4 Weeks Old!

So yesterday Aliyah turned 4 weeks old. Hard to believe. It seems like she's been here forever, not just 4 short weeks! :)

Eating, Visitors, Baths, Poopies, Did I Mention Eating???

So I haven't updated in a while. I didn't really have much to say at first, but now that I look back on the past three weeks, I guess indeed, there was lots to report! Oh well, I will have to do some catching up! :)

Aliyah will be three weeks old tomorrow! Yay! What a big girl she is now! :) Ha! We've had a wonderful time so far, full of lots of new, fun, and not-so-fun things!

We had lots of special guests this month! My parents were here for her birth. My dad left on October 9th. He had a very busy month ahead of him, and had to get back to all of that! My mom stayed on until the 18th. And Melanie came from the 14th - 18th. TODAY, a very special guest arrives. Beto's mom is coming to visit!!! This will be her VERY FIRST time visiting us here in the States. We are thrilled, to say the least! After many years of trying to get a visa to come to the US, she finally was granted one! Praise God! Beto has always been so sad that his parents have never been able to come up to see and experience our life. There has been so many things that we wish they could've been apart of and shared with us. We are so grateful that she will be able to come share in the joy of our baby girl!

Anyway, so THREE WEEKS OLD. I had so much help those first two weeks...which I am SO extremely thankful for! It gave me the proper amount of time to rest up, and recover well! The Lord must've known exactly the amount of time I was going to need in order to feel myself again! By the time Mom and Mel left, I was feeling back to myself, and totally recovered! Feels great! :)

Our little Aliyah...she is such a joy! She has, for the most part, remained a very good baby! This will explain things a little better....

She loves to eat. Probably more than anyone I've ever known. She eats and eats and eats. And eats and eats. Did I mention she eats? She takes eating VERY seriously. She'll let you know she's hungry by opening her mouth up really really wide, like a little birdie. She turns her head from side to side, mouth WIDE open! (She was born doing this!!) She'll do this for a couple minutes. If we haven't hurried and started to feed her, she'll burst into tears! What must be going through her tiny, precious little head at that moment?! :) Ha! It is SO funny to watch!

Perhaps... "What is wrong with these people?!" "Feed me!!!!!" "Have they forgotten about me entirely?!?!" "Oh no, they indeed have forgotten!"

Aliyah, Sweetheart... we will NEVER forget you, ever, especially in your state of hunger! :) Although sometimes we take a couple minutes to get your bottle prepared, we really, truly, have not forgotten about you! We promise!! :)

So she's a great baby, but cries when she's hungry and has to wait for more than a minute or two. LOL!

This was just a little bit after she was born...starving, and letting us know with that little mouth of hers! :)

Ha ha! Another picture of our little bird!

So hungry!

Oh, we made her wait too long! :)

Maybe I could eat Daddy's finger in the mean time?

Better yet...I better just learn to hold my own bottle! These people can't be trusted!

(Holding her own bottle at two weeks old).

On to the not-so-fun things...Poopies. I wish this was a fun thing to report! I wish I had a story like, oh, the other day, her poop was so big and messy it went all the way up her back and dirtied her onesie and her whole outfit. No, nothing like that. :( Unfortunately, she's been struggling a bit in the poopy department. For a little more than a week now, my baby girl's been constipated. I wish I could at least relate, or share in her suffering. I have never once in my life been constipated, and have no idea what it feels like. It looks like it's awful though! :( The Dr. says it's just a normal thing that happens to some newborns, and there's not much to do about it. Of course, me being me, I waited until today to actually call the Dr. I've done everything under the sun, on my own (no Dr. consent) to try to get things going! Nothing has worked though. And of course, not to my surprise at all, the Dr. wasn't much more of a help. All he suggested, I had already done. So, if you think of her, PRAY FOR HER POOPY SITUATION! :) Hopefully, next time I update, there'll be a better story to report.

So once again, she's a great baby, but she does cry a little sometimes when she has to go, but her body doesn't cooperate. Being stopped up is NO fun for anyone!

We hope your tummy feels better soon baby girl! :(

Did I mention she LOOOOVES to eat? Oh yes, I think I did.

Baths.... Aliyah had her first bath at 11 days old! Her chord fell off at 8 days old, but we didn't seem to have the time to bath her until a few days after! Poor thing! :) She was a little stinky pot and definitely ready to be cleaned up! (Don't get me wrong, I had sponge bathed her with a wash cloth everyday... But that's not the same as getting a nice good soapy bath!!!)

Uh, she hated it. How could I have ever been so cruel to think up such a cruel thing to do to my baby girl?!

