Home Sweet Home....Almost

All three of us have finally made it back to the LA area!! On Thursday, Riley got to take his first ride in an ambulance. Along with one of his NICU nurses, a respiratory therapist, and a couple of paramedics Riley made the 3 hour trip from San Luis Obispo to his home for the next month or so in Methodist Hospital in Arcadia. He did really well on his trip (probably better than mom and dad as they drove back in their own cars and worried the whole way back) and is settled in his new state-of-the-art giraffe incubator. He has already won over all of the nurses with his "good behavior" and adorable little face. Ben and I are so happy to be home and are now anxiously awaiting the time we will be given the go ahead to bring Riley home. Here are a few new pictures of Riley.........

Riley in his styling hat in San Luis Obispo

Riley's traveling incubator for his ride from SLO to LA

Nice and comfy in his new home and all snuggled up after his bath.

Pismo Adventure with a Surprise Ending

To celebrate my 30th birthday and our 4th anniversary, Ben planned a little getaway for the two of us to Pismo Beach. We left early last Saturday morning and headed up to a great hotel right on Pismo Beach - the Seaventure Hotel. We spent the day relaxing and wandering around the beach and the local town. On Sunday, we did more of the same....we went to Morro Bay in the morning, the beach during the day, McClintock's for dinner, and then to see Transformers in the evening. All in all it was a nice, relaxing weekend. After the movie, we went back to the hotel to get ready for bed and our drive back the next morning. Just as we were getting ready to go to bed our peaceful, relaxing weekend came to a screeching end.

At 10:45 pm on Sunday, Riley decided to let his presence be known. He gave one final kick and the next thing we knew my water had broken. Remember now, we had just hit the 29 week mark and still had over 10 weeks to go. Once we realized that my water had broken, we rushed downstairs, asked the receptionist at the front desk where the nearest hospital was and made a mad dash for the car. Thankfully, as Ben was driving we were able to reach a family friend who happened to be an ob/gyn in San Luis Obispo (which is 15 miles away). She told us which hospital to go to (the one the hotel told us about ended up not even having an ob unit and would have been useless) and we turned around and drove the 15 miles to SLO. Once we arrived at the hospital (11:30 pm) we were given a room and I was checked out by the nurse. My water had definitely broke and I was 3 centimeters dilated but I was not in active labor. The doctor came and the plan was to see if we could suppress labor for a couple of days to give our baby a little more time to develop. I was given magnesium sulfate to help stop labor and was also given a steroid shot to help our baby develop his lungs. At 2:45 am, I was still 3 centimeters dilated and was starting to feel mild contractions. At 3:00 am, after some more intense contractions, we found out that I was fully dilated and ready to go!! They called the doctor and at 3:10 am on July 9th, Riley Maxwell Deneen entered our world kicking and screaming at 2 lbs 13 oz and 14 3/4 inches!!!

Since getting to this point was a long journey, it is not the least surprising that this part would not be any easier. Since Riley decided he had to come out and play 10 weeks early, he is going to have to be in the NICU for the next couple of months. So, for the next 3 to 4 weeks, Ben and I will be making San Luis Obispo our home as Riley spends time in the Sierra Vista Hospital neonatal intensive care unit. We are hoping that Riley will be stable enough after that time to be transferred to a hospital closer to home.

Riley is 4 days old today and is doing really well. The doctor gave him his first A+ today!! He's off his ventilator and breathing on his own. He has also started taking a little bit of breast milk each day. He is also incredibly feisty and loves to kick and stretch out his hands and legs.

Here are a couple of pictures of our beautiful little boy (the first picture is when he was 1 day old and the others are from today-isn't it incredible how different he looks in only 3 days???)

Ben, Riley, and I would also like to thank everyone for their well wishes. We appreciate all of your support and are thankful that we have such great family and friends.

Sacramento Trip

We had a great time on our mini-trip to Sacramento and ended up being able to visit with quite a few family and friends. We arrived in Sacramento on Friday afternoon and met up with Bubba and Ray for dinner. They took us to a fantastic dinner at Luca's in mid-town Sacramento. Both Ben and I were amazed at all of the urban renewal that had taken place over the past 8 years since we left the area. After dinner and our visit with Bubba and Ray, Ben took me to Leatherby's for the famous caramel sundae....yum yum!!! We then headed over to Leah and Dan's and caught up on current events. The next day we headed over to Land's Park for Gabe's, Leah's, and everyone else's birthday party. We were really worried that the weather was going to be hot and unbearable, but luck was on our side and it was a beautiful sunny day....perfect for the park!! Gabe was adorable and we enjoyed spending time with everyone.

We left Sacramento on Sunday and headed to Stockton. Our first stop was to visit Dre, Suzy, and Zen to drop off a "backup" teddy bear for Zen. We then headed over to my grandparents' house and went to lunch with my grandparents, parents, and sisters for Father's Day. After some dim sum, we got back on the Golden State Freeway to travel back home.

To sum up our weekend, as Ben might say, "I'll take a three day trip to Sacramento and a baby over a two week trip to Australia and Hawaii any day -- provided the kid is mine!"


(1) Ben practicing his bratwurst barbecuing skills (2) photo for Michelle's next endeavor - "Hu's Tacos" Taco Truck (3) the party hosts (4) Gabe after a bite of ice cream (5) Gabe snatching my ice cream cone and claiming it as his own

Busy June

We've been keeping pretty busy the past couple of weekends with Jamie's graduation and Ben's birthday. Two weekends ago we drove up North to attend Jamie's graduation from San Francisco State. Can we just say that this was the longest graduation that any of us have ever been too....and between all of us we have been to quite a few. We left the house on Saturday morning at 10 am and didn't arrive back until 5 pm. Crazy!! Here are a couple of pictures from that day......

