This weekend we went to the Bay Area, which is about a 2 hour drive. We went to see my cousins and grandparents. As a bonus surprise, my Aunt also showed up!

Zachary with his great grandparents, his great grandmother, and aunt!

We had a BBQ at my cousin Benny’s house…the food was really good. The baby slept a lot during the trip – which means he will be up all night!

Week 2 pictures … the days are going by so fast … and yet so slow…

We’re back from his 2 week check up. He is 22 inches long and 8 lbs 4oz.

I also went to the doctor’s today and had some blood work done to make sure my hemoglobin levels are up. The good news that the doctor was not concerned about the 20 lb weight loss in the first week – it was NOT an indication that my health was failing. It was a combination of the baby (plus placenta etc.), the water retention weight, and the fact that I’m exclusively breastfeeding. I’ve lost 27 lbs so far … 13 more to go until my pre-pregnancy weight, although I’m not too concerned yet. I’m still focusing on getting healthier and recovering.

Hi – due to popular demand (okay, just her Aunt), I have more pictures. He is about a week old in these. I think he looks just like me! At his 1 week appointment, we weighed 7lbs 8oz, which is a 2oz drop from his birth weight (normal). He gained .75 inches. The first week was so hard because he was noctural, but now he is sleeping 4-5 hours at night, and I only have to get up once at 3am to feed him. Yesterday we went on a walk outside, and then we took him to Mikunis because I was craving sushi/sashimi. He did really well on his first outing – no crying, just sleeping. Of course, once we came home…

Now for some funny faces … I love this baby!

And my favorite …

Happy Easter everyone! Here is a picture of little Zachary – he’s only 3 days old in this one…

This is day one …

Hi everyone. Baby Zachary was born on 4/6. He weighed 7 lbs 10 oz, and was 20 inches long. The contractions started Monday night around 10pm and became regular (1 minute long, 5 minutes apart) right before 2am. Baby Zachary was born at 12:30pm Tuesday after only 20 minutes of pushing. Baby is doing extremely well.

Unfortunately I had some complications.  I lost a lot of blood during the delivery and tore. A few hours later I was in excruciating pain (worse than labor – even when the epidural ran out… another story.) It turned out I had internal bleeding and I had to go into emergency surgery to drain the blood. I was put on bed rest and had my vital signs monitored 24 hours. A night later, I had a fever and my hemoglobin level dropped to 5.3 (around 12 is normal.) My Dr was paged at 4 am. I had to be typed for a blood transfusion, which was scheduled the following morning. The good news is that I am in stable condition now and was released this afternoon from the hospital (4/9).

I am still fairly weak and trying to breastfeed, so please excuse my absence for a while. I did want to check in quickly to let everyone know what happened to me.

I am now a full week late! I’m definately getting stronger Braxton Hicks contractions, but nothing regular. Also, they happen more often – maybe about once an hour or so. Hopefully, that is a good sign – I don’t want to be induced!

Week 41 …

By the way, for those who commented that I looked like a model and was “skinny” before I got pregnant. Not true – I am 5’4″ and was 136 lbs. Obviously, I post the best pictures – bad digital photos get deleted very quickly! I also spent about $3k on wedding pictures, so photographer was decent and got some flattering angles. Thanks anyway though – it’s nice to hear a compliment when you’re 176 lbs and rolling out of bed in the mornings.