I love paternity leave!

We've been so lucky to have Drew for the past 2 weeks and we get him for one more week! Here's a little update on what we've been doing.

Joaquin

This kid is such a sleeper!! It's awesome. But when he does decide to open his eyes he is such a cutie. He's a really happy, chill little guy. He had a doctor's visit yesterday and he's doing great. He's gained nearly a whole pound and grown almost an inch. I guess when all you do is eat and sleep you grow pretty fast. He also has a belly button.

Stella

My little princess. She's such a girl. She loves everything to do with princesses. From Cinderella to seeing Spain's Royal Palace. She thinks the princess is sleeping. She also loves to have her finger and toe nails painted. And every time she sees something she likes she says "Que Rico!" It's really cute. She also loves holding Joaquin. If he's ever crying (which hardly ever happens) she immediately goes over and gives him a kiss and says "it's ok baby" If this doesn't work she picks him up and brings him to us. Yes, our little 2 year old thinks that she can carry Joaquin around. Its kinda scary when you see her walking down the hallway saying "heavy, baby sad, heavy" So needless to say we try and keep a close eye on her.

Isaac

He has totally enjoyed all the daddy time he can get. He wakes up and asks what he can do today. Meaning can we play video games today. So Isaac and Drew have had some good bonding time with the Wii. Isaac also enjoys Joaquin. When he notices that Joaquin has his eyes open he goes over and says "Hi I'm Isaac." Just in case he has forgotten. He also loves to hold his brother. Today he received a new DVD in the mail from Grandma Gail. This totally made his day! He loves scooby doo. Thanks.

Daddy

Has been a bumb. He loves paternity leave too. He has enjoyed spending time with the kids and relaxing. He's read a few books, played a lot of Wii and been a great Daddy and husband. I love seeing him with the kids. He's so good at giving them each quality time and seeing their needs. He's also been a lot of fun to bum around with. I'm really going to miss him when he goes back to work.

Me

Wow, I love my family. Three kids is awesome. I love seeing them all interact together. It feels like we all have a part and we fit together perfectly. I love them all so much. I've been feeling great. My recovery has been awesome. I'm a little tired thanks to Joaquin having such a big appetite but other than that I don't feel like I've had a baby. It's been great. We're trying to get right back into things. I'm starting a Spanish class tomorrow. I really need some help with my conjugating and past tense. My comprehension is really good but nobody understands me. So hopefully this will help.

We're trying to enjoy our last week with Daddy by seeing some of Madrid's sites. Today we went on the Teleferico, this was Drew's first time. The kids loved it and Drew was able to see the Palace for the first time. Later this week we'll try and hit the Zoo, an amusement park and maybe a couple museums. We are also excited for the first BYU game on Saturday night. We'll probably order pizza and hopefully be able to watch the game. It's kind of hard being in Spain. They don't really broadcast BYU football here. So hopefully Drew will be able to find it!

Random Thursdays: Birth and Parenting in Spain

Eryka was pretty brave to give birth in Spain, considering the high rate of cesarean sections and common administration of episiotomies for vaginal births -- her two biggest fears when it came to delivering a baby. Some sources report the rate of cesarean sections in Spain as high as 40% in public hospitals, with the rates even higher in private hospitals.

http://www.expatica.com/actual/article.asp?subchannel_id=91&story_id=31786

As Eryka was roaming the hospital the day after delivering Joaquin, she passed by the nurses' station and noticed a list of women who had recently delivered, indicating whether the birth was natural or by cesarean section. Of the twelve women in the maternity ward, ten had cesarean births. In some of these cases, it's an emergency cesarean, but in many cases at private hospitals, women schedule the procedure. They don't want to deal with the pain of labor and delivery; they just want that baby removed, with as little hassle to them as possible. We have met several women here in Spain with this mentality. It is slightly bizarre to us (especially since we associate a cesarean birth with a more difficult, painful recovery), but certainly in line with much of what we have observed of parenting in Spain.

