meet gabriel!

here he is!




gabriel takashi was born on saturday, october 4, 2008 at 3:04 a.m. to make a long story short, the induction didn't go well last week, so a c-section was the final outcome for baby's arrival.


we've had several rough nights over the past week which has put our patience to the test. there's been a couple times we've wanted to throw the towel in and ask for a baby refund, but when gabe stares back with his beautiful brown eyes that seem to say "what'd i do?", you just melt again and all is well.


what we've done this week:

• home visits with our midwives and doula
• a rushed trip to ER on tuesday to check his bilirubin levels - gabe's entire body turned a concerning shade of yellow, so we had to do some rush bloodwork. not to worry, in less than 48 hours he perked up, the yellow's fading, and he gained 4 ounces!
• visited both grandparents houses - definitely not running on time for anything now...between coordinating feeding and diaper changes, i need to stop looking at the clock. we'll be there when we can :-)
• and now gabe is determined to break my spirit. the past 3 nights have been horrific. from 2 a.m. to 5:30 a.m. i'm on mommy duty while our little boy is confused between day and night. chris gets dad duty from 5:30 to 7:30 a.m. if anyone's up at that time, give us a shout :-) haha!
• gabe had his first bottle feeding this morning. breastfeeding hasn't been very fun, so i have a bottle on standby for chris' dad duty. at least i can sleep for a couple hours :P

all i can say is thank goodness for my parents! they've been fantastic, helping out everyday. since i'm recovering from surgery still, i can't really do much. i think that's the most frustrating part right now...i can't carry gabe for too long because of the extra pressure he puts on me, and i can't bounce him to sleep either. even little things like picking stuff up from the floor are impossible :P i'm hoping things improve over the next couple of weeks!