Katie goes flying for Mother's Day

Michelle and I had been planning on taking Katie flying around 6 weeks old, but didn't get up until she was 8 weeks due to family visiting. The first opportunity ended up being Mother's Day so I told Michelle we could do it another weekend, but she still wanted to go. Katie did great.

I pinched one of the silicon ear plugs into two so they would be smaller, making 3 might have been a better size. She doesn't like me putting them in her ears, but is fine with them once they are in. They stuck there really well with no problems of them coming out. She also wore the headset in case they would have fallen out. She is just learning to suck on a pacifier so we weren't sure how it would work for flying. At first she would just have it in her mouth, but not suck and eventually it would fall out. Michelle ended up holding it there, but she started sucking on it and fell asleep about 5 or so minutes into flight. On the way back, she was sleeping before we took off. She never cried or had any problems in the airplane and the pacifier seemed to be sufficient for sucking for the pressure changes

I flew at 4,500 feet on the way down to Cal City and 5,500 feet on the way back and the round trip time was only 0.7 hours.

Mark visits Katie for the weekend

So Mark flew to Vegas for a business conference but had some extra time during the weekend before. I flew out to Vegas and picked him up so he could come and meet Katie. I filed my VFR (Visual Flight Rules for Mark) flight plan to McCarren LAS since I had talked to the FBO (Fixed Base Operator) there and they said I shouldn't have a problem flying in on a Thursday morning. I was questioned twice by controllers to verify my destination as McCarren and when I finally got handed over to Las Vegas Approach, they told me I would have to hold for an hour to an hour and a half so I diverted to North Las Vegas and Mark took a cab to meet me there. I have a feeling that if I would have started to hold, they might have let me in within 20 minutes. I think they say over an hour as a scare tactic, but if you call their bluff, they'll let you land. I bet most people divert so they probably issue the hold to all small airplanes.

The flight there and back was pretty bumpy, but not the end of the world. I was worried about Mark since I didn't know if he would get sick or not and we were pretty much committed to this flight. He did fine and was taking pictures and whipping his head around looking at everything. Most people would have had their head in their hands trying to sleep (or to just not get sick). The visit was great and the weather held up well for his flight back on Sunday. I didn't even bother trying McCarren on a Sunday so Mark and to fetch a cab back to the strip. Regardless, the cab ride was about the same price as the ramp fee at McCarren so it wouldn't have been cheaper to fly into McCarren and I could have gotten stuck in a long line of airplanes waiting to take off, not to mention the gas I would have burnt holding waiting to land.

Here are some clips of the flights. I didn't have the camera on the whole time and I ran out of batteries so I don't have any film of Vegas. I tried to clean up Mark's sweaty potty mouth, but didn't do that good of a job. It's not my fault his *$$ was sweaty, he's the one who forgot his rocks then had his shoulder strap hanging out of the door resulting in an aborted takeoff!

N951CC goes flying to find desert flowers

I went flying last Sunday to see if there were any more desert flowers blooming. It looks pretty cool from the sky and is our equivalent to the trees changing colors in the fall. I got out of the main Indian Wells valley and headed west into the mountains to look, but ran into dusty updrafts and moderate turbulence between Kernville and Tehachapi at 8500 feet so I headed back towards the Antelope Valley. The hill by Mojave didn't have any flowers either. I did find huge orange patches with some yellow in the Poppy Reserve near Lancaster. The race track by Rosemond was also going so I tried to get a view of them, but I was shaking the camera a bit too much. I was going to head to Apple Valley for lunch, but there was dust rooster tail coming up a few thousand feet off the dry lake in that direction. I got the weather from ATIS/AWOS from a few nearby airports and the winds were picking up all over so I headed back to IYK. After grabbing a burger in Inyokern, I headed back to the airport and helped my mechanic change the oil. We also removed the air filter for cleaning/re-oiling and found that my air conditioner compressor was loose again. Bill should have that fixed by now, but I haven't been out there yet to check.

Vân painting the Sea Turtle

Here is super fast Vân painting her Sea Turtle for Katie.

