Winter Update

Currently Emelia is enjoying a snack of puffs from her snack cup in the living room while I blog and Dad watches Supercross. We spent the morning taking a sunday drive through the Shawnee area because it snowed a decent amount and it was something to do. Emmy is weighing in at about 18 pounds now and measures 28.5" thats almost two inches in just over a month. The peanut has caught up and is on her way to bruiser. Some of her clothes are ruled out based solely on the fact that her big melon won't fit through the head opening any longer. Just about once a month now I go through the depressing process of packing up baby clothes that she grows out of. Emmy is quite the busy bee now a days, daily naps are about two per day max so most of the time is spent playing around. She reads through books now turning the page when prompted, her favorites are 5 Little Pumpkins and Hooray For Fish. There was a brief few days where she was sleeping through the night but that was quickly changed when a new round of teething plus a cold took over. Poor little miss has been battling a runny nose since New Years, this week she got some meds and I think she's kickin' it for good now. She is really starting to become super interactive, she waves, calls us Ma-Ma-Mom and Da-Da-Da almost every morning when we go into take her out of the crib. I taught her to high five which is hilarious and like I said she turns pages and recognizes the names of certain toys. She has now stopped snacking and is using her car seat as a jungle gym. She is quite a daredevil. Later today I plan to take her out to play in the snow and hopefully get some kind of family snow pic, we'll see how that goes since Emmy refuses to let me take a cool photo with my real camera of her.

Next on the agenda is figuring out her first birthday and what kind of baby friendly vacation we are going to try to do this year…...

Emmy is not a Vegetarian any longer...

Oh man, so busy lately. I hardly have time to update this. Emmy's last checkup was about two weeks ago and she is doing well. She last tipped the scale at 15lbs, so I am assuming she is almost 16 by now. Her latest adventures include crawling which she started last week, pulling up a little bit on things, and she had her first meat tonight. Dinner was lightly pureed chicken soup with veggies. Its official she is no longer a veg head. Of course she didn't like it at first but after a little bit of coaxing with alternating spoonfuls of blueberry yogurt, I got her onboard with the protein. Her new best friend is Elmo and its obvious the love she has for him/her when he/she shows up on the TV for her morning Sesame Street viewing. Right now she is looking like a cirque du soleil acrobat, swinging and jumping around in the johnny jump up. We are looking forward to Thanksgiving and her first Turkey dinner with family. Who knows maybe she will even have a tooth at the rate she was teething.

6.5 months and still growing

Its been a very busy last month, job changes, baby advancements, new season ect. Emelia is turning into a little kid and is losing her tiny babyness which is depressing me. We just had a wellness checkup and everything is going great for her. She has grown so much, her head has grown an inch in diameter to 16.5", she has grown almost two inches in length to 24.75" and she's gained 5 lbs and tips the scale at 15 even which is triple her birth weight. She can now sit all by herself, which the occasional tip over, she can pull herself up, started rocking up on all fours and eats like a pig. Her favorite things to do are jump like a maniac in the johnny jump up, play with anything that crinkles or she can chew on and go outside. Speaking of chew, she still hasn't broken any teeth through but a new rough of teething seems to has its grips on her little gums. We have started a rigid routine for bedtime which is slowly helping to keep her from waking up several times a night. Other than that, the highlights have been her baptism, visit to the pumpkin patch and watching her gnaw down on those hard biscuit cookies.

Play All Day, Party All night

Emelia spent the majority if the day playing and being uber alert. Now she is spending most of the night being grumpy and uber tired but not sleeping. On the bright side, she was very cute today! She seemed to notice and interact with her toys full on today, even got some smile action!

Middle of the night

Figured I would post a quick update. Emelia spent a good amount of yesterday wide awake, looking around, doing her weird smile thing, playing with her "zucchini" (a toy from when mark was little, its like a soft rattle) and just being cute. She has found my hair and gets her fingers all twisted up in it. If you hold her under her arms she can support her weight for a while now and will sometimes even push up. I have been practicing sitting up with her now too. Basically, just holding her softly in position so she gets the idea. My work out DVD would say she is hardening her core hahaha. She is getting so cute, looking more and more like a little kid which is scary hhaha. I can't believe how much older she looks to us, even though she is only just over 2 months.

Just about 2 months old....

Emelia had her just about 2 month checkup last week and did great. She was 8lbs exactly, her head grew an inch and her body grew two inches. Dr. Laura said she is doing great and nurse Roberta went crazy over her cuteness as usual. We need to make an appointment closer to her actual 2 month date for some shots :(

I don't want to get too far ahead of myself but.... I think Emmy might be starting to settle into a schedule. She seems to go down easy between 10-11 and then gets up around 4 and then again between 6-7. I hope it continues and starts spreading out even more. The fuzziness when she eats was becoming an issue but I can already see that its starting to die down a tad, maybe the new Playtex Venti Air bottles are helping. She is still eating really well, which can be seen by the little rolls she is accumulating on her teeny legs.

