I need more practice...

So after many weeks of crappy weather, I was finally able to get out flying today. Apple Valley got a new restaurant on the field; their other one closed a while ago. I read from a bunch of other pilots that they have really good BBQ so that was enough reason for the trip. The flight was smooth and the food was great.

To try to knock the rust of my instrument flying skills, I decided to shoot some approaches on the way there and back. I did the ILS into Victorville on the way there and the ILS into Palmdale and the VOR into Watsonville on the way back. I did a poor job on all of the approaches and really need to keep practicing so I can mentally get ahead of the airplane. Not too surprising though, I did say I had rust on my IFR skills...

Space Shuttle Discovery Landing

We had another opportunity to watch a space shuttle landing! This time it was the Discovery at Edwards AFB on September 11th, 2009. Kevin and Sarah Ford were heading down their with their girls to watch the landing so I was going to go down there with Katie as well since I was watching her while Michelle went out with the "ladies from school" for her birthday.

Michelle decided to come down and watch the landing thinking she'd be back in time to go out, but she ended up being too late so they cancelled. We went to the Golden Catina restaurant at Rosamond airport after the landing, this was the first time the Ford's were there. The food was good as usual, but there was a ton of people and a huge wait (why Michelle was late), but all places were packed from everybody coming off Edwards from the landing. It was pretty late and we needed to eat before heading back home.

Here is the video of the landing.

Visualizing IFR approaches

I haven't been IFR legal for 3 years now, but I want to start getting back into the swing of things. On the way back from getting the pitot-static and transponder check, I decided to do some VFR practice approaches. I didn't have a safety pilot so I was unable to go "under the hood" and log the approaches and I had to keep an eye out for traffic, so I didn't get any simulated practice, but it is a great way to start knocking the rust of the procedures part of flying IFR.

I found a great website with instructions on how to overlay GPS tracks and maps and import them into Google Earth. I scanned the approach plates of the approaches I flew and calibrated them per the instructions so I can overlay my GPS track and the intended approach. Here is the site with the instructions. http://lets-go-fly.com/GPS-training-aid.pdf

Here are some pictures I captured. I only spent a little time adjusting the opacity of the maps so that you can see the Google Earth satellite view underneath so the map is pretty faded, but I think you can see all the pertinent information.

Here is the 2D VOR-B approach into Fox Field near Lancaster, CA (KWJF). I like this view because you can easily see the effect of the wind on my hold entries and holding pattern. I actually wasn't going to practice any holding, but the controller got busy and issued a hold so I got some practice anyways. I'd like to think I would have done a better job of compensating for the wind on successive holds had I done them.

Here is the 3D approach for VOR-B at WJF.

Here is the 2D ILS-25 approach into Palmdale, CA (KPMD) just south-east of WJF. I received vectors to the final approach course and was limited to a 3000 ft DH by the tower instead of the published 2703 ft.

Here is the 3D ILS-25 approach at PMD. My DH was limited on this approach, that's why it doesn't look like I get very low to the ground.

After the ILS, I had enough fun for the day so I decided to head back home to Inyokern. Now I just have to do some more reviewing, finish my checklists, and then start flying with a safety pilot on my way back to regaining my IFR currency.

Catching up on posting flight videos

I've really been getting behind on editing videos; I have hundreds of videos of Katie I still have to go through. I put together some of our recent flights and posted them below. Enjoy.

Flight to Watsonville, CA to visit Aunts and Uncles in Santa Cruz. This was the first time Katie met them.

Flight to Tehachapi, CA for the EAA Pancake Breakfast. If you listen, you can hear the controller tell me to switch over to advisory frequency since an airplane ran off the runway and spilt fuel. The airplane actually didn't run off the runway, but instead lost control in ground affect and crashed into the airport boundary fence. The pilot was not injured, but the airplane is probably totaled.

Flight to San Diego. We tried flying down there many times, but it seems to be too foggy every time. The real issue is that it gets windy and turbulent in the afternoon desert so we need to head to San Diego late enough for the fog to burn off, but early enough to get back before the wind picks up. We flew into Montgomery field and at breakfast at Casa Machado. The food and service was excellent and the view of the ramp/runway was great.

