1 Week Old

As of yesterday, she's been with us for a week. Yet somehow we already are having trouble remembering life before Gabriela.

I was trying to figure out what I'd been doing for the last week. I feel like I've stayed busy enough, but there really isn't much to show for it. The housekeeper had a small mountain of dirty laundry to do yesterday, dishes were piled up in the kitchen, and the bed hadn't been made since she was here on Friday. I think it was Eric who first pointed out that we've been spending hours out of the day just staring at our new daughter. So I guess between filling my new role as milk cow and changing lots of dirty diapers, I've been sitting in awe of this perfect little person that we somehow created. Who knew someone who sleeps like 20 hours per day could be so captivating!

Livin' the rough life

Little Miss Gabriela has been the most perfect baby. She rarely ever fusses - although she's still not a huge fan of bathtime - and she has been sleeping in her bassinet the whole night waking only once or twice between midnight and 8:00 am to eat. (And even then she usually doesn't cry. She makes increasingly louder sucking noises until one of us drags our sleepy behinds out of bed to get her.) Although no one around here has had an uninterrupted 8 hours of sleep, we're not feeling nearly as sleep deprived as we thought we would. We're really hoping she'll keep this up!

The many faces of Gabriela. She's actually not screaming here, just letting out a little happy squeak. I am completely in love with her squeaks.

Eric returned to work on Monday after spending all of last week with us at home. So we've spent the last couple days adjusting to it being just us girls during the day. We're doing pretty well - yesterday we ventured out on our own for the first time. We went for a stroller ride/walk down to the mall and had lunch at a little cafe. Gabriela made a pretty good date. And I only almost died pushing her up the steep hill beside our apartment. (Note to self: really need to work on getting some aerobic endurance back.)

Poor thing didn't stand a chance of getting a cute little button nose. Maybe she'll grow into her nose though - I like to think her Daddy and I turned out alright despite our big honkers. Right now she has dark grey-blue eyes. Genetically, she has a 50/50 shot of ending up with either blue or brown eyes. (And the same odds of brown or blonde hair.)

We were supposed to have her one week check-up with the pediatrician yesterday, but the doctor was sick so we rescheduled for next Tuesday. According to my scale at home, she has gained about a third of a pound since birth . . . we'll be looking forward to getting her on the infant scale next week though and seeing for sure. Her lab results from her Teste do Pezinho are supposed to be ready this afternoon, so we're looking forward to seeing those.

We've had a great first week. And if I can pull myself away from staring at Miss Gabriela, I might get around to posting updates and pictures a little more frequently in the future!

Out and About

Gabriela got to go out on the town yesterday for the first time. We needed to take her to the lab for her Teste do Pezinho (just the basic blood work done on newborns - I love that it translates to Little Foot Test though.) And we thought while we were out we would stop by the Cartório and get her birth certificate issued. (They give you a record of live birth at the hospital, but you have to go to the Cartório to get the birth certificate and actually name your kid and all.)




So she got all cleaned up and put on her polka-dot dress and little "shoe" socks, we packed her diaper bag, strapped her in her car seat, and off we went.

We went to the Cartório first. You can read all about these places here (read the comments for some clarification - I had some info wrong). The hospital deals with one specific place, so we had to go there. It was quite small, very crowded, not very well organized, and exceptionally hot. Of course, any Brasilian would probably have known better than to try doing this on a Friday - there were no less than 6 wedding parties all crammed in there yesterday! After waiting our turn, we finally got called back. And then we were told the hospital had not filled out the certificate of live birth correctly and that if we submitted the form as is, it would certainly be denied.

So off to the hospital we went. It was a quick fix to correct the certificate, but a bit of a hassle with a three day old baby and slow-moving new mommy. And of course, we didn't get any sort of apology from the lady who made the mistake. (I know, we Americans apologize incessantly, but, seriously, please acknowledge that you didn't do your job correctly and caused us an inconvenience! It would make the postpartum hormonal woman feel much better about the whole ordeal!)

