It is my first day home alone with Alina, who knew such a tiny little person could be so much work?!?!?! She won't let me put her down until she's fast asleep and then I have about 10-15 minutes to do whatever it was I was trying to get done before she wakes up. It's exhausting! LOL! I haven't had anytime to update this blog, clean the house, or do any of my usual scrapbooking, socializing. etc. And crazy enough, I wouldn't change it for anything in the world! I'll do my best to get some new photos up here and to update you on her growth. Right now, she is 8 pounds and 21 inches long. She smiles occasionally, but we know it's just gas. She spends her time eating, going potting in her pants and she always wants to be in someone's arms.

June 16, 2009 (Tuesday) - June 18, 2009

I've been having "cramps" since Friday, they became more regular and frequent, by Monday night i was being woken up every 10-15 minutes with cramps. I really thought we'd see Baby Reis soon.

I was disappointed when Tuesday evening came around and the cramps were still 10-15 minutes apart. Around 10pm they started becoming more uncomfortable and I was starting to wonder when the "real labor" would begin. It came on quick and strong...all of a sudden I was contracting every 3 minutes and we hadn't called the midwife yet!! I was waiting for my water to break, as I thought that was the true sign that labor had begun...thank goodness Aurelio was a little wiser than that - he called Joyce at 1am when I'd had cramps 3 minutes apart for an hour and she arrived at 2am...surprised by how advanced I already was in the labor. My water broke at 3:30am on Wednesday and Alina Isabella Reis arrived at 4:03am!!! I was VERY lucky to have such an "easy", "short" labor and we have a healthy 7pd 10oz little GIRL!!!!! :)

Immediately following the birth I swore that was the craziest thing I ever did and couldn't believe I was dumb enough to do it without drugs...but now just 36 hours later, I already know for our next child we'll do it the same way. It was so nice to be in our own home, to be able to walk around freely and then after the birth we both laid in bed with our new baby and just basked in the glory of it all.

It took us a while to decide on a name for her; it's so much pressure deciding a persons name!! :) We wanted to find the perfect one that she'd be happy to have for her whole life...maybe we put too much into it ;).

We have made some wonderful friends here in Texas; they put together a meal plan for us so that we don't have to worry about cooking dinner for the next week! I don't know how we are ever going to repay them for everything they have done to support us through this process.

I'm still sore from the whole experience, but I couldn't be happier to wake up every hour to feed Alina and Aurelio has changed SO many diapers, happily. :) I woke up this morning at 6am completely, deliriously happy. We just stare at her and smile...commenting on her many cute faces, not wanting to miss one precious moment.

40 Weeks, 1 Day

We made it to 40 Weeks!!!!!!! :)

I've been having a lot of cramping over the last few days; started early Friday morning and they've been on and off all weekend. I was really hoping Baby Reis would come out and play on Saturday...but it's Sunday night and there are no signs that I'm going to go into labor anytime soon.

I have my next midwife appointment on Monday, so hopefully she'll have some news for me.

I've kept really busy this week spending time with my girlfriends. We got together to do some scrapbooking, then pottery, and on Friday they had an ice cream party that I'm sad I didn't attend. I was just feeling so crampy and tired that I thought I'd better not.

One of my girlfriends just got a Circut - it's a scrapbooking machine that cuts out all kinds of shapes and letters - I spend half a day at her house just cutting out babies and flowers. It's nice to have a new "crafty" thing to work on because I was getting so bored with the other projects I'd been working on for months.

Aurelio and I finally have about 7 girl and boy names picked out for the baby and we'll decide on the perfect name once we meet him/her. It's a relief to have a few to pick from since this has been such a challenge for us.

The Texas heat has arrived...pretty close to 100 degrees predicted for this week! I could never have imagined being SO hot while living in NH...geez. You walk outside and it's this immediate feeling that comes over you and you feel like you could just die if you don't get some relief. Luckily the new SUV Aurelio bought me has the best AC ever! It cools down SO fast!

Aurelio put up a wasp trap yesterday and so far he's killed 3 wasps and the trap has killed 0...go figure...

Amanda Hutchins has predicted that Baby Reis will arrive on Monday...so here's hoping she's right! We, of course, will keep you all posted! :)

39 Weeks 2 Days

We had our midwife appointment today and she says the baby is 2cm lower than before :) Which means that the baby has dropped into the pelvis a little more. Grammy Hutchins has predicted the baby will be born this Thursday! I'm looking forward to proving her right! :)

We are still working on names and hope to have some picked out tonight.

I've been getting as much rest as possible these days and making sure to spend some time with my girlfriends too. Aurelio and I ordered a new camera - the Nikon D90, we were really hoping it would arrive today - but it looks like it won't be here until tomorrow. It's going to take some time for us to really learn how to use it properly and we're hoping to know the basics before baby reis arrives, so we can get some really good pics of him/her. I can't wait to find out the gender! It's really started to drive me nuts! I'm SO excited to meet Baby Reis!!