N951CC flies to Flabob (Riverside)

I've got so many videos to catch up on; we've been too busy doing things and not catching up on posting them. Here is a flight that we took to Flabob (KRIR) near Riverside CA. The weather was excellent, visibility forever and smooth winds out of the north.

I've heard many people talk about the turbulence in Cajon Pass, but I was naive thinking it would be fine since the air was so smooth. Since Flabob is just south of the pass, I started my descent early and flew down into the pass so I wouldn't have to circle to lose altitude over the airport. That is when it hit. I immediately slowed the airplane down since I like my wings intact and we were climbing 1500 - 2000 ft/min at the min cruise power setting and 10 degrees of flap. Michelle says this was about the worse turbulence she has ever flown in, but wasn't as bad since it was real short (only 5-10 minutes until we cleared the pass) and it was plenty cool. The heat is what really makes the turbulence bad.

We flew well over the Ontario class C airspace and I circled to descend just east of the airport. After I finally made it down to pattern altitude, I entered flying an upwind entry to westbound runway. It became interesting when we turned downwind to notice that there was a mountain right in the way for my base turn. It decided we'd cut inside the mountain for a short base/final instead of flying all the long way around. Surprisingly, I made the approach just fine, there were plenty of opportunities to instigate a go-around; I would have gone around the mountain the second time.

The airport is really small and seems like a throw back in time. There are airplanes tied down that look like they are waiting to disintegrate in place. Michelle thought it looked like a "honke airport you'd see in the Midwest." The restaurant had a great atmosphere with historic photos of the airport all over the walls and models hanging from the ceiling. The food was good and it seemed like most people's service was really good, but it seemed like the waitress kept forgetting about our table in the corner.

On the way back, we had a stiff crosswind for takeoff and I climbed above the pass before crossing the mountains and the turbulence wasn't nearly as bad.

American Engineering

Listening to people complain over and over about poor American Engineering and how Americans cannot compete with foreign engineering in context of the auto industry is really annoying, especially being an engineer myself (although I'm not in the auto industry). I'm not going to get into cars now since that debate will never end. It did get me wondering how many miles my American Cessna skylane has on it. Considering American airplane companies dominate the aircraft market, that at least says something positive about American engineers.

My airplane has over 14,000 hours on it, the engine has over 2,000 hours on it, and it cruises at 133 kts true airspeed. The rough estimates say that my engine has about 350,000 miles on it and the airplane has flown well over 2 million miles! I know that comparing cars and airplanes is a poor example since much more maintenance is put into an airplane over it's lifetime, but I thought that 2 million miles was pretty impressive.

I do have all the original logbooks and the previous owners did log the segments for each flight so there is a possibility that I might actually be able to calculate a much more accurate estimate (I'll never know how many miles were travelled in holding patterns or out of the way sight seeing). I doubt I'll go through that effort since there are 60 or 70 logbooks of flights and that entering each flight would take forever.

Now I better get back to work before someone says American engineers don't work very hard...

Feed Reader Issues

So Google reader hasn't been receiving updates from my blog for awhile. I've dealt with this several times before so I didn't bother fixing it. I figured I'd make a post since others have been having with their reader as well. To fix the problem, I changed the feed to this blog to be http://n951cc.blogspot.com/feeds/posts/default

I think Google bought out feedburner or something and screwed up this feed. Hopefully this works for you, let me know if it doesn't.

N951CC finally flies to Catalina

Last weekend we finally flew to Catalina. Originally we were just going to fly there over the summer for some camping, but that fell apart due to a lack of reservation. Since then the anticipation has grown more and more due to cancelling the trip several times. Then I found some cheap inflatable life preservers on Ebay so I picked those up for me and Michelle, but then felt bad that we had life vests and Katie didn't so I had to buy her one.

The smoke from the LA fires was terrible on Saturday, there were no airmets for reduced visibility, but there were 2 fire fighting TFRs to avoid. By the time we got to Mojave, it was getting to be IMC conditions and getting worse quickly. I asked the controller to verify visibility ahead of me and they stated that it was 0 visibility by Palmdale only a few minutes ahead, but clear above 10,500 ft. I started my climb and saw a little blue to the west when I reached 10,500, but I was still in some pretty thick smoke so I climbed to 12,500 and were were above it. You could see the thick smoke billowing up like a volcanic eruption. Since I was now too high for the Shoreline Route through the LAX airspace, I diverted west towards Pt. Mugu so I could fly around the class B airspace and descend down to Catalina Island. If LA approach wouldn't have cleared me to descend through the class B, then I would have had to circle for ever to lose 10,000 ft of altitude before landing.