Haha...again, Aliyah, YOU NEED TO GET BATHED BABY! So I'm sorry you hate it, but you just have to get used to it! :) Mommy loves you, regardless of what you think in those moments! :)

Why have you forsaken me???

See, it's not SO BAD! We had a couple seconds of silence...

But then she remembered she hated it.... :)

So thirdly, she's an excellent baby, but she cries when she gets bathed.

SLEEPING DEPARTMENT! What an angel of a sleeper she has been! The past week, she has been up and awake a lot more than before...but still sleeps for a good chunk of the day. At nights, she sleeps SO well! I get up once to feed her and change her, but she hardly even opens her eyes. She basically sleeps the whole night through, just grunts and stirs (and again, like any other time, if I take toooooo long, cries) when she's ready to eat.

She's growing everyday. Last Thursday we had her two-week appointment. She already weighed 7 lb 9 oz!!!!! (She was 6 lb when we left the hospital). So she had gained SO much already! Wasn't too shocking, I suppose, since I'm she would and could eat a cow, if I would allow it.

I guess that's all. Aliyah, darling, you're precious! We love you so much and are so glad to have you along for the ride on our roller coaster life! There's lots ahead for the three of us...we're just so glad that you're with us!!!! xo

Just a few more to enjoy...

Hanging out one last time with Grandpa!

All bundled in my swing.

I inherited all of Daddy's funny-face-making-abilities! :)

Mommy and Daddy are still so amazed at how extremely WHITE you are Aliyah!!! :)

Introducing Our Baby Girl...

Aliyah Nicole Guerra

She's finally here and she came on her own, perfect little timing!
GOD IS SO FAITHFUL!

As many of you know, I was scheduled to be induced last Friday, October 2nd. We were scheduled to go in to the hospital early that morning. They were going to examine me to see whether or not a c-section would be required (based on her weight - I suppose they were planning on doing an ultrasound to determine that?) Either way, I was having the baby that day, whether by induction or c-section. I felt good knowing that she was finally going to be here, but I was quite nervous and unsettled about the idea of either of those scenerios. We just continued to trust and believe in the Lord's perfect timing (and way) for our princess to come into this world!

Birth Story

We received the call from the Doctor's office on Wednesday morning about coming in on Friday. So we finally could plan! Yay! I planned out in my head all the things I needed to get done on Thursday in preparation for being away from the house for a few days, and especially in preparation for bringing Aliyah home. Honestly I can say, for the first time in a month, I went to bed Wednesday night totally unprepared for a "mid-night labor surprise". It didn't even cross my mind, because in my mind, FRIDAY was the day!

Aliyah had different plans! We enjoyed a lovely Wednesday, finally knowing that by the end of the week our baby would be here with us. We even decided to go out for a nice dinner with my parents that evening. We came home, played some games (a new game my dad brought called Bananagrams - so fun!), watched some TV, then went to bed.

1:15am - Woke up because I felt very funny. Was that my water that just broke?! I ran to the bathroom, and it continued. Hmmm... I was like, "Seriously?! There's no way this is happening!" I went back to the bed and woke Beto up.

Me: "Babe, I think my water just broke!!"

Him: "How do you know???"

Me: "I'm not 100%, but I just KNOW!"

Him: "Let me see!" (half asleep)

Me: "What?! Are you crazy? It already happened!" (ha ha)

Him: "Well, just come back to bed for a while, and we'll see."

Me: "Uh, seriously? You think that's a good idea?? I thought we're supposed to go to the hospital if my water breaks!"

Him: "Yeah, just come back to bed."

Me: "Uh, ok." (so dumb)

1:45am - We decided to wait and see if contractions would start. Sure enough they did, and they were coming about 10 mins apart.

Me: "Babe, I really think we need to go to the hospital."

Him: "Maybe you should ask your mom?"
Me: "Good idea."

Me: "MOM!!"

Mom: "Yes?!?!?!?!" (Her dream coming true - I FINALLY wake her up in the night to tell her the news she's been waiting for since the day she arrived!) :)

Me: "I think my water just broke!"

Dad: "Ooooh! Here we go!"

Me: "Well, I'm not positive, but I think that's what it was."

Mom: "Then let's go, NOW!"

1:50am - We start scrambling to put our things together, brush our teeth, check my lists (which btw, was Beto's job...and the list got looked at, but totally not checked! All that prep-work of mine, for nothing! Ha!), etc..etc..

1:55am - Contractions are BACK TO BACK. NO RELIEF!!!

