Mama Zeiner goes back to work

Thursday June 28 was Mama Zeiner's first day back to work in almost 5 months. This was a day that honestly I was dreading, not because of work per se but because of leaving the little love of my life for the first time. Before this day, the most I had been away from Zane was about 5 hours. I feel so fortunate that I did get so much quality time with him at the beginning of his life, and like all working moms I had contemplated staying home for good. But it was time to be a grown-up and Thursday was the day. I picked Thursday because I knew I was not ready for a full week away from Zane and with the July 4th holiday afterwards, it gave me some transition time back to work. Amgen gives a summer break at July 4th with a full week of vacation. Luckily my boss is amazing and agreed that this is fine and I was able to catch up on all sorts of misc stuff (like over 2000 emails) before I head back into lab on July 9th.

So how was my first day? It was not only fine, but great. I came back to not just work, but also to a family. I realized how much I had missed my co-workers, friends and the lab. I am a "lab rat" through and through and I look forward to getting back to the bench. I have been with Amgen for 4 years and I feel very comfortable there. I am glad to return.

Zane is doing fine too. Thursday and Friday Zane stayed home with dad. His daycare will not start until August 1st, so dad will stay home for a few more weeks in July and Nana and Papa will come out at the end to help fill in the gaps. Zane loved spending time with daddy, and Gus learned a few things too. =) His is a wonderful and dedicated father. I am very lucky.

That's the update with my life. Hope everyone has a nice July 4th.
Dianna

Prettiest place I have ever breastfed!

I thought I would risk the chance of offending someone and write about something that truly has been a struggle and a triumph in my life. I love this picture for so many reasons, including the beautiful view and moment spent with Zane, but also because getting me to this point was not actually as easy as just "popping out a boob". Being a woman is so amazing to me and many things I have taken for granted have surfaced over the past year. Outside of the fact that pregnancy is never easy (even if you look adorable showing off your belly) and labor is not always what you expect, being the continual source of nourishment for the most precious thing in your life does not come off as natural as just being a mother.

I am not exactly sure how the human race survived knowing that for so many years babies' only source of food were their moms. Personally I have to eat more now than I did when I was pregnant just to be able to resupply myself on a continual basis. I am sure the mothers of the past did not eat steak every night like I do, nor have a husband that cooks both breakfast and dinner for them to make sure that they eat a well balanced meal. Between books, classes, pumping and visiting a lactation consultant this picture is actually worth about $1000. For whatever reason I was determined to make breastfeeding work... and I am very glad I did.

In the beginning, I spent cumulatively about 8-10 hours a day breastfeeding or building up my supply by pumping. This might seem outlandish but it is true, and being a scientist I was steadfast in making sure my son got all of the immunity factors that I could give him. Now I only spend about 4 hours a day feeding Zane and the moments spent are indeed precious. I could have not done this without Gus. Having 4 months off work also helps, but without Gusti I would have given up months ago. There were tears and emotional breaking points to get me to the above picture and the one person that deserves my gratitude is my husband. Gusti is the most loving man a wife could ask for. If you have heard that behind every strong man there is a strong woman... well then behind any new mother there needs to be a support system. At Zane's age, I get most of the praise, but we have two leaders of "Team Zane" in our household. Gus is an amazing husband, friend and father. I have said it before but I will state it again, I feel truly blessed.

For those mothers out there that have ever breastfed -- my heart deeply praises you! And for any other woman that is reading this that I might have scared them into not wanting to breastfeed -- it is worth ALL the effort. My son is healthier and possibly happier because I had the support system to allow me to not give up.

So I am proud of this picture for many reasons... and yes, the view was beautiful!

My Amazing Mother's Day!

I had such a wonderful first Mother's Day. Gusti definitely deserves a lot of credit for making me feel so special. My celebration actually began the day before, a Mother's Day weekend as it were. The three of us traveled to SF, ate a "linner" (lunch-dinner) and shopped for a Mother's Day outfit for me at a cute boutique in Noe Valley. Of course the day would not be complete without shopping for a cute outfit for Zane too, and we found a few chic items for him also. I love to shop!

On Sunday I woke up to Gusti giving me the cutest picture of Zane holding the "Happy Mother's Day" card posted on Zane's site. I received two presents. First, chocolate covered cherry truffles (my favorite from Joseph Schmidt) and a second one carried over to me by my son, a pair of classic Sapphire solitaire earrings. These are the prettiest blue Sapphires I have ever seen and they match my son's eyes. Plus they are blue for a boy. I love them! And they are perfect because Zane keeps grabbing anything he can hold onto... my hair, necklaces, earrings... yikes!