Most women here don't have children until they're between 35 and 45, and then usually only have one. In the most tender years, parenting seems very hands off. Many parents we see don't seem to want to get close to their small infants - the babies are treated like little disease carriers, with a 24/7 quarantine. We see many babies on the street being toted around in their high-end bassinet-style strollers, at a safe distance from mom and dad. Very rarely do we see parents actually holding their infant children, and the only Baby Bjorn we have seen in Spain is the one we use for Joaquin.

We once mentioned our observation of how parents treat their infants to our Bishop, who is from the U.S. and has lived here for nearly twenty years. He said he noticed the same thing, though pointed out that the parental tendency to keep the kids distant in early years tends to reverse as kids reach their late teenage years. At that point, parents can't seem to keep their kids close enough. Which is probably why so many Spaniards don't leave home until they're 35.

Just a couple pictures

Doing what he does best!
Have you ever tried to take pictures of 3 kids?
The proud sister.
Chilling with big brother!

What a cutie.

Joaquin is a sleeper - but he's in the wrong time zone

Being born three weeks early, Joaquin has a lot of growing to do, so he spends a lot of time sleeping and eating. Only problem is, he'd rather do his sleeping during the day and his eating at night. Could this possibly be the result of our Spanish nurses deciding to bathe him every night at midnight from the day he was born, thereby fully arousing his senses and confusing his little internal clock? I don't know, but I do know they do a few things differently at the hospitals here in Spain. And since Spain is a country so steeped in tradition everyone already expects you to understand the processes and procedures, and many Spaniards are not used to having to provide answers or having their assumptions challenged.

For example, while Eryka was in labor, one of the pediatric nurses came to us to ask for clothing and diapers for the baby when he was born. We were utterly confused, since in all our other birthing experiences, the hospital had provided basic clothing and diapers for our children when they were born. Luckily, Eryka had brought a few outfits for when we brought Joaquin home, but diapers? We never would have imagined we needed to bring our own diapers. When I mentioned my confusion to the doctor, he was actually a little confused as well. When he looked into it, he said they have diapers at the hospital, they just charge such high rates for them and since a lot of people are paying their own bill (because it's a private, as opposed to public hospital), they opt to bring their own diapers and their own clothes. We learned from our friends later that all this stuff is provided at public hospitals in Spain (100% covered by the govt.) and is also available at private hospitals, but most people who come to private hospitals are rich and want to dress baby in their own clothes. I guess we just didn't understand the system and no one made it very clear to us before the big day - we were just expected to know how it works. So we may not have a clue about delivering babies in Spanish private hospitals, but at least we had a well-manicured garden just off of our room.

The garden outside the recovery rooms in the maternity ward of the hospital.

We're also supposed to already know how to register our boy with the civil registry. In Maryland and New York, a nurse would help us fill out the necessary paperwork and send it into the state. Here, we're given a sheet with the doctor's signature and Eryka's and Joaquin's fingerprints on which we need to fill in our information, but we had no clue where we were supposed to take it, and no one from the hospital seemed to know. I had to have my secretary track down the information for me. And incidentally, we don't get to choose Joaquin's last name, since the naming convention in Spain is to assign two last names based on Mom's and Dad's first and last names, respectively. So Joaquin's full name in Spain will be Joaquin Alexander Glover Glover. Don't worry, we'll drop the second last name for his paperwork in the States.

Joaquin's Story

It feels so good to be home. The hospital was really nice and pretty posh (We had a garden room.) but nothing is quite like home.

If my whole pregnancy went as smoothly as my labor, we'd be having a lot more kids. This is how it all started.

Tuesday, I had an appointment with the doctor and we decided to schedule an induction for Monday, August 20. I was excited. I've been having contractions for the past 2 months and on bed rest and medication for most of the time. So even though it was early, he would have been 37 weeks and considered full term, I think we were both ready. So I had an appointment to have some monitoring done Friday morning.