Flight over the Grand Canyon

Unfortunately my hard drive crashed and I lost all of my videos and pictures of Michelle and my flight back from Cedar City over the Grand Canyon. Luckily I had created a quick slideshow of the pictures to show Michelle's parents on the TV so not all is lost completely. I sped up the video just a little so it could post to YouTube. I guess Michelle and I will have to fly there again to take more videos and pictures, maybe on a trip to Sedona...

Announcing Katherine (Katie) Lyn Brouchoud

I just posted a slideshow of pictures, but here are some of the details...

Michelle began labor at 5pm on Thursday 3/12, these were light and far apart, and we weren't sure yet if this was labor or pre-labor contractions. Michelle had contractions all Thursday night and I tried to record the time of each one, but there were gaps in the recording for a few hours were I apparently fell asleep since her contractions didn't stop. Friday I took the morning off from work since we had a dr. appt at 8am. The doctor measured her at 3-4cm and said he'd probably see us in the hospital before the end of the weekend. Michelle continued having contractions all day Friday so I decided to stay home from work.

We went out to Wal-Mart to buy a stopwatch since my memory is so short that I was forgetting when the contractions started/ended before I wrote them down and to get a change of scenery for a bit. We started recording the timing of her contractions more accurately around 7:20 pm. At this point, they were around 6-9 minutes apart so we had some time to wait. Our plan was to wait until they were 5 minutes apart or her water broke. For a short period of time the time between extended, but we weren't sure because Michelle was going to the bathroom often and wasn't sure if she was having minor ones in the bathroom. There very well could have been more contractions in there that would have shorted up the time between. At around 9:30 pm I was estimating the contractions to be 6 minutes apart, but by 10:15 pm or so after she had several that were 3.5 - 6 minutes apart so it was time to go.

Michelle had a few more contractions while I packed the cooler and our bags into the car. She had another one in the garage as we were about to leave and 2 more on the short ride to the hospital. She had another one while we were waiting at the registration desk for a nurse escort. She was checked at 10:30pm and was 4cm and they slowed way down to about 8-10 minutes apart. The nurses assigned to Michelle during the night were Meagan and Ania. The nurses asked if we really wanted to stay vs going back home since Michelle would have to go onto the monitor if we stayed. After a short talk where I said that I really thought it was time to come and if we went home, we'd probably come right back in since I wouldn't know when it really was the right time, we decided to stay. We also felt more at ease about staying since they would allow Michelle to not wear the monitor and walk around if she signed a waiver. They also said that she could get up and stand and move around even if she was being monitored as long as they kept good readings. Around 11:30pm, her contractions started picking back up and were about 4 minutes apart so we were comfortable with our decision to stay.

Michelle was starting to lose her confidence that she would be able to make it all the way through the labor since she hadn't progressed all day. I allowed the nurses to test Michelle's blood so that she would be allowed an epidural if needed. The nurse said she could wait a long time until she was 8 cm before they wouldn't allow her to get it. This was good because it relaxed Michelle knowing it was available pretty much on command, but didn't have to commit just yet. I asked her not to make any decisions until after her next check to see if there was any progress. The next check was at 1:30am now on the 14th and she was 6 cm. With the good news that she was progressing, she regained her confidence that she could pull this off and there were no more times were she requested medication.

At 3:30 Michelle said that she felt her body pushing just at the peak of a contraction. She wasn't really feeling the urge to push, but more that her body would surge at the peak of a contraction and that if felt like it was a push. The nurse said that if she was pushing, then she had to stay in the bed. They also checked her during a contraction and said that she was now at 7 cm. Michelle's contractions were much more painful if she laid on her side so she was pretty much bed ridden on her back (with the bed in a sitting type position). After an hour or so, she became very uncomfortable sitting and her tailbone was sore, but she was stuck in the bed. Her contractions got closer together and much more painful; she was now going through "transition". Eventually sleep deprivation from this night and Thursday night was taking over and Michelle was starting to doze off between contractions. I thought that the contractions were slowing down and were less powerful so I talked to a nurse to make sure this was ok if she fell asleep and they slowed down. I was worried they would say she was "failing to progress" and push for drug augmentation or cesarean section. The nurse said that her body will have the contractions and do what it needs to do regardless of if she sleeps or not.

