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

Welcome Anzel Oliver Harris-Tenenbaum - Week 1

We are thrilled to announce the arrival of our sweet son Anzel Oliver Harris-Tenenbaum on 5/15/15 at 1:10pm. 

There's no words to express the love and joy we have for this very small human. 

Arm rolls!! Biceps??

I'm so incredibly proud of my partner. Cristina labored for 16 hours and was able to bring him into the world healthy and without any trauma. I leave it to her to post the birth story! All I know is that it's a miraculous thing to witness and to play a supporting role in a major life event for all 3 of us. 

My favorite people in the world... My family! 

It was clear that in the first few minutes of him outside the womb he recognized us by our voices and stared into our eyes with a piercing gaze. 

We named him Anzel Oliver after being with him for 24 hours. That long list of names we had didn't suit him as well as Anzel. Jasper was the runner up because Cristina always has loved that name and  he was born on Jasper Johns birthday.  Anzel means Divine Helmet (or protected by god). We call him Zel. In Hebrew Zel means wise and peaceful. He is a little old soul. Cristina's grandpa on her father's side was Oliver.

So far he has been great. Sleeping and eating like a champion. Today was His first pediatrician appointment and first day out around Brooklyn. He is 4 days old and he has gained 1/2 a pound. 

We are so in love with this little man. It's a huge change for us. But there's nothing better than taking care and nurturing this baby. 

Ps. The meaning of Oliver - Elf Army. Who knew??

The final countdown

We have less than 4 days until our due date on May 11th. Cristina had a dream last night and the 16th kept playing in her head. I really hope he doesn't wait that long, her poor feet are so swollen she can only wear flip flops. 

This is Sunday!

We went up to Suffern for a memorial for our friend Christine's father on Saturday. It was a lovely tribute to a very kind man. The weather was glorious so after the memorial we decided to go up to our house for the "last time" before Zellbot arrives. 

We are about to start renting out our home over the summer and fall for weekends and week long stays. The spring is bringing out all the surprises. 

We have a purple prince magnolia in front of the house!!

I finally hiked down and around Doove Kill behind our house. It's beautiful. 

Now we are begining to do everything we can to start the labor process. Cristina has acupunture treatments, spicy food, walking, meditations, one of my clients even made eggplant parm (which people keep saying helps induce!?). Trying the eggplant tonight. 

We walked around by prospect park 2 nights ago and check out the pink confetti the cherry blossoms left. 

The Sonogram today showed us some very fuzzy hair and big cheeks. This is going to be a big boy! 

Mary has started a betting pool on the baby's birth date! May will bring a new little soul to our world. We can't wait to meet him.But what I find even more magical... We'll be the first people he'll ever meet or see. It blows my mind. 

Life Today

Brooklyn rooftop sitting...

Watching bright orange fire slowly descend and disintegrate into pinks and violets that contrast the concrete outlines in the foreground.

My heart expands and offers the beauty that has surrounded me on this perfect Spring day to our unborn son.

Prospect Park bloomed into a new and exciting playground, capturing my imagination with bright pink blossoms, fiery yellow flowers, happy dogs of all breeds, and joyous humans of every kind.

These are the days that help me to remember how blissful it is to be human, how much my spirit is filled by the nature and humanity around me, and how much love fills my soul and will pour out into our son when he arrives in 3 weeks.

As I write on the rooftop, a bird sings her song, chirps her melody, creates her own unique call to welcome the sunsetting on another day and to wish us all a beautiful life.  Her quirky tune fills my ears while the ice cream truck song is fading in the distance, and I look to my right to see the Manhattan skyline bathed in a dusty rose with Brooklyn watertower silhouettes pointing to the sky.

Spring has finally arrived, and life is about to change forever.  If today and this moment are any indication of the change that is about to come, then it is going to be a beautiful life filled with colorful moments, beautiful melodies, and so much love my heart might burst.

April Showers

This is us April 11, 2015. 4 weeks to go!

This past Saturday Mister Zelbot had a baby shower at our old local favorite Flatbush Farm. My sister, mom, Mary, Tamika and Wislene all pitched in and put it together. It was fantastic! We had a great brunch, painted onesies, played silly games including sculpting babies out of playdoh. Cristina and I got to judge the best overall, creepiest, best hair, best accessories etc. 

We have some amazing friends! We felt very loved and celebrated. It was what I suppose people feel like when they celebrate a wedding. Honestly it exceeded my expectations and I was surprised at how having a baby brings people together. Everyone has been very generous. 

The winners. 

Cherry gets best hair award!

My mom and sister Catherine came to New York a couple days early to see our house upstate and help out with the shower. They liked our house (phew). We are so excited to see what spring brings at our home in elizaville. 

 In fact they helped me build the crib! Catherine bought a big bottle of bourbon and said that was as important as the screwdriver or wrench. 

Nice crib yo!

While I don't reccomend buying a home, getting engaged and having a baby in under 6 months time ... I wouldn't have it any other way. We are so lucky. So thankful for all of it. 

It feels like we a planning for a moment in time, when in reality that moment will be our future ongoing. Hold on tight Cristina! 

