Wednesday, January 5, 2011

A Sophisticated Palette

We've been trying to get out of the house everyday so we don't go stir crazy. Typically, it is a quick trip to Target or the grocery store. Today, we decided be adventurous and have lunch out as a family instead of skipping lunch or just grabbing a quick meal through a drive thru. It's amazing how easy it has become to forget to eat lunch - I've NEVER had that problem before. We knew that we had a limited time window, so we need something that was fast, but good! Immediately, I knew that we should take Andrew to a place where only the finest food is served, that's right what's better than the Detroit staple...Leo's Coney Island! Leo's has special meaning, not only did I grow up going to Leo's all the time, the owners of the Chicago location are Goldhaber's - it's fate! Andrew couldn't decide what to order, so he decided to sleep on it and unfortunatley by the time he woke up - his only option was milk! Here's a quick picture to commemorate this special occaison.


Tuesday, January 4, 2011

A Dream Client....

Andrew is just starting his career as a baby model at the ripe age of 6 days old. The most important aspect in modeling is to find the best photographer that makes you look good and after several interviews, Andrew hired his Dad to handle his first professional photos. Here are a couple sample pictures from the shoot. The hat was custom made by Elle Mirai designs and is the perfect addition to the brown blanket from Twinkle Twinkle Little One. He was a dream client as he allowed Steve to mold him into many different positions to get the "right" shot and even slept thru most of it! It is so great to have such a talented "live in" photographer; I can't wait for the many photoshoots in our future; especially now that Ruby and I can retire from our jobs as test subjects!



A few of my favorite shots of Andrew in the hospital...

He is only one day old in this picture, hard to believe with all of that hair.

Heading Home

After 4 nights in the hospital, we headed home on Christmas Eve. This was truly a Christmas to remember!

Family of Three

Our first official family photo...excuse my appearance, but I had to put at least one picture of us up and there are not many options!

He's FINALLY here!

Andrew Ryan Goldhaber made his way into the world on December 20, 2010 at 4:36pm. He weighed in at 7lbs 1 oz and 21.5 inches long.

As all of our close family and friends kept saying to me...it will all be worth the wait, I couldn't help but nicely try to agree and then roll my eyes, I was miserable! The last time I checked, this pregnancy thing was supposed to be 40 weeks, not 42. And then...the call from the doctor came while I was gorging myself at the Indian Buffet - they were going to be inducing me in less than 12 hours! The exictement quickly turned to fear and I began crying at the lunch table - What!? I am not ready to be a mom tomorrow, I just need some more prep time. This is where Steve's eyes began to roll multiple times, while at the same time thinking "Thank Goodness this baby is coming today, I cannot take these hormones anymore" We quickly called all necessary parties "the grandparents" to let them know the plan! Since we only had 12 hours to get to the hospital that is literally about a 10 minute drive, we needed to leave NOW in my mind. Steve quickly calmed me down and we decided to go home and try to relax, maybe put in a movie, take a quick nap. Based on the way the entire pregnancy had gone, I was convinced that I would be in labor for at least 40 hours, so we needed to rest up now. Great idea, however I spent most of the time on the phone informing everyone that I knew that I would FINALLY be having a baby and then asking for any last minute advice, like it would do any good at this point:)

We had to be at the hospital at midnight for a 12:30am induction and wouldn't you know around 9pm, I started having contractions - well it was about time he got sick of hanging out in my belly! We arrived at the hospital right on time and were told to head straight up to Labor and Delivery. We were called back by Brooke, a cute blonde nurse (Prentince is known for their cute labor and delivery nurses!) I was checked in and ready to go:) Even though contractions had started, I still hadn't made any progress, so they proceeded with the original induction plan. By this time, it was about 2am and things moved pretty quickly (thank goodness), by 7am, I was asking for the epidural, Steve was about to pass out from forgetting to eat and we were "trying to get some sleep". I couldn't keep my eyes off of the monitor - just to make sure I was really having contractions. By 12:30, they were calling Dr. Rubin and by 1:30pm, I was pushing. After a couple of hours and no real progress and the baby being "sunny side up", Dr. Rubin decided a c-section would be the best option. I hadn't even realized that I had been pushing for that long since my legs were so numb, a c-section was fine. As many know, that was my biggest fear about delivery- that I would be pushing for hours and then have to have c-section - well it is par for the course and it wasn't as bad as I thought, so a c-section was just fine by me. It is unbelivable, how quick the doctors move, I was prepped and ready for surgery in about 15 minutes. Steve called the both sets of grandparents who were together at this point just waiting for the news to let them know that their grandson should be arriving soon, however not mentionning that I was going to be having a c-section (he didn't want to worry anyone). The tears started to flow again...this time due to the anticipation! It only took about 15 minutes after entering the operating room for our little guy to enter the world. He was wisked away and cleaned up immediately. Once he was all cleaned up and all of his vitals were stable, Steve was able to go meet Andrew and spend some father/son time. Then, it was time to meet Mom! I couldn't believe it, our son was finally here - more tears. I desperately wanted to sit up, so I could just hold Andrew in my arms, but unfortunately they were still working on getting my sewn up.

We headed to the recovery room as a family of three and started the phone calls. A few hours later, we were in the room that would become our home for the next 4 nights. We had our first visitors (the grandparents) that evening, I don't remember much from their visit as I was still coming down from all the drugs! Here are a few pictures and videos from our first night with Andrew! I can officially say, everyone was right, HE WAS TOTALLY WORTH THE WAIT!