me even knowing (since my eyes were closed most of the time).  It was 12:40am on September 16th.  I remember Miguel saying "Heather, look!  Its a baby!"  Miguel was in love.  I was still writhing and breathing in the pain of the aftermath, but after a few minutes I came to my senses a bit and said "Maybe I missed it, but is this a boy or a girl?"  The midwife said she was waiting for us to look.  So we uncovered the purple slippery body and fought through the attached umbilical cord and darkness to see a little tiny vagina.  "It's a Girl!" everyone shouted.  A beautiful baby girl - on the outside.

Miguel had the honors of cutting the umbilical cord, I pushed one final time to get the placenta out, and a few more minutes we were on the bed relaxing and enjoying the peace and quiet of no more contractions.  The pain didn't go away, but mentally, I was out of jail finally, and I absolutely gave in to the moment of bliss.   Welcome to the outside little girl.  We love you and we are so glad you're here!

To see More of Our Pregnancy Photos, Click Here.   

Born: 12:40am Sept 16, 2009

Weight: 6lb 15oz  Length: 19"

Name: Coming Soon!!

I have to admit that it is kind of hard being the last one - and with this pregnancy thing, I'm coming in last.  Not that nobody else is having babies, but just that of all of our child-bearing friends in Bellingham, I'm the last one right now.  Who knows, there could be others hiding a secret until their first 3 months is up, but right now, I feel like I'm closing down the race.  Our friends Katie and Christina both had fabulous birthing stories to tell, and little healthy babies to hold while telling them.  Miguel and I are still in the completely unkown stage, with more than a 20 day window between due dates.  We both suspect that we've got 3 weeks to go before the big event, but only time will tell. In fact, we're entering into what may be our very last non-baby, non-booked weekend of our lives.  It's like we're on the log ride at Knott's Berry farm - it's dark, smells like excitement, but we can't really see what is around the next corner.  We're planning to go for a hike, relax, and bask in the quietness.  Perhaps the calm before the storm.  Man, that's intimidating!

In the meantime, we've almost completed the entire baby's room.  It was a long process of getting our attic partially finished, painting, demolishing a closet and rebuilding, but now that it is mostly behind us, we're happy with the results.   The room is fun to hang out in, and comfortable for lounging.  I'm feeling pretty good and just hoping with all fingers crossed that i don't come down with this sickness that seems to be targeting people in the office.  I only have a few weeks to hang in there - so hopefully I'll stay healthy.

My co-workers surprised me with a baby shower at work this week, and we played a few "shower" games.  My belly measured in at exactly 40" around - which Janae guessed with precision (she won some lotion).  I don't appear to be putting any more weight on, but the baby feels like s/he's getting bigger every day.  We're working on not calling the baby an "it", so in lieu of that, we're switching gender references from "he" to "she" every other day.  Today is a "he" day.  We have a few names picked out for each gender, but much to my mother's dismay, we probably won't pick a name for a few days after the birth.  Miguel and I are pretty excited for the big event, and it's been really fun watching Miguel with our friends' babies.  He's going to be a great father.  He's got the shushing and cooing and happy smiles down.  I'm going to need a little work, but I think I'll be ok.  The anticipation is rather challenging for me - in that there is an element of an unknown, and so I try to protect myself like many people do, by not getting really excited.  The baby's size is small, but what does that mean?  Will he be healthy?  Will he be normal?  Will the birth go ok?  Will I be ok?  There are many worries to go along with the final weeks of many people's pregnancies, I'm sure.  Being in the midst of it, I have to continually remind myself that positive thinking is the best thing I can do right now - and there isn't much else I can do about it anyway.  Good diet, lots of water and exercise and positive thoughts - that's what I'm working on.  

I've got a few animal paintings I've been working on, and I have 3 more to go - but these have been a good relaxing project for me.  Now, however, I'm finding it more and more difficult to bend over to paint - so it's a little slower going than I anticipated. So, we're off on our big weekend of nothingness - I'll tell you about it later.

