Isaiah's Magic Kingdom!

Thanks Celeste!
(Don't forget to press pause or stop on the music player on the right!)

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Britney Spears

So I provided my baby with the worst misfortune, or maybe he did it to himself. Either way, he now shares a birthday with Britney Spears. Poor Isaiah. All joking aside, I am so in love with our new baby boy. He is beautiful and perfect and he's ours!

Motherhood is fun! Breast-feeding is not. It hurts so much that I cry sometimes, but I am determined. I don't care that I feel like I am being tortured; I just want my baby to eat. Luckily, Ziggy is a good latcher, so I hope things will get easier. No more details!

Isaiah had quite an eventful head start into this world. My due date was on December 19. We were procrastinating like crazy, thinking that this baby would be on time, if not later. The nursery was not completed, we didn't have my suitcase packed, and all the baby laundry I wanted to do were in piles on the floor.

Last Monday, December 1, at about 5:00 am, I felt what I thought were Braxton-Hicks contractions, or the false alarm kind. I breathed through them as Anthony went to take his shower. I kept thinking, "How can I deal with this pain for the rest of the week or until the 19th?" So as Anthony's shower finished, the pain had gotten worse.

Let's backtrack and tell you what Anthony had going on this week. It would have been his busiest right before Christmas, with play rehearsals (he was co-directing the school Christmas play), class presentations, and parent-teacher conferences the rest of the week.

Knowing that, I asked him, "How much would you hate me if we had the baby this week?" I can't remember his answer, but it wasn't a very positive response. No one should take that as Anthony not looking forward to finally meeting his son, but more of his overwhelming responsibility to teaching and to me.

So he left for work, and I promised to call if anything was wrong. I had a doctor's appointment to check if my gestational diabetes affected the baby's size or development in any way. This was with a specialist, so it wasn't my regular ob/gyn. I went through the motions of getting ready, pausing every few minutes to ride out the contractions that weren't lessening, and hurried to pick up my mom, who was going with me.

I made my way to the left turn lane. All of a sudden, I felt a bump behind me as someone rear-ended me. To make a longer story short, I don't think the car accident alone induced my labor, but I think it contributed to raising my blood pressure and making me have the baby sooner. The doctor referred me back to the hospital for monitoring, and they in turn admitted me, telling me that I was going to have this baby within the next day or so. All I kept thinking was, my bag wasn't packed. I hated the thought of sending Anthony home with a list of things to bring. I wanted new slippers for my hospital stay. I wanted time to pick the baby's going-home outfit. I wanted to make a check list of everything I needed and more. My travelling instinct of bringing more than needed was on overdrive and I was pissed that I didn't have more time to prepare.

And yes, I had the epidural. Yes, I took painkillers. I'm a wuss, I know. I was in labor for 28 hours. I think my biggest fear was that the pain was going to get worse. Also, I was kind of trying to ride it out as much as possible, since my regular ob/gyn would not be in until the morning.

It all worked out in the end. I managed to be in labor for the whole day and night, my water broke right after the nurses announced that my doctor was on her way, and the epidural was wearing off. The delivery literally took like 10 minutes max, and was the LEAST painful part of my ordeal.

So here's to Isaiah Henry Paraiso Valtier. He was born on December 2, 2008 at 7:57 am. He weighed 6 pounds, 5 ounces and was 17 1/2 inches in length. He was born beautiful and healthy. I know we keep saying this, but I mean it with all my heart when I say I truly believe we are blessed to have our healthy son, no matter how early he came, no matter how unprