That 1st Week...

Aurelia's first week was already a busy one! By her 3rd day she had already had her pictures taken for her passport and a Dr's visit. Ari had dropped a couple of ounces when we left the hospital but was almost back to her birth weight by the 4th day.
When we got home from the hospital we were happy to see that Grandma Bena had been taking care of Frida and made several meals for us! We were welcomed with a nice warm roastbeef dinner with all the fixings! It was so awesome to know that she was taking care of everything on the home-front for us. Frida was very excited to see us and a little curious about Aurelia. Later that day, Yaya and Papa, Auntie Chels and Trevor came over to meet the new addition.
Through that first week, Grandma Bena, Yaya, and Abuelo took turns staying with us and helping Mommy get back on her feet. It was sooooo nice to have the extra hands to help!
Here's Aurelia taking a nap in her co-sleeper.

Frida was very curious (and still is) and soon became sort of protective over the new little addition to her home!

The Beginning...

Mommy is back to work and is going to try and update this blog on her breaks again and get us all caught up on what's been happening in the Wand house!
I guess I should start at the beginning with the labor part! All week long Mommy had been having irregular contractions but it was nothing to measure and were not consistant enough to worry about.
On Thursday, Mommy's birthday, we had visitors; Jaime and Aston, were over and we had a nice lunch with them. Then before dinner, Mommy decided that we should swing by the hospital to get checked out. She was sure that it was nothing and that we could even still plan on making our dinner reservations at Chino afterwards...wrong!
Sure enough, Mommy was 3cm dilated and was beginning to have regular contractions. We didn't call or tell anyone until they admitted us to the maternity unit. The first several hours of labor were spent walking around the unit and just breathing. Daddy and Grandma Bena were there to keep Mommy company and help through some of the tougher contractions. Then we tried to get some sleep and Mommy was in such pain, with little progression, that after 12 hours of labor, around 5 in the morning, she asked for the magic Epidural!! Then it was smooth sailing after that!! We had an awesome nurse that started at 7am and she really gave us the confidence and motivation to get things moving. The Dr. came in at around 9:30 to see our progress and was sure that Mommy was going to need a c-section since he thought Baby was too big. He even had her prepped just in case. But with much determination and great coaching, the nurse thought we could have Baby by noon! So that gave us a goal! She soon had to call the Dr. and tell him to come catch Baby...he didn't really think it was time, but he came anyway and was VERY surprised! And sure enough, after about an hour and a half of pushing, on Friday, January 23rd, at 11:56am Aurelia Vail Wand was born with a head full of hair, strong lungs, and very curious and alert eyes! Our little miracle...Zac and I just sat and stared at her for the longest time, loving her every little feature!
Grandma Bena, Steve, Tia Bria, and Uncle Jonjon were the first to help Mommy and Daddy welcome Aurelia Vail.

More Pictures!!

Here are some more pictures of Aurelia!!

She's HERE!!!!

Aurelia Vail is here! We couldn't be happier! We are in such awe of her, it's amazing how quickly you can fall in love with someone so little! She was born yesterday, Friday, January 23rd at 11:56am. She weighed 8.6 pounds and was 21 inches long.

Mom and Baby are doing well. Aurelia is feeding and pooing very well. It looks like we will be going home tomorrow (Sunday) sometime mid-day.

We will definately post more pictures when we get home, but this is what I got off my phone, so enjoy for now and check back later for more little pictures of Ari!

Week 39

Well, Dr's visit was a bummer, no change from last week, so no induction...he wants my body to do most of the work on our own. Which is good, I guess. Looks like she'll come when she's ready! Baby is doing great in there, still getting her 10 out of 10 on her bio-physical. Mom is up a couple more pounds, so that brings us just under 10 pounds to date...hopefully Baby comes soon; I'd be happy to stay under the 10 pound mark!
Baby has been quite the tease lately. The past three nights I've had irregular contractions for several hours and then they stop. I think she's just keeping us on our toes!

