Gabriel-past couple days

So Gabriel has been keeping us busy and astounding us with his abilities!

I can hold my own bottle thank you very much (at 9 days old!):

Grandmacita shows us how to give Gabriel a bath: (this is his very first bath!)

All done with bath time and looking adorable in my hooded towel:

Grandmacita shows us how to style Gabriel's hair like she used to style my hair when I was a baby. Gabriel got my hair!

Tummy time!

So. Much. Effort.

But so worth it! Happeeeeeeey Baby!

Tummy time is exhausting but fun!

Gabriel Polamalu

It's Polamalu!

Look at this beautiful face!

Love him!

newborn photos

today we had Gabriel's newborn photos taken today. He was supposed to be a sleepy newborn but of course he was WIDE AWAKE for 2 of the 3 hours the photographer was here. Thankfully she was able to get some really great shots anyway. I can't wait to see them!

*update, here they are*

adventures

Today at the pediatrician's office Gabriel managed to poo 3 times, pee on us, then projectile vomit all over. We learned to bring way more diapers and way more wipes than we thought, oh and a change of clothes. Wow this outing was an adventure. The first doc visit was so uneventful...this one sure gave us a reality check! He only gained 2 more ounces since Monday so we are going back on Wednesday for another weight check. Gain Gabriel Gain!!!

favorites

Gabriel's two favorite things right now are his swing and his hands!

Check out this combover!

Gabriel is sporting a snazzy combover:

HaHaHaHaHa!!!!

Great first peditrician appointment

Today was Gabriel's first peditrician appointment. He gained one ounce! Yay!! Everything else looks great the doc says. We have a perfect little guy!

brand new Gabriel!

3 days old

Gabriel is three days old! He is certainly keeping us very very busy and sleep is a distant memory. Rusty loves his little brother and the kitties even seem to like him! Things are going well. Tomorrow is Gabriel's first pediatrician appointment, I wonder how many hours it will take us to get out of the house? It took us many hours to finally get everything together to check out of the hospital.

Birth story

Name: Gabriel Edward
DOB: January 19, 2012
Due Date: January 21, 2012
Weeks Preg.: 39 weeks 5 days
Weight/Length: 8 lbs 5 oz. / 20.5 inches

After a long and difficult pregnancy with hyperemesis gravidarum, gestational diabetes, and gestational hypertension, labor and delivery was not too bad. I woke up at 4am with contractions that were 5-6 mins apart. I called off of work at 5am when I was pretty certain I was in fact experiencing contractions(first time I called off, it was a legitimate call off, don't you think?!). I called the doctor around 7am and he told me to come into the office in the morning to be checked. Doc checked and I was 2cm dilated. He said to wait and see if the contractions continued so we went to breakfast and did a little shopping. Then we went home and I tried to take a nap. By then the contractions were coming 1-3 minutes apart and pain was getting pretty intense so we decided to head in to L & D. Checked in at the hospital at 2:30pm and was 3cm dilated. They decided that I was going to stay! I had to wait for 2.5 hours until the anesthesiologist was available to administer the epidural. That was a long, extremely painful 2.5 hours with contractions every 1-3 minutes. After I got the epidural they checked and I was 6cm dilated. We were pretty excited about that and notified the family that little Gabriel was on his way. Then labor stalled out for awhile so pitocin was started. After several hours of pain free labor thanks to the epidural it was finally time to push! Pushed for about an hour and my little guy was born at 1:43am! He came out screaming and no breathing problems despite having meconium in the fluid. Johnny got to cut the cord and we were able to do skin-to-skin immediately after delivery helping his blood sugars to remain stable. He got a perfect bill of health from the docs and we had an uneventful stay in the hospital. We actually left a day early because of an ice storm that hit the area Saturday morning. We wanted to be safely at home by that point.

Some more pre-baby pics

I wanted to post some of the pre-baby pics that I couldn't post earlier because they had his name in them. We absolutely love the way his room turned out and now I can finally post the entire room!!!

The day after these pics were taken I went into labor!!!

Welcome to the world Gabriel Edward!!!!!

We are proud to announce that Gabriel Edward arrived on 1/19/12 at 1:43am. He weighed 8 pounds 5 ounces, 20.5 inches long at birth. So glad you are here little guy!! Mom and Dad love you so much already and we just met!!!!

Look at him sticking his lip out! He was not a happy camper right after being born!

Proud new daddy!

I am a proud new mommy!

First family pic:

He was the hit of the maternity ward with his spiky full head of hair:

Cutest. Baby. Ever.

Look at those adorable little feet and his "house arrest" anklet:

Happiness:

Steelers fan from birth

Hospital photos, 2 days old!

I like it better in black and white:

Ready to go!

We couldn't believe that they let us leave with him!

Happy family!

First car ride!

Rusty meeting his little brother:

So far so good! Welcome to the family Gabriel! We are so glad you are here!!