My favorite things to do with her lately are hang outside and take her for car rides. She LOVES the car, she either looks out the window or falls right asleep. Now that its warm out to she passes right out in the stroller. The other day I had her laying on the picnic table looking up at the sky and you would think she saw heaven. Then we was playing with my hair, which is her new favorite thing, and getting all excited when she stuck her hand right in my mouth and smiled big! I haven't been able to get her to do it again, but I'm convinced she thought it was funny.

Its also awesome to watch how strong she is getting, not particularly when she is pulling my hair but when she is pushing off her legs and pushing up her weight. She will do it several times until she is tired and just falls down like a ball of jelly.

Its great to see how much she is changing and becoming aware of things around her and herself. Not so great that its going by so fast haha.

First Mother's Day

I had a great first mothers day weekend. It kicked off with a bang when my brother-in-law handed me my first gift, the new mortal combat video game for xbox haha. Now to most of you this might sound like the furthest thing from a thoughful gift for a new mom. WRONG. #1 I loved playing mortal combat as a kid, #2 Michael LISTENED and realized how many fun memories I had playing it #3 What better way to relieve new mom stress and anxiety then by smashing the brains out of a super human, 4 armed giant wearing a thong.  Don't worry for all you traditionalists, I got many feminine gifts too. Some really pretty jewelry, dining out moneys, clothes, and my favorite a weeping blue atlas tree to plant. I think I came up with a pretty sweet idea to get something that grows each year so I can look back and remember it every time I look outside. I can't wait to get it planted, but like an idiot, I am over doing it. Instead of just planting it in the spot I planned, I first felt the need to build a second level in the flower bed and find all the rocks for it BY HAND in the stone row by our house. I am only half way done with this endeavor, and we all know how much free time I have now to be playing DIY guru extraordinaire.

Back to Mothers day, Mark went to get me some awesome coffee and a muffin for breakfast. Then i spent the first half hanging out with my family and kicking buttocks at croquet then the second with Mark's enjoying some good dinner. It was a really nice day, too bad my daughter slept through most of it haha.

Currently, Emelia is sleeping in her boppy pillow on our bed. We found out that she really likes to sleep inside the u-shape, so we have been carefully moving her around the house in it haha. She also had her first blow out today and soiled her crib sheet. I attribute this to her monster appetite, can't wait to see how much she has officially grown at her next check up.

Post of All Posts: We are Parents

By the way, we started a flickr dedicated to just Emmy photos, because if I upload them all on facebook, I'll end up having no friends haha.

EmeliaDeLo's photostream on Flickr.

Wednesday the 6^th was a pretty normal day for me. Nothing out of the ordinary, not even any Braxton hicks contractions that I can remember. Fast-forward several hours to Thursday morning at 3:45 am.

“Holy Shit my water just broke!”

Pretty much the strangest feeling mentally I ever had. It was a combination of “I’m in trouble”, excitement, fear, “What do I do now?” and pure adrenaline. Mark jumped up and turned on the light, which confirmed my outburst. I was relieved it wasn’t blood because until I saw it I wasn’t sure. It was a terrifying few seconds.

            I immediately called the doctors office, which was an answering service during closed hours.

            “We will page the doctor, if you don’t hear back in 15 to 20 minutes give us another call”

            They were lacking in every sense of urgency that accompanies the opening ceremonies of childbirth. So we thought we had a little time to spare, after all don’t most babies take hours upon hours to arrive? Mark hopped in the shower for a quick rinse and refresher to get awake for a 35-minute drive to Lehigh Valley Cedar Crest Hospital. Meanwhile, I gathered the last few items for our hospital bags and tried to remain calm ha-ha. I felt completely normal minus the leaking ha-ha.

            Contractions started about 15 minutes into the drive and were comparable to mild cramping I have felt every month except for the previous nine. The drive was uneventful, no obstacles to get around, excessive speeding, or police escorts like you see on the cinemas.

            Once we arrived, we pulled up in typical VIP DeLo style in the valet lane. Who am I kidding, Valet was closed for the night and Mark doesn’t pay anyone to do anything he can do himself. Instead we just left the car parked right in front of the entrance and I waddled in with Mark in tow.

            After what seemed like 8 years sitting in a maternity ward triage room a doctor finally came in to check me. Again, no sense of urgency that I was a month early and the nurse even seemed to doubt my conviction that I had indeed experienced my water breaking.

            “Three centimeters and thinning, let’s get an ultrasound machine in here.”

