Misha "UP"date

Misha surprised me yesterday. "Silly" has become Misha's favorite sign. He does it all the time. When he sees one of the neighbor boys who is always saying hi to him, Misha invariably signs "silly". But yesterday, I was sitting in front of the computer working and Misha came over and was lounging around. Somewhere in the play, he said I was silly...which usually means that he signs "silly" and we ask who is silly and he signs either "mama" or "papa" depending on who he is talking to and who is being silly. Well, when he called me silly, I sign "no" "you" "silly" and told him "No, you are silly." He shocked me good by repeating the sign sentence "no" "you" "silly".

Misha has picked up on the baby thing. When he sees Kolya, or we are talking about him, Misha will say "bee-bee". That kid may not be able to express himself as fully as another kid, but he understands alot more than he lets on.

Even more tidbits

They goofed at the hospital. We took Kolya in for a checkup cause we broke him outta the joint so early. He wasn't 19.5 inches, he is 21.75 inches. And he has only lost 1.5 ounces. Ira's milk is in so he should beef up quite nicely.

Took Misha to the park this evening. He is getting so good at climbing, it's a scary thing. He is doing well at the stiff chain ladders and even tried to go up the curved horizontal bar ladder...you know the kind that go in an arc from the ground to a platform and just have horizontal bars spaced right enough for a kid to fall through. I had to help him with that, but he is doing much better. And he walked all the way there and back.

Other tidbits

I forgot to add the kids reactions to Kolya's arrival. When I called mom right after he was born, she told the kids and then told me that they were "dancing around the kitchen". This, of course, was probably followed by requests to come see him.

The next morning, I took them over to see mom and baby. We got into the room with Ira and the bassinet containing Kolya and they started asking where he was. I think they thought he would be Misha's size, or something like that. They all got a turn holding him and had a bunch of questions. Misha looked at him, said "Bebe", gave him a lean-in hug and then it was all about Mama. I'll have to post the pic with him on the hospital bed with Ira. He still says "Bebe" whenever he sees him or even when I mentioned his name over the phone. He is aware, but not engaged. He did reach through the crib and try to snag him yesterday morning though. Gonna have to watch him closely, I guess.

The last two nights, either I have been really tired, or dad-preservation mode has kicked in cause I haven't heard Kolya squawking at night. I think I only have woken up when Ira turns on her lamp and blinds me awake, but my selective hearing must be turned on. Not that I am complaining, mind you. I am still tuned in to Misha, though.

Nikolai has arrived!

Yesterday the kids were invited to sing "I am a Child of God" in sacrament meeting. One verse in English and the last two in Russian. Ira and I were invited to say the opening/closing prayers as well. Ira had her class and I was asked, at the last minute to teach Asya's class. It was a busy Sunday. Ira joked that after church stuff was done she would be available to give birth. Needless to say, when church was over, we thought we were in clear for the day. We weren't even having dessert cause the grandparents were busy helping with an open house.

After lunch, about 3 p.m. during the middle of a Monopoly match between Kiril and I, Ira mentioned that her Braxton Hicks contractions were getting stronger. Now, you have to take that with a grain of salt cause Ira has been complaining about the contractions for days now. But she said that these were different. Then they started getting stronger. So we had her start her sleep and slow breathing. Then they faded and got quieter. We were having a conundrum. Either we wait and maybe rush to the hospital or get sent home. So we called mom and dad and let them know that it may be today...or not. Then we walked around the block. She had 4 contractions just walking around the block. It was now about 6 p.m. and we decided to go. During the interim, we had gathered the kids stuff to take to baba's house and so we were ready to load it into the van and take off. So we took the kids to the open house, dropped them off. Ira wasn't sure whether or not she was ready to go, so we hung out at baba's for a while. She had a few contractions and we decided to drive.

Even after doing the pre-admittance, she didn't want to go up, so we walked around for a while until she was ready. By the time we got up there and in the room it was 7:30ish. I timed her last contraction at 7:39. She was 6cm.


With this pregnancy, Ira decided to go unmedicated and to try hypno-breathing. Jennifer swears by it, so at least I had someone I trust give a good reference for it. So throughout all her contractions she had been practicing her slow breathing. Standing up, her contractions more frequent, but when she went to the bathroom they were strong.

So there we were, in the hospital. I wasn't sure what I was supposed to do, so I just read to her out of the book and paused when she was having contraction. I talked with the nurses for her, when I could and just did what she told me to. A little after 9:30, she her contractions were getting stronger and a bit more uncomfortable. She decided she wanted the epidural. Before they put it in, they decided to check her one more time. She was fully dilated and she decided to wait for Dr. Glenn and push. Just then he walked in, suited up and we got things going. It took about 3 pushes, but she was extremely calm during them...not like the last time when she was pulling a Bill Cosby's wife.

It was over and done with quicker than I would have expected. Ira wouldn't let them take him immediately and held him for a while. Then they weighed him, cleaned him up a bit and she got to feed him. He was 7lbs. 12 oz, 19.5 inches, and got 9/10 on his Apgars. He came out pink and squawking. I accompanied him down to the nursery for his work over. Then the nurse in charge of Ira was busy with something so I got to hold him for about 1.5 hours until she was ready.

I hung about the hospital until about 2ish and then decided that I wouldn't get to sleep in those fold out chairs with nurses popping in and out all the time, so I headed home and called Baba Liza and let her know.


So, Ira is somewhat of a heroine in the ward there, from what Dr. Glenn and one of the nurses said. The nurse said that it was the calmest unmedicated birth that she had seen in her 2 years in the maternity ward.

It has been a lot of fun watching Misha lately. He has started to pick things up which we have been working on forever. He is progressing simultaneously in fine and gross motor skills, as well as his speech.

• Misha has developed enough muscle mass that he has started climbing. He crawls up and down the couches, beds, and chairs. At the park, he has started climbing the chain ladders other climbing bits. Of course, most of the time I am standing behind him guiding or helping. But he is doing it and has the courage to try. And that is something.
• After months and months of working with him, he started to sign "Mama" and "Papa" with his fingers extended. He is finally trying to sign "juice". Signing Time is doing wonders with his signs. He has picked up "wind", "leaf", "silly", etc.
  
• He is still trying new words/sounds verbally. One of the people from Kids on the Move was here today and said to try to give him motivation and reinforcement to says words and sounds. He tries sometimes, but still falls back on "up" or laughs when he thinks its too hard.

School is out and that will give Ira more time with the kids...until Kolya is born. She has grand plans for a summer learning program with them...all in Russian, of course. We'll see how things go with a newborn in the house....which will be any time now. Dr. Glenn says Kolya has engaged (lowered), and Ira is at 2cm and 60% effaced. I expect a panicked call at work.