My little rolling pin...

I can't believe you already rolled over little one! I swear you are way ahead of your time. I am afraid you're going to be a cyclone when you're older. I wonder if I'll be able to handle you. I placed you in the crib on your side: the way I always do and when I looked back in there after a few minutes you were face down working on getting yourself to face the opposite side of how I'd placed you. Oh and I feel it important to let you know we were the only ones in the room so no one turned you.

Will you be my Valentine?

Today Yadiel celebrated his first holiday Valentine's Day at Ruby Tuesdays with Mommy, Daddy and Auntie Steph. Auntie Steph was your Valentine for the day but you slept through the whole ordeal.

Stylin'

Yadiel,

I have had the hardest time trying to keep your hair in it's place! You take after me with the curly hair. I put my best efforts into styling your unruly hair and a second later it's all over the place. The pictures depict my best efforts though.

Gas? What gas? I'm cheesin'!!!

Hey Cutie,

Your grandmother claims you've been smiling for a while now. However, today was the first time I caught a glimpse of your beautiful smile and this is how it will be recorded.

One week old, wow!!!

One week old, wow!!! I can't even believe it. Time flies. I've just been enjoying my baby to the fullest and trying to get the hang of breastfeeding. We are doing way better but are not quite there yet. Yadiel still gets way to comfortable and fall asleep during his feedings. He has lost some weight and his clothes as starting to look more like garbage bags on him rather than actual baby clothes. Still, there haven't been any complaints on his part yet. Quite contrary, he always has his gorgeous smile on. Also, things would be a lot better if those darn gasses would just disappear. All in all, it's been a wonderful and life-changing week for the two of us.

Enjoying my newborn...

It's amazing how quickly you get attached to the new little people that come into your life. Just when you start thinking this new life is too much to handle, or, that you won't be able to do it, you find yourself unable to wait to wake up to another day of the same; soothing your new little siren, feeding and burping your little one, or, even changing a poopy diaper. They always seem to know just the right thing to make you fall in love with them all over again. It's the only love that never fades. It is always there--giving you strength and reminding you of one of the most important, if not the most important, role you will play in your life. God bless these little people who have brought so many blessings into our lives.

Milestone note: Yadiel must've been having a wonderful dream because today he laughed for the very first time.

3/14/2012—Today we were at the Immigration Services and Homeland Security services office in Durham in the elevator. This was the day your dad went for his conditional residency interview.

Rub-A-Dub-Dub, Yadiel in the Tub

Chiquito,
Your very first bath was totally the opposite of what I'd expected: he actually enjoyed it very much. He cried only when the water stopped running. There were smiles and the cutest little baby sounds all over the place. His grandmother and aunt really did a great job of making his first bathing experience an awesome one.

I'm here, I'm here!!!

On January 17th, my last prenatal appointment, I was scheduled to be induced. I was given specific instructions to go to the hospital on Tuesday, January 31st at 6:30 p.m. if I hadn’t naturally started labor by the 24th. I assume you were very comfortable in mommy’s belly because you made it past your due date. However, on the 31st I began feeling the stronger contractions and they were closer together than they had been. 

A little nervous, scared and not knowing exactly what to expect mommy made it to the hospital accompanied by daddy and grandma. We checked in at about 10:30 a.m. and I was kept because my blood pressure was too high.  After a while I was taken to the birthing room where I was induced.  I had taken several hours to dilate the first 3 centimeters at which point I couldn’t take the pain anymore and asked for an epidural. 

My blood pressure kept going up and complicated things a bit. I had preeclampsia. At about 7 centimeters the pain kicked in again. Luckily, I reached 9 centimeters quite quickly after that. At this point the nurse began preparing for your arrival and I was asked to push. I pushed and pushed to no avail, you wouldn’t budge and my blood pressure continued to go up. Daddy left the room and cried because he couldn’t bear seeing mommy in pain and grandma was worried I wouldn’t make it. 

After an almost inhuman effort on my part the medical team finally decided I had had enough and that my cervix was still too thick: there was no way you would make your entrance into the world vaginally. I was finally scheduled for a C-Section but had to wait another hour and a half because the doctor was busy with another patient. After a while I was finally taken to the operating room. I received a second epidural and, after about 22 hours between labor and the C-Section, you were born. Grandma was in the operating room with me so she witnessed the whole thing.