Friday morning I had had a couple contractions, this wasn't anything out of the ordinary but I called the doctor to let him know and just to confirm that I would be going in to the hospital for monitoring. When I got to the hospital they checked me. This is when we found out I was in labor and going to be having a baby shortly. I was at a 5 and apparently having contractions. The midwife told me to call Drew and she'd be back in a few minutes to start an IV. I was kind of shocked because I wasn't in any pain at all and I didn't feel these contractions. I really wanted to walk around for a while, climb some stairs anything to maybe get things going to a point where I had some pain or at least could feel the contractions. But she said we needed to start the antibiotic drip. (I'm strep B positive and your supposed to have the antibiotic for at least 4 hours.)

So they started the drip and I waited for Drew to come. During this time I found out that my doctor was just boarding a plane and wouldn't be able to make it. So I met my new doctor. He was really nice and a great doctor but doesn't speak English.

I was starting to rethink the whole idea of having a baby in Spain by this point. I thought great. I'm going to be stuck in bed all day with a pitocin drip waiting for contractions to start and slowly having this baby. Not the ideal picture in my head.

Then Drew showed up and I immediately felt like everything was going to be okay. I was progressing a lot faster and without any pain. The doctor and midwife kept coming in to check on me to see if I wanted an epidural or if I was even feeling the contractions. They were a little amazed that I was dilating as fast as I was and still had no pain. I ended up not needing the pitocin.

At 2:00pm they came to see how I was doing. I still had no pain and I was dilated to a 9. Now we were just waiting for the antibiotic to finish or my water to break. We didn't have to wait long. At 2:15 they checked again and my water broke. Within a minute I was ready to push. This is also where the no pain stops. I had some pretty intense pain as soon as my water broke.

After that it all went really fast and painful! They wheeled me to the delivery room and transfer ed me to another bed. After 2 pushes he was out. I don't know how anyone else does it. I only had 10 minutes of pain and that was enough for me.

But the part we had all been waiting for was finally here. Joaquin Alexander Glover was born at 2:25pm. He came out screaming and didn't stop for the first 30 minutes or so. He was active and breathing on his own. Just what I wanted to hear.

Joaquin is such a little guy. He's really calm and easy going. He's a cuddler! He loves to be held. He has hair everywhere and the hair on top of his head is falling out. We can't tell what color his eyes are yet. He's a sleeper. He's a really good nurser. He has long fingers and big feet just like his big brother and sister. His nose is a little crooked but we still love him. He's a finger sucker and has been for quite a while. He has a brown patch on his finger from sucking it in the womb. He has little ears and the cutest facial expressions. We love him so much. I feel so blessed to have him in our family. I can't believe how fast you can bond with a new baby. We defiantly all have.

Mom with Isaac & Stella right before leaving to go to the hospital.

The proud Dad!

Mom right after delivery.Isaac & Stella meeting Joaquin.Stella being a big sister.Joaquin thinking hard.

Isaac holding his new brother.

Our happy family!!!

Joaquin Alexander Glover

Joaquin Alexander Glover

August 17, 2007

2:25 pm

2.8 kilos or 6lbs 1oz

18.5 inches

More to come after I take a nap!

No Shame

Random Spanish Trivia

If your planning a trip to Spain in the summer time be aware of a lot of full frontal nudity. Modesty has a different meaning here in Spain. Little girls run around in bikini bottoms. A bikini is covering up and the norm is topless. I'm not just talking about little girls but everyone young and old. They have no shame! Ask Drew. The old ladies seem to be the worst. They let it all hang out if you know what I mean.

Anyways, just a little warning. We had a great day today. It started with a trip to the pool. This was really fun but short. The water was freezing. It's hot here but I think they pump freezing water into the pool every night. So after a few games of tag and some laying out we headed home.

Later Drew and I went to see The Bourne Ultimatum. I've been really excited to see it and it was the last thing on my "things to do before the baby comes" list. We both loved it.

After the movie we went and ordered a new stroller. I'm really excited about this. Isaac and Stella are both really good walkers so I wanted to get a single stroller. We have a maclaren that I totally love but it's really old. We bought it before Isaac was born and it has done its job in the city with 2 kids. We also have a phil & teds double stroller which I love but the wheel broke and so we needed to buy a new stroller. So we ordered it and hopefully we should get it in a month. Things run a little slow in Spain but oh'well. I'll wait.

