After The Tenth..... When The Fun Really Begins

Macy has now had her first full day at the house and I'm not sure how it is possible, but we are even more in love with her. We've been going through the 220 or so pictures we've taken of her and I know it is not that "macho" to say, but some of the pictures are so beautiful it brings tears to my eyes. (I guess pregnant women aren't the only ones who get emotional)

I'm still trying to find the time to review the videos we've also taken. I've been walking around the house with a digital camera and a digital video camera so often in the past few days, I feel like a paparazzi, chasing my daughter around for that one great shot. This morning we even had a little photo shoot in our bedroom. I adjusted some lights and setup a little stand for her to rest on. I would show you some of those images, but one of them turned out so good its going on the announcement card and I don't want to ruin the surprise. Once the cards are out, I'll post some additional "online only" versions from that shoot....(just a little teaser to get you to come back to the site) While I don't really know that much about photography, I have to say that a few of them REALLY came out nice. I certainly don't have the time now, but I think I'd like to follow in my mom's footsteps and take some photography courses. I understand the basics of what aperture and shutter speed mean, but I have no idea what F-stops are, just that they are important.

Speaking of my mom, we are still hoping that the snow has been cleared and that the NY airports are officially open tomorrow, because she and my dad are supposed to fly down and meet their first grandchild. Macy is very excited about this.

Before they come, Macy is going to take her second car ride. We have a pediatrician appointment first thing. I'm sure I'm making more of this than I should, but we picked a pediatrician in a 2 doctor office. We met with her prior and really liked her. How could we not? She's a Jewish doctor from Long Island. (We found this out after we picked her, so it is totally accidental). Anyway, it was her partner that was on-call this weekend, so he's the one who checked Macy out in the hospital. Since he already saw her, we made her first appointment with him. In the few moments we spoke with him in the hospital we seemed to like him, but now I'm wondering if we should have made the appointment with the original doctor anyway, since she's the one we picked to be Macy's doctor. I'm thinking we can just switch back to her after this appointment, but I'm actually stressing over this....I'm sure that when I read this posting in a year or so, I'll laugh at myself. This is starting to be a pattern with us, the OBGYN we selected didn't deliver Macy and the pediatrician we picked didn't see her in the hospital.

Did I tell you about the pregnant OBGYN that delivered Macy? Dr. Fahey. I think I did already. We actually liked her a whole lot and since she and Annie had been running into each other a few times, we felt a little connection with her. It was a little bizarre, because she would be counting down the time Annie had to push, "8, 9 and 10, relax" and then she'd follow that up with, "so, do you have any good names to suggest?" and we'd chat about names we considered and she'd like some and not others and then it was back to "2,3,4..come on push harder". Then she'd get to 10, tell Annie to relax and we'd pick up the naming conversation, seemingly, right where we left off. Did I tell what she let Annie do that was REALLY cool? She let Annie deliver Macy. Ok, she didn't actually deliver her, but right at the moment when Macys' shoulders cleared, she had Annie reach down and "help" pull her out and bring her up to Annie's chest. What a special moment to observe.

Ok, I know that you come to the blog these days for photos of my little one, not to hear me babble, and I've certainly done enough of it this morning. So to reward you, here are a few photos of Macy getting ready to come home. We dressed her up in an outfit that was hand-made by one of Annie's friends. We had planned on taking a bunch of pictures outside our house, but the temperature had begun rapidly declining and we were freezing in our short sleeves, and we were worried about the baby being cold. We are new parents. The one of the 3 of us was on our front porch, the moment before we entered the house together and began our lives as a FAMILY. (oh crap, I'm getting emotional again..better stop typing before I embarrass myself even more)

Her first full day of life has passed and I have a few more photos ready to be shared. Enjoy

(10:54AM) Our little Channukah baby is currently asleep in one of my arms, as I type this post. It is still Chanukkah, right? Time is a big blur at this point. I should also mention that this might take a while like this, with only one hand free...its taken me 5 minutes to get this far. 

(hours later)

(3:40 AM) Ok, I thought the first few lines took me a while to type..who knew that I wouldn't get to the rest of them until 3:40am. We've had such a wonderful and trying day. Until 7:30pm or so, Macy was the most laid back baby I've ever seen. Then like a switch was turned, she became a very fussy baby. It seemed that no matter what we tried, she wasn't happy. Though there were some trying moments, we are getting through it and everyone is now sound asleep.

I want to thank Aunt Bobbi and our great friend Tom for spending so much time in the waiting room on Thursday. It was fun having some people around to share the day with. Speaking of sharing the moment, I have to believe that technology has changed child birth forever. I'm pretty certain that during the final hours before my arrival, my mom didn't spend them surfing the web, sending and receiving emails and text messages and having Skype video calls; which is what Annie did. We arrived at the hospital on Wednesday around 4pm and it was a mostly quiet evening which ended with video conference calls with Uncle Mike and my parents. For those of you who have out-of-town family, I strongly suggest you look into using Skype. I got us a camera and my dad bought one for my mom and even though they are still in New York, they got to see the Annie in the birthing room and this afternoon my mom got to see Macy.

Now that I just gave free advertising to Skype, I'm going to say that the video calls are no comparison to seeing Macy in person and I'm so excited that my folks are flying down on Monday to meet her.

Ok, I want to get this posting saved and then I have a few more photos to share and then its time to try and get some sleep.