Michelle dozed off between contractions and even through a few between 4:30 and 6:30am. We both think she was still in transition, but was just too exhausted so she was able to sleep through part of the hardest phase of labor. I tried to stay awake to comfort her the times she did wake up, and I think I did ok. I did doze off a few times, but I think I was up for every contraction even the ones she slept through. The nurse came in at 5:30am and told me that Michelle would be checked again soon, but they got busy with other women in labor and didn't actually come until later. Michelle was pretty much done dozing off around 6am while we waited for the nurse to come and check her.

Finally the nurse came at 7am and checked Michelle and said she was between 7 and 8 cm and that her bag of waters was bulging. Michelle had a few more contractions and maybe the third after being checked, her water broke. She hurried to the bathroom while I hurried to unplug her from the monitor. I told the nurses and they came and cleaned up the bed. Around this time, the nurses changed to the morning shift and Darleen was now in charge of Michelle. Darleen is a certified midwife and was great for Michelle. She suggested a few positions that helped out a lot and was very supportive. She told Michelle not to hold back during her contractions and to push if it felt good to push. Prior to this, she wasn't yet trying to push since she was only 7-8 cm. The nurse checked Michelle a few times and she was initially at 8 cm, but after just a few contractions while being checked she said she was now at 9 cm.

Michelle started active pushing around 8:00am while I held one of her legs back and Darleen held the other back. This early pushing Michelle did on her right side since it now felt better for her to be on her side. I held up her leg as I put pressure on her tailbone for her comfort. The nurse began with the perineal massage. Around 9:00am, Dr. Miller came in and broke the bottom part of the table down in preparation for delivery. Michelle was now on her back in the typical pose for delivering a baby. The doctor had a large basin of cotton balls soaked in warm water that he was using to wash the baby as she crowned. Katherine Lyn Brouchoud was born at 9:12 am and was quickly given to Michelle. I cut the umbilical cord once the doctor had it clamped off. The placenta was delivered around 9:25 am.

Once Katie was born, there was a flurry of activity. The doctor sewed Michelle back up since she tore naturally. While this was going on, the nurses cleaned up the baby, did a glucose test (had to prick her foot for blood), weighed the baby and several other things I can't think of now. It wasn't too long until we had Katie to ourselves and the nursing tasks died down.

The birth was a huge success and Michelle was successful in having the drug free birth she had been working towards. We took "Bradley" classes for 12 weeks 2 hours a week learning how to relax and deal with the pain. Katie was born on March 14, previously known as Pi day (before becoming Katie's birthday) 19 days late (she was due 2/23) and was 7 lbs 4 oz, and 20 inches long. Her hands and feet had very wrinkled skin and her arms and legs were peeling slightly; a sign of being born late. Her belly and between her legs still had a lot of vernix, which meant she wasn't late. The maturity test also put her right at 40 weeks. Michelle's labor was 40 hours long, and she was pushing for about an hour. Katie is perfectly healthy and has latched on and started to feed. We were released from the hospital at 2:00 pm on 3/15. The dogs are very curious about Katie and have been anxious to sniff her. We've been letting them smell her a little at a time and they are doing well so far.

Babie Katherine Lyn Brouchoud Pictures!

Here is a slideshow of the pictures we have of Katie's birth. I'll post details when I get a chance.

Baby Hearing Protection

I finally figured out how to protect Katie's hearing when we start taking her flying.  This has been an on going challenge since I learned how to fly.  I knew that I would someday have children and have to address this problem, so I had been asking pilots with children for years, but I've never been satisfied that any of the methods would be sufficient.

I've known about children's headsets since the beginning, but these are usually for toddlers and older, not for babies.  The most consistent method I have heard was to cut a foam earplug in half to make them small enough for a baby and use that.  The doctor said this is OK, but you could have issues with pushing wax far into the babies ear.  That was going to be the best I could come up with until now.

I have found two different solutions, but will probably use them both in the beginning to ensure protection.  The first is a baby sized ear protection muff.  The still look big on a baby, but there have been a lot of reviews saying they worked fine on babies down to 4 days old!  We don't plan on taking Katie flying until shes about 3 months old.  

