Tuesday, December 4, 2007

The Model at 31 Weeks


Last week we set up a space in the attic and I took pictures of Keel and Oona at 31 weeks. They came out really well. Keel won't let me post the full figure poses, but she was an excellent model and lighting issues aside, I'm proud of the pictures.


Monday, December 3, 2007

Birth Education

So we've begun the countdown to delivery. Most recently by starting childbirth education classes. Since we are planning (but not necessarily expecting) a fully natural birth, we both have a lot of preparation. Frankly, the classes are mostly for me. I'm learning not just more about the birth process and what Keely and Oona will need from me, but also all the many little things I need to remember to do, to pack, to call, and be.

On Saturday we took a Yoga for Delivery class at IYI (Integral Yoga Institute) in the West Village. That's the place where Keely was trained as a yoga instructor and also where our doula, Kali, works. I learned lots of ways to physically support Keel through contractions and have started making my list of props we'll want nearby during early labor (pillows, balls, food, water, etc.).

Then on Sunday, Kali, our doula (birth coach) came to our house for a home visit. She stayed nearly 4 hours as we went through all the things we can expect and how Keely, Kali, and I will work together to get Oona out in the most rewarding way we can. Kali is great, experienced, and passionate about birthing. It is definitely a plus that her and Keel (me too) share an intellectual and spiritual home at IYI.

And if that isn't enough for one week, we are now in childbirth education classes every Wednesday at Full Circle. It feels a lot like group therapy where we sit in a circle discussing the issues we all go through during pregnancy. I'm assuming that was just the first week and the next will feel more like a standard class where I spend my time learning all the stuff I need to know from support for breathing techniques to when to go make hot chocolate. In any case, we are ratcheting up the energy and building momentum as Keel continues to put on inches with Oona making herself constantly known through kicks and turns and pushes and taps.

Thursday, November 15, 2007

growing oona and a growing list of stuff

What OOna and mom have now:
  • 10 onesies (mostly 3-6 months)
  • 6 baby blankets (ranging in sizes)
  • cradle
  • stroller
  • 3 stuffed animals (frog, bear, puppy)
  • 1 bib
  • 1 burp blanket
  • 3 shirt/pant tops
  • 2 pair socks
  • 1 cradle mattress sheet
  • 1 boppy nursing pillow and cover
What she'll likely need (still adding to this list):
Stuff we daydream about:

Wednesday, November 14, 2007

28 weeks and counting...


We went for an ultrasound yesterday to check Oona's heart in detail. Not really the best office visit we've had. We drove to a scanning facility in Yonkers and were there 2 1/2 hours for a simple ultrasound. The temperature was 85 and dry. Keely and I were wilting and looked liked we were ready to pass out when the doctor came in after the second hour. I definitely missed sitting in the nice midwife lounge. I passed the time reading Baby Catcher, something I'm hoping to try in a couple months.

We won't go back there, though we did get one good picture of Oona's developing face. She was 2 pounds 11 ounces yesterday. All four chambers of her heart looked well developed. Her heartbeat was strong around 130 bpm. They did lots of other checks on her organs but we'll likely wait to go over the details with our midwife. We just wanted to get out of that oppressive office. She's looking good though. No major issues to speak of.

Thursday, November 8, 2007

Oona party

In order to get one last party in before all the leaves dropped and before Keely turns into an even larger version of herself, we had a combo Fall Harvest party and Oona celebration this past weekend. Basically, Oona's local community all showed up to help us recognize Keely's hard work growing this girl and to help us get ready for the big event. Some pics are posted here, but what's not posted is all the "stuff for Oona" we received. Grandma McPhearson even managed to send out a wooden truck from a collection of my original baby stuff in good 'ole Hoosierland. We firmly believe it takes a community to help along any human in life, and Oona's community is strong, generous, loving, and frankly amazing. We are lucky to have such great friends and family.


Lots of wine and good fall harvest food and drinks of course. A hand picked Bordeaux wine tasting from 1995 to 2004, with St. Germain-champagne cocktails to start. We went all out for this one. The cheeses and fruit may have been the best part, all local and stellar.

Thanks to Polly and John for the super duper stroller. And thanks to everyone for everything Oona related. I'll be updating the list of Oona stuff shortly.

