Password Protected Areas
(For access password, contact Marie or Ron)

Our Address & Directions

Marie's Family Tree

Fallen Leaf Lake Cabin - Directions & Info

Blaise's Birth Story - added 28 June 2004

Nine Months...

Most of the highlights of Marie's pregnancy with Blaise, including ultrasound images, were documented online in Blaise's web log (blog). In summary, Marie got pregnant on the first try. Although underneath Marie was happy, her first words were, "I think I'm going to be sick." Ron was shocked too. He was hoping to have a few more months of getting used to the idea of committing to a larger family (and hoping to have some more months of trying).

The first trimester was pretty hard for Marie -- super nausea which we finally realized was a reaction to the prescription prenatal vitamins she was taking. Marie had some minor complications here & there (like a blocked urethra for about 8 days - ouch! and early contractions caused by an infection), but she made it!

Ron wasn't able to concentrate much on Blaise's 9 months as a fetus, because it's not quite the same with a pre-preschooler around. But Blaise's super activity in the womb couldn't be ignored. He was quite the mover. It was always neat watching Marie's belly move around as if an alien was inside trying to get out.

...and one Day

Blaise was born on Wednesday June 23, 2004 at 8:30pm. Since Marie had been having false labor nightly for almost three weeks, when she awoke at 3am on the 23rd, she

initially thought the contractions were likely to go away by morning. But at 6am, she saw no signs of the contractions subsiding. She told Ron, but he was hoping that it was a false alarm. He really wasn't ready (when would he be???).

Marie took Freya to the park in the morning. The contractions started getting more intense, but Marie tried not to react much and continued to play with Freya and chat with other playgroup moms. By the time she got home and had lunch with Ron, her contractions were about five minutes apart and of a

Ron immediately went into semi-panic mode trying to figure out what needed to be done first. Within seconds he was peppering Marie with questions.

Marie made a 4:30 appointment with her doctor (Dr. Lilia Lizano, Pinole, CA) to check on progress before the office closed, and Ron started finishing up packing his bag -- putting the cell phones and chargers in his backpack and preparing dinner for him -- PB&J sandwiches and Power Bars. Marie's mother (Chula), father (Hubert), and sister (Claire) were vacationing near Lake Tahoe so we called to say "It's time!" It would take quite a while for them to get to Hercules, so we arranged to have a friend, Portia Lee, care for Freya between 6pm and when Marie's parents arrived. (Cecelia, Freya's babysitter watched her from 3-6pm.)

When Marie finally got in to see the doctor (at 5pm), she was 3 centimeters dialated and her cervix was 80% effaced. Dr. Lizano asked if we wanted to go immediately to the hospital, but we needed to go home to pack the car and walk Freya over to Portia's house.

On the short walk to Portia's house, Marie had to stop a few times for contractions (standing behind Freya's stroller). Each time Freya said, "Why we stopping? This Portia's house?" By the time Marie & Freya got to Portia's, Marie's contractions were very intense. She went to the bathroom for a contraction there, so as not to frighten Freya and her friends!

Freya really enjoyed being at Portia's house, because she got to have dinner there, jump on their trampoline, and then take a bath with her friend Tatiana. As

you'll hear, the next 1-2 days were heaven for Freya.

The ride to the hospital was tough, but Marie maintained focus and could still talk in between contractions. When we arrived at Alta Bates Hospital in Berkeley (at 6:45pm),

Marie was immediately admitted, and our Doula, Meghan Lewis, showed up shortly after. Meghan was great. She had a bag of tricks to help Marie cope. Ron stepped out of the room to get the CD player, and when he got back at 7:30, Marie was in tough shape. She was trying different positions with Meghan, but felt like she was losing control and wouldn't be able to continue. She began begging for help (an epidural). Unfortunately, there were a few emergency cesearean sections going on at the time and the anesthesiologists were unable to come to Marie's aid in time. We were hoping

they would arrive quickly, but Blaise arrived quicker.

The doctor on call, Dr. Jill Foley, was great. Meghan and the nurse, Tanya, kept Marie from pushing until Dr. Foley got there. She helped Marie guide her pushing. Ron didn't get

light-headed this time (at least not too much).

It took three more hours for a recovery room to be ready and nobody got much (any?) sleep. Blaise has morning and night reversed. He didn't really sleep any length of time until 7:30 Thursday morning.

Day Two

Freya, Marie's parents, sister Claire, and her two children Ellie & Angelo visited the hospital at 11am Thursday morning. Freya was super excited. First she got to spend the

evening at Portia and Tatiana's house; then her Grandma Chula and Grandpa Bear came to pick her up, and then her cousins Ellie & Angelo slept over; and then she came to meet her baby brother.

Freya is a very protective sister already. Chula rested her hand on Blaise for a short while, and Freya looked at Marie and said, "I don't want she touch baby." Plus Freya received a gift from Blaise himself! He gave her a baby front carrier for her dolls.The food service man gave all four of the children a small teddy

bear; Freya's went immediately into her carrier.

One strange coincidence that occurred in the hospital was that on the tag of the tea bag that Marie used with her noon tea one day was the following quote:

"We arrive at the truth, not by the reason only, but also by the heart." -- Blaise Pascal

Days Three - Seven

Marie, Ron & Blaise went home on Friday (Day 3) in the early afternoon. Blaise sleeps very well during the day, but night time is a different story. Luckily he is a better sleeper than Freya was (for now at least). But Night #6 was rough. Let's hope it's not a precedent.

Thank you for your interest in reading this whole page! We'll update Blaise's section of the web from time to time. Please do check out his web log and his sister Freya's web log.!

Take care!

Love, Marie, Ron, Freya & Blaise