The First 7 Weeks

We have a joyfully smiling baby! 

The first 8 weeks of Anzel's life have been amazingly beautiful and truly exhausting, but watching his small developments on a daily basis are miraculous.  Over the past 3 weeks, he's become very awake and alert during the day with the ability to focus on our faces and respond to our voices and expressions.  He is also working on head control, so he's now able to lift his own head rather than being a bobble-head toy baby, and he's so active that I'm sure he's going to have some fierce dance moves!

One of the most incredible recent developments is watching him smile, which has come about over the past week or two.  He smiles with his whole face - mouth open, eyes squinting, head moving, and sometimes it's all accompanied by a giggle.  It's one of the most beautiful things I have ever seen!  To have some inkling that we have a happy baby on our hands who is now capable of responding to us and thinking we're hilarious is pretty wonderful.

A few weeks ago we took him upstate to the house for the first time, and he loved it!  He enjoys being outdoors, and I managed to do a whole 45-minute yoga session on the back deck with him calmly (mostly sleeping) hanging out next to me in his car seat.  Thanks, dude.  Throughout the weekend, I had many moments where I pictured what the future holds for our family in that house.  Watching him play in the yard, going for local hikes, hunting for frogs and snakes in the creek below, learning to ride a bike, swimming in Lake Taghkanic, and enjoying the warmth of our home as a family.



Speaking of family, my cousin Marshall and his wife Valerie came to the city from Illinois for the first time with their 3 children.  Their oldest daughter, Lauren, was chosen among other middle school students from around the country to perform as a band at Carnegie Hall, and they made a family vacation out of it.  It was wonderful to see them and show them a little piece of Brooklyn.

  We all ended up having dinner hosted by my amazing Aunt Laurie in her apartment ... 10 adults and a baby in an East Village apartment with no dining table and minimal furniture.  It's incredible what family can do.  It was Laurie's first time meeting Anzel, and they instantly fell in love. 

I am so incredibly grateful for these past 7 weeks, our smiley baby boy, and the life that we are continuing to build together everyday.  Now I am smiling :)

BIG NEWS (7 weeks later).... He's here!

It has been 7 weeks since Anzel joined our family in the outside world, and I'm now ready to get back to the blog.  So, first thing is first...  I've shared our birth story below and plan to share with you the exciting developments that we keep seeing with each passing day as time goes on.  But for now, you can just read about how he made his way into the world.

My birth story began with the season finale of Scandal. As it started, my contractions did too, and by the time the show was over they had started getting stronger and we're about 5 minutes apart. Being 4 days overdue and very committed to not being medically-induced, I was thrilled to be going into labor. 

For the next 7 hours I labored through the night at home with the contractions greatly intensifying and becoming much more frequent. We held out as long as we could before going to the hospital, and by 5:30 am we were ready. Contractions were about 3 minutes apart and I was trying to breathe through the pain as we made our way into NYU For delivery. 

We drove over the Manhattan Bridge into the city and watched the sun rise over the East River and the Williamsburg Bridge. It was a beautiful day to be born, 5/15/15!

Upon arriving at the hospital I was 5 cm dilated, and apparently it was a busy day for babies to be born because we were in the triage room for the next 5 hours as I labored loudly next to two other women who had epidural and were quietly waiting behind their curtains. We found out that our OB on-call that morning was the ONE doctor out of seven in the practice that we had not met. At first, this made us a bit nervous, but as it turns out she was the absolute perfect person to help guide our baby into the world. 

Liz was a champion birth coach who kept me hydrated, breathing, and continued to provide comforting words of encouragement. After being in a confined space while contracting every 2-3 minutes with no access to a shower for calming for 5 hours, I was a bit cranky.  So, Liz kept asking nurses and our doctor when we could get into our own labor and delivery room, and they kept telling us that we would be in our own room when the next one was vacated.  Around 10:30 am, our doctor checked and told us that I was 6 cm dilated, and she facilitated breaking my water. And WOAH... the gush of huge amounts of liquid was such a surprise and a temporary relief!  Around 11:00 am, we were finally given a room. At this point, my contractions were incredibly intense and less than one minute apart. Upon entering our own room, Liz suggested that I take a shower.  That sounded like something that might feel good, so I stripped down and got ready to take a shower when I began feeling the overwhelming urge to push and when checked I had dilated to 7 cm. I could've sworn he was ready to come out right then, and I started doubting if I was able to make it all the way to the end, but I just kept taking one contraction at a time and listening to the amazing support from Liz, our incredible nurse, Emma, and our wonderful doctor, Dr. Ufberg. 

By 12:00, I was 9 cm dilated, and we began to push. This exhausting process gave hope that he was actually going to be joining us on "the outside" soon, and I knew we could make it happen together (me and him).  So, after 16 hours of labor and 1 hour of pushing, his tiny little head full of blonde hair emerged and Liz was as to guide his little body into the world. He cried instantly and was placed directly on my chest. I immediately fell head over heals in love and knew that my world was now more complete because he was in it. 

For the next two hours Liz and I laid in bed snuggling our beautiful baby boy to our bare chests and crying tears of joy over how grateful we are. Our hearts were filled to the brim and overflowing with love, and we hope our little Anzel Oliver feels our overwhelming joy and gratitude every day for the rest of his life. 

The past 7 weeks have been amazing, exhausting, joyous, and intense... our little Anzel is the most beautiful thing I've ever seen, and if you haven't met him yet, we are so excited to make the introduction.  

Newborn (10 days old)

1 month old on June 15th

Fourth of July for rooftop fireworks in Williamsburg