gabriel's birth

It had been weeks now that I wanted Baby Gabe out of my belly! I had gotten so big and I was so tired. My pelvic bone hurt when I slept sideways so there was no way I could sleep that way. Unfortunately there was no way I could sleep on my stomach either! I had to pile up pillows behind me so I could sleep sitting up. This took a toll on my back! Everyday I would wake up with a sore back which made it no fun to sleep. Plus, I was waking up almost every hour to go to the restroom. As much as I enjoyed having the little man in my belly it was time to evict him! I tried everything! I went on long walks, I ate the prego pizza at Skippilinis that is supposed to put you in labor, my doctor even scrapped my insides. Ok...maybe I did not try everything but I do know I wanted little Gabe out. I could tell he was a big baby and at 4'11' I was running out of space for him. I remember that I wanted a sign...any sign that labor was imminent.

I remember waking up on Wednesday, March 23rd thinking to myself, "well...I am due on April 5th and so I still have some days to go. I can't sit here and wait for it to happen because it feels like FOREVER! I need to drop it and just let it be, he will come when he wants to come." That day I felt more relaxed and less anxious. Tony had taken the day off and we had gone to SF to babysit Michayla. We had a great time together! Lindsey decided to cook dinner for us when she got home from work. At around 7:30pm, as we were finishing our meal, I felt a sudden back pain (just for a second or two)...something very different than what I had experienced in the past. I remember feeling a bit happy, "yay! this was my first labor sign" I thought. I was waiting patiently for Lindsey to finish her sentence so I could share that I had finally felt my first sign. Honestly, I wasn't sure if this was even a true sign, but because it felt so different I thought "why not!"

Before Lindsey finished her sentence and before I was able to tell them the good news I jumped out of my seat as I felt I started peeing on myself. "Oh my god!" I screamed, "my water broke!...wait, maybe I am peeing...ok, no I think my water did break" We all began to panic, but Lindsey quickly took control and began to plan for what was going to happen next. She got me to the shower and brought me some change of clothes. Tony began making phone calls and then we were off to the hospital.

I was so nervous to get in the car as I was not sure what would happen next but I was so happy to think that Gabe was coming, my little man was on his way and we would all get to meet him! "Ok.." I thought to myself, "don't panic...stay in control and don't loose it!" I had to tell that to myself because I am such a wimp and I can easily start to faint out of fear. When I got to triage I was feeling good, still leaking but with no pain. Next to me was another lady moaning from her contractions. This was not helping as I knew I was about to follow her down the same pain path. Because I had cholestasis during my pregnancy, I did not have to wait until I was 4 cm dilated to get admitted. The doctor wanted me under direct supervision to make sure the baby and I were doing well.

Within an hour or so my whole family and a few friends were at the hospital...hanging out until they were told to go home as it seemed that my labor was going to take a long time. I labored throughout the night...dealing with my contractions as they came and went. "Not bad" I thought, I can do this! Fortunately my ObGyn was on call when I arrived to the hospital. After laboring for a good long time she decided to give me a break and I was given some drugs to help me sleep for an hour. After that my labor slowed down and they decided to give me Petocin to speed it up. When I heard Petocin I quickly said, "epidural pleeeeease!" There was no way I was going to experience petocin-full-contractions!

Almoust 24 hours later from my water breaking I began to feel the epidural fade away and I could feel the pressure and crazy desire to want to push. "Oh no...here it comes!" I thought and began to panic. I called Tony and asked him to please try to calm me down. Eventually I couldn't take it anymore and asked the nurse to check me to see if it was time. She thought that it wasn't but after checking me she was surprised to see that I was 10cm dilated and fully ready to push.

Everyone got into position and got me ready to begin pushing. The nurse called the doctor for help but did not worry because it usually takes first time mothers 2 hours on average to deliver. Tony took one leg, my mom took the other while Terrie and Vicky watched and waited for little Gabe. I pushed with all my might. The first thing that came out was Gabe's hair, a small little curl! The nurse began to panic...this wasn't going to take two hours... the baby was coming out fast! And like the stereotypical story of ObGyns, the doctor showed up,all chippery, just to catch the baby.

