Week number 2

So this week we have gotten a bit more adventurous and have headed out of the house a couple times. On Sunday we went up to Dolores Park in San Francisco and took in the sun on a beautiful afternoon day. Then last night we went to a friends house for some cards. Right now Julia is traveling very well as she just sleeps most places we go.

The below picture was taken at one week. I'm going to try and take a weekly picture like the below one so that we can watch her grow.

In addition Julia has gotten a couple presents in the mail. Here is a book the Uncle Eric and Aunt Kathy got her.

Finally starting tomorrow is the arrival of Grandpa and Grandma. Things though have been going very well.

Will sleep get better?

So we have completed our first week at home with baby Julia. All in all she is excellent and only really cries when she is hungry. Of course this seems to be all the time. I'm typing this posting after another night of little sleep. For some reason as for sleep, things have been getting worse. By far the most sleep we got was the first night home and then things have slowly gotten worse every night. Yesterday it felt like she slept through the entire afternoon and evening only to be awake most of the night. A couple days ago I tried to out smart her and so I took a "nap" from after dinner until 10:00pm. Julia, though decided to sleep that night and I couldn't since I was wide awake from my long nap.

This week we had a number of visitors and spent time Skyping Teresa's parents everyday. Eric and Kathy even got in on the Skype fun . The below picture is of them virtually babysitting Julia via the web cam.

Also, here is a pic of Julia's nursery. Teresa's dad helped us paint the walls and border when he was out here in October while Teresa gets credit for painting the tree.

Finally on a non-baby note, the night before we went to hospital (way back on Sunday the 9th) we had some friends over for dinner and Teresa made me quite the b-day cake.

Julia is starting to wake now.........time for another feeding. MOMMY.

Trip Home from the Hospital

Probably everyone has a pic like the one below but here is us leaving the hospital. We left Saturday afternoon at 3:00ish. Julia was a champ on the car ride home and didn't complain about the car seat one bit. We had to stop at the pharmacy to pick up some drugs and got home around 4:30.

Here is Julia in the car seat. I'm still so use to calling her Baby C and not Julia.

When we got home we found some pink balloons on our front door from Teresa's friend Lynette.

Inside the house Julia was still sleeping away.

Inside the house we found that Teresa's friend Tony stopped by and brought us dinner including chicken parmesan (one of my favorite dishes) and some really delicious cupcakes. That was super nice of her so that we didn't have to worry about dinner that first night.

That first night was a bit long. Julia likes to sleep during the day (especially the afternoon) and is more awake at night.

Life in the Hospital

Life in the hospital wasn't that bad. Where we gave birth was at UCSF, a world class medical facility. The staff was top notch and are overall experience was excellent. The labor and delivery ward was on the top floor of the hospital which allowed for spectacular views of the city. Unfortunately, our room was on the back of the building facing the back of a hill....nothing much to look at. Today we went into some of the front rooms though and took the below pics.

This pic was taken in the nursery. Anytime we could drop off the baby for the nurses to watch while you tried to catch up on your sleep. We only used this service once though.

Here is Teresa walking around the hospital with Julia. Anytime you are in the hallways you had to wheel the baby around....no carrying in hallways.

This was the view from the waiting room. You can't see it in the picture but the golden gate bridge is in the background

Tomorrow we will post some pics of our trip home.

Last day in the hospital

Right now it's 1:30am in the morning and the new head of the household has us awake for a feeding. She seems to sleep a lot though but of course it's just spread out throughout the day. Todays big event is the trip home which should happen at around early afternoon and then we lose the great support staff and are on our own.

In todays pics, I have mastered the use of the computer and holding Julia.

Also, today we had a number of visitors swing by including our friend Kim.

Finally, here is a bit more scoop concerning the name. Teresa and I both agree that deciding on a name was much harder then we imagined. The middle name was easier as I wanted it to be from our family. Therefore, we decided on Carolyn after Teresa's mom (Carol). The first name we didn't decide on until that Wednesday. It was kinda of nice being able to test drive some names before making one official. Our two finalist that we were deciding between was Juliet and Julia. In addition, we also liked Vivian and Lacy. I was very concerned with finding a name that was not too popular. With that said though, Julia was ranked the 50th in 2009 with about 5000 babies given that name. The web site we liked the best when looking at names was the following: http://babynamesworld.parentsconnect.com/. Here you can see your historic name ranking over time, see how people can make fun of your names, and other useful info.

Okay, feeding is over and hopefully we are going to get a couple hours of sleep.

Baby Julia Carolyn Curtis Arrives

Baby's First Pic: About 30 seconds after birth

Using Skype for Parents and Family

First Family Picture:

Baby Julia sleeping

Mom meets baby....reunion following c-section

Potato Sack Julia

Baby C arrives

On Monday, Teresa and I went to our weekly routine doctor's appointment to check-in with our midwife. Surprisingly we learned that the baby was in breech position and she recommended we go directly to the hospital to try and get her turned since she was already over 39 weeks along. There we learned that if the turning was unsuccessful, a c-section would be immediately performed as Teresa was so far along in the pregnancy. At midnight they attempted the turning of the baby, which was unsuccessful. Then more urgent c-sections arrived at the hospital and Teresa was pushed back in the queue until the following afternoon after waiting an hour on the operating table that night. On Tuesday at 12:00pm, Teresa was prepped and I eventually joined her in the operating room. There the c-section was performed, which seemed like a couple short minutes. Soon baby was out and the first "family" photo was taken. Teresa is healing better than expected even with the C-section and the nurses are so impressed with Julia's eating-she is such a pro already!