Patient stories

Gloria and Charlie Gilbert call their new daughter, Daisy Jeanne Gilbert, "our fun baby."

"I don't think any baby is easy – but she's really funny and fun," says Gloria, jiggling little Daisy in her arms. Daisy, for her part, seems pretty darned happy to be there. "She's very curious and very determined and, at 8 months, she's starting to become her own little person."

Gloria and Charlie are busy professionals. She is the general manager of Gilbert Cellars, and Charlie heads up national sales for the Yakima winery, a family business in which they are also partners. Work consumes as much of their lives as they allow. Adding a child into the mix seemed daunting, but only until Daisy got here.

"I'm pleasantly surprised how much I've enjoyed it and how easily it's fit into our lives, having a baby," Gloria says. "It's tough enough running and growing a business. I decided that I was just going to let happen what happens. It's still been a challenge, though. Like this week I'm sick, Daisy's sick, and Charlie's on the road for a business trip."

Life happens.

"I spent my entire pregnancy planning for my child and how my role would change," says Gloria, a planner by necessity. "My pregnancy was really easy, actually. I was sick until 14 weeks but I could still work and exercise. I did Pilates until 38 weeks. Doing that was something I could control. I could tell how my body was changing: It was kind of a touchstone for me. I wanted to be as prepared as possible, and I wanted to be able to recover quickly."

Daisy is now working her way across the floor toward a little yellow duck. Or the fireplace. She's fascinated by both of them. Like her parents, she's very busy.

Gloria and Charlie had every intention of going to Yakima Valley Memorial's Baby Basics class together, but, uh, they forgot. "We were busy with work and we missed our first class, so I went to the rest of them and Charlie went to Daddy Boot Camp," Gloria says. "I'm kind of glad we went separately, though. I felt like we learned the same information but in different ways, and Charlie was really confident he knew what to do."

"It was pretty comical though," Charlie says of the hands-on class just for soon-to-be dads. "All the swaddles were terrible at the beginning!"

Gloria had a let's-just-see-how-this-goes attitude about giving birth. Good thing.

"I pre checked in, which was great. I recommend that to anyone. I walked around the fourth floor for an hour because I wasn't dilated enough, but by 3 a.m. I was 3 centimeters.

"I said, 'Let's see what happens,' but I told them I definitely wanted an epidural (to lessen pain). They gave me a blood test – and I just have to say right now that my nurse Lori (Serl) was adorable and amazing. She was my nurse all the way through – and before it came back I was at 10. There was no time for an epidural. That really put a damper on my day!

"I thought there'd be more buildup, but it was eight hours start to finish. I was in the hospital about 24 hours."

Charlie calls his wife's quick delivery "the accidental natural childbirth."

So, what has turned out to be the hardest part of adding a baby to the family? "Work," Gloria says, no hesitation. "Feeling like I'm able to give her enough time. Luckily because we are business owners we have relatively flexible work schedules."

Her advice for new parents? "Sleep training was really important for us: I still want to spend time with my husband. And at my six-week appointment they told us to start baby proofing the house, because once the baby's here things start getting fun and you won't want to do anything else.

"It's funny, you wait so long for your baby to get here, and I thought the developments would come more slowly. But, boom!, her teeth were out; boom!, she was sleeping through the night. Now we're looking for new things to do with our fun baby!"