I know this is already a long post but...My mom once told me "if i am not in the delivery room I will never speak to you again!" She denies she ever said that to me! Anyways, I knew I wanted my mom there for support. I know when I am going through some rough times my mom has a way of being there to calm me down and she becomes very soothing. Although I was so entranced in what I was doing during the delivery, I was somehow aware of my mother's reaction more than anyone else. She has always talked about labor like it is a piece of cake and always dismissed the complaint of pain. However, watching me go through it was NOT easy for her. She had to step away at one point and Vicky had to hold my leg because my mother had become overwhelmed. She pretended to go wash her hands but I knew that she went to wipe away her tears. She finally composed herself and came back to continue holding my leg. After it was all over and everyone became so excited with the baby, my mother never left my side. She just stayed there and held my hand as I recovered from the shock (it was a hard recovery for me since I was having compulsive shakes). The experience though, was very emotional for all. As soon as he came out everyone (my mom, Vicky, Terrie, Tony and I) was crying.

I couldn't believe my little baby had just arrived...Gabriel Alarcon Avila was born on March 24th at 7:49pm. He weighed 7 pounds and was 21 inches long. Welcome to our family Baby Gabe!

Waiting for Baby Gabe...

Mom calls Eddy when the baby arrives and puts the phone down...all he could hear was Gabe crying in the background...he puts the phone on speaker and everyone hears Baby Gabe, they were all excited to know he had finally arrived!

Proud Tio and grandpa!

Grandpa came prepared with a celebratory drink!

Proud Father...

Proud Mother...

Michayla meets her little cousin!

buggie's home remodeling project

My little man has been growing in my belly for nine months and he has been "remodeling" his habitat along the way. My belly grew like crazy!!! Just when I thought it was so big and it couldn't possibly get any bigger, it would continue to grow! I had people ask me left and right if I was carrying twins or they assumed that I was ready to pop any minute but when I told them I still had 5 weeks left, they would laugh in shock and in horror of how much more I had left to grow. Honestly, I can't complain much of how big I got. I am a very short girl, 4'11' (and a half). I don't really have much space in my torso as it is very short. In order for Buggie to grow big and strong my belly had to protrude outwards.

I have to say I love how my belly looked pregnant...well, that is up until I was 32 weeks or so. After that I looked like a walking circus. Unfortunately I got stretch marks at the end of it all, but I don't mind those as they are Buggie's marks on my skin that say "I was here, circa 2011." So here are the photo chronicles of my growth. I stopped taking pictures at the end but decided on one more just to have a record of how big I got. Fortunately I took it just in time, Gabe was born 4 days later.

12 weeks and 2 days

First picture documenting my belly growth...I swear I thought I was showing, no wonder everyone thought I was crazy!

16 weeks and 2 days

17 weeks and 4 days

19 weeks and 5 days

21 weeks and 2 days

22 weeks and 5 days

25 weeks and 5 days

27 weeks and 5 days

29 weeks and 5 days

37 weeks and 5 days (4 days before Gabe was born)

two baby showers for baby gabe!

I was very fortunate to have 2 Baby Showers for little Buggie. I had one in Modesto thrown by Terrie and one here at home thrown by my mom, Lindsey, Lupe, Radha and Vicky. They were both so great and really fun! I loved every moment of it, especially the food! Baby Gabe got lots of goodies! I am so thankful to have the support of my family and friends; life would be so difficult without you guys!

annual family gathering

This year we had our annual family gathering in Waldport, OR. It really was a blast having all the family together under one roof celebrating life, eating good food and laughing like crazy. Last year we started this tradition in Napa. We were lucky enough to get a gorgeous home for a crazy good deal. This year, we decided to do it at Jaye and Susan's place up in Oregon. It was really great having all the family together relaxing and enjoying each other's company.

We decided to take our annual family picture here in Oregon and as I was walking to get in place for the picture, Jaye asked "what is the name of the baby". I felt a lot of pressure all of a sudden and I responded "Gabriel". She said to make a sign for the belly and I did. When I walked back everyone saw the sign and shouted in joy that I had picked out Buggie's name. And so we documented with a sign, that Buggie was there too!

