BRISmas Party

December 25 we celebrated Elijah's circumcision (aka Bris). In Judaism, we circumcise on the 8th day of life. For this ceremony, we have family over to honor this beautiful baby boy.

Welcome Home

We came home on Friday 12/21. It felt so good to walk through the doors knowing we did not need to spend another day in the hospital. Elijah adjusted quickly and we all got enough sleep for once!

A2=EMC

DECEMBER 18, 2007 weighing in at 9lbs 2oz and measuring 21 1/4 inches in length, we happily welcomed ELIJAH MILES COOPER into the world. Our birthing experience did not map out at all what we had in mind and supposedly planned, however, the end result was well worth all the challenges we endured.

Here's a quick summary....
Sunday night Dec 16 went to the hospital to get checked for bleeding
Stayed the night and were told we could go home in the morning
However, in the morning Ashly had a little more bleeding
Advised to stay and be induced
Pitocin was started at 10:30am Monday morning
Contractions gradually increased all day as the Pitocin was increased
Unbearable pain from 4:30pm to 8:30pm (great coaching by Adam)
Epidural placed at 8:45pm
10cm dilated at 6am on Tuesday
Began pushing at 6:45 am
Kept pushing
Pushing hard & strong, many different positions (coaches: Adam & Wanda)
10am checked and there was no progress of baby descent
Reevaluated by midwife and doctors
Off to operating room at 10:15am
C-section done at 10:50am
Adam cut cord and announced with tears in his eyes "Ashly, we have a boy!"

The beautiful boy that emerged instantly changed our lives.

41 Weeks and still moving

It's cozy, real cozy in the belly which explains why Ziggy is not in a rush to come out. Don't worry, we had a nice chat last night so hopefully soon we'll meet little Z on the outside! Ashly is doing great and taking really long walks to help get things moving and maintain stamina for labor. The hills around Berkeley offer plenty of options to climb steep hills and stunning views of the bay.

Tea Time

There are many things we are doing to create a comfortable environment: classical music, candles, yoga, and Tea! Ashly even comes with her own built in shelf!

Just kick'n back and getting ready for action.

Uncomfortable Humor

Even with the uncomfortableness that occurs towards the end of pregnancy, I am still able to find some humor. Like yesterday, when I was out walking and then running errands around the neighborhood. I kept thinking, "Oh how I can't wait to get home and take off these incredibly uncomfortable pants." Only problem was that once I returned home and took off my pants the uncomfortable feeling remained. It wasn't the pants at all....it was my oversized belly!
Ha!

Miracles

We celebrated the first night of Chanukkah surrounded by miracles. The baby is 39 weeks and continues to grow healthy and strong.

Any day now....the excitement keeps building!!!

38 Weeks and still counting....

We are in the home stretch! Ashly's belly is a gorgeous globe of life that I love kissing. We still sing and talk to Ziggy everyday and can really see arms and legs moving all over.

It's crazy, this birth thing.

Goes fast, real fast.....And we are just holding on for the ride!

Final week of work!!

Well it's no wonder people at work were asking me towards the end, "When is your last day of work going to be?" My belly looks like it could pop right through my scrubs. I was still able to wear my usual pants, but as you can see they hang a bit low in the front. Luckily I had Adam's scrub tops to wear, and a nice coworker of mine let me have some of his old scrubs. It will be nice to kick back a little and be off my feet.

November 13th...Adam's Work Shower

Adam's coworkers threw us an incredible "_ _ _ _" Shower. We weren't allowed to say the word "Baby" during the entire party as it was one of the many games played. They really went the extra mile to celebrate Baby Cooper. They prepared loads of delicious foods and had some funny games planned as well as a slideshow with Ziggy driving a Mini Cooper. It was hilarious! Because the crowd was a bunch of nurse educators, you know the CPR infant dolls came into play at the party. Not to learn CPR, but they were used in some of the games. One game had us split in two teams and we had to dress the baby (CPR infant doll) using only our non-dominant hands. Team Ashly won and we're not sure what happened to Team Adam's baby as you can see in the photo. Many laughs shared with the wonderful people Adam works with.

Ziggy's first photo shoot (36 weeks)

Wow do I have some amazing friends! Nikki and Babs decided to treat the pregnant mama and soon to be baby to an incredible day of food, friends, photos, massage, chocolate and loads of fun. Nikki took the following photos at a park in Napa Valley while Babs was a great assistant to the photographer. I am so thankful for my day of relaxation and bliss.

My Sleeping Nest

It's a good thing we have a king sized bed because the Pregnant Queen has taken it over. As you can see from the photo Adam's side is on the left with the one pillow and Ashly's side is pretty much the rest of the bed and ALL the other pillows. Sometimes when it's really late and I crawl into bed, Adam asks me in his sleepy stupor, "Do you have enough pillows?" I really have to laugh at this because I think, "I have all the pillows!" Adam has been a true trooper though with handling his pregnant wife and I know he would give up even his one measly pillow if I asked for it. What a guy!

