Tuesday, November 27, 2007

So Thankful...











Pics of the fam, aunties, uncle Pete and cousin Gabriel.


Notice that Pete and Gabriel are wearing matching shirts. Awww.....


What's going on with this muppet hair hat? Thanks to Natalie for knitting it!












Aunt Ari looking like a model...

Monday, November 26, 2007

Mother and Daughter

Taken over the Thanksgiving weekend both in purple (Cheering for a Vikings victory????)

Thursday, November 15, 2007

Super Dad (aka Jun / Cisco / FDR / etc)


How cute is my husband? How proud does he look in this picture? I seem to recall seeing pictures of my dad holding me on the couch like this, too.

He ordered a super high tech baby carrier that arrived today. (There's a DVD that explains how to use it!) He's had it on for almost an hour, now. There's even a (pause for dramatic effect) fanny pack that comes with it for keys, a phone, etc. I'll never be able to use that thing because it's now totally custom fit for Jun. Funny.

Today was Jun's first day back at work. Naima and I had a busy day of - sleeping? I made dinner for the first time since she was born. Normally we'd talk about our day at work during dinner. It took me two seconds to explain my day. Naima slept.

Wednesday, November 14, 2007

More Pics

Great Grandma and her grandkids (Gabriel, Aman, and Naima)














Her first real bath.








Her eyes open! A rare occasion...she sleeps all the time.

Friday, November 2, 2007

My Experience (dad)

I know most are interested in seeing the photo's, but here were my last 2 days, and wow were they amazing....

It all started on Tuesday afternoon with a call from Marisa telling me that her water broke. Yes, I know a due date is just an estimation, but I was more than caught off guard. I guess I should have listened to the wife when she told me to have my hospital bag packed last weekend:)

Since her water broke we were advised to go straight to the hospital. Unfortunately her hospital bag, our camera, and other essentials were still at home in the opposite direction.

We got to the hospital around 4:30, checked her in, they did an assessment, and then she was admitted.

Similar to her last pregnancy, Marisa's water broke before major contractions so pitocin(a drug to induce labor) was needed to get them going. The last time she waited 18 hours before being put on the pitocin, this time we only waited a few hours. Seriously, her water broke, she wasn't having any contractions, and was just walking and joking around like everything was normal. I was thinking I'd have a chance to run home and get our bags, but now that I think of it, how dumb would I have been leaving her at the hospital! Thanks to her Aunt Angie and Sister Stephanie for volunteering to go to our house and get our stuff.

The ONLY negative about the whole experience at the hospital was that it took 3 people and 4 pokes with needles to get the IV in to start the pitocin. They eventually had to bring in a IV specialist. Marisa hates needles and it looked painful being stuck with those needles multiple times.

The contraction drug started to take effect around 9pm. She was getting steady, but mild contractions at this point. After a couple hours, the contractions got a bit more intense, but still nothing too painful. It was discouraging to Marisa that when the mid-wife checked her at this point that not too much progress was being made. BOY, or should I say GIRL, did that change fast. Over the next hour and a half the contractions became very intense and at one point Marisa stated that her desire to have no drugs for pain had changed. Well, I guess it was more than stating, but yelling in pain:( The mid-wife and I tried to calm her down as much as possible and told her that she was so close.
In the end, she did stick to the natural birth with no pain medication! Wow, she was really unbelievable. She just might be the person with the lowest threshold for pain outside labor that has the highest during labor. It was tough to see her go through so much pain, but I am extremely proud of her.
After the worst contractions came to an end the pushing stage arrived which started at about 12:55am. She pushed for about 15 minutes and out popped the baby! (popped out really isn't what happened, but I believe that is the correct lingo).

What an amazing amazing experience.....

The rest of the stay at the hospital was pretty standard from what I know; All these different tests on Marisa and Naima, a few visitors, free food for Marisa, but not me.....what's up with that??

Anyways, we're home now!!!!

Back to sleep for me:)

Francisco / Junior / Jun

More pics

Here is Naima at about 30 minutes old.Our first pic with her.
Sucking on those little fingers.
Naima's first meeting with her big brother, Aman.
Grandma with the grandkids (Aman, Gabriel, and Naima).







Thank You!

Thank you all for the well wishes, prayers, the comments on this site, the email messages, the calls, the gifts, and the visits. It is so comforting to know that we are bringing this girl into this world with all of this love and support.

I also want to thank Abbott Northwestern Hospital. Every single doctor, mid-wife, and nurse that we interacted with was so helpful and made the whole experience wonderful.

thanks!