Catalina is an interesting place to land, I didn't find it very difficult, but I did perceive the "illusions". The airport is on the top of of a mountain on a mountain. It is sloped the whole, but it is less sloped on the south-west end of the runway so that you cannot see the end of the runway when you are on the ground. It's like a big crown in the runway. When the runway ends, it really ends with a huge drop-off on the back side. I found it difficult to pick out the runway until I was only a few miles out. I used the altimeter as my primary altitude reference (vs looking at the ground) since the runway is 1600 feet above the surrounding ocean. When on right base to 22, I swear I was flying the flattest approach of my life, but then by the time I got to final it looked as if I was way too high. I just added my last notch of flaps and had a nice approach.

I can easily see how students could easily over work the approach due to the illusions and get themselves into trouble. You land uphill and can't see the drop-off at the end of the runway, but you know it's there so you always feel that the runway is only as far as you can see. I just didn't worry since I know I didn't land long and don't have a long roll out that I wouldn't go off the end. We took off runway 22 uphill and watched the ground fall away from us then circled a little of the island before turning northbound.

Lunch was ok, but not what it has been raved up to be by other pilots. The buffalo burger was good, but not that big and the fries were ok. It was more of a "bus stop cafeteria" than an "island airport restaurant".

After lunch, we flew over to Camarillo and met up with Michelle's sister Lisa. We spent the day at the beach (it was hot out) then headed back to Ojai and had dinner at Papa Lennon's. The had great pizza and gelato.

Sunday we packed up, ate breakfast, then headed to breakfast. We were running a little slow and I was getting concerned since the winds pick up in Inyokern in the afternoon and there was already an airmet out for moderate turbulence. We needed to pick up some gas at the self serve since the FBO waived our tie-down with a fuel purchase, but the pump was broke. That took another half hour or so and I don't think were were airborne until noon. I flew up north towards Bakersfield to avoid the smoke and flew the ILS 30R approach to verify the VOR, ILS, and Marker beacon receivers in them airplane. The VOR antennas had been removed during maintenance and I've never used the ILS or marker beacons since I bought the airplane - all worked just fine.

From Bakersfield we headed eastward back home, but started to hit the bumps over the Sierras on the way. We really started picking up moderate chop on our descent through Walker's Pass and the AWOS was reporting winds variable 25 gusting to 30 knots. This would be a good chance for cross wind practice. I set up for runway 28 since the winds were ~250 degrees, but I couldn't line the airplane up on approach and the sock had switched to favor 20, so I did a go around. A left 270 put me on right downwind for 20 and I was able to land uneventfully.

I was nervous about the hanger door since it is extremely weak and is a huge sail in the wind. The latches that lock it open also don't work that great. I managed to get the door open and the wind caught it and slammed it up into the locks. I managed to get the airplane back in the hanger with no damage (twice in a row is a record!) and close the door without too much issue. Check out the video below of the trip. As long as I can start feeling a little better (feels like I've got a cold), we'll be heading to Watsonville next weekend to visit Michelle's aunt's and uncle's in Santa Cruz.

Lame video to break the silence

Here is a video of me testing an inflatable life vest. Michelle and I plan on flying out over the Pacific, such as to Catalina Island, and although we'll usually be within gliding distance of land, the vests were cheap off ebay. I don't have to have the vests officially inspected since I don't fly for hire, but I wanted to test them before relying on them so I fired them off then replaced the CO2 containers. I know this video is lame, but that is part of the fun :)

Home to WI to visit the Brouchoud family

Michelle and I took Katie back to WI so she could see the family (meet most of them for the first time). We drove to Vegas and valeted our car at the Tropicana since we'd be staying a night there on our way back. Katie was pretty good most of the 3.5 hour flight, but did get fussy for about 45 minutes and cried for about 10 minutes. There was just too much going on and too many people checking her out for her to fall asleep. Overall, the flight was good. Michelle's parents picked us up from the airport and we went home to visit. The next morning, we drove up to Kiel to visit my brother Joe, his wife Amber, and meet my new niece Leila. Jon, Kandy, and Juliana met us there as well as my parents. We had a good time and enjoyed some really good grilled chicken and played some disc golf. Jon managed to loose one of Joe's discs, but we weren't able to get it out after hoisting Joe up in the tree.