Sunny Day in San Francisco

Just another gorgeous day in Golden Gate Park. Mama Cooper and little Z made an appearance dancing it up in Golden Gate Park for a fun music video put on by Your Mama's Mama's Mama's Band (the band Adam plays in with some very talented friends). This was at the end of 34 weeks pregnant.

POWER OF THE BELLY

Having a noticeable pregnant belly is extremely powerful and exciting. It's amazing how many people (even complete strangers) come up to my belly and rub it or give it some kind of love. I have realized that a pregnant belly can be therapeutic because I have noticed how cheerful people are when they are around it and talking about babies. It's a great tool to have while working in the hospital. Last week at work one of my patients was at the end of his life. The family had decided just hours before I came on shift to make the patient "Comfort Measures" only. I had not met the family yet and was preparing to face a distraught group of family and close friends. As I entered the patient's room, the family and some close friends were gathered at his side. And then the focus shifted immediately to my pregnant belly. I wasn't prepared for that to be the initial conversation but it just happened that way. We then shifted from discussing my belly and future baby to reminiscing about the man lying before us growing up from a baby and into adulthood. The whole experience was quite beautiful as the family and friends shared many great stories of their loved one. We were all present when the patient took his final breath. The moment was so peaceful, and when the family and friends left, we exchanged hugs and wished each other well with them again focusing on the unborn baby in my belly. The full cycle of life is in effect every day.

Bushman Predicts A Girl

If you've ever been to the Fisherman's Wharf in San Francisco, you may recognize this man behind the fake bush. He sits in a certain spot at the wharf with a fake bush in front of him and scares whoever walks by. He startles many people throughout the day and draws a crowd watching him scare random people. He actually makes money by doing this because the tourists think it's hilarious to watch other people jump in fear. Well, my sisters were in town recently and we happened to be strolling around Fisherman's Wharf. I mentioned to them about this guy who scares people behind his fake bush and sure enough we approached him. We walked up from behind him (so he did not scare us) and as we walked by he peeked out of his fake bush and said, "It's a girl." We all stopped and then asked him for some name options for a girl. He wasn't sure on a name right away, but he was definitely sure I was having a girl. As we walked away the Bushman peeked through his bush again and said, "Keep it simple" (referring to the name).

Shower Fresh

Family, friends, food, and 5 pregnant women = one fantastic baby shower. To celebrate with us, Ashly's sisters and mom flew in as did my mom & dad. Along with friends, many laughs were had as everyone enjoyed chocolate milkshakes and guessing games (none of the women know if they are having a boy or girl!)

It's wonderful to share the experience with close friends. The father's to be have started a "Pappas-to-be circle" where we get together to support and learn from each other's experiences.

Musical Therapy

At my doctor's visit last week, my doctor asked me how I was doing with constipation. As some of you know constipation can be a terrible discomfort and problem during pregnancy. I mentioned to him that things are going well now that I am able to eat better with my granola and/or oatmeal breakfasts. I also told him I was doing two different rituals to help with having a good movement. The two rituals came to a surprise to him and was something he had definitely never heard before. I had told him that for one I have been reading some of Ina May's (a well known midwife) books and suggestions on labor etc. She talks a lot about the Sphincter Law and suggests relaxing the jaw and creating a vibrating sound can aid in relaxing the perineum during labor. She also states to try it for constipation. So every now and then I find myself "ohming" on the toilet. It works like a charm. The other ritual involves Adam being around. He decided to one day grab his guitar and instead of singing the "Blues", he made up a song about the "Poos" and sang it to me. It makes me laugh hysterically every time and also works. My doctor looked at me a little strangely. I said, "Hey, whatever works, right?" And he documented, "constipation relieved with musical therapy"

Music of the Night

We moved into our new home last week! One day while walking home in our new neighborhood, we passed a great local outdoor flower shop. The owner was happily humming a familiar tune as he gathered a bunch of Dahlias for us. We asked what song it was and he mentioned it was from Phantom of the Opera. Our eyes got wide as we told him we LOVE Phantom and that we sing Music of the Night to the baby all the time. As we were leaving, Patrick decided to give us some roses to brighten up our new home.

We love our neighborhood!

WONDERful night....

Thanks to Aunt Josephine and Uncle Josh getting the nearly impossible tickets, Ziggy was introduced to Stevie Wonder last night at an intimate outdoor concert venue. It was a magical clear night with stars above and beautiful trees all around. I'm sure both the babies (Ziggy and Baby 'J') loved the music! How could they not.

Stevie, his band, and the crowd boogied for over 2 1/2 hours straight through! We were up dancing for most of the show with Ziggy gettin' down. Curious to know how it sounded from the womb and what it feels like if the Mama is dancing around and the baby is dancing around in water.