There's really been nothing else on my mind lately. Just want am I going to eat this hour and when is this baby going to decide to come out and play. I'll update y'all as soon as anything exciting happens!! :)

38 weeks 5 days

Seems like everyone is sick these days, I guess it's just that time of year. I've been spending a lot of time at home these days. Partly because everyone seems to be sick and I don't want to chance catching anything, and part because I've been SO exhausted I haven't really been up to doing anything...not even my normal cleaning around the house, and forget dinner.

Baby Reis kicks all the time, and I enjoy knowing that he/she is doing well. Though I can tell Baby Reis is gaining a lot of weight by how much bigger my belly has gotten. I really couldn't have ever imagined I'd get this big and everyday I look in the mirror and say "This belly just couldn't possibly get any bigger", but it seems everyday it does.

Yesterday I had to go into the eye specialist again to get my Chalazion drained AGAIN. The worst part is when they stick the needle into my eyelid to numb it...and it's SO hard to sit still in such an uncomfortable position with baby reis ricking all over the place. My eye was really swollen and sore, but this evening it's starting to feel better. I hope this time the "surgery" worked and I won't have to have it done again...just way too painful...though after giving birth I'm sure my idea of pain will change ;)

I took a nice 2.5hr bath today. My tailbone and back have been so sore lately, it felt really nice to take a warm bath. Though, I'm pretty sure it just made me more tired.

Aurelio and I are looking into getting a new camera; the pathetic digital ones we have right now are just not going to cut it with a new baby. We want to make sure to get good pictures of the birth and the first few days of life with baby reis. Hopefully Aurelio can decide which one he wants and order it so that we receive it BEFORE baby reis decides to come out and play.

I'm having some girlfriends over on Tuesday to enjoy the pool and some snacks. I'm really looking forward to seeing them since they've all been sick and out of circulation this past week. It's great to have a group of moms that have young babies; they've already given me some really helpful advice and they are so supportive.

I've been working hard on a cross-stitch pattern for the nursery; a baby announcement. It's coming along but I know it won't be done in the next two weeks. I've already made a bunch of bonnets for when the baby arrives and I keep going back and forth on which outfit I want to be the baby's first. I wish I could have crocheted one, but I tried and it was a little too advanced for me...even the booties gave me too much trouble. They looked like little elf shoes!

Lily and Daisy have started acting weird, they are really needy and always want to lay on my belly or next to it. They follow me around the house like lost little puppies and get all depressed if I leave them in their kennels too long. I really think they can sense baby is on the way soon.

I have mixed emotions about the upcoming birth. I'm really excited to meet baby reis and see what he/she looks like; but I'm also thinking I'm going to miss being pregnant a little. Everyone goes out of their way to help you and not having to pack a diaper bag every time I leave the house is pretty nice. I'm trying to enjoy the pregnancy as much as I can; which has been hard at times with all the aches and pains, heartburn, and the 5 months of throwing up in the beginning. But there's nothing quite like feeling the baby beat you up from the inside out :).

Our due date is June 13th, and hopefully we won't be more than a few days late. I certainly don't have anymore room in my belly for baby to gain weight! :)

Belly Button Has Popped!

We're still a couple weeks away from our due date, but the belly button has popped...so I'm hoping I'll go early...I'm SO ready to meet baby reis...it's all I think about!

Baby Reis has been very active and kicks just about all day long it seems. We're going to have a soccer player! :) The nursery is all set up and I keep re-organizing stuff daily.

I'm making sure to spend as much time as I can with my girlfriends, anything to get my mind off baby, belly, and all the aches and pains associated with it.

Aurelio has taken over his bosses responsibilities at work for the next two weeks (as he is out on paternity leave right now)...so it's best that Baby Reis waits to come until the due date anyway.

I read up on his/her zodiac sign and it seems we've got quite a little bugger on our hands.
"Eager to get going (this baby probably kicked up a storm in the womb!), the Gemini baby is likely to be talking early and making a mark from day one. Curious and quite the explorer, this tot is one who needs lots of stimuli in order to be happy, as they are easily bored. Since those communication skills are top-notch, the smart thing to do with this baby is bring them into a play group as soon as possible. At home, siblings could easily fill this function, as someone must! It's never too early for the Gemini baby to interact with others, and they will also learn their lessons early on. The Gemini tot is definitely not clingy. Quite the contrary, this is one baby who is happy to march to their own drummer, gallivanting about and being amused in the process. Surprisingly, when this baby is not engaged (chatting or playing with others), there could be a certain emotional detachment. For that reason, it's best to keep things uncomplicated and easy for them to understand, the better to maintain harmony. To sum up, the Gemini baby is the Great Communicator of the play group, has a short attention span (so keep 'em busy!), and is one clever and creative tot."