And Baby Makes Three...

Sent to Friends and Family on Oct. 5, 2001:

Sadina and Randy Reynaldo are proud to announce that Peri Rachel Reynaldo was born at 1:46 a.m. on Friday, October 5, 2001 at UCLA Santa Monica Hospital. She was 6 lbs 15 oz and 20 inches in length at birth. 

Peri Rachel arrived healthy, 9 days after her due date. Likely because she was post-mature, she is already very attentive, and her eyes wide open. Thanks to some prenatal children's books that mom and dad read to her in utero, Peri Rachel seems to already recognize both mom and dad's voices. (Dad was even able to quickly calm her after she got very upset from her first bath!) She's actually already cooed and smiled a couple of times, and the hospital staff pointed out that when she cries, her lower lip goes into a quivering pout that is sure to send Daddy scurrying for whatever Peri Rachel wants. We must admit we're not sure who she looks like though she is on the fair side and already has long, wavy black hair. 

Sadina went into labor at approximately 4:30 p.m. on Oct. 4. (She actually had been experiencing mild, irregular contractions since at least Sept. 29). After recording about six or seven contractions spaced 5 minutes apart (which were accompanied by some other labor symptoms), we were told by the doctor to go to the hospital, where we arrived at about 6:30 p.m. Her water broke about 7:30 p.m. At about 8:20 p.m., Sadina was 2-3 cm dilated, and was provided with some medication to dull the pain she was experiencing from the contractions. It put her out, but didn't really help the pain. (It also lengthened the time between contractions because her body got so relaxed.) At about 10:15 p.m., when the drowsiness from the pain medication wore off and Sadina was 4 cm dilated, the doctors applied an epidural which helped a lot -- however, the time between contractions continued to lengthen, sometimes as much as 8-9 minutes! At about 12 midnight, they were planning to give Sadina pitosin to speed up the contractions, but were surprised to find that she had actually already FULLY DILATED! (So she actually went from 4 cm to 10 cm in about 2 hours, which is pretty remarkable, esp. for a first birth.) The actual pushing lasted from approximately 1 a.m. to the birth at 1:46 a.m. 

The only complication that occurred was that the baby had passed meconium into the uterus (likely because she was overdue and past full term). During the final stage, Sadina had to wear an oxygen mask to ensure that the baby was getting enough oxygen (at one moment, the baby's heartbeat slowed, which prompted this action.) The doctor said that extra staff would be on-hand at the moment of birth to ensure that the baby's passages were clear of any meconium. Though we were obviously concerned, we never got truly worried since the staff was thoroughly professional and didn't seem to think there was going to be any major problems. When the baby's face appeared , the doctor inserted a tube down the baby's mouth to suction it dry of fluid; similarly, as soon as the baby was born, the staff took her aside and thoroughly cleaned her. (So that we would not be overly concerned, the doctor told us that they didn't want the baby to cry right away until they cleared her passages. She cried just a few moments later. We should add that the baby never left the room or our sight.) 

As I said, Mom is doing fine. Though we only got about 3 hours sleep, Mom is up and glowing. As for Dad, he's fine and was surprised that he was able to be as fully involved as he wa during the birth, and found it to be a great experience. 

As I have said to many of you, we are so happy our child is going to be part of such a loving community of family and dear friends. Thanks so much for your help, encouragement and support during these past 9 months. Peri Rachel looks forward to meeting all of you. 

 Love, 

Peri, Sadina, and Randy 

Dash's Birth...

E-mail message sent to family and friends the evening of April 28, 2005:

Hi, folks! We’re pleased to announce the arrival of Dashiell Conrad Reynaldo on Thursday, April 28, 2005, at 9:27 a.m., at UCLA-Santa Monica Hospital. Dash’s birth was induced to arrive a little more than 2 weeks early due to concerns about mother’s blood pressure, and though he was a bit small even given his term (he was at about 37 weeks), he nevertheless is healthy and sound. He was 4 lbs, 15 oz., and 18 inches in length.

We’ll post details of the birth shortly (it actually is an amazing story, as I’m sure all births are; suffice to say, the doctor barely made it through the door before the appropriately-named Dash rushed his way into the world in the final few minutes), but be assured that Mom and son are doing well.

As for myself, I’m at home with Peri, who is excited to meet her new brother and welcome him to the family!

Thanks to everyone for your good thoughts and prayers.

Sadina and Randy

-----------------

The Story of Dash’s Birth:

The decision to induce the birth was made after Sadina’s blood pressure shot up to an alarming level over the past several weeks of the pregnancy. Though bed rest helped, the doctor decided that since the baby was full term, the only reason to wait would be to see if things got worse -- so after a check up at the doctor’s office on Wednesday, April 27, the doctor sent us to the hospital. We all knew this was a possibility, so fortunately we were already packed and prepared. We arrived at the hospital at 10:30 a.m. Wednesday. Sadina’s mom was already watching Peri and prepared to watch her if this occurred. I would stay at the hospital with Sadina until the birth.