Friday, November 2, 2007

A little notice


You may or may not know this about Keely, but she is constantly checking out design websites and blogs, and lately interior design webspaces. What that also means is our decorating occasionally ends up on some webspace here or there. We have slowly been reworking the nursery/guest room now that our new bedroom/attic is finished. Apartmenttherapy.com just posted a story on our nursery here.

A little while back we were also redesigning our office space and apartment therapy posted a short story on that decorating job as well. You can see the evolution of the interior space, but also Keely's art. Look closely and you'll notice the tree went from a line drawing to a painting.

27 Weeks!

Oona turned 27 weeks yesterday. That means, not only can she hear quite well and is getting used to sounds, song, us talking, but she can open and close her eyes already. She's upwards of two pounds, and if you asking Keel, in a super growth spurt. This baby's gettin' big!

You can see more info on Oona's progress here.

Fun Fact: Doctors attend 92 percent of all U.S. births. Midwives attend only 8 percent. We are planning our delivery with a midwifery clinic called Full Circle Family Care. They are devoted to holistic and complete women's care. The bonus of this place, the only one in the tri-county area, is that they also provide pre-natal yoga classes, acupuncture, chiropractic care, counseling, GYN, and more. We are very happy with the quality and attention that Keely gets here. What's more, their hospital affiliation is with Phelps Memorial, in Sleep Hollow. This means Oona will be born in the town Washington Irving lived in when he wrote The Legend of Sleepy Hollow. I can see Oona dressed up for Halloween already with a giant flaming pumpkin on her head.

Keel's recent pumpkin

Last night Keel went to another pre-natal yoga class at Full Circle with our good friend Shannon, who is also pregnant (with her second), only a few weeks ahead of Keel. The same Full Circle yoga teacher is now teaching a class at Stone Barns. It's a small midwifery world.

Thursday, October 25, 2007

It's a girl!

I've wanted to post this picture for awhile. We went in for an ultrasound at 20 weeks, which was when we found out that Oona is a girl. Picking out names had wound to a halt since we just couldn't make any definite decisions without knowing the sex of this kid.

This is a prenatal ultrasound photo of Oona's butt with her legs off to the left. Notice how she's too big to fit all on the screen! Our technician drew a little arrow to show where her labia are actually visible. No chance of a boy in this belly.

We also found out that she is normal in every way. So far, a healthy quickly growing girl.

Tuesday, October 23, 2007

Stuff for Oona

So, we are beginning to collect some of the things we'll need once this bundle arrives. If you have a notion to help out, here are a few suggestions. For example, the stroller and car seat are some of the big ticket items, so if you feel like contributing, we'll be grateful.

We are trying to use furniture we already have, so for now we are not buying a crib, a changing table, or a bassinet. I'm not even going to suggest ideas for clothes. Most of you know what we need better than we do.

Here's a running list of what we already have:
- 2 mobiles
- 2 baby rattles
- a few t-shirts for 6 month (they were on super sale)
- a couple onesies

A few ideas we are currently thinking of:
- Clothes
- Swaddling Blankets
- Bibs, feeding, towels, blankets, etc.
- Diaper service
- Baby Medical Set
- Breast pump (Medela)
- Nova Natural products
- Bumbo Baby Sitter Green
- Boppy Pillow and slip cover (blue)
- My Brest Friend (no kidding!)
- Hushamok Green or Amby Baby Natural
- Bugaboo Stroller

Feel free to give us suggestions for what we might need or what might be smart of us to buy.
Thanks for being part of Oona's community. We love you and need you all.

Monday, October 22, 2007

First ultrasound

Hi all. This is the beginning of a blog for the beginning of a new human. We are calling her 'Oona Plum'. The name Oona has a couple important references. For me it is the name of Oona O'Neill, Eugene O'Neill's daughter and Charlie Chaplin's love who renounced her American citizenship to be with Chaplin when he was kicked out of the U.S. during the red scare. For Keely, Oona is the name of the daughter of one of our favorite all time artists, Jonas Mekas. His art is truly some of the greatest film of all time.

Our little Oona is due somewhere around Feb. 1, 2008. At the 13 week ultrasound she had all the right parts: five fingers and toes on each, no extras, no less. I was worried for awhile that she'd have six fingers, which is common in Keely's family. And she thought the inbred side came from Indiana! Ha! Well, actually it does. Keely's mother's family are Hoosiers just like mine. We'll be teaching Oona her roots.