That afternoon, we traveled back to SF and had lunch with Harriet (her first Grandmother's Day). A little more shopping and lots of Zane smiles later our day ended. Very nice to say the least. Thanks to both Gus and Zane for making my day so special!

P.S. A few of you sent me a Mother's Day card to celebrate my first occasion. That was so sweet! I would have never thought about doing that for any of my girlfriends and it was so nice to receive. =) Thank you!

Best Morning Ever!

Zane learned how to give kisses and he decided to give tons to Mommy today. I have never had such an amazing morning! Zane was precious and as I laughed in glee he continually bombarded me with his love. Zane is starting to explore the world with his mouth, typical at this age. In reality he probably wanted to explore mommy's face, but I will be happily ignorant in thinking that he showered me with kisses.

Looking forward to my first Mother's Day!

Inherited my lower lip

For those of you who REALLY know Dianna, as you can see Zane inherited her lower lip. Embarrassing but true...

This is Zane's look right before he begins to cry.

Blessed Easter

Yeah, life is rough...

Mama Zeiner spent Easter Sunday in San Francisco attending service at the magnificent Grace Cathedral and stopping to take some quick pics at the Golden Gate Bridge. The highlight of my weekend was visiting with Erica and Tyler, traveling to Napa, trying out new wines and eating the most decadent chocolate. This weekend celebrated not only Easter, but also the new birth of Zane and everlasting friendship.

Could I be any more blessed? God, thank you!

Zane meets the Amgen family

Thursday March 29, friends at Amgen threw us a baby shower. This was Zane's first of many trips to mommy's office. It was too much fun meeting, visiting and catching up with everyone... so much fun that I was too busy to take pictures. Towards the end I was able to snap a few. Thanks for the fun party!

2 week post belly

Hello everyone! Here is the first post pregnancy update on my fitness and weight loss goal. I can not start swimming for another 4 more weeks and stomach exercises are still not feasible, but so far...

Weight loss: 14 lbs
Waist: 37''
Hips: 42'' (Wow, shocking!)

Wish me luck!
Dianna

Date night continues! March 1, 2007

As many of you know, Gusti and I have a tradition of date night once a week that has lasted over 7 years. We are very proud of this accomplishment and we are determined to make sure we still make time for each other and Zane, by not getting too overwhelmed with baby madness. We considered the birth of our son a wonderful date night on Weds Feb 21st and we were even able to get in a few quiet moments at the hospital to reflect this. As far as week one, thanks to Nana, Papa and Grandma Mouge the tradition continued. Gus and I were able to sneak away for a few hours to enjoy a nice date at one of our favorite restaurants Kingfish. It only lasted 2 hours, because we both missed Zane , but we had fun all the same. Prior to our date, we snuck in a "kiss thru", another tradition from Dianna's family. =)

Nose kisses

Ok, it is official... nose kisses are the cutest things in pictures. =)

Love to all!

Happy as can be!

Dianna

Luckist Woman in the World

WOW... need I say more! Totally sleep deprived but life is good! Thank you to everyone for all the support. Just had to publish this adorable picture.

Birthday Belly - Feb 21, 2007

Waiting for the version...

For those that are curious, we did try the External Cephalic Version. Prior to beginning, we decided to only try once to flip Zane... essentially we either get lucky and it works immediately or we would go for a c-section. My doctors were AMAZING and did a wonderful job. Zane was continually monitored and was never under distress. During the version, Zane got stuck in a "nook", and instead of trying to reverse the position (kind of like turning counter-clockwise), we opted for surgery. The rest as you can tell from Zane's blog was a HUGE success!

As far as my recovery, I am doing quite well. Although I can not compare it to a full labor, the kidney stone suffered in the 2nd trimester was far worse than the surgery and healing time of the c-section. On a pain scale of 1-10, passing the kidney stone was a full 10 and the c-section has never made it past a 5. (At least so far).

Thanks for all the concerns and wishes. Your prayers paid off, I am the luckiest woman alive. Have you seen how beautiful Zane is?

8.5 month belly - Week 39

Here's how I looked on 2/20/2007, the day before Zane's Birthday.

Final measurements:

Waist = 42.5 inches
Hips = 39 inches
Total weight gain = 25 pounds
Dilation = 2.5 centimeters

Cravings: Steak and Clams.

