Ahrian's First 10 Days

Abuelita is truly amazing! She was such a great help, especially keeping Ayla entertained and distracted while we adjusted to life with our new baby.

Ayla sure loves her new brother! Ahrian had his first pediatrician appt June 3rd. He weighed 7 lbs 3 oz (a weight loss of 7 oz from birth).

A very proud Abuelo!

A very proud Papa!

Our little man and his double chin

Just thought I would throw in a pic of Ayla during her first week

Just 3 days old and posing for the camera!

Ahrian and Brittany's baby, Joselyn. Yes, he is holding her hand (wink, wink)!

Come Monday I just couldn't be in the house anymore, so we took our first adventure to the park. It was a beautiful day and Ayla enjoyed some much needed time out of the house.

Our attempt to get everyone in the picture.

Abuelita enjoying her grandkids by the lake.

This is Ayla's very excited face. She was my little helper while giving Ahrian his first bath.

He is such a mellow and happy baby! I have been so relieved that he hasn't shown any signs of having colic like Ayla had. My heart still breaks every time I think of how much our poor little girl cried the first couple of months of her life.

Ayla has really taken the big sister role seriously. Her interest in the potty and her speech has really taken off these past couple of weeks. Abuelita noticed that Ayla had her "poo face" and hurried her to the potty. Sure enough, Ayla went poo poo in the potty and her reward was a sucker. She was honestly a bit freaked out when she saw what she had done, but after flushing it down the toilet she seemed to feel much better about the situation.

Holding her brother is very serious work.

Unfortunately, Milton's parents could only stay a week, but Grandma came to help out! Here's Grandma's first time holding her new grandson. My parents now have 5 grandsons and Ayla is still the only grand daughter!

She is always bearing gifts and brought Ayla some play food and dishes for her kitchen. Thanks Grandma!

We always cuddle on Saturday mornings and Ayla was more than happy to have Ahrian join the cuddle fest.
We are still loving every minute with our son! At his second pediatrician appt at 9 days Ahrian weighed 8 lbs 1 oz, a weight gain of 14 oz in just one week. We are starting to get on a good schedule of feeding every 3 hours and he has been waking up the past couple of nights just 2 times to feed. The first couple nights were really rough since he would not sleep in his bed and Ayla has been cutting her 2 year molars, but after some persistence I finally got him used to sleeping alone.
What can we say, other than life is great!

Ahrian's Birth Story

Ahrian Ulises Rosas has joined our family! Here is his birth story...

At my 39 week appt I was dilated to a 1 and 60% effaced. My midwife, Patti (she delivered Ayla) was sure that I wouldn't be making it to my due date and said that if I went into labor over the weekend to make sure she was notified so she could come deliver Ahrian, even though she wasn't going to be on call. I was hopeful that was going to happen since she was so wonderful at Ayla's birth.
I "started" labor Sunday May 29th. We were getting out of the car to head into the chapel when the first contraction hit and had me about doubled over the car. They continued on throughout church, but I was a bit in denial that they were the real thing since I had been having false labor for several weeks. After church the contractions just stopped. I was a bit frustrated since I knew they had been real contractions and not braxton hicks. I was praying he would come before Tuesday because I had another appt and they were going to check my fluid levels. I had been induced with Ayla due to low fluid and I definitely didn't want that to happen again.
Monday night the contractions started again and continued on through the night about 10 minutes apart. They never got any stronger or closer together, but they were strong enough to keep me awake most of the night. I went to my appt the following day and explained that I was sure I was in labor. The midwife checked me and said that I was dilated to almost a 4 and effaced 70%. She didn't see the need to check my fluid levels and said to go home until the contractions got a little closer together.
I was fortunate enough to have a great friend, Marisa, watch Ayla for me up until her nap time. I was definitely uncomfortable enough that I couldn't handle a very energetic 22 month old!
After my appt they ranged anywhere from 5-10 minutes apart, but still didn't change much in intensity. Again, this continued on throughout the night. Luckily, I was able to get more sleep than the night before, but I knew that I couldn't go on much longer.
Come morning, June 1st (my due date) I called the on-call midwife and explained what had been going on. When she heard that I had been at a 4 the day before she said to come right on in.
We dropped Ayla off with her Tio Elton and headed to the hospital.
Upon arriving I was dilated to a 6-7, but my contractions still maintained the 10 minutes apart. After some monitoring I got in the tub for awhile. After a few hours I made no progression and we decided to have my water broke. The contractions at that point definitely became more intense, but again after another hour, no progression. By this time it was about 2:00 in the afternoon and I was wearing out quickly. Thinking back on my labor with Ayla, my water broke shortly after arriving at the hospital. I arrived dilated to a 3 and 15 hours later I was only at a 4! I knew that if my labor with Ahrian was going to continue to be that slow I couldn't go on much longer so Milton and I decided that maybe a natural delivery wasn't going to happen (something I had really wanted with both of my babies).
We let Wendy, the midwife, know that we had decided to start the pitocin and that I wanted an epidural (I remembered how intense the pitocin was when I had Ayla). They hooked me up and right away the contractions became INTENSE and right on top of eachother! While getting the epidural my nurse was wonderful helping me breath through the contractions. After the epidural had been given I kept wondering when it was going to fully work...well, needless to say it only took the edge off for about 20 minutes. Within 30 minutes I was telling Milton to get them back in the room because I needed to push!!! I kept hitting the epidural button hoping for some relief, but got none. The nurses and Wendy came rushing in and within just a few good pushes Ahrian Ulises Rosas was born at 4:41pm! I always wanted a natural birth and I guess that's as close as I may come. It was the most intense 30 minutes of my life! I felt everything! I don't know if I (or anyone for that matter) ever want to watch that birth video!
As anyone who has had a baby knows, as soon as I held my little man in my arms all was pretty much forgotten.

