Reagan's Room

One of the best parts of the pregnancy was turning our guest room and office into the baby’s room.  Over several months and with help from friends and family, we transformed our extra bedroom into the perfect home for baby. As my mom would have said “all the baby needs is a crib,” but we wanted to build it this way anyway. In preparation for Reagan’s arrival we painted, put in new carpet, curtains, base boards, and crown molding, Of course we needed new furniture and for added fun we decorated the room with a lovely “Dance” theme.

What's in a Name: Reagan Harper Snodgrass

Susan and I spent plenty of time over the last 9 months discussing possible names. When it came down to it, naming her Reagan was the obvious choice.

Reagan: We have a nice little story behind this name. This story goes back years and years so the order and details may be less than 100% accurate but the meaning remains the same.

Many moons ago Susan’s parents, Ginny and Randy, went on a big hike in the Mt. Katahdin in the state of Maine.  After reaching the summit, Ginny and Randy started heading back down the mountain. Unfortunately by this time Ginny’s foot was in trouble. She had such a foot injury she couldn’t walk down the mountain any further. As they sat on the side of the trail trying to figure out what to do, a young man from Outward Bound came walking by and stopped to check on the wounded hikers.

To help, this outdoorsman decided to run down the mountain to see how far it was. By the time he was back to the Rands, he was covered in sweat but ready to help. Ginny was asked to hop on his back piggyback style and down the mountain they went. Ginny and Randy made it comfortably back to their car thanks to this passerby.

His name was Reagan and the name stayed in Ginny’s mind for years. Early in the dating life of Susan and I, Ginny and Randy shared this story in casual conversation. Susan and I remembered it well.  Isn’t it a nice little story?

We named our daughter Reagan not so much after this one nice fellow, but to remind our little girl to be kind to others.

Harper: We chose this as our daughter’s middle name because we liked the way it sounds. Cool huh?

Snodgrass: She’s just lucky. 

Labor and Delivery

Susan is awesome. Her strength, perseverance, and motherhood skills were all on full display for the 12 hours between first contraction and when her daughter was placed in her arms. Here is her story of amazingness.

As prepared as I was to miss class the first two weeks of school, there was one window of 2 ½ hours that would send me into a scramble trying to find a sub. Susan went into labor an hour in to this window. Hey who needs more for a 3 hour class than a sign-in sheet and a stack of syllabi with a sign saying “take one.” I had to head home!

Good thing I did. Contractions were getting stronger and closer at a pretty fast pace. By 7:30 they were consistently 5 minutes apart and Susan was unable to speak through them. As directed this was the time to call the hospital. To our disappointment the doctor told us to hang out until the contractions were 2-3 minutes apart.  Here we go for more fun at home. Two hours later the contractions were about 3:15 apart and we were convinced that was ENOUGH. Susan was dealing with the contractions like a champ, but as many first mom’s can attest “I didn’t know it would hurt this bad. I didn’t know it would be like this.”

This was a tough time, but Susan worked through it while I did everything I could to relieve pain when possible, stay calm for her, remind her of different techniques we learned, and stuck to my promise of NO JOKES! Although it wasn’t appreciated until later, a highlight of this time occurred while Susan was on her knees, grasping the couch, shouting in pain, and Bailey brought her a toy for a game of fetch. What can he say, she was on the floor which means play time!

After the longest 11 mile drive of my life at about 9:30PM Susan was checked over and to her dismay only 2 centimeters (we both thought she was at 9-10 by now).  The nurse gave us two options: 1) go home, take a sleeping pill and come back tomorrow. 2) Walk the halls of the labor ward for an hour and get rechecked. If we made it to 3 centimeters (she was cutting us a break) we would be admitted. Otherwise, home we go! Susan decided on the latter and our walk began. This sucked.

Unlike sitcoms would like us to believe Susan never said “I hate you, you did this to me.” She never used profanity (directed at me anyway), she never demanded my exit of the premises. She did however declare that Reagan would be an only child. Her attitude has since changed.

During the hall walk, once again Susan was amazing. It was definitely the hardest part for her but she rocked it. She was hurting, she was scared, she was looking for ways to make it stop, but she took contraction after contraction in impressive style. As I helplessly and painfully watched my wife suffer, I also felt my love for her grow exponentially. She was doing all this for us. She dealt with each and every contraction and the nine months of discomfort for our family. I knew I would be forever grateful.

Hour up = 4 centimeters. Whew. Admitted by midnight, epidural shortly after, smiles followed immediately. We were instructed that this would be our only time to rest. Although we attempted, we never got that chance. After about 90 minutes the epidural started to wear off on one side. The labor process progressed faster than expected. And most distracting, the baby’s heart rate was dropping at every contraction. The doctor was “concerned.”

Like I said, we were lucky at the speed of Susan’s progression because Reagan wanted out of there and was willing to stop her heart in order to get her way. To add to the difficulty, baby was coming out “sunny side up” rather than face down. No problem for my wife though, she was too amazing. Almost to the surprise of Susan and I, she was suddenly pushing. This is where Susan really shined. Like a machine she pushed hard when instructed and rested with extreme focus and determination when allowed. She was so strong I didn’t think she was in any pain or discomfort. Just business. In less than 15 minutes of pushing with a tiny bit of help from a vacuum, Reagan was born.

Susan and I exploded with excitement. Reagan Harper Snodgrass entered the world healthy, happy, and alert. We have enjoyed every moment since. 

