by Judy Handley | Mar 22, 2012 | Cape Cod, USA, Sailing Logs Year 7 |
Day 135, Year 7: Oliver, Day 2
Date: Thursday, March 22, 2012
Weather: Foggy Morning, Beautiful Afternoon, Unseasonably Warm
Location: Brewer Fiddler’s Cove Marina, N Falmouth, MA
Writing ‘Oliver, Day 2’ sounds like an ocean passage log title. And I guess
the birth of a baby is a passage of a different sort. Like an ocean
passage, each day you make progress and this is the report of Oliver’s
progress. Oliver and mommy and daddy are doing great and will be coming
home from the hospital tomorrow. And Sam and Jonah are still in awe and
wonder at the new addition to their family. And I can’t tell you how
relieved Mark and I are that all is well. When Heather was diagnosed with
cholestasis last Friday, I think we were all in a state of mild shock. None
of us had heard of this obstetric liver condition and we certainly didn’t
like the possibilities for what could happen to the baby. Inducing the
birth early was just not something any of us had ever thought about, but
Heather and Jed definitely made the right decision to move quickly. Heather
found out yesterday the numbers on her liver enzymes had elevated
significantly from Friday to Tuesday and the doctor concurred that haste in
this situation was a good thing. I hate to think what could have happened
had Heather not researched the reason for her out-of-control itching and
taken action on it. In another few days Heather’s liver should be
functioning normally once again and Oliver is already doing all of the
things new babies should do even though he was an early term birth. He is
not having breathing difficulties and he nurses voraciously and then sleeps.
Sometimes early term babies have trouble staying warm and admittedly, Oliver
loves it under the special heat lamp. Thankfully, we are having warmer than
normal weather and will just have to keep him bundled for a couple weeks.
But basically, he is just fine. We were at the hospital this afternoon when
the doctor came in to see him. As she was checking him over and explaining
that he should have his first bowel movement in the first 24 hours, he
presented her with a lovely present! So all systems seem to be working just
fine. He is a very relaxed little guy and seems to enjoy having lively,
sometimes loud, little brothers around. He squeaks a little when an adult
speaks in a loud voice, but the squeals and antics of two brothers don’t
seem to bother him. And this is definitely a good thing. I got to hold him
for a nice long while this afternoon and didn’t want to give him up. And it
was very special for Sam that one his classmates, Ezra, had a baby brother
in the room next door a few hours after Oliver was born. Ezra’s baby
brother’s name is Simon, so Oliver already has a friend and a future
classmate.
Sam and Jonah have been so good for Mark and me the past couple of days. And
I mean extraordinarily good. I know they have missed mommy and daddy but
they have only mentioned that a couple of times. They have gone to bed on
time each night with no problem and have been sleeping late in the morning
Jonah gets up sometime before 7 am and comes in and gets in bed with Mark
and me, but then he goes back to sleep. So we’ve gotten plenty of rest and
are going to miss our morning snuggles with Jonah. Tonight Jed came home to
play with the boys, have dinner with us, and then put the boys to bed. At
bedtime, they made the transfer from daddy to Oma without too much of a
fuss. Tomorrow night Mark and I will be back on the boat and I don’t know
if I will make the transfer back as easily. I’m going to miss my little
guys.
by Judy Handley | Mar 21, 2012 | Cape Cod, USA, Sailing Logs Year 7 |
Day 134, Year 7: Announcing Grandchild Number 4 . . . Oliver Goldstone
Date: Wednesday, March 21, 2012
Weather: Foggy Morning, Beautiful Afternoon
Location: Brewer Fiddler’s Cove Marina, N Falmouth, MA
At 3:13 this afternoon, Oliver Goldstone was born into this world and both
momma and baby are doing fine. Oliver’s middle name is still not settled.
It could be Maxwell or Preston or some new name that enters the scene. Even
though he arrived early, he weighed 6 pounds 5 ounces which is not that much
less than Sam or Jonah were at full term. So we are greatly relieved that
he arrived safe and sound and that the labor wasn’t too hard on Heather.
Mark and I arrived with Sam and Jonah about an hour and a half after Oliver
was born and both boys were fascinated with this new addition to their
family. Oliver gave them Big Brother presents and Sam and Jonah gave
Heather, Jed, and Oliver some special rocks they have been collecting with
great care over the past couple of days. They also brought flowers for
momma and balloons for Oliver. We will take Sam and Jonah back to the
hospital tomorrow to have lunch with Oliver and on Friday Oliver should be
released from the hospital. By Friday evening the Goldstone household will
be fully alive with three beautiful little boys. Then the fun begins!
by Judy Handley | Mar 20, 2012 | Cape Cod, USA, Sailing Logs Year 7 |
Day 133, Year 7: Tuesday’s Child, Wednesday’s Child
Date: Tuesday, March 20, 2012
Weather: Still Sunny and Warm-Happy Spring!