The second method is to use swimmers ear plugs.  These plugs don't go in the ear canal, but instead are almost like putty and you just stick them in your ear over the canal.  As you stick them there, they mold to your ear and stay in place.  They are waterproof for swimming, but also provide 20-22 dB of noise reduction, which is almost identical to a passive headset.  They are reusable, but I bought a 5 pack anyways since I imagine some getting lost or eaten by the dogs.  The only hazard is to keep them away from Katie so she doesn't choke on them, but this is no different than the foam plugs.  Michelle and I have both tried them to see how well they work and they seem to work exactly as advertised.  I'm surprised at how much noise they block (I'm actually wearing the blue bonzai bear ones right now!)

We'll have Katie start using the plugs and muffs a few weeks before we take her flying to let her get used to it slowly.  We plan on using them both at the same time in case one isn't sealing perfectly and is letting some noise in, the other one will work.  When my headset isn't on right, I can notice and fix it, but we won't have a way to know with Katie until she starts talking.  Below are the pics of Michelle and I trying on the ear plugs.

I'm going to cheat!

Well, I finally took my first child flying, it was Trevor Carter, John and Jasmine's kid.  Instead of me writing all the details here, I'm going to cheat and link to the post that Jasmine wrote (with pictures)!  Click here to see that post. 

I'm really excited about how well everything went and am looking forward to taking Katie flying.  This was the perfect flight since it was short (about 20 minutes) and usually isn't too bumpy since we don't fly through any mountains.

There really isn't any other news, Katie was due today, but hasn't come (yet).  We had a doctor's appointment and all signs looked good so far.  We are planning on waiting for as long as is safe for Katie and Michelle, which the doctor right now is saying would be a little over 2 more weeks.  The room is ready to go, so anytime she's ready...

More fish

Unfortunately, Michelle forgot to video tape the last set of fish that she painted, but here are the pictures.The clown fish is by our friend Sarah Ford and the other two fish are by my brother Jeff.

Giraffe (Angie West)

Spider Monkey (Jon Brouchoud)

Butterflies (Joe Brouchoud)

Whale (Lisa West)

Fish (Jim and Rita Saia)

Crab (Jeff Brouchoud)

Seahorse (Laura Caulfield)

Frogs (Michelle Brouchoud)

Butterfly (Mary Faircloth)

More animal paintings

The Elephant

The Lion

The Macaws

Here are some new animal painting videos

The Howler Monkey

The Ray

The Toucan

The Sky

Baby Room: Animal Paintings

We have started receiving animal drawings back from relatives and have started working on them. Michelle finished the habitats a few weeks ago and has started tracing the animals on the walls and painting them. I've been trying to get pictures and video of her in progress and I think I've got all of them so far. I decided I'll try to put together a video of each animal for their originator to see how it turned out on the wall.

I just finished the first video of the first animal we received back, the Zebra from my mom. This was an experiment since I had to figure out how to speed up the video so that it wouldn't be an hour and a half long and boring. I ended up having to create a temporary video since the software will only let me compress it 10x, but I needed to compress it 60x to get it down to an appropriate size. Not to hard to compress it 10x then load the compressed video as an original and compress another 6x and add photos.

Here is the video. I'll post the videos of the animals soon (I think all that have been sent back have been painted), but I can't create a video if you haven't sent your animal back yet...

Getting ready for the baby

Michelle and I have made some pretty good progress getting ready for the baby.  Michelle has been painting the habitat murals, and I have been installing the diaper sprayer.  Tomorrow Michelle will start adding the animals that family has drawn for us to add to the mural and I will start working on the sky.  The sky will have glow-in-the-dark paint that will replicate the alignment of the stars of her due date (since we want to have it done BEFORE she's born and won't actually know the real birthdate).  Here are some pictures of our progress.

N951CC flies to Tehachapi

Michelle and I flew to Tehachapi for lunch just like we did when we got engaged 3 years ago. We ate lunch at the Apple Shed and got dessert at the bakery. Unfortunately, the Rocky Mountain Chocolate Factory is now out of business.