            By this time contractions were definitely evident, I actually had to breathe through some pain. As soon as the probe was placed on my belly the doctor turned to me and said, “Uh Oh.” Not exactly the kind of words you want to hear when you are already two hours into the biggest moment and surprise of your life.

            “This baby is breech, you know what that means right? C-section.”

Add major surgery to the list of things I didn’t think I would be doing on April 7^th. I was scared and disappointed. This was not going at all like my “birth plan” had said it would go. Luckily, Mark and I had been watching nothing but birthing documentary style tv shows for months before. We were pretty stocked on all the info we would need for every possible situation when it came to childbirth. Whether we liked it or not was not part of the game.

            Contractions at this point were getting worse; it was about 7 a.m. when they started wheeling me back to surgery. At this point the pain was intense, and had it been a regular birth I would have been considering an epidural. Things seemed to be progressing much faster then I thought they should. I think because of her positioning it made my contractions come on like crazy once most of the fluid had come out.

            Getting ready for surgery was like being on a TV show. My doctor was quite dreamy looking, everything was bright white, and Katy Perry was playing in the background. Seeing Mark in scrubs was also pretty theatrical. All of it was surreal. I was pinned down like I was about to be put on the cross, arms out stuck full of needles and tubes. I was shaking like crazy not so much from nerves or the sheer coldness of the room but from the drugs.

            Once I was all settled, as if being settled is an option when someone is going to slice through five layers of your belly and pull a person out, Mark came in and sat next to me. He held my hand and was saying soothing things to me, which I can’t remember. I just remember seeing him, shaking and praying that I wouldn’t feel any of the cutting.

            I was also listening intently on what the doctor was saying, trying to detect any fear in his voice or unease. I didn’t, he was calm and collective and even giving pointers to someone who was learning or observing the procedure. I can remember feeling lots of pulling and wiggling, no pain or pressure really. Just like if the bottom half of my body was turned into Jell-O and someone put their hands in it. It felt like the cut was right under my ribs from all the shuffling of my organs, but it is a tiny incision a couple inches long right at the bikini line which was comforting to know once I found out.

            Not too long after they documented the first incision time, I hear the doctor talk to mark.

            “Hey come over here.”

            Mark got up off the stool to see behind the big blue curtain and his face went from nervous to shocked and scared to seeing the most amazing thing someone can ever see. Their child being born, I will be eternally jealous of him for this.

            They twisted and squirmed Emelia out of me butt first, folded in half. Mark said that she was covered in vernex and was limp until they got her to the table to stimulate her and get her to cry. They first time I heard her cry was so relieving, it seemed like hours had gone by from the time Mark said they pulled her out and he went to her side until I heard her little squeal. Instant tear factory.

Mark followed Emelia wherever she went, which was the cleaning up area, then over to see me for like a millisecond, then out to the waiting room to show family and friends and then up to NICU to make sure everything was going as it should be for a month early bambino.

Meanwhile, I am still shaking uncontrollably on the operating table getting sewn back up. The nurses and doctors were all super nice and talked to me to calm me down while Mark was looking after Emelia. I was then transported to recovery where family and friends came in threes to congratulate us and see how I was doing. I wish I could have seen me, because in pictures I looked like a hot “just out of surgery” mess.

After 6 hours in the NICU, Emelia was able to join us in our room, which was amazing. I did get to spend a couple minutes with her on my trip from recovery to my room, but nothing compares to the moment they hand her over and say “She’s yours”.

We opted to keep her in our room rather then have her go to the nursery during the night. It was difficult but we managed and Mark did a fantastic job since I wasn’t the most mobile yet.

They got me out of bed a few hours earlier then they said they would initially because I was doing well with the beginning of the recovery so that was nice. I was able to get up and change some diapers and shower, kind of feel human again.

The next couple days were full of visitors, lack of sleep and hospital food, which wasn’t so bad after all.  Lot of people brought flowers and gifts, which we can’t say thank you enough for.

Rolling out the hospital door and putting our daughter in the car for the first time and heading home was so surreal too. I was so emotional, but I held it together because crying amongst laughing, sneezing, coughing and any general responsive action hurt like hell haha.

Her first days and nights at home have been wonderful. BUSY but wonderful. The delirious nights have been hard but each one gets a little better. I also manage to get some laughs out of Mark in the middle of the night.

Last night, I asked him to get Emelia and rock her and he started diving through the covers looking for her. Apparently, he must have found her because he then started rocking an air baby until I finally got him out of his funk and woke him up a bit more.

Emelia spends most of the day sleeping, eating and pooping, especially today with the pooping. She loves her furry sisters Snaps and Dora and they in turn try to lick her face and sniff her whenever they can.