5 Weeks and Counting...

As I sit in the laundromat washing the cutest, tiniest clothes ever, I can't help but think of the little guy who's moving around inside my belly. I love feeling his movement and feel that he is communicating with me in ways that are far beyond words. It's hard to believe that it's been 35 weeks that he's been growing and that soon we'll get to meet him.  It seems like such a dream!  Except, of course, for the painful muscle that I've pulled in my back and the fact that I'm huge and having troubles breathing when getting up the stairs😊. That's definitely NOT the dreamy part. 

It seems that we're constantly busy these days and that we both are pretty overloaded at work. But knowing that he's on the way makes it all worth it. It's just figuring out in the meantime how to keep our stress levels down and stay calm and connected to each other as partners and soon-to-be new mamas. It's a balancing act that needs to constantly remain grounded in our love for each other. 

One of the baby-related tasks we've been working on is finding a pediatrician. So, we got a referral from a friend, and made an appointment to meet the pediatrician that he loves for his son. We were confident that she might be the answer, as the office is also very close to home. Boy, were we wrong!  I'm so glad we went in for a consultation. 

First, the offices were in a big apartment building in near Grand Army Plaza, and as we walked into the pediatric office, I felt like I was in an old school, 1970's adult doctor's office with outdated art and paper file folders behind he desk. The receptionists were nice enough, but they sent us back to an equally dismal room to wait for the doctor, where we waited for 40 minutes. When she finally came into the room and introduced herself, my immediate thought was, "Hell no!"  Her demeanor was incredibly socially awkward and she seemed to have a nervous tick of a laugh-snort that followed each phrase she said. We felt like we were in the middle of a Saturday Night Live skit. 

So, she essentially asked us if we had any questions, and Liz did a great job of asking relevant questions while I was trying to hide my true feelings. I just could not picture her interacting wih our little boy from the time he's born until he becomes a teenager. I couldn't believe that this woman was a pediatrician!

As we left the building we both turned to each other and started laughing hysterically. What had we just experienced?  Were we being Punk'd?  At that point it was clear that our search must continue. 

So, here I sit waiting for the tiny little clothes to dry, and even in the midst of all of the work, details, and craziness of our lives right now, I couldn't be more grateful to be sitting in the laundromat and dreaming of starting our new family in about one month. 

BIG NEWS

              SO MUCH NEWS!!!  Uncertain where to start, so I will just be sure not to bury the lead.

While in Cancun on our babymoon, Liz found the perfect time (at sunset) on the beach to make a proposal for us to commit to spending the rest of our lives together.  After my crying outburst (because I was sooo surprised and overwhelmed with emotion), I heard her say, "So, is that a YES?"  I said, "YES!  It's definitely a YES!"  We were both so excited, and then she opened up the ring box and put this gorgeous ring on my finger.  It was such a perfect start to our brief vacation, and even though we have been together now for more than 6 years, this was one of the most wonderfully romantic surprises ever!  So, we are thinking that sometime in the summer of 2016 would be perfect timing.  Hopefully by that time our little guy will be walking, and maybe he can be (with some assistance) our ring bearer :)

As for the rest of our time in Cancun, we just kept saying how it was one of the best decisions we ever made to book this trip.  It was relaxing, the weather was beautiful everyday, and we had a beachfront room.  Leaving the sliding glass door open each night while we went to sleep allowed us to be lulled into dreamland by the sound of the ocean waves lapping on the sand just a few hundred feet away.  That was some of the best sleep we've both had in months... and we know that we're going to need it soon!  I wish we could bring those ocean waves here once our little guy is born.

 

Liz, right before the big proposal

 

Me, enjoying the weightlessness of the swimming pool

The view from our room

In other news, we have finally reached Spring here in New York!  It was 60 degrees today, and the city felt absolutely glorious (with the exception of all of the dirt-covered melting snow piles strewn with garbage).  We are happy to kick winter to the curb and let the blooming and blossoming begin!

The upswing to warmer weather will also be a HUGE help to maintaining our Marty Road house upstate.  Although we never published the post that I originally wrote when it happened, we had a bit of a flood due to the freezing weather bursting the water filtration system installed under our kitchen sink.  It was quite a spectacle, and we ended up with a disaster clean-up crew at our house installing about 15 industrial fans and other odd-looking equipment to soak up all of the water and prevent damage to the floors.  After running all of that equipment for 5 days straight (24 hours a day), we returned to the house, signed off on the completion of the clean-up, and had an insurance adjuster come to visit.  All is being taken care of... but we will be happy to see winter go for lots of reasons!

And last, but definitely not least, we are now officially 31 weeks pregnant.  I'm in such awe of this process, and I just can't stop being amazed every time he moves around in my belly.  He's a big guy already, and it's hard to imagine that he's going to gain about 5 more pounds before he's born.  I will probably be the size of a MACK truck before he gets here, but as long as we're all healthy once he makes his entrance, it's totally worth it!

We can't wait to meet him and to share him with all of you, but for now, this picture will have to do...

Sending you all our love <3 <3 <3

Cristina, Liz, and Zellbot