2:30am - We arrive to the hospital and the nurses slowwwwwwlllllllyyyy check us in! By this time I was so bent over in pain, Beto had to fill out all the papers as I paced back and forth in the empty waiting room.

Nurse at reception: "A nurse will be with you shortly hunny."

Me: "Ok, thanks." (Wishing they could move AND TALK quicker!)

Nurse: "Is this your first sweetie?"

Me: "Yes."

Nurse: "Ok, well this will all take a while. The nurse will come to get you in a little bit."

2:55ish, maybe 3am? - FINALLY, the nurse comes to get us from the waiting room. They take us to triage to get started. I changed into my gown, then the nurse (who btw, was SO nice!) took me over to a bed, asked me questions and did a quick examination. She checked for dilation, I was 3 cm.

4:00am - I got moved to my labor and delivery room (which was so new and beautiful! it had just opened 2 weeks earlier!) By this time, contractions were so unbearable! I was in so much pain that I was vomiting!! They decided to check me for dilation, as they so verrrryyyy slowly and calmly told me that the anesthesiologist would come soon to relieve me of my pain.

I was 7 cm. They seemed shocked, and quickly started moving things along! (In my head: "Finally, they decide to believe me! I really am in a huge amount of pain, BECAUSE THINGS ARE MOVING ALONG VERYYYY FAST!" I knew I wasn't crazy!) :)

Nurse (Kisha): "Wow! Is this your first?!"
Me: "YES ALREADY!" (Seemed like I answered that question a lot that morning).
Nurse: "Wow, it NEVER goes this quick for first-timers!"

Thankfully, the worst of it only lasted about 15 minutes, because by 4:15ish, I was given the epidural.

4:15am - EPIDURAL, A GIFT FROM THE LORD.

4:30am - Nurse decided to check me again.........10 cm!

4:35am - It was time to have this baby! Beto grabbed one leg, Kisha grabbed the other, and I started pushing. Kisha, our nurse, was great!!! She coached me so well, and actually made it quite simple of a task. That is....for the first 30 minutes. By the 30th minute, I was thinking, "Seriously?! This isn't over yet??" I told her I couldn't do it anymore (by the end, I was starting to feel some pain and major discomfort again. I can't even imagine how bad it would've been without the epidural!!) She quickly corrected me and said, "Yes you can. Push through the pain! You got this. Your baby is almost out." I took her words, "Push through the pain," and just said them over and over again in my head (that is, in between my other thoughts, like "Lord please keep my baby safe," or "Lord, please help me not to tear," Ha! Or, "Aw man, everyone's sleeping right now!" Or, "Can't wait to tell my friends about how badly this hurts on a scale from 1-10." Ha ha! ANYWAY, "Push through the pain! Push through the pain!" I tried my very best to concentrate and remember that she was almost here!!! Phew, and I did it!

5:22am - Our princess was born!! :):):):) (I have a pic of her, RIGHT when she was born, but don't want to startle anyone...so I won't post it!) :)

5:23am - I was suddenly a mother! Beto started snapping pictures like crazy, as he followed Aliyah and the nurse to the other side of the room to get her all cleaned up, weighed, etc.

Me in my head: "What in the WORLD just happened?!" LOL!

I went to bed that Wednesday night with thoughts flooding my mind about Friday morning and meeting my baby girl... Six hours later, Aliyah was already in my arms. God is so good. His way, and His timing is always best. We're so amazed at how He continually blesses us!

She was born Thursday, October 1, 2009 at 5:22am. She weighed 6lb 3 oz and was 20.5 in long. She was long and skinny! But so very, very beautiful...

We stayed at the hospital for 2 nights before coming home on Saturday, mid-day.

It's been such a joy to be at home with her! She has been so awesome! Truly, truly, such a pleasant baby! I don't know what we have done to deserve such ease in all of this. Honestly, a picture perfect, easy pregnancy... an incredibly fast and easy labor... and now to have brought home such a wonderfully easy baby! (So far at least!) :) God is good, that's all I know. We're so very blessed.

All my thoughts probably seem very jumbled. But I wanted to get all of this in writing, before I forget it all!

Thank you all for your love, prayers and support over the past few weeks! Now all the fun begins! I can't wait to keep sharing my blog with you guys! It'll be so much more fun, and definitely cuter, with Aliyah's little face gracing all the pictures and topics! :) Love you all!

Here are a few more to enjoy.... :)

At home with our baby girl...

a BIG yawn!!

my first nap in my crib :) i'm a little burrito!

quality time with Daddy...

i'm so cute...my mommy can't stop taking pictures of me!!