Mark and I are extremely thankful and feel so blessed to have such a perfect little baby and are so excited for her to show us what life is all about. I won’t go on and on because there are no words that can describe all the feelings that come along with becoming a parent. We love her more then anything and are looking forward to watching her grow, but not too fast.

Baby Surveillance

April 4 Week 36

Just some movements here and there I caught on video. The video doesn't really do the depth justice but you can get the idea. Look close, and don't get confused by my breathing haha.

Counting down this last month!

April 1 Week 35

We had an appointment to check on your status yesterday. I say we because Mark attended this one just for the heck of it. Everything is measuring on track and looking good. Your head is down and your butt is up. I can tell because I can feel it. The doctor could tell also, because she literally took her hands and pushed them so far into my lower abdomen that she grabbed the sides of your head. That didn't feel so swell for me. This last month is going to be a hard one, I'm super uncomfy all the time. I attached an image so everyone can see how much real estate you take up inside. Very anxious to meet you!

Don't forget about the awesome rib pain, back pain, leg cramps and all the awesome gross stuff too! hahaha

Was it a Baby Shower or Baby Down Pour?

March 26 Week 34

I am still recuperating from the downpour of Baby Shower gifts that Mark and I received for the little peanut this past weekend, and in addition my coworkers threw me a shower today! It was a fun weekend full of family and friends and baby stuff!

The shower was at Stroudsmoor Country Inn and there was lots of good eats for everyone to indulge in. We were very happy to see everyone who made it, its a shame though I didn't get to spend a lot of time with everyone which always makes me feel bad at these kinds of things. The mountain of gifts was so over the top, but very appreciated. Everyone got us, well YOU, beautiful things. We are definitely stocked on just about everything now! I hope you like owls, because that is the motif of your belongings now. Everything was cuter and more adorable then the thing before it. We are overwhelmed in a good way, it looks like a baby tornado took off through our house.

We have managed to put together a couple things and get most of the items organized but I think we will just have to see how it goes and I'm sure I will be rearranging everything once we get into the swing of things. Mark and I are getting super excited to meet you already, I kind of have a feeling you might feel the same. I have a gut feeling, no pun intended, that you may not wait until your debut date. Just don't come too early, I still have stuff to do!

Busy Weekend

March 21 Week 34

Saturday I spent the morning doing a newborn shoot with an adorable 10 day old named Gianna. It has been so much fun the last few weeks doing the newborn shoots, every little bit of added time with the new ones has been good in helping prepare myself (at least as far as posing my new baby for photos haaha).

Sat. afternoon was spent getting even more baby time at a family party. LOTS of kids, LOTS of babies and LOTS of pregnant Delorenzo ladies haha. Below is a pic of Mark relaxing with cousin Livia. He seems to be getting mroe comfy holding the babies so that is good!

Sunday we had our maternity/pre-baby photo session with Shane which I think went awesome. I can't wait to see the pics. We went for something less hand hearts on the belly and silk wrapped bellies. I think the photos will definitely show more of what Mark and I are about.

I finally put together a check list for everyone's bags to bring, mine, dads and baby's bag for delivery time. Now to pack them! I'm itching to get all the rest of the baby supplies in the house and put away, and then talk Mark into cleaning like a mad man. Its getting hard to spend a lot of time on my feet without my back hurting now or feeling like the baby is trying to claw its way out of me. The tiredness that I had int he first trimester is starting to haunt me again along with a slew of Braxton Hicks. Nothing like having a heavy, rock-hard, beach ball hanging off your body to add to your comfort level! Mostly, Mark and I are just getting more and more excited to move onto the next phase.

Jenny DeLo ( a month behind me), Diana DeLo (2.5
month old fab Momma of Livia, and me at 34 weeks)

Mark practicing with cousin Livia

Running out of room at my desk!

Another Check Up

March 18 Week 33

Had a checkup yesterday, everything looks on track and good to go. Your position yesterday was head down, butt up. I call it head down using me as a punching bag, butt up in my ribs making it hard to eat. Other then feeling a little sore and having to pee every five seconds, things seem to be going pretty good. Looking forward to meeting you and take it easy on my on your way out please :)

Baby Expert

So I know I am the furthest thing from a baby expert, but I've been reading this book for the past few days which has taken my mood from "excited but terrified of a screaming/crying baby" to the point where my hands would basically shake even thinking about a crying baby to "excited and confident." I am really big into thinking positively, and then having good things happen in return. In this book it describes a technique for holding babies that I remember my mom telling me about, because Eyvind had taught my parents about it, by laying the baby on its stomach on your forearm to help induce a calming reflex, you can couple it with swaddling, then vigorous rocking, white noise, etc. There is a lot more to this book, all about triggering a babies calming reflex, and basically giving them a feeling of a "4th trimester."

I am just pumped on my pre-baby confidence boost right now :)

-Mark