Location: Brewer Fiddler’s Cove Marina, N Falmouth, MA
Today has once again been all about waiting. Heather checked into the
hospital at 8 am and by 9:30 she had been given something called
prostaglandin. This is an artificial hormone like the one your body
produces to start labor. When it was administered she was told that it
might get things going in twelve hours or it might not. We stopped by to
see her at noon on our way to pick up Sam and Jonah. She looked
great-rested and ready-and was starting to feel some twinges. At 4:45 pm
Heather called and said that she was having contractions four to five
minutes apart, so things did get moving. Since we are with Sam and Jonah,
she said she would wait until in the morning to call unless the baby is born
before bedtime. We just got an email from Jed, and he said things are
progressing slowly. It is looking like we might have a Wednesday’s child
instead of Tuesday’s. Today is Jed’s mother’s birthday and a birth before
midnight would be a great birthday present, but a healthy baby today,
tomorrow, or whenever, would be the best gift. Heather, Mark, Jo, and Ziggy
were all born on a Tuesday, but Justin and I were Wednesday babies, as were
Jed and his mom. If the baby is born before midnight, he will be a Pisces
like his two grandmothers, but if he is born tomorrow he will be an Aries
which would be like his cousin Ziggy and what he would have been if he had
gone to term. So we are thinking we will have a 321 (March 21) baby. Sam
and Jonah’s birthdates were palindromic numbers 121 (January 21 for Sam) and
626 (June 26 for Jonah). This one won’t fit that pattern, but maybe he will
be an astronaut. 3-2-1 Blast Off!
by Judy Handley | Mar 19, 2012 | Cape Cod, USA, Sailing Logs Year 7 |
Day 132, Year 7: Looks Like, Feels Like, Must Be . . . Spring
Date: Monday, March 19, 2012
Weather: Sunny and Warm
Location: Brewer Fiddler’s Cove Marina, N Falmouth, MA
It looks like spring and feels like spring, so it must be . . . and tomorrow
it will officially be the first day of spring. Today Heather had her first
official, although unplanned, maternity leave day. She enrolled Sam in
kindergarten for next fall, bought big brother gifts for the new baby to
give Sam and Jonah, got her hair cut, and then came home for a nap. By this
time, Sam and Jonah were already down for their naps, so there was a quiet
time in the afternoon. But after naps we all piled in the car and headed to
the beach to celebrate this glorious weather. It was probably about 60
degrees away from the beach, but right on the beach it was windy and a
little chillier. But this didn’t stop Sam and Jonah. They dug in the sand,
ran in the sand, slid in the sand, climbed rocks in the sand, and then threw
rocks from the beach into the water. At one point, Sam walked right into
the water as if it were summer. While Heather and I watched the boys, Mark
walked the beach. It was a wonderful celebration of spring.
Heather checks into the hospital at 8 am tomorrow morning and will celebrate
the first official day of spring bringing forth the newest little Goldstone.
Sometime late tomorrow or by early Wednesday we should welcome this newest
addition to our family. Mark and I will be with the boys while Heather and
Jed are at the hospital. Logs will probably be short, but hopefully
jam-packed with good news, in the next couple of days.
Mark had his third chemo treatment today. This means he is one quarter of
the way through. And so far, so good. He is definitely feeling the effects
sooner after the infusion, and it is sucking more energy from him, but as
good friends have written, even on a bad day Mark has more energy than most
of us on a really good day. Here’s to Mark’s health and to the Heather’s
successful delivery of baby #3. We know it is a boy, but we don’t know the
name yet. So stay tuned and send your most positive thoughts in Heather’s
direction.
by Judy Handley | Mar 18, 2012 | Cape Cod, USA, Sailing Logs Year 7 |
Day 131, Year 7: Waiting, Waiting
Date: Sunday, March 18, 2012
Weather: Sunny with Temps in the Low 60’s, Late Afternoon Fog
Location: Brewer Fiddler’s Cove Marina, N Falmouth, MA
Lots of good things are happening, but the overriding event in our lives
right now is just waiting for Heather to have her baby. We can’t help but
be a little apprehensive, but the really good news is that she is feeling
good and rested-very different from how she felt late on Friday afternoon.
She has decided to contact the doctor tomorrow to see if things can be moved
along a little more quickly. So maybe by mid-week, we will welcome this
fourth grandchild and the waiting will be over.
Mark and I got up late, had a hearty breakfast, and then headed off for a
long walk. We tend to walk between three and four miles these days.
