Days 16-20

Days 10-14

Just hanging out...

Tulips in Bloom!

Tara loves tulips. It's so nice to be able to associate tulips with
Elodie's birthday!

Weekend visitors

1st Trip to the Pediatrician

Today was Elodie's first visit to the Pediatrician (and first outting
in the baby carrier.) The doctors office is just 3 blocks away and
very convenient. Elodie did great! Barely cried and she regained all
of her weight back. She weighed in at 7 lbs 13 oz.

First Bath

Coming Home

We came home from the hospital on Tuesday, April 6. Elodie slept the
whole car ride and fits into her new bassinet just perfectly!

Elodie's Birthday!

Our daughter Elodie Grace Tyre was born on Sunday, April 4th at 5:25
AM weighing 7 lbs. 12 ounces and 20 1/2 inches long. She is a
wonderful healthy little baby girl and Tara and I couldn't be more
smitten with her. She came into the world with a great sense of
urgency - Tara's labor came on very quickly and lasted less than 8
hours. After months of staring at Tara's belly, wondering who this
little girl would be, it was a great thrill to finally see her emerge
safely from the womb. Gazing over her in those first few minutes was
overwhelming and I knew I was forever changed. The Leibenhuat's were
all anxiously waiting in the lounge and we quickly brought them in to
meet the newest member of the family. Seeing all of them meet Elodie
for the first time was amazing, the second most overwhelming moment of
the morning. We spent the next 2 days at the hospital recovering and
getting to know our daughter. Though exhausted, Tara and I grew more
and more enamored with Elodie as the hours passed. She passed all of
the requisite tests and check-ups with flying colors and by the end of
our stay mom and baby seemed to have gotten the hang of feeding down.
We are now home and everyone is settling in nicely. It feels good to
sleep in a bed again and Tara and I are beginning to appreciate the
beauty of daytime napping. Elodie continues to leave us in awe and she
is doing great at home. We have our first visit to the pediatrician on
Friday so we'll see what Elodie thinks of the neighborhood on our
stroll over.
Thanks to all of our family and friends who, in allowing us to share
this moment, made it that much more rich for us. And a special thanks
goes out to Lennie for his late-night driving skills under pressure
that got us to the hospital and not on the front page of the newspaper
for having a baby in a cab on the Brooklyn Bridge!

Labor Day!

So I'm writing this entry almost 2 weeks after the actually day that it happened (I've been a little busy...) but this is how I remember the big day, and the lead up to labor and the moment we finally got to meet Elodie!

There was a lot of pressure for me to have the baby that weekend. Lindsey came on Friday the 2nd to keep me entertained and my parents moved into their sublet on Saturday afternoon. Everyone kept saying, "wouldn't it be great if the baby was born on Easter Sunday while we're all here?" I finished my last acupuncture treatment on Saturday afternoon, and Ali and Lindsey had me drinking red raspberry leaf tea and evening primrose oil (known labor inducers.) Saturday night we all went out to dinner and then came back to my parents place for an hour or so. Lindsey massaged some pressure points that the acupuncturist pointed out to us. Around 9:45 we got up to leave and I had a stomach pain. Looking back, that was definitely the first contraction but at the time I thought I had a stomach ache.

We got home a little after 10 and I was already in some serious pain. Contractions were happening so fast we didn't think it could be labor already. I'll condense this next part... basically by 1 am the doctor said to come in right away. By that point I was almost constantly writhing in pain and contractions were all less than 5 minutes apart. Fortunately mom and dad were nearby and were able to drive us to the hospital. I cannot imagine if I had to go through that ride in a taxi! I really feared I was going to have the baby on the way there. We got to the hospital by 2 and my water had broke. I was 7 cm dilated already and they rushed me from triage to a delivery room immediately. Fortunately, there was still time for an epidural which I enjoyed for about 20 minutes before it was time to start pushing! Pushing lasted a little over 2 painful hours, but finally at 5:25 am, Elodie Grace was born! She came out screaming and we were in love with her instantly... I was pretty worn out, but so happy!

Michael tells the rest of the story in the other post... I just wanted to summarize my labor experience before I forget it! I still can't believe how perfectly everything went... Elodie is amazing and healthy and my family all got to meet her right away. I think she was just waiting for everyone to be here before making her big debut!

This picture below is the last belly shot, taken Saturday, April 3... when I was still feeling good!