Here are a few pictures at the pool.

Vacation Time!!!

Drew's vacation started this week. The best part of his job is the vacation time and paternity leave. He gets 4 weeks of each. So for the next couple weeks we get to really enjoy some family time. So far we've spent a lot of time chilling and playing at the parks. Spain is gorgeous in August. The weather is hot but nice. The people are more relaxed, mainly because they're all on vacation. Most Spaniards take off the month of August. This is good and bad. Streets are less crowded but a lot of stores are closed as well.

We're also taking things slow and easy for one more week. After Sunday the baby is full term. Hopefully we can make it that long. We've had a couple of close calls where we almost went to the hospital.

Random Spain Trivia

I'm going to start something new. Every Thursday I'll tell you something random about living in Spain.

Today's randomness...

In Spain nothing is on sale unless it's REBAJAS! This happens twice a year, in February and August. In February I was not impressed but this month I've found some really good things. I just looked up the websites of the stores I found stuff in and true to Spanish websites they don't have anything pictured. So imagine some really cute stuff for the kids and a couple things for me.

I really miss sales and shopping in the states but with clothes only being on sale twice a year I save a lot of money. I have a really hard time paying full price for anything. I always want some kind of sale. So yeah for August and Rebajas!!

Tagged

I’ve been tagged by Jaime!

Jobs I’ve had:
waitress
telemarketing
salon receptionist
furniture sales/ interior design
mom

Movies I can watch over and over:
Ocean’s Eleven
Grease
Sound of Music
I can’t think but I love to watch movies.

Books I can read over and over
Pregnancy books
Book of Mormon
John Grisham books
The Secret Life of Bees
Harry Potter

Places I have lived:
Las Vegas, NV
St. George, UT
Provo, UT
Washington, DC
New York, NY
Salt Lake City, UT
Houston, TX
Tuckahoe, NY
Madrid, Spain

Places I would like to visit:
Hawaii
London
Paris
Brazil
Any sunny beach

Places I have visited:
Mexico
Honduras
Cayman Islands
Belize
US Virgin Islands
Bahamas
Germany
Italy
France
Africa
Spain

TV shows I watch:
I haven’t watched any tv shows in months. I really miss American TV.

Foods I like:
watermelon
chocolate
ice cream
peaches
anything from yummy restaurants
NY pizza

I’d rather be:
shopping
playing at the park with my kids and friends
at the beach
spending time with Drew
traveling
anything besides lying down in bed waiting for a baby to come but hoping not to early!

Websites I visit daily:
email
blogs
foxnews.com
do you know of any good ones? I’m bored.

People I am tagging:
Bree
Chrislynn
KD
Jamil

"Oh no, My water broke"

I had Stella sitting on my lap facing me playing "head shoulders knees and toes" and all of the sudden I feel a warm stream of something. I stood up and thought, "Wow! My water just broke" Then I went to change my clothes and realized that Stella had an accident. I guess its a good thing to get peed on opposed to my water breaking. right?

Only 3 weeks to go!!!

So I totally love summer and going out for big adventures but unfortunately this year I'm on bed rest and need to keep this baby in me for 3 more weeks. So this adventures will have to wait. Don't worry they will come just with 3 kids instead of 2.

Anyways, here's a quick update on the pregnancy. I'm 34 weeks and a few days. Only 3 weeks to go!!! I know this sounds messed up but with the hospital being 30 minutes away, my body already dialated and effacing, I'm strep B positive and need antibiotics before the baby comes and the fact we don't really have anybody we can call to come watch the kids in an emergency that doesn't live at least 40 minutes away I'm going to schedule an induction. I forgot to mention I have really fast labors (Stella was born in under an hour) So we just need to chose a date after August 19. The doctor's really like this here and I'm game. Hopefully we can keep the little guy in until then. Wish us luck!