New this week: Baby's waiting to greet the world (and I think the world is waiting to meet her!)! She continues to build a layer of fat to help control her body temperature after birth, but it's likely she already measures about 20 inches and weighs a bit over 7 pounds, a mini watermelon. (Or 8 pounds if last week's weigh in was correct!) The outer layers of her skin are sloughing off as new skin forms underneath.

Mommy worked her last weekend (for almost 3 months!)this past couple of days. A little scary to know that I only work tomorrow and then I'm off! Makes it a little more real! Other than that, it was a pretty low-key weekend, just awaiting Baby's debut!

Week 38

Had another weekly Dr's visit today. Things haven't really progressed too much over the past week. Mom is still in between a 1 and 2 for dilation. Baby has progressed to a +1 as to the location of her head and Mommy is 80% effaced. Dr. said things looked good, but nothing too exciting this week. She passed all her little tests with flying colors and got a 10 out of 10 for her biophysical.

New This Week: Baby has really plumped up and her organs have matured and are ready for life outside the womb.. They guestimated on her weight with measuring her head, abdomen, and femor and they said she was about 8 pounds!!!! Give or take a half pound. Daddy doesn't believe it because the ultrasound tech wasn't our normal chick and she seemed to be fiddling around alot and having to retake measurements. And the Dr. didn't seem to think that she was that big either, just from feeling around my belly. I'm hoping he's right and that Baby isn't huge in there!

We had a great relaxing weekend. Mommy and Daddy relaxed and watched movies on Friday evening, enjoying the last few days (hopefully not weeks!) of quietness around the house. Saturday morning we met Grandma Bena, Steve, Uncle Jonjon and Danielle at the MOA. We had a nice lunch and did some shopping. Then Danielle and Mommy had a nice girls' afternoon, getting our pedicures and doing some more bargain shopping. We then met up with everyone at the hotel and had some pizza and shared some laughs with the Johnson family. Sunday, we all met up again to celebrate our January (Tia Bria's, Steve's, and yes Mommy's too) birthdays a little early over a nice lunch at The Cheesecake Factory. It was a really nice weekend with friends and family! Hopefully the next family gathering will be to meet the new addition!!!

Week 37 - 9th month!!!

Progress! We had our weekly Dr's visit and Baby's head has moved farther down and is at a 0, I am between 1.5 and 2cm dilated and 75% effaced. So all good news and good progress from last week's visit. She was a little stinker today, not wanted to do anything for her bio-physical, but at the last minute she got all her points! Either she's a procrastinator (not sure where she would get that!) or she was messing with us to prove that she's in charge (I guess something we may have to get used to)!

New This Week: Baby is full term! This means that if Baby arrives now, her lungs should be fully mature and ready to adjust to life outside the womb, even though our due date is still three weeks away. Unfortunately, Baby was not measured today, but according to approximations and averages, Baby weighs 6 1/3 pounds and measures a bit over 19 inches, head to heel. Baby spends these last weeks in preparation for the outside world… meaning careful refinement of the blink, suck, inhale and exhale. Meconium is accumulating in the intestines. She is at the watermelon stage of food! Every week/month there is a different food that they associate the baby's size to and we are finally at the watermelon stage!!!!

We had sort of a rough weekend...We ended up going into the ER on Friday night because Mommy's arms are soooo itchy and seemed to be on fire. The ER doc said that it was PUPS and that it was normal for pregnant women in this stage. Our Dr confirmed that today and said that there were a couple of things we could do to relieve the itching but for now we're just sticking with ice packs. Saturday, Mommy had to work again and must have picked something up at the hospital because we woke up to a GI flu-thing and were so miserable all day. Dr said I must have been really sick since I showed signs of dehydration today and lost 5 pounds!!!
We're feeling much better today, but are still taking it easy on what we put in our stomach!