He is absolutely perfect!

We were told that he weighed 7 lbs 1 oz, but upon discharge we found out it was 7 lbs 10 oz and sure enough the picture and scale doesn't lie. He was 20 inches long.

Papa's first time holding his son.

Wendy, the midwife who delivered Ahrian.

Our handsome little man.

Ayla arrived with her Abuelos within an hour after his birth. She was super excited to meet her brother. They were in the process of moving us to our room and so she rode with me and Ahrian in the wheelchair. I asked her where her brother was and she hesitantly pointed to my stomach and then to him. I think she figured it out...either way she was very protective right away. Once we got to our room Ayla insisted that she and Ahrian sit with me on the bed and wouldn't let anyone hold him for quite some time.

Milton's parents had just arrived that afternoon and his whole family was planning on going to the Mexico vs. New Zealand soccer game that night. Of course, I told Milton months ago when he bought the tickets that if we were in the hospital there was no way he was going to leave me to go to the game. It was about 7:00 by the time we got settled into our room and I decided that maybe a little quiet time to bond with Ahrian wouldn't be so bad by myself, so Milton got the clear to go to the game.
Previous to his birth I had wrapped a present for Ayla "from" her brother. It was a baby kit that included a bottle, pacifier, spoons, diaper, etc and right away she was taking care of her baby too.

Here's a picture of Milton with Ayla the first night at the hospital. I thought that she was born with more hair than Ahrian, but after looking at pictures it looks like they are the same. Ayla was a lot darker in complexion and had pitch black hair and Ahrian has very dark brown hair and a much lighter complexion.

Milton and Ayla survived the game. Of course, after a late night Ayla was quite the grump the next day, but you wouldn't know it by how many kisses she gave her brother. I was determined to go home that day so I made it clear to all the nurses I wanted to get all the needed testing done. The on-call midwife, Jules, gave me a discharge that morning and we were just waiting for Ahrian to be 24 hours old for the PKU and jaundice test.

Justin, Celeste, Xander and Spencer came to see their new cousin.

Finally, come 7:00 we were discharged from the hospital under the condition that Ahrian see the pediatrician the following day to have his jaundice checked. Here's Ahrian getting ready for his first car ride. We were all excited to be homeward bound!
Life is great being a family of four! I can't believe we have been so blessed with such beautiful children. Ayla has been such a wonderful big sister. She is constantly giving Ahrian kisses and helping in any way she can. The adjustment has overall gone well other than she does take it out on me at times (better me than her brother).
I have felt really good! I had a slight tear from the delivery which hasn't given me any problems at all (I found out about a month after Ayla's birth that I was allergic to the stitches they had used with her). I can't believe how tired and exhausted I was for weeks after Ayla's delivery and how I've been dying to work out and get back to life after this one.

Thank you to all who helped us during my very, very long labor! I am so grateful to be surrounded by family and friends who are so willing to lend a hand whenever we need it.

I have a lot of catching up to do, so keep on checking the blog. I couldn't figure out for months why my blog wouldn't let me publish my posts, only to find out tonight that it was because of Internet Explorer. Stay tuned!