Full Term

Congratulations to Susan, and to a lesser portion, ME!!! Baby is full term. As of a week ago Susan and baby are 37 weeks (38 now). This means if labor were to get started, we would just go with it. As of our latest perfect doctor’s appointment we have no reason to feel rushed.

I thought I would post some hospital information in case you wanted to visit while we’re in the hospital. Of course we can’t promise to be the best hosts we may have plenty of down time to visit. We should be there for a couple of days if you want to stop by. Many of you will receive text message updates about the progress and room numbers.

Here is our hospital address:

Saddleback Memorial Women’s Hospital.

24451 Health Center Drive
Laguna Hills, CA 92653.

There are three entrances to the hospital, the furthest from the parking lot is the women’s hospital.

In case you have to wait, near the hospital you’ll find the Laguna Hills Mall, In and Out, BJ’s Pizza, Ruby’s Diner, King’s Crabs, Starbuck’s and many other fine establishments if you need to wait out the clock.

If swinging by the hospital doesn’t work for you, don’t worry you’ll have plenty of opportunities to meet Potato Snodgrass when she comes home (as long as you bring us dinner). 

Happy Two Year Anniversary!

On Monday July 25^th, Susan and I celebrated another wonderful anniversary. This year wasn’t a glamorous trip or getaway. It was a simple and great day for our little family.  I’m happy to share a few of the details. I started my day at 6:15am, sitting in front of my garage, sipping coffee, and waiting on my in-laws to show up with the miter saw they rented from Home Depot. After their arrival, Susan, her parents, and I spent the next several hours installing baseboards, touching up paint, and preparing for baby.

At 12:15 I had run out of time with only a few boards to go. I went off to work, Susan went off to visit all of her friend’s newborns, the Rands went to feed old people, and the house rested. When Susan and I made it back home the Rands were already back to work. I helped for a moment or two but then I had to leave. Susan and I had a very important appointment. The base boards were just about done anyway, thanks Randy and Ginny.

At 5:30 Susan and enjoyed another ultrasound of our little girl. She is big! Well big in comparison to the little poppy seed we saw so many months ago. We watched Baby Seven Snodgrass Jr. the IV open and close her hand in front of her face. Then she tried to eat it. I was so excited watching I practically climbed into the monitor.  We later stopped by Susan’s parents to show them the DVD, again I nearly climbed into the TV.

At 7:00 my bride and I sat down for a nice dinner at Sol overlooking Newport harbor. We talked about the baby, our life together, how nice it would be to have a bottle of wine, and then headed back to our unfinished home. Regardless of the work in need all around us, Susan and I still found time for romance. On our first anniversary we created a Love Letter Wine Box. In this box we have a bottle of wine (we substituted sparkling cider this year), the champagne flutes my mother bought us for our wedding, and two sealed loved letters we wrote each other last year. We drank our fake champagne, read our letters, and exchanged gifts. (We were supposed to add new letters but we gave ourselves a week extension.) Susan had framed a couple of my favorite pictures of Mom and I to hang in our living room and I gave Susan a starter set of 5 different and simple post baby date nights (like a bag of microwave popcorn with a dollar taped to it for a Red Box night when baby is sleeping).   

But wait, there’s more. Susan and I finished our anniversary by staying up past midnight, touching up paint and listening to Frank Sinatra radio on Pandora. We’re so darn cute!

How am I doing?

This is a very popular question I hear these days. “So . . . How are you doing?” I usually answer with “I’m doing.” It is really the most accurate answer I can give without bending your ear for an hour or bringing me to tears in the middle of my work day or at the grocery store or wherever else I am when the question is asked. My mom died a month ago yesterday, so I figured I would give you an update, a further explanation than “I’m doing.” 

Losing my mom has been and will continue to be very difficult for myself and my family. Every day all day a part of me is dedicated to grieving. Every day I do take a moment or several to stop and just think about Mom, her passing, my future without her, and our time together. Sometimes in the middle of reading to Susan’s belly or looking at my roses I am slapped with a rush of emotion. I often get overwhelmed when I think of the birth of my child and not having my Mom in the waiting room. Or when I think of Christmas time without her 100% dedication to providing us with joy. But, this is grief. I lost my mom and I’m grieving. To be honest, I’m pretty good at it. But, I’m doing. 

My entire day and life is not stricken with grief. I enjoy my days, my work, my time with my family, and my time preparing for the baby. I laugh, I joke, and I enjoy life. This portion of the process is like learning to live in this current chapter of my life; a life where Mom is an emotional presence and not a physical one. 

The steps through this process are made much easier by the family I’m walking with. My siblings, wife, and other family have been amazing. I think we’re all doing a great job supporting each other through this time. What can I say, we’re my mother’s children.

I guess I have added this blog to simply add to the explanation of “I’m doing.” I wanted to let everyone know that if I seem sad, that’s okay; it’s just part of the process. If I seem happy, that is okay too. I’m not ignoring my grief or in any kind of denial and I’m sure as heck not “over it.” It is part of life and my mother’s love will help us all through it.

“The fact is, there is no foundation, no secure ground, upon which people may stand today if it isn’t the family. If you don’t have the support and love and caring and concern that you get from a family, you don’t have much at all. Love is so supremely important.” – Morrie Schwartz, Tuesdays with Morrie.

Childbirth Class Graduates

Susan and I are childbirth class graduates. We have learned how to breathe, when to call the doc, and how many childbirth videos it takes to make me nauseous (one).  For a full recap of what we learned, please watch the video.