And back we went to the Cartório. There wasn't any parking close by and Gabriela was awake and decided that she was hungry. So she and I stayed in the car and I fed her while Eric went back and got the birth certificate handled.

After that we went to the lab to have her blood drawn. She was less than thrilled to be awakened from her sweet slumber by someone poking a needle into her heel and squeeze blood out! But it was over quick and so was the crying.

I think the whole afternoon wore her out a bit though . . .





And I guess we're going to need to get the girl some bows for her hair or something. While Eric was getting us signed in at the lab, I had three different ladies come over to see Miss Gabriela, ask hold old she was, etc. And all three ended up asking if it was a boy. Now, I'm no expert on all the cultural differences between the US and Brasil, but I'm pretty sure they don't dress little boys in pink polka-dot dresses here. Or have a pink blanket in their car seats. Maybe a hair bow would help clarify things in the future though. :)

We decided to go out for a little walk around the neighborhood and to the grocery store this afternoon. Short of our excursion yesterday, I hadn't been out of the house at all and was ready for a little physical activity (as I suppose the soft belly isn't going to tone up on its own!)

(The lighting has her looking yellow in this picture - she's not actually jaundiced! Although maybe a little tan from the prenatal time at the pool in the Brasilian sun . . . hehe)

Gabriela slept through the whole thing. Which I take as a sign that she liked it.

She's definitely pimpin' one of the best looking strollers in town! And those bike tires roll like a dream on our bumpy, uneven sidewalks! I think we're going to find this was one of our best imports yet from our trip home at Christmas!

After coming home and getting a belly full of milk, Gabriela passed out once again and has assumed this position in my lap . I thought it provided a perfect opportunity to post a few more pictures and update on our days!

Settling In at Home

Yesterday morning Eric and I were staring down at our little Gabriela and he turned to me and said, "You know, I think it's not actually going to sink in that she's ours until we get her home." I admitted that I had just been thinking "Holy cow - they're actually going to let us take her with us when we leave!"

They released us from the hospital at 11:00 yesterday and by the time we were all packed up and home it was about noon.

The princess is sleeping great for us - so long as someone is holding her. She's not a big fan of her bassinet quite yet. So Eric and I spent last night taking turns with her. She is absolutely content in our arms or laying on our chests, but put her down and she is none to happy! We'll have to break her of that eventually if we ever want good sleep ourselves, but for now we're enjoying our little cuddle-bug!

All ready to leave the hospital

Home Sweet Home



Gabriela was impressed with her new digs. Well, as impressed as one can be while sleeping through the whole thing.

Daddy gave her first at-home bath this afternoon. When he flipped her over to wash her back she pulled up her knees and started crawling/swimming like crazy. It was hilarious!

All clean and happy

And here's a little something for the grandparents: A video of her first at-home bath. (She cried a lot less at home than she did when the nurse bathed her in the hospital! I think Daddy was a lot gentler than that mean ol' nurse. hehehe)

Make an on-line slide show at www.OneTrueMedia.com

Gabriela Marina is here!

Decent contractions turned to strong contractions about 9:00 last night. Strong contractions turned to 'this is when sane people ask for drugs' contractions about 1:00 am. We arrived at the hospital at 2:00 am. And then around 4:00 am we entered into the stage of labor where I started wondering why I ever wanted her to come out - staying in my belly forever seemed like a reasonable enough option at that point. And next thing we knew she was born at 7:21 am.

We had the natural, drug-free, intervention-free birth that we wanted and ended up with a perfect little girl, Gabriela Marina. She weighed in at 3.165 kg/6.98 lbs and 49 cm/19.3 in long.

There's plenty more to tell, but for today we'll leave it at a few pictures. (We need sleep - well two of us need sleep. The third one has been napping well - except for the two hours that Mamae and Papai tried to get a little rest, she was awake and wanting attention then.)