Well the time has come for us to make a change.  We've been living in our 800 sq foot house with our 2 dogs for far too long.  If you have about 5 minutes, we'd like you to go over the plans for our new addition (click here), which we hope  you will like.  We've put a lot of thought into the design and the creation, and we think it will serve the purpose.  Read carefully and all the way to the bottom, if you dare.  We have really enjoyed putting this together for all of you - and by the way - next time we see you, we'll know if you didn't finish reading it.

Love,

Heather & Miguel

It could be any time of day when Miguel and I suddenly say "squirrel squirrel" or "kitty kitty", and both dogs will blaze throught the living room with nails scratching, mouths barking and squealing on their way to the backyard to chase the intruders.  They usually get within about 3 feet of the animal before it turns and climbs or ducks under the fence, up a tree and to a safe place well out of reach.  So far our canine team hasn't had any successful runs at capturing anything. 

Recently, however, Miguel and I have started feeding the squirrels a nice handful of corn and sunflower seeds - a tasty treat.  Now that spring is on its way, we're finding a regular visitor to the yard in the mornings.  I think we have one squirrel in particular that keeps returning for the free grub.  In order to not feel like we're baiting the poor animal, we'll lay low in the morning and slowly close the bedroom door with Lucy inside.  Then we'll tap on the window and say something non-telling like "whats a whats it?".  She'll prop her front two feet on the dresser and scout the yard with her radar vision until she spots the little bugger.  How frustrating it must be to suddenly have no way out - abruptly stopped by the closed door.  But on the other hand, it is very funny for us.  Sorry Lucy.  Afternoons and evenings, however are still fair "squirrel squirrel" and "kitty kitty" game as there is no actual baiting of the trespassers involved.  Hard on the wood floors, but worth every moment.  Squirrel Squirrel?

Something I've learned over the years is that even though I try and I want things to turn out nice like a chicken coop or a bathroom sink, I'm not as patient as Miguel is...or my Dad, or pretty much anyone else working on the project.  When it comes to design work, I'll spend hours in front of the computer looking over every square pixel to make sure the padding is the same on all sides and the pictures are askew just so. But when it comes to labor intensive projects like measuring things and making sure they have enough support, I have to admit that I'm fairly impatient.  I think this is because I like the instant gratification of design where I don't have to wait so much.

This weekend my impatience came to light during the making of our new backyard patio. I had a great time with Sam putting the rocks down here and there and discussing curves and negative spaces, moving them around and basically playing with shapes.  Then came the time to put the level to work and get the rocks solid in the ground.  Removing sand, adding gravel, adding sand, leveling in 5 directions, and all this painstaking SLOW work to get a stinking rock in the ground.  The patio is supposed to be "natural", so I didn't see any problem with a little height difference here and there.  I just wanted to get as many rocks done in my area as possible so I could start to see the finished product.  

By the end of the day, Sam and Miguel took a look at my area and criticized every detail possible.  "This one's a little wobbly", "Looks like this dips down and then back up over here", and "Heather, you didn't lay this one yet, did you?".  I get it.  Fine you guys go ahead, but at least I can see what it's going to look like in the end.  

Sunday I spent the entire time trimming trees and bushes in the yard (instant gratification and no leveling) while Miguel and Sam laid the rocks with the levels.  That was better, for all of us. 

Yesterday, September 3rd, the sewer line in the alley was finally fixed.  The bill on our credit card is a whopping $4600 or so, but at least the steady stream running through our yard and into the alley has stopped.  Turns out that the entire section was crushed and our neighbor's connection was busted.  We've got some serious problems underground over here.  I rode my bike down the alley and aside from the mushy kitty litter remains, there is hardly any sign of work done.  The smell has gone away, which is a bonus.  Now all we have to do is convince our 12 neighbors to fork over $380 each to pay for the repair.  That ought to be fun.

Unfortunately we still have to put in the line from our house to the lateral.  We're hoping we can do this ourselves and save some cash.   We've almost got the entire ditch dug, so now we just have to finish digging, lay some pipe, and take about 5 trips to the hardware store (as that is one of Murphy's home improvement laws).  