When Sadina arrived at the hospital, her blood pressure actually was down to normal! Nevertheless, after the hospital staff quickly discussed it with the doctor, we all agreed that going forward with the induced birth was still the best course of action.

At 2 p.m., Sadina was given Cervidil, to start the process. She was only about 1 cm dilated at this point, and the baby was still high up and had not yet dropped (this apparently is common for a second child). Cervidil is meant to soften the cervix for the birth, and is supposed to stay in place for 12 hours. At 2 a.m., they removed the Cervidil; prior to that, because of the staff coming in and out to attend Sadina, and to check the status of the baby (more on this in a bit), we really didn’t get much sleep and I was concerned that this would affect Sadina’s energy level when she needed it at the time of delivery. Fortunately, they did not plan to introduce Pitocin, which induces labor, until 5 a.m., so we actually got a good three hours of sleep here -- doesn’t sound like much, but we were refreshed, and it prepared us for what laid ahead. Sadina was by this time already experiencing contractions.

At about 7 a.m., Sadina requested and received an epidural since the contractions were becoming more painful and pronounced. At this time, she only was about 3-4 cm dilated. As the epidural was prepared, the nurse sent me out to get breakfast; initially, Sadina said she wanted me to be there to hold her hand during the procedure, but the nurse said that would be her job, and Sadina said that it was okay for me to leave. I did follow everyone’s advice, though I wondered why this was such a big deal since I was present when Sadina went through the procedure during Peri’s birth. Later, Sadina said they probably asked me to leave because they were concerned the high blood pressure would cause a complication that they might not want me to witness. Apparently, there was a big spike in her blood pressure (it went over 200) during the procedure, by the time I returned to the room 40 minutes later, everything was fine; the epidural was in place and Sadina was in less pain and happier.

At about 8:45 a.m., I left the room to take a telephone call from my mother-in-law about Peri who actually was a bit sick. When I returned a few moments later, Sadina told me the staff had just checked and learned she was fully dilated and had called the doctor!!

While we waited for the doctor, and I kept my eye on the clock, Sadina said that she felt like the baby was already coming and had the urge to push. The nurse said to not fight it, but asked that she not actively push.

At about 9:20 a.m., the doctor finally arrived. As they put Sadina in position and the doctor put on the appropriate dressing gown, the placenta sack already was showing -- soon followed by the top of the baby’s head! I have such a vivid memory (actually, everyone was amazed and laughing) of the doctor still putting on her gown and saying with a laugh, “I’m not ready yet!” By the time she sat down in front of Sadina, his head was already crowning – Sadina felt a contraction, barely had to push and he was out! (One nurse said at that moment, “If you just sneeze or cough, he’ll come out!”)

At Peri’s birth, I remember yelling encouragement along with everyone else for Sadina to push hard; though there was a little urgency at this delivery because he came out so quickly, it actually seemed like a less hectic delivery than Peri’s, so I was able to appreciate the natural beauty of watching our son being born with quite a bit of calm and peace. (Sadina will also confirm that this was a relatively easy delivery.)

The only complication was that when his head first appeared, the doctor noticed the umbilical cord was wrapped around his neck; when she tried to remove it, she noticed that it was wrapped TWICE around his neck! She immediately cut it (she also let me cut the umbilical cord). He did yelp and cry out a few times, but the nurses still had to clear his airway so that he could give out a more healthy cry. They reassured me several times he was okay though. He also immediately peed and pooped!

Nature seemed to want to remind us that we now had two children, because things were slightly complicated by two issues involving Peri: first, although she hadn’t been sick in months, Peri became slightly ill during this period. Since there was not much going on in the first few hours after we checked into the hospital, I went off for a few hours to run some errands and ended up having to pick Peri up and bring her home from her nursery school after the school called us to report she had a slight fever.

Secondly, Peri was scheduled that very week to lead her school in that Friday’s Temple services -- it was something she was looking forward to for weeks and we were determined that we’d go forward with it. The school knew of the situation and obviously said they would work with us and accommodate us as much as possible; so shortly after Dashiell was born on Thursday morning, I went off to buy food for Peri’s Temple event the next day. At the service, Sadina’s mother held my cell phone aloft so that Sadina could hear the whole service from the hospital while I videotaped it.

Immediately after the service, I was able to bring Peri to the hospital so that she could meet her little brother for the first time, when he was 2 days old.

I stayed home two nights with Peri (Thursday and Friday night), then Dashiell went home Saturday afternoon.
Our thanks to everyone who supported and helped us along the way, including our doctors, the nursing staff at UCLA-Santa Monica Medical Center, our family and friends, including Sadina’s mother.

Sadina, Randy, Peri, and Dashiell