Sunday, we played some more disc golf and I managed to loose one of Joe's discs, then my parents hosted a party and had all sorts of people over to visit and meet Katie. It was a good chance to catch up with people I haven't seen in a long time. Jon, my dad, and I went out on a hike to Todd's pond and I picked up a few birds on my lifer list. Monday we went to Sheboygan for lunch at the airport since it was rated best of the best for airport restaurants. It was pretty fancy with great food at a good price, but it was located at the end of the runway instead of centrally located near the intersection of the runways. Being at the end of the runway did have it's advantage as we watched the formation takeoff of some WWII planes heading to Oshkosh, there must have been near 40 of them. Tuesday, we went back out to Woodland Dunes and Michelle and I picked up some more lifers. With my dad's help, I was able to definitively identify them using the bird book, but I wouldn't have been able to on my own.

Wednesday we met Joe for breakfast and went to see my mom's property and Cedar Lake. Thursday, we went to visit my brother Jeff and took a tour of his company, this was Michelle's first time there. We continued on and stayed the night at Jon's after dinner at Famous Dave's. Friday, I headed for Oshkosh while my parents drove Michelle to Milwaukee to visit her family. I took a tour of the A380 that was ok I guess, but took an hour and a half of my day and I ran out of time at the end. I didn't have time to wander through the airplanes, talk to the Cessnas to Oshkosh crowd, find the CAP or Angel Flight, but I did manage to check out some engine monitors and some portable oxygen setups. I ended up buying an Aerox system that gave me a pretty good show special. Now we'll be able to fly up higher where the airplane is more efficient, the air is smoother and cooler, and I can get stronger tailwinds. It'll also give me more margin when we're flying through/over the mountains. Michelle gets a kick out of the cannula she'll wear that looks like a moustache. I'm thinking about going with the Insight G3 engine monitor although they still aren't on the market and have been 'almost there' for a few years now.

After Oshkosh I headed to meet Michelle and Katie in Milwaukee to begin our visit with her family. That'll have to be a separate post since I'm getting tired and I don't have that video compiled yet.

Some recent flights

We flew to Santa Monica for lunch on 7/12/09. Figured this would be good practice flying into the LA airspace and is along the same route we would take to Catalina island. The spitfire grill is close, but not right on the field so I wish we had brought the stroller for Katie. The Typhoon and the Hump are right on the field, but weren't open yet and were asian cuisine. The Hump seems to be only open for dinner which is RIDICULOUS since it has the best view of the runway by far.

The forecast is too hot for camping this weekend (7/18/09) so we decided just to fly for lunch. We've never been to Porterville and I see they supposedly have camping on the airport. This gave us a chance to check out the campground and see if we'd come back and camp another time. The campground was nice grass with very nice shade trees and bathrooms. The restaurant said the airport will turn off the sprinklers if people are camping so you don't have to worry about that. Even though the campground is nice, there really isn't much to do there. It would be nice for transient camping or for an airshow, but not for just camping.

Ken Block at IYK (from cell phone)

I was really stupid, I shot this video from my cell phone when I had my camcorder sitting 20 feet away in the car... See everybody standing around? There was nobody making sure the course was clear. I was standing next to the building and he was drifting away from me so I wasn't in any danger, but nobody was stopping traffic from entering "the course".

Ken Block on Top Gear at Inyokern Airport

Here is the Top Gear episode that was shot at the Inyokern airport. The close up tail shot of the orange and white airplane (around 3:15) is mine, you can see the number N951CC. I love the video, but am not happy the airport allowed this shoot at Inyokern. They didn't show him doing donuts around the tied-down airplanes, but he sure did. I went to the airport meeting today and gave my 2 cents that owners don't pay to tie their airplane down to have it put at risk. Check out how much dirt he throws up, now would you want your paint job taking that punishment? The owners weren't even told this shoot was going to happen to give them a chance to move their planes out of the way! There was practically not safety either, nobody was making sure somebody wasn't around all the blind intersections he was flying across. What was done is done, but hopefully the airport board will not permit this type of activity again at the airport.