I knew that I wanted to pick out his name on this trip. I thought it would be a great thing to do while the whole family was together. We had a few conversations about the name and I told them my top 3-4 names. My top two favorites were Gabriel and Nicolas. Everyone seemed to like Gabriel A LOT! Tony and I had created a top 5 list of names and the common one in our list was Gabriel too. So it made sense to pick that name for little Buggie.

I have to mention that Gabriel was always the name I wanted to name my son (at least since high school). I had told myself I was going to do so after a friend name Gabriel passed away from leukemia. I held on to that name for years and when talking about potential names with Tony for a son, I always spoke about the name Gabriel. Tony, however, was not too impressed with the name and I always knew I would have to fight hard to convince him of the name. Well...now that I am pregnant with a baby boy and it is time to think of names, Nicolas became one of my top two along with Gabriel. I started thinking of other names as I knew that we needed options. I couldn't seem to convince Tony of Nicolas and since we were not coming to an agreement on names we decided to write down a list of our top 5 favorites. The funny thing is that Gabriel was on Tony' s list. I actually did not have to fight at all to get him to consider that name. So when Jaye put me on the spot to pick out a name for the baby, I easily chose Gabriel because...really, that had been his name all along.

So Buggie...Gabriel Alarcon Avila it is...I can't wait to meet you Gabe!

its a boy!!!!

I am so excited to announce that little Buggie is a boy! I found out last Thursday and I have been glowing ever since. Honestly, I did not care if it was a boy or a girl as I knew I would be equally as happy with either, but regardless, I needed and wanted to know. Both grandmas were present at the ultrasound with us. They were so excited to have seen the baby on the screen and to find out he was extremely healthy. I was the first to realize it was a boy when the screen was on his midsection. The doctor said "I bet you can tell what you are having" and I responded, "oh my gosh, I am having a little boy!" The rest couldn't see it but I saw it nice and clear. The doctor had to show them once again so they too could see that Buggie was a boy. The funny thing is that what I saw that made me assume that he was a boy was not his private, it was something else, like a leg or an arm. Tony had to show me the appropriate place to look from the print out the doctor gave us when we left. I could not stop laughing because what I saw was clearly the wrong thing and I was shocked how big it was! Yeah, I could have been wrong when I shouted out the sex but deep down inside I always knew I was carrying a little boy. I had a dream that I was having a girl and I just couldn't convince myself that it was anything more than a dream. For some reason I always felt it would be a boy, i guess mother's intuition.

Well my little boy on Thursday, November 18th was 13 ounces. My ObGyn adjusted my due date back to April 5th based on the measurements of the baby. My first 10 weeks I believed I was due on April 5th, then I was told I was due on April 10th and believed that for another 10 weeks. And now we are back to April 5th. based on the first day of my last cycle I am estimated to be due on April 5th so...I guess I will continue believing this for 10 weeks and we will see what happens after.

Anyways, this past weekend I bough Buggie some baby clothes and shoes. I wasn't planning on it but I was convinced as the proceeds of my purchase went to help the family of Tony's coworker. Good cause! so I bought some clothes and some shoes and some hats and some socks and man, I was going crazy! Luckily it was fill a bag for $5, an amazing deal! I just couldn't believe how cute everything was and I fell in love with all I purchased as I knew my little Buggie will one day be wearing these items. Honestly I am so in love right now that it is clearly visible with the glow of my face. I washed the clothes and folded them with so much care. Every so often I go back and take a look at them or the the little shoes and just get so excited with so much joy! I showed up to work with the biggest smile as I have been on a clear high from looking at baby stuff all weekend long. I just can't describe this happiness.

What is best is that Buggie is happy too and he lets me know with little kicks here and there that allow me to feel he is present in my belly. I felt the first kick on Nov. 12th and I was ecstatic! Luckily I was talking to Tony on the phone so I was able to share the experience right away. Tony got to feel the first kick yesterday, as he waited patiently for the little pulsations. I really can't wait to feel him a little more, luckily I have 19 more weeks to go feeling him this way.