Stevie's grown daughter sings with him in the band, and when Stevie sang "Isn't She Lovely" his daughter sat next to him. We rubbed my belly and wondered if we had a lovely little girl inside or not. Only time will tell.....

Daddy Time

I take time each morning and night to chill with Ziggy. Chill time involves sharing thoughts about the day, life, and how much we are proud of the growing. We wrote a song that we now sing daily to Ziggy since the hearing sense is now fully functional.

Feeling the kicks and movements are wild. Really lets me know there is a life inside Ashly's belly. This whole process is hard to understand.....I am in awe. The beauty of life, the beauty of my wife, and the beautiful being that we are creating together!

Wow.

Popping Out!

We are now technically half way through pregnancy. The following photos were taken at 22 weeks pregnant. Ziggy had a fun weekend hiking through redwood forests and swimming in Bass Lake. The lake was cold but refreshing after the nice hike to get there. The belly is finally popping out to where strangers notice it now. My work scrubs are getting a bit snug so people at work are definitely noticing. Alot of my shirts ride up the belly now feeling like half tops. Luckily for me the latest style in shirts seems to be really long ones. They work well for pregnant women.

DANCING IN THE WOMB

This baby is so active in there!

Adam feels our growing baby has his dancing legs and is dancing to the beat of Mama's bowel sounds. I like to believe it's a future soccer star and is using my bladder as a soccer ball. Or perhaps we have a future Cirque du Soleil performer in the making...hmmm? How does it find any room to move around so much in there?

Adam was able to feel the movement last week (week 20) for the first time and got so excited! It is such a strange feeling knowing that there is a little life in me moving around. Poke poke here, poke poke there. And then it feels it is doing somersaults at times.

SOUND WAVES

Here we are at 17 weeks 2 days! Ziggy is growing just fine with all measurements currently up to par. Ziggy is definitely an active little thing in the womb as we witnessed the baby swimming around, sucking it's thumb, and punching the ultrasound machine. We were amazed at the development of the organs, especially the heart. It was pointed out to us how full the baby's stomach was too (way to go mama! All the midnight snacks are paying off). We did not find out the sex of the baby that day, but had them seal the info in an envelope which now sits on our nightstand. It was so surreal watching the ultrasound screen and feeling the instrument on my belly and realizing that that baby is really inside of me. Wow!

Sunset Boulevard at 16 weeks

With each day Ashly & I grow closer. The intense bond between the two of us has only increased with the creation of a life. Laughing, listening, and loving........
A perfect team.

Cousins first kiss

We found out Josephine and Josh are expecting just 10 weeks behind us! This photo was from the weekend we heard the news. The cousins love each other already. We figure that together we are having twins since our babies will most likely look very much the same.

Applesauce or Ziggy

You may hear us referring to our little life in the belly as Ziggy or Applesauce. Ziggy started because we both felt a great possibility we were pregnant the moment it occurred so we began talking to this life as early as a zygote, and "Ziggy the Zygote" kind of stuck.

The name Applesauce came later on when our 3 year old nephews found out Aunt Ashly had a baby in her belly. They asked me if it's a boy or a girl and what are we going to name it. I replied, "I don't know yet. What do you think I should name it?" And they both agreed "Applesauce" would be a good name for a boy or a girl.

1st Trimester: "I'll meet you at the toilet!"

A flood of hormones to the system is something that takes getting used to. My body is now the host for a life to grow and develop. With that comes exhaustion. Some days are very difficult to make it off the couch and working a shift at the hospital ends with a serious crash out session. Nausea peaked (so far) at week 8 for me. It was real sad in the beginning when I couldn't even ride in a motor vehicle. Even though Adam claimed he was driving like he normally did, every time he came to a stop I thought it was possible I could hurl. And you might as well have a puke bag with you if you ride the public transportation around here. My sense of smell has also become a bit of a problem. It kind of goes hand in hand with the nausea feeling because when certain odors hit me, I am liable to make a run for it (the toilet that is). And let's just stop the odor conversation by saying there are MANY different odors in the hospital to come in contact with.

I keep reminding myself that there is a miracle occurring in my belly, and it's only natural for my body to have to go through some discomfort for the result of an innocent and pure baby. I am also extremely fortunate to have Adam at my side. He is able to ease any of the above symptoms. Of course he can not rid them all, but he is amazingly supportive and understanding.

Almost-a-Father's Day

I woke up this morning to this message:

That New Car Smell

May 2007

To spread the news to our family, we created a Mini-Cooper card to send with a picture of the ultrasound inside.
"See California Dealer for more info"

Baby's first meal

March 2007
Chapter 1

Our little creation began as we were celebrating our 4th anniversary during a perfect get-a-way weekend at Hotel Vitale in San Francisco. True Love was in the air. (so were cookies and milk via room service at midnight!)