Father's Day Fly-in

Here are the two videos of this years (my first) Father's day. We flew up to Columbia, CA (O22) for their fly-in. The flight was smooth and we saw Half Dome and circled around Pine Mountain Lake on the way up. The camping was great, about 70 or so during the day, comfortable in the sun and the shade was cool. There really weren't any bugs either (flies or mosquito's) however we did find a tick in Katie's pack & play and a tarantula. I think we ended up with 4 lifers added to our lists as well (birds, we've seen most the airplanes before except maybe the AirCams). Katie did great and the airshow was pretty good for a local fly-in although it was mostly just flybys with no aerobatics. We'll be going next year for sure.

We took a short ~1/2 mile walk to the city which is actually a state park. They have all sorts of old shops such as panning for gold, saloons, and blacksmith. We got our first family portrait at one of those places that takes old fashioned photos. It's not the best photo, I'm missing a chunk of hair and I'm not sure what to think about Katie, but it was fun. I hear Mark is going to take some real photos; I'm looking forward to updating the family portrait :)

Katies First Camping Trip (camping)

So here is the camping video of our trip to Kernville. The camcorder ran out of memory Friday afternoon and we forgot the spare memory stick at home, but Katie still has plenty of air time :)

Katies First Camping Trip (flight)

Michelle and I are planning on flying to the Father's day fly-in next weekend, but we haven't gone camping with Katie yet. We've been trying to go camping the past few weekends to see how she does, but the weather hasn't been great. We made the flight to Kernville this last weekend and camped in their airport camping area. We managed to fit me, Michelle, Katie, Maverick, Emmett, and and all of our camping gear in the airplane! This video is of the flight there, I'll make another one of the actual camping trip.

I'm so out of shape, camping delayed

So I decided to play in the outdoor "indoor" soccer. I haven't exercised since last season so tonight was pretty rough. I spent most of the game out of breath on the bench and my legs and back are now killing me, but it's better than nothing. We play twice a week so this will be a rough few months.

Two weekends ago on Saturday after I got back from work, Michelle and I decided to fly to Kernville to go camping at about 5pm,. This was supposed to be a test run taking Katie camping some place close. Eventually we came to our senses and decided we wouldn't make it in time and we'd forget something in the rush. We postponed the trip to this past weekend. Crappy weather prevented the trip this weekend, the mountains were blanketed with clouds so we wouldn't have been able to make it. The plan is now to go next weekend.

With the extra time this last weekend, we went out to the airport to do a test fit to see if we could fit everything we needed. We were able to fit the 3 of us, the two dogs, all of our camping gear, plus the jogging stroller! Even though the jogging stroller is bigger than the regular one, it is essential when you are not on pavement so we would need it for the dirt trail down to the sandy beach. Kernville has a nice camping area just west of the runway with a trail down to the river. There usually aren't too many other people so I think it'll be a great place to let the dogs run wild in the river/lake. We'll bring the binoculars and bird books to see if we can get any new birds as well.

Here is a picture of the camping area at Kernville. It is amazing how low the water is now (draining for bridge repair) compared to the picture. Usually the south end of the runway is a peninsula, but now there is dry land all around. It is a short walk from the camping to the airport restaurant which has excellent breakfast and burgers, is dog friendly, and has a great outdoor deck overlooking the runway.

Space Shuttle Atlantis Landing

Michelle and I took Katie down to Edwards AFB hoping the shuttle would land there since the weather looked bad in FL for today and tomorrow. We found a place not too far from the flight line on a little hill that gave us a great view. We got there about 25 minutes early and the orbiter had already completed it's de-orbit burn so it was officially coming to Edwards. We saw it fly over head, heard the double sonic boom, then saw it come in for landing. After the landing, we stopped by a nearby outdoor AFB museum that had an SR-71, which is Michelle's favorite airplane.

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.