Thoughts on birthing....

Marli's birth story wasn't what I would call my ideal plan. I wanted to have a completely natural birth with no epidural and no Pitocin. My water broke two weeks before my duedate, I went to the hospital about an hour and a half later without feeling ANY contractions. Zip. Zero. Zilch. So, they began to give me Pitocin 2.5 hours after my water broke. Ick. Not really what I wanted to have to do to speed things up, but when your water breaks, times a tickin'. My first contraction (of course it was induced so it was worse than a natural one) hit me and it was painful. I stuck it out naturally for 11 hours and then decided at 2am (after finding out I was only at 3cm) that I wanted an epidural. So, I got one and promptly fell asleep. Since many women actually have shorter labors than 11 hours, I felt I did a good job at sticking it out for at least that long!

In the morning, I continued to labor and they kept checking me and my progress was just not coming along. Marli was just too comfy in there. By 2pm the following afternoon, I was FINALLY dilated to 10cm...sort of. There was a bit of an issue with my cervical opening and the nurse had to hold it open slightly while I pushed...interesting. I pushed for 2 hours with absolutely no progress. I was pushing for all I was worth, too! Since it had been 27 hours since my water broke and there was some concern that the baby would have a dry birth (definitely not good!) I was taken in for a c-section. :(

The last thing I wanted to hear was that the baby wasn't going to come out the natural way. I cried and Ibis just held my hand and said that I was doing a good job and it doesn't matter how the baby gets here, just that she gets here healthy. So, off to the operating room I went with Ibis in his oh-so-sexy blue scrubs. At 4:36pm November 6th, Marli Jayne was born at 8lbs 1oz. Completely healthy and with a very cone-shaped head. I was told that she was face up and the cord was wrapped around her neck. So THAT'S why she was being stubborn and not coming out. It made me feel a bit better. Also, because of my condition with Gestational Diabetes, the fact that the doctor let me go so long with the labor (since she could have been a lot bigger) was good, though futile in the end.

Moving on to Penelope. My goal is to try it again. I may seem silly, but I don't like failure. Not that Marli's birth was necessarily a failure. I just want to have that opportunity to put my baby up to my chest and hold her immediately after the birth instead of waiting 3 hours!!! Ridiculous. I had to wait in recovery, then they didn't bring me Marli until 7:30pm. My plan for Pepper is to have another trial of labor and NOT have to have Pitocin and an epidural and a c-section. Why do I want to inflict this kind of torture on my body? Because I'm a woman and that's what my body is meant to do. It will know what to do when the time comes. I also feel a bit more prepared as far as my expectations and how it feels. I'm just praying that I can deliver the way I would like and hoping for the best.

Getting Closer

I am now almost 34 weeks pregnant with baby #2. This child has nonstop hiccups! So annoying, really, but totally normal evidently. Marli never had them in the womb. Coco tells me that Annya had them every single day when she was in the womb. Ah, well.

I am carrying this baby a bit differently from before. Marli was very much all around and my tummy was round and wide. This baby is sitting right in front and I kinda look like I swallowed a basketball. Every pregnancy is different!

I have been diagnosed once again with Gestational Diabetes. Boo! But, like before, I seem to be losing weight in this last trimester as opposed to gaining it. The baby is gaining, but I'm losing weight all over my body. Sounds good to me! This is because of the strict diet I'm forced to be on. Very little carbs and absolutely NO sweets. :( If you know me, you know that's tricky for me to do. Because I have to hold myself accountable by pricking my finger after every meal and testing my blood sugar, I make sure I'm eating the right things. Also, if you know me, you know I don't like to fail, so I've been pretty good about my diet!

My sweet friend, Jessica, has offered to throw me a baby shower even though this is my second girl. I truly don't need anything other than diapers and wipes and some new bottles, but she insisted, so what can I do? So sweet of her.

Ibis has been working hard as a foreman for the company he's been with for the past couple years. A lot of overtime lately to get this particular jobsite done.

I've been teaching dance, cake decorating and still working my MK biz when I can. Things are good and we're just waiting rather impatiently for Penelope to make her appearance. I'm thinking that she'll be coming out right around Halloween. Spooky!

Somethin's in the Oven!

And, no, it's not a cake! Well, I hope it's not! We will be welcoming our newest addition to the family this coming November (same due date as Marli's, actually - who could have planned that?!). We're very excited and I'm very sick and tired. But, I am very much looking forward to a new little one to hold and love. Marli and the new wee babe will be exactly 4 years apart, which I believe is perfect for my sanity and those around me. Marli is such a good helper and is always taking care of everyone. :) She'll be a great big sister. I had my first ultrasound last week and the baby is in the right place and heart is beating nice and fast! No gestational diabetes (YAY!) yet for this pregnancy, but they'll check me later on at about 28 weeks where it most likely will show up. :( Stay tuned for more news!

New Year!

