Delicious

I must say, I think our little darling daughter is pretty delicious. I could just eat her up. Don't you agree? El Senor is absolutely smitten with her. I see a serious problem as she gets older and wants her way. Mom is bound to say no, Dad will be putty in her hands with a quick yes and a kiss. Enjoy the pictures.

Side note: Carina, am I no longer cool enough for the cool table?

El Bambino Update

As you may have noticed, the baby countdown calendar stopped last week. El Senor and I are pleased to announce that our little numero uno has arrived! Last week was a flurry. I won't gross you out with all the details, but will give you the basic sequence of events.

Thursday, October 15th:
We went in for our weekly OB visit later in the day. My blood pressure was a higher than what the doctor wanted. After our check up, he told us to go have a good dinner, he felt that the baby would be coming within the next 72 hours. He told us to come in the next morning at 11am so my blood pressure could be reevaluated.

El Senor and I looked at each other and laughed....but felt a little panic creeping in. We still didn't have a car seat.

Following our doctor's advice, we ate that good meal and discussed the possibility of going into labor during the weekend. Saturday our friends were throwing us a baby shower. So we crossed our fingers, hoping that the 72 hour goal of our doctor was a little off. We proceeded to run to the store, grabbing batteries for the camera and a few last minute necessities. Then we called our families, putting them on high alert. Lastly, we headed to the baby store and bought the much needed car seat.

Once at home we looked at each other and nervously laughed some more. El Senor took a few pictures of my belly. I finished packing my hospital bag and we went to bed.

This is my 38 week belly. . .

Friday, October 16th:
3:00am I woke up with a slight back ache. Having insomnia off and on during the pregnancy I simply rolled over and went back to sleep.

7:00am I woke up and felt fine, just very, very pregnant. El Senor got up with me, helped me into the shower and asked what I planned on doing. I told him....going to work of course. I'll meet you at the doctor's at 11am for the follow up.

8:30am I made it to work. I wrote out a to-do list. Going through the list quickly, I realized that I was having some contractions. Not wanting to be the little girl who cried wolf I just quietly kept on working. After all, I was going to see the doctor at 11am....right?

9:30am I realized that the contractions were actually pretty consistent. I let Jack know that I was leaving sooner rather than later. She eyed me and asked if she needed to drive me to the doctor's. I declined and just asked that she keep it on the DL until I was sure I was in labor.

10:00am I contacted El Senor and let him know I was leaving for the doctor's office ASAP and to meet me there.

10:15am I was in the car, driving myself and calling the doctor's office, finding out if I should just head to the hospital. My contractions were now 2-3 minutes apart (consistently) lasting about 15-20 seconds each. I was told just to come to the office for a quick check up. (Sidebar, I know that sounds crazy, but the doctor's office is less than 5 minutes away from the hospital.)

10:45am: I was officially in labor. My doctor had done a quick check, and determined that I should head to the hospital. He was still concerned about my blood pressure being so high and wanted me to be monitored, even during the early stages of labor.

11:15am: El Senor and I entered the labor and delivery floor of the hospital. I was introduced to my L&D nurse, Karen. She was awesome. We were taken to a room, I was put in a hospital gown and we were off to the races.

11:30am - 2:30pm El Senor refers to this time as me being "in the dark place". The onset of my labor was fast and furious. That, or I just didn't notice that I was having contractions until they were at the 2-3 minute mark as I mentioned before. Needless to say, I continued on in the same manner for those first hours. Breathing was all I was capable of doing.

Originally I had wanted to have a natural delivery (aka, no epidural). Once we were going like gang-busters though....I had a quick turn around on the need of pain medication. I also had the complication of pre-eclamsia. I was tied to the bed by IVs, medication and a catheter. Since I wasn't able to move for relief during the contractions, I went with what my friend Laura always told me, "Being in pain isn't going to make you a better mother." With that said, I told Karen I needed an epidural ASAP. She made the goodness happen.

2:30pm-4:30pm This is were the goodness begins. The anesthesiologist had been in. After the long and scary needle was put in (El Senor's words not mine) I had immediate relief. I was still able to move my legs and wiggle my toes. I had good sensation, but the gripping pain was gone. We chatted, I tried to get the nurses to give me snacks and juice (which of course failed miserably), we laughed and El Senor was grateful the dark place was gone.

4:30- 6:00 pm I began to have the urge to push. Karen, El Senor and I began pushing every 15 minutes or so. Resting between several of the contractions. My doctor had been dropping in periodically, and returned to see the progress. Fully dilated to 10cm it was decided it was go-time.

6:15 - 7:27pm Pushing began in earnest. The epidural was dialed back a little, still not feeling pain but having the greater need to push, things continued to progress. It was awesome, like being on an episode of ER. Although a lot of people would be freaked out by having a bunch of strangers down in lady town, I was amazed by how fast everything seemed to be going. Suddenly I could see the head of the baby (yeah, I am one of those who watched the whole thing in a mirror).