Ben insisted that I post these before and after pictures of my trip to the port-a-pottie. I avoid public restrooms at all cost (see past post) but had no choice in the matter this time. Ben would like to point out how hesitant I look in the first picture as we are going in (while my sister is an old pro and has no hesitation) and my disgust after the port-a-pottie experience. Ben had a field day playing with our new camera and somehow managed to take 92 pictures - half of which were of the most random things (imagine a close up picture of the head of the man sitting in front of us and a picture of the cameraman "chillin"). And last but not least here's a picture of the graduate with our parents.

For all of you that have been asking....during our trip up North, Ben managed to take a couple of profile pictures of the baby and I while we were watching my dad pick pai pa go (loquots in English) for us to take home.

This past weekend, Ben celebrated his 32nd birthday. For his birthday we went to Porto Alegre Churrascarria Brazilian BBQ, where Ben consumed a tremendous amount of meat....it was amazing!! He was so stuffed he couldn't eat his birthday cake so we had to wait until the next day.....

We're heading up North once again next weekend to Sacramento where we'll meet up with Ben's parents and Bubba and Ray on Friday night. Then on Saturday, we'll be celebrating Leah's 30th birthday and Gabe's 1st birthday. And of course, since we'll be in Sacramento we will be making a couple of trips to my favorite ice cream parlor.......Leatherby's!!!

22 Weeks

We can't believe that a whole month has already passed and it was time for our second perinatologist appointment today. Everything looks great and our doctor confirmed that it's definately a boy!! Now the shopping can begin! Here are some pictures of our little one....

By the look of the yawn he's got going, he's already bored with us!!!

Saying "Wuz up"

Another alien shot..........

Pregnancy Observations

Seeing as we have waited a long time for this, these are definitely not meant to be complaints but observations. Actually, we have been very fortunate with this pregnancy. I haven't had any morning sickness or nausea usually associated with pregnancy so I've been lucky! Here are a few of the changes I have noticed however....

1. After walking all day at Disneyland, I found out that swelling feet are just no fun and create a problem when you are not expecting it. The Monday after our trip to Disneyland, I was sitting at my desk and had slipped off my shoes while working on a project. Up to that point, I hadn't noticed any swelling in either of my feet. I slipped my right shoe back on with no problem, but then low and behold my left foot would not squeeze back into my shoe. Since I needed to go across the hall that presented a problem....it's not as though I could go hobbling around the hospital in one shoe! Now if I worked in a psych ward....maybe!! Since that time, we've had some pretty hot days (upper 90s) and wearing closed in shoes was not fun.......it's taken me a whole bunch of shoe stores and numerous shoes that wouldn't fit but I finally found some shoes that will hopefully work for the whole summer....I've bought them in brown and white.......now I just need to find them in black and I"ll be all set for the rest of the pregnancy!!

2. Unfortunately, not only have my feet decided that bigger is better but so has my ring finger on my left hand (don't ask me why but it's only that finger!). So I had to remove my engagement ring and wedding band. However, so my finger wouldn't feel so naked, Ben, being the sweet man that he is, bought me a "maternity band" that I can wear for the duration of the pregnancy from Tiffany's when we were shopping one weekend.

3. Getting used to going to the bathroom constantly has definitely been a challenge. I used to be able to go all day with limited potty breaks and now I can barely go two hours without having to make a potty run. For someone who has a great aversion to public restrooms this creates many many problems. For example, this past weekend, Ben and I went on a picnic and during our excursion I had to make a stop at one of the park restrooms. Let's just say park restrooms are right up there with beach restrooms as being extra disgusting. By the time I made it out of the restroom, I was gagging and tearing so badly that Ben thought that something terrible had happened....luckily I could him tell him that this was just my normal reaction to disgusting public restrooms!!

4. Sleep - this should be the easiest part of any day but now with all of the rules of how to sleep and with what I have to sleep with in conjunction with point #3 above this is not so easy anymore. I have always slept on my side but once I was told that I HAD to sleep on my side for the sake of the baby my body decided that what it wanted most was for me to sleep on my back or my stomach. The books recommend sleeping with pillows to help with this. Ben surprised me one day by bringing home my very own snoogle (which he had to drive forty miles to find)........which I completely love and would recommend to everyone - pregnant or not!! In addition, to this new addition to our bed I have to sleep with wrist guards on both hands....if any of you have had to wear these for carpel tunnel or other wrist issues you know they are not comfortable. Now imagine having to sleep with these things on....not pleasant at all!

Okay, I think those are enough of our "observations".....I'm sure there will be more to come....

A Trip to Disneyland

A couple of weeks ago my parents and sisters brought my little cousin, Sabrina, down for a visit and we spent the day at Disneyland. Ben and I quickly came to the realization that going to Disneyland with an almost four year old is completely different than going to Disneyland with people your age! Whereas, when we go with friends or family our age we are constantly on the go trying to get from one ride to the other, with a four year old that just isn't possible. The rides and attractions that most appealed to her were contained within a number of limited "lands" which meant less walking around like a madperson from land to land to ride to ride. By the end of the day, I could count on my fingers the number of rides we went on......that has never happened before. However, I must point out that we also stood in the longest line I have ever been in in my life - all for the Disney Princess Faire. At first glance the line looked benign, a few twist and turns but nothing compared to what you see at Space Mountain or Indiana Jones. After three hours in line and three Disney Princesses later, Ben and I were abused of that notion. In the end, Sabrina had a great time and I was only asked about a million times by my parents and Ben to "be careful" or if I "was okay".




1) Ben, Sabrina, and I (I was banned from getting on a horse by Ben!) 2) My parents waiting for us to finish with the Disney Princess Faire. 3) What my sisters had done while Ben, Sabrina, and I waited to visit with the Princesses!