The first meeting

Our new little family

Kissing the world's best labor companion - Eric was incredible

(Eric's alternate title: forgetting what led to this 9 months ago)

Chick's got a head full of hair!





. . . and her Daddy's pouty bottom lip (which she knows how to use already), Mommy's upper lip, and a combination of our noses

Our Doula and Doctor - They were so great!!!



Like most of us girls, she's not fan of getting on the scale


All cleaned up and napping

We are so incredibly blessed! We had a great pregnancy, wonderful birth, nursing is going well so far, and our baby girl is healthy and beautiful. We should be released to go home tomorrow and start our life as a family of three!

Promising . . .

Okay, so at the risk of speaking too soon and ruining a good thing:

We just might be getting closer to baby time around here!

And at the risk of being accused of revealing too much personal information:

I lost my mucus plug at 8:00 this morning and contractions started immediately thereafter.

My contractions have been getting more frequent, regular, and intense throughout the day. After spending a couple hours thinking that these things are getting a lot closer together, we've been timing contractions for the last hour now. Contractions are coming 4-5 minutes apart and lasting an average of about 45 seconds.

Eric had the day off, although he spent some time working from home. (Tomorrow is Tiradentes Day - a national holiday in Brasil - and they bridged it into a 4-day weekend.) Most of the day we've been going about business as usual, taking short little 30-60 second breaks for me to put that hypnobirth relaxation breathing to work and get through the contractions.

Still trying not to get too excited . . . but I'm calling this progress! Since we've already missed his birthday, Eric is holding out hope that I can get this baby birthed in the next four hours so she can be born on his grandpa's and sister's birthday (both born April 20!)

We'll see what happens.

At the risk of sounding dramatic and whiny . . .


I THINK I'M GOING TO BE PREGNANT FOREVER!

A Birthday Baby?

I'd been suspecting those two of ganging up me. But I'm sure of it now.

Back when we were merely in the planning stages of offspring production, we spent some time looking at dates and trying to figure out the best time to have this little Mini-Z appear. (Have I ever mentioned how we both tend to be a bit on the "over-planner" side?) Eric thought April sounded good. And then when we found out we were indeed prego, we pulled out the calendar and figured we were looking at a due date sometime around April 11. Eric's almost immediate response was "Or maybe the baby will come a week later and be born on my birthday!"

I remember admonishing him right away - informing him that it is never, ever wise to wish a post-due baby on a pregnant woman. Especially not on a woman that you have to live with during said pregnancy.

I thought he'd given up on this birthday baby idea in exchange for let's get Z Baby Girl out here where I can meet her and give her Momma (and subsequently me) a break. But after three good hours of strong, regular contractions late last night, he loving whispered to his daughter that she was supposed to wait one more day and be born on Daddy's birthday.

And wouldn't you know it . . . the contractions stopped. Completely.

Shortly after noon today my darling husband called me to tell me that I can start those contractions back up again. Since we're within 12 hours of his birth date now I'm allowed to get things going as he would like to have her here by 1:00 am so he can have his birthday baby without having to stay up all night waiting for her. (See? It's not just me who likes to have a plan!)

And you know what? Given the connection those two have somehow already made - I don't put it past her to do just that.

Either way though, I'm quite certain I've got a Daddy's Girl on my hands (or in my uterus, or whatever). Along with a Daddy who's completely wrapped around his daughter's little finger - already. I am so excited to get her out here and see my two loves together.

And hey, if Eric wants to have a Princess Tea Party birthday for the next 10 years, who I am to take that away from him?

(The photo above is just a sneak peak of our maternity shoot we did 2 weeks ago. I haven't even gotten to see them yet - our photographer, Ricardo, took over 500 shots that day all over town and at our apartment and he's still working on editing them for us. I made this special request for my Sweetie's birthday - and Ricardo was kind enough to send it along to me today!)