Zane flip tactics: yoga (child's pose and inverted, raised-hip thing with lots of pillows and heartburn), lots of foods that made Zane wiggle (The last week of the pregnancy, I ate steak for six consecutive days), swimming laps at the Foster City pool.

Most memorable moment: February 19, 2007 I swam half a mile... two days before Zane was born. Yay me!

8.25 month - Week 37

Thought that today (Feb 7th) was the day!

And the labor continues: Woke up at 4:30am with contractions 5-7 min apart. These continued for 7 hours and then slowed to a complete halt. Ok, so my body likes to stay in the latent phase of labor. I guess Zane wants to stay in my belly a little bit longer. (Hope so since he turned breech)

Total dilation: 2.5cm

Weight gain: 24 lbs

Fun moments: All week I have been doing various yoga poses to help Zane turn back to head down. Let's just say that these inverted poses have brought back my "morning sickness"

8 Month Belly

The time is almost here! And we are counting down the days...

Cravings: Chocolate, fish tacos, bananas, cheese, wine... pretty much everything
Weight gained: 22 lbs
Energy level: Pretty high! Probably helped loose some extra holiday food weight.
Most memorable moment: Zane dropped on Jan 30. That morning I woke up and noticed it immediately in the mirror. Plus that evening was the first in a long time where my heartburn had vanished. Yippi!
And the labor begins: On Jan 31st I had my first regular contractions although they were only about 20-30min apart. That afternoon my doctor confirmed that I had dilated to 1.5cm. Gus and I think he might be born early. =)

Shower belly

This is a picture from my amazingly fun baby shower at Lovejoy's Tea Room. We had a high tea service on Jan 20 at 4pm. 13 of my dearest girlfriends were able to attend and my beautiful mother-in-law, Harriet. We truly had a wonderful time. Please see link on the right if you want to see more pictures. Many thanks go out to Cindy Hart for organizing the fun afternoon.

P.S. Got a new craving over the past few weeks... fish tacos, yum!

7 month belly

This is an artistic photo from Gusti

Cravings: Pretty much steak and clementines
Weight gained: still not sure... guessing a total of at least 23 pounds. Definately feeling pretty heavy!
Most memorable moment: Turned 30 years old! Woke up on my birthday to Zane kicking and realized just how lucky I am. I have an amazing husband and a baby boy in my belly... yes I am a sap but I do not care. =)

Christmas Belly

MERRY CHRISTMAS everyone!

Cravings: Finally over doughnuts, replaced them with a craving for clementines.
Weight gained: not sure... but think I gained at least 10 pounds over the holidays


Burrito Contest:

Right before X-mas, some friends and I had a burrito eating contest. I lost... but it was fun to try to out-eat some men while I have been eating for 2. Each burrito weighed 1.5lbs and we had to eat two of them. The guys finished 3 lbs of mexican meat, bean, and cheese bliss... but paid the consequences later. =)

9lbs of burritos

Justin declares himself the winner!

6 month belly

Cravings: Doughnuts and steak, what else is new?
What I miss most: WINE... I swear I am not a lush
Weight gained: 17 pounds
Most memorable moment: At the beginning of the month I had the kidney stone incident... wow that was really bad! Then I had around 2 weeks to re-coup before my smart decision to try to "save a candle" and ended up slicing my finger. 3 ER visits in one month, wow my husband is a rock! And he has few more gray hairs...

5 month belly

Cravings: Still love doughnuts, but began getting cravings for steak! Zane loves steak - or at least he moves a lot after I eat one, so I love steak so I can feel him kick!
What I miss most: eating a medium rare steak... this well done stuff sucks! (A sad day for a Texan)
Weight gained: 14 pounds
Most memorable moment: Week 19 found out Ziggy was a boy and promptly gave him the name Zane! Yippi! We celebrated his manhood by eating steak!

4 month belly

Cravings: still love doughnuts
What I miss most: WINE and sushi
Weight gained: 9 pounds
Most memorable moment: At week 14 I began to feel fluttering in my stomach, but definitely during week 15 I felt the baby kick. I was so excited! I love this kid already, can not wait until we find out if it is a girl or a boy!

3 month belly

Hello everyone! This is my little belly pudge at the end of the first trimester. Yes I am at a winery, but no I was not drinking. Just Shirley Temples for me!

Cravings: Doughnuts, all kinds
What I miss most: WINE
Weight gained: 5 pounds
Most memorable moment: Booted 8 times in one day, prompting my darling husband to give me Tiffany's. Yes ladies, I know I am spoiled.