Today’s walk was three and a half miles, but it was a little more up and
down hills and we returned feeling the miles. We went to the clubhouse to
take showers but there was no hot water. So we nixed that idea very
quickly. It was almost noon by this time, so we had lunch and then headed
to Heather and Jed’s to see what progress they had made in roto-tilling the
garden-and to take hot showers. Jed was almost finished tilling in the
garden when we arrived, but after lunch he ran the tiller back and forth
through a huge pile of soil and leaves that was amassed when building the
shed and mowing the grass last summer. He made great progress in
diminishing the size of the mass, but it was exhausting work. Then I
remembered that he needed to till a semi-circle outside the garden fence so
that we can plant sunflower seeds to make a sunflower house. Usually these
are circles of very tall sunflowers that children can get in the middle of
and pretend they have a house. But we are going to make a semi-circle using
the garden fence as the straight side. We’ll plant sunflowers along that
side as well, so the boys should be have no trouble hiding out t in their
sunflower house.
Mark continues to feel really great. He has his third chemo treatment
tomorrow and he thinks of this as being one-fourth of the way through the
treatments. I know we are just at the beginning, but I have been amazed at
how well he is doing. On his off days he has more energy than I do on a
really good day!
by Judy Handley | Mar 17, 2012 | Cape Cod, USA, Sailing Logs Year 7 |
Day 130, Year 7: Happy St. Patrick’s Day
Date: Saturday, March 17, 2012
Weather: Cloudy Turning Sunny, Warming Up
Location: Brewer Fiddler’s Cove Marina, N Falmouth, MA
St. Patrick’s Day has always been lucky for Mark. The name Handley or Hanley is Irish and over the years many good things have happened to us around this time of year. I’m hoping our luck this year will be the delivery of a healthy baby Goldstone next week.
I picked up Sam and Jonah this morning and brought them to Windbird as promised. We had bagels with cream cheese and smoked salmon for breakfast and then watched and helped Granddad work on stripping the caulk from between the teak decking. We checked our seed pots and found that the broccoli has sprouted and then we went out on the dock to take a walk to the end of boardwalk and to “fish”. Both boys have a stick with some line tied to it and they love to catch seaweed and pretend that it is salmon (Sam) or tuna (Jonah). Jonah caught two big yellowfin tunas and Sam caught 239 salmon. It was a very lucky fishing day! We had lunch and then we took the boys home so they could go to a birthday party. Joey, the very Irish little two year-old next door, turned two today. You can’t get luckier than being Irish with a St. Patrick’s Day birthday. Happy Birthday, Joey.
I spent the remainder of my afternoon and evening working in the galley. I first washed the weeds that I picked in Heather and Jed’s garden. Since they are tilling everything under tomorrow, I wanted to save these beautiful green clusters. I have been nibbling on them since January, and I knew they were some sort of cress, but I didn’t know specifically what these weeds were. After washing them carefully, I spent some time searching the internet and found that they are called hairy bittercress (Cardamine hirsute). They do pack a punch, like arugula, but they aren’t hairy and they aren’t bitter, just spicy in a peppery kind of way. I found that the leaves can be eaten in salads or cooked like turnip greens. I grew up eating a February weed called creasy greens (Barbarea verna). This is an upland cress and is always cooked. The hairy bittercress looks almost identical but I think this cress will be best eaten raw in salads. My next task was to make Magic Mineral Broth. Sometimes the simplest cooking tasks can be overwhelming when working in the small quarters of a boat galley. I made this broth in Heather and Jed’s kitchen in their big pot with no problem a couple of weeks ago, but any recipe that starts with eight quarts of water is problematic on a boat. I discovered that my largest pot would only hold five gallons of water along with the huge list of veggies that are added. I tried to adjust the recipe, and that was the first frustration. The second was that there was so much steam coming off the pot that I had to open the hatch and open the cockpit doorway to allow the steam to escape. Thankfully it wasn’t freezing outside or we would have had icicles in the cockpit. I had planned to can the broth as there just isn’t room in the freezer, but then I realized I didn’t have canning lids. Soooooo, we had to head back into town to get those. I was using the new canner the kids got me for Christmas for the first time, and discovered that it holds seven pints or seven quarts, but what the directions didn’t tell me is that it can only do this if the jars are not wide-mouthed. Of course, I had prepared and filled only wide-mouth jars, so I had to get out narrow-mouth jars and start again. I only ended up with eight pints of broth out of all of those veggies and all of that water and it took all evening to get it canned, but I did it. I know it will be easier next time. The last task was to make a pesto to go with tonight’s dinner. I used the food processor attachment to my new immersion blender to do this and it worked great. So that was the success story for this evening. Tonight the “cancer-fighting kitchen” was a frustrating one, but I know that I’ll get better at figuring this all out.