Princess Marli and Princess Mia

So, things have been busy for us this year thus far. I'm teaching tons of dance classes a week in public schools, choreographing for a musical and a show choir, teaching cake classes and I just finished performing in The Gondoliers at Lyric at the Birch in the role of Tessa. Whew! Not to mention, being a wife and mother on top of all that. Somehow, I manage to be home enough so my daughter knows who her mommy is and Ibis knows who his wife is. Ibis is super busy, too, with calling high school basketball games and working full-time, sometimes overtime.

Marli is growing and growing and growing! She loves to talk and is so curious. She loves her "so sunny days" and is just a precious gem. I'm on a waiting list for preschool for her to start in the fall at Sevick Elementary. It's a reverse mainstream program. They are looking for normal-functioning 3 year olds to be examples in classes with children with Autism and other disabilities. Since it's decidedly cheaper and Marli has been around Tristan (her cousin with Autism) for 3 years, I felt it would be a good match for her. We'll see how she does if she's accepted.

I'll be starting Faust in the chorus at San Diego Opera next month and will be choreographing in the summer. I'm also auditioning more and have a big one coming up in March for all the theater companies in San Diego. That should get me lots of work....at least I'm hoping! :)

The Big 3

We had a busy busy weekend planned for this little girl. We did Disneyland on Friday with Ibis, myself and a friend of mine and didn't get home until almost 1am. Whew! If that wasn't enough, we got up the next day and went to the San Diego Zoo with my mom. She has passes and got us in for free. :) We were there all day and then I came home and made my homemade spaghetti sauce for the party/dinner for Sunday evening with both sides of the family.

Marli had such a blast. We dressed her up as Princess Aurora and we got pictures with Jasmine, Tiana, Belle, Woody and some army guys from Toy Story. I try to get pictures with different characters we've never seen every time we go to Dland. She LOVES Disneyland and can point out anything you ask her to point out on the map. She even knows the place I like to take her for lunch. LOL!

If any of you have ever been to the San Diego Zoo, you would know that it's so incredibly hilly that one can burn a ton of calories just walking around pushing a stroller all day. Oy! I had two days of being on my feet and I was dead by Saturday night!

The Sunday party was great! She got so many presents (mostly clothes and just a few toys) and had so much fun having all the attention on her. I made her cake (Sleeping Beauty) and the whole dinner for about 25 people. We had a pinata that she refused to come outside to hit. However, she insisted that she get her own bag of candy from it. We ended up having the other kids in the family hit the thing and some of us grownups too.

Anyway, she had a very fun weekend and so did Mommy and Daddy. :o)

Gigi's Over

I had one of the best experiences in being Gigi at Lyric. What a great show it was! I am so grateful for that theater company and their belief in me as an actress/singer/dancer. I wish I could do every show there! The final Saturday performance was magical. I'm not sure why exactly, but there was something about it that just spoke to me and made me truly understand why it is that I perform and why I was given my talents. I'm so happy that that was the performance that they taped. :)

Me during rehearsal...This was a photo taken for the Union Tribune newspaper for an artical that came out the day before the show opened.

Me and Leon Natker, General Director of Lyric at the Birch

Benjamin Robinson (my Gaston)


Leigh Scarritt and Rita Cantos Cartwright in background, me and Ben after ballet number
Me and Leigh Scarritt as my Aunt Alicia
The Night They Invented Champagne! Rita, Benjamin and myself

Happiest Place on Earth

This year, Ibis and I decided to get annual passes for Disneyland. Let me tell you, we're making the most of them! I bought them in May and I've already been 5 times! I'll be going again tomorrow, too. :) Here are some fun pictures we've taken the past two times we've gone.

Cute pic of Marli with her brand new Minnie Mouse hat.

We had it embroidered with Marli Jayne on it.

This was taken while standing in line for Pirates of the Caribbean.
Marli LOVES The Sword in the Stone. She watches that movie all the time, so it was appropriate to have her try to take the sword out!

Last time we took Marli, she was so scared of all the characters! Finally, this last time she warmed right up to them. She gave them hugs and she was smiling. Much better!

It was the end of the evening and we were getting Marli's hat embroidered over on Main St. Off to the side, kind of out of the way, Minnie, Mickey and Goofy came over, so we got right in and took pictures. Goofy was all silly (of course!) and he wanted to include the janitorial staff members who were standing around there. :)

The Mouse himself!

Waiting in line for Pirates.

A mommy and Marli pose.

I don't know about anyone else, but I've NEVER seen the Fairy Godmother around at Disneyland. I had to get a picture!

I love this statue of Walt Disney and Mickey Mouse. One of my favorite places in the park.

We were first in line over at California Adventure to see Mickey.

She LOVES Disneyland. She gets so excited the whole week before we go.

Of course, we had to get a picture of Cinderella (or C-lella, as Marli says)

Obligatory pic at the entrance.