7:28pm El Senor was supporting me through each contraction and helping me push like a champ. Under the bright lights of the L&D room I gave one final push before the baby's head emerged. Being told to give one more big push our little baby emerged. Gooey, red and beautiful. Although we did not find out if we expecting a boy or a girl, we strongly felt a little boy was in our near future. How surprised were we when our OB held up our baby and told us it was a little girl!

Please help us welcome our beautiful daughter, El Bambina.
Born October 16th 2009 at 7:28pm
Weighing 6lbs 14oz and measuring 21 inches
Equipped with a beautiful set of pipes

Mom, Dad, and Baby are healthy and happy.
Thanks for all your love and support.

Happy 33

Yesterday I turned a glorious odd number. I am finally done with 32 and have moved on to 33 for the remainder of 2009. El Senor thinks my odd obsession with odd numbers is funny. Example, if I am running on the treadmill (like that has been happening lately) I would always try to finish on an odd mile, with odd time and odd amount of calories burned. Definitely a little OCD, but I'm willing to embrace the weirdness fully.

Things were pretty low key as far as birthdays went. I woke up, went to work, worked (sort of), had lunch with my girlfriends, went to see a movie with El Senor and then picked up pizza from our local pizzeria. After all that frantic activity, I gave myself the night off and was asleep by 9:30pm.

Wooweeee, control the wild pregnant woman!

I will say that it was exactly what I wanted and, more importantly, what I needed. My favorite part of birthdays is just chatting with family and friends on the phone and getting sweet birthday wishes in the mail. Generally El Senor spoils me rotten . However, we had decided this year that we would keep the birthdays lower key. El Bambino is almost here and really, how many purses does a girl need when wearing your baby is suddenly looking like an awesome winter fashion statement?

Needless to say, El Senor somehow is able to still make me feel like a princess. When we got home from all our extra-curricular activities, I found a lovely stack of books with a card. El Senor said that books will be a necessity in the next bit, and therefore were not a splurge. All I could do was give him a big kiss and agree, as I poured over the back cover synopses of each one.

So thank you dear ones for wishing me well on my special day, because what makes it special are the wonderful people I was able to share it with.

Clip art from:

That about sums up last week for me. Well, not ever, ever....but it was a pretty great week to say the least.

El Senor and I have been patiently waiting to find out if I would need to deliver the Bambino via c-section. Although not the end of the world, in good old New Jersey it is the end to being able to ever have a natural delivery. The state is so rife with malpractice suits that doctors will rarely, if ever, attempt a VBAC.

Wednesday we went to get another anatomy ultra-sound. The weight and growth of the baby are great, if a little on the large side (El Senor was thrilled about this, you will need to inquire with him directly for his first parental pride moment). The best part, however, was that the placenta has completely cleared from the cervix. Needless to say there was much relief that (unless there is some other unforeseen emergency or complication) we will be able to deliver this little one naturally.

At our follow up, Doc V. agreed with the findings and told me to get my game face on. In a few weeks we will be attempting to push this baby out the good old fashioned way.

So, to all of you who pitched in your fervent prayers, thank you from the bottom of our hearts! I really feel that miracles happen in all ways, shapes and forms. After many months of concern we are relieved that all is well.

xoxoxo BG

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Over Due

Famous Amos has been chastising me. Apparently there is some demand from family members for a picture of my big belly. The one and only picture I have managed to post was from many, many months ago. I have been a very lackadaisical picture taker and poser. It's not that I am holding out . . . just that I really haven't been taking any pictures of much of anything.

Really, most of my efforts have been dedicated to not being tired, registering for the baby (who knew that one would be so difficult) taking naps, cleaning, quilting, taking more naps. . . well you get the picture (pun totally intended).Perhaps I have been avoiding the picture taking of the ever expanding belly real estate.

Which is strange, since I was a photo major in college (I really am not making that one up). One would think that with all that time in the photo studios and darkrooms I would continue to be snap-happy. I like to think that I am just saving it all up for when the bambino is actually born. So, since the consensus is that there should be more pictures, here it is for you dear friends and stalkers alike.

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My 34 week belly in all it's abundent glory.

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Happy Saturday

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Dear Co-workers

I realize that you are busy and important people. How do I know this? Well, you continually display how busy you are, thus how important you also are, by talking at top volume in my general desk area.

Now, I realize that there are some new things rockin' here at work. You are in a bit of a flurry. I am sorry that the phones/computers/faxes may not be working properly. I am sorry that you feel overwhelmed by all the new clients. All I can say is...who is complaining in this economy about a little more job security? And according to all the conversations that I have recently overheard while you all hold impromptu meetings in my cubicle....you have a lot more job security.

In closing I must say, while intriguing as you may find your new found popular status, it is wearing a little thin. Might I suggest that you schedule a conference room? Or perhaps use one of your many offices with a door to close on it to discuss how busy and important you are? This would be greatly appreciated by myself and all those others who are now being tortured by your everyday crises.

Sincerely,
Bowler Girl