For the time being, we're trying to find alternate bathrooms for solid waste (gym, work, school, etc), but we're still showering and washing dishes, etc.  We just have a big hole in the backyard where it all drains into.  Actually, it is more beautiful now because I did some painting on Labor Day.  The puddle has maintained a nice aqua blue color, which reminds me of a gorgeous glacial lake.   Ahhh.  

We used to look at our backyard with pride and enjoyment in our eyes.  Now I look at it as a sumphole.  It's disgusting and I don't even want to see it anymore.  My vision of the perfect backyard is tainted.  Oh the sorrows of sewage infiltration. 

We, Heather and Miguel are experiencing quite a disgusting and  perplexing problem.  Basically the main sewer line  running through our alley has become obstructed  near our southern property line, and has  subsequently broken, which has been causing raw  sewage from the alley to leak into our backyard for  over a week now.    From what Favinger Plumbing saw yesterday, very  little sewage from the houses on the East side of  Franklin Street is actually making it out to the bigger  lines in Whatcom Street.  Most of the sludge and  solid material is backing up in the line and the liquid  is spilling over into our yard, from all 10 or so  houses uphill of ours.  We now have about 2-3  inches of liquid raw sewage in our yard at any one  time (photo included).  The liquid and sludge are  beginning to back up even further in the pipe and  liquid is now backing up into Babbie’s sewer line to  the South of us.     

If you walk down the alley, you will see a wet area  running down the West side of the alley from Babbie’s house to ours; this is sewage seeping through the  ground starting at the location of the blockage.     

We started having this problem last Monday (18th) and the city came to assess the problem.  We have had  the health department out as well, but to little avail.  Basically, they said “yep, you should fix this.”  This  is the response from Dick McKinley (Director of Public Works) when I wrote to him this morning:”  Unfortunately, this is a private shared lateral, not a City-owned public sewer line. It is no different than  the lateral in front of your house.  This is the responsibility of the private owners of the line. The City  cannot use public (ratepayer) funds to solve this problem. That would be considered a gift of public funds  and against State law.”   

This is a map of our sewer line.

The perplexing part of the issue is that the city does not claim responsibility NOW, but if we were to fix  the problem at our expense, they would resume ownership of the line.  Also, the city does not allow  private persons (us) to do any maintenance work in the alley (even though they claim that we have  “shared ownership” of the line), so we would have to use their contractors to do the work.    An important point to consider is whether or not it would be prudent to replace the entire line, or just the  40-foot section that appears to be damaged so far.  Although we haven’t received a formal estimate yet, just to replace the line from Edwards to Whatcom Street.  The pipe is 6” in diameter and is between 60  and 90 years old, made of concrete and similar pipes have been known to fail in other areas.  Regardless  of what needs repair in the alley, Miguel and I will also have to repair the line from our house to the main  line, as that appears to be damaged as well.   

If you have any information on this issue, or if you know anyone in Bellingham that has experienced a  similar problem, your input is valuable.  At this point, we have met with the York Neighborhood  Association, and have several people contacting prominent players in the community for help.  We are  strongly opposed to fixing the line in the alley on our bill (personally or as a group), and quite frankly it  should be the city’s responsibility.  The bottom line, however, is that something needs to be done to fix  the problem immediately, or eventually, it will affect everyone on the block.    We’re sure the city has experienced this same problem in other areas of Bellingham, but their answers to  our questions as far as “who is responsible” don’t seem reasonable. 

Stop by and See the Problem this weekend (we’ll be digging in the backyard)  When we receive more information, we may be calling a meeting with as many people as possible on our  street to talk about our options.  In the meantime, we’re dealing with it and trying to form a solution as  fast as possible.  We ask our neighbors to please conserve and to be extra-conscious of what goes down your drain  for the next several days (please no chemicals, harsh detergents, etc); as it is most likely ending up in  someone’s yard.

This morning about 6am, we received our 2nd dog for dogsitting.  Our house sounds like a kennel whenever someone walks by on the sidewalk.  The dogs, my dogs especially, have a knack for making it sound like they've been neglected and hungry for days on end.  Howling, barking, whining and chirping.  Today, with 4 dogs, I came home and it literally sounded like we were raising wolves.  Lucy can't stand it when we as much as look at the new dogs.  She seems certain that we're getting ready to replace her at any time.  Mocha, on the other hand, seems to be fairly indifferent, but she tries to keep everyone inline with a bark here and there.  She also enjoys feeding off of the new dogs' barking and carrying on long after they've stopped.

The reason this is worthy of a blog entry is because with Inari's visit, I've become aware of the power of Purple Monster.  Inari has been at our house before, and she always seems to have a magnetism to Purple Monster.  Our friend gave us Purple because his dog, who always chewed squeaky toys into oblivion, would just stare at Purple and bark at it.  His dogs were afraid of the monster.  Lucy took a liking to Purple immediately and she picked him out of the toy bucket as first choice for several months. 

This morning, Inari continued to revisit the toy bucket but was hesitant to grab anything out of it.  Then I realized, on her 4th visit, that Purple Monster was staring at her.  She was building the courage to pick him up I think.  Bear was quite interested in everything in the toy bucket.  He proceeded to take about 15 of the toys out, one at a time, and lay them in the front yard.  He didn't touch Purple Monster, though.  Finally, I heard the familiar squeak, and Inari had finally caught the mysterious monster toy.  She was thrilled and very protective, I might add, and had absolutely no intention of giving him to me, or anyone else. 

Bear and Inari fought a bit over Purple Monster, and Inari was very pleased when Bear finally gave up, so she could squeak the hell out of Purple.  We went into the computer room and she layed down with Purple for about 15 minutes before she started making ground on the destruction of his legs.  Alas, I would like to make sure Inari and all the dogs have a chance to play with Purple in the future, so I took him away and propped him on a shelf so she could see him (and he could see her).  She watched Purple on the shelf for the next 20 minutes.

When I finally left for work, Inari was sitting in the extra bedroom, still fixated on Purple Monster.  It's 1:15 now, and I bet she's still watching him.

Katrina, Rich & Friends,

Welcome to Lucy & Mocha's Bed & Breakfast, where guests get the pleasure of a human-sized bed in exchange for giving us breakfast.  We have to tell you that we are very excited about having you here for the 4th of July and we can't wait to see where you're going to take us.  Heather & Miguel left leashes on the table, but we don't really need them - right? 

We personally dont think it is enough, but Heather or Miguel usually give each of us a bit less than a full container of dogfood every morning and night.  Lucy's food is in the tupperware container behind the door in the kitchen & Mocha's (mine) is in the blue bag.  We also eat hamburgers and steak if you happen to have any of that.   Our favorite treat (when being left alone and sad in the house) is one of the dog-bone shaped treats in the fridge.  You can eat them too, but we would like to have as many as possible.  If Bear comes with you, we would like him to try one or two, because we think he will like them.

Now, we have to tell you that our step-sisters, often called "the chickens" can be noisy in the morning.  If they're squaking and carrying on before 8am, you can sprinke some birdseed in their cage.  That ought to shut them up for a bit.  Birdseed is in the blue bin in the laundry room.

We've made up a couple of beds for all of you.  Be sure to let us know if you need anything.  

Love, Mocha & Lucy

P.S. If  you're going to be gone for more than a day, just fill our bowls with a few cups of food and make sure the water bowls are full.  We'll manage the portions ourselves until Heather & Miguel get back.

P.P.S.  We will escort you to Franklin Park at any time (esp. 8am) for some frisbee and poop dropping & picking.  Bags are in the entry way.  

P.P.P.S.  You can have any food in the kitchen.

Yikes!  We were looking at our beehive the other day and there were several, like 30 bees walking around with deformed wings.  It was sad, really.  The wings were either short or just twigs, and the bees were just wandering around looking sad that they were kicked out of the hive, but had nowhere else to go.  We rushed to the internet and found that it is probably a virus called DMV that is spread via the "Varroa mite".  Those pesky mites.  I hate them.  We purchased a 21-day treatment of Formic acid that comes in the form of a "pad" that goes on the top of the frames.  Hopefully in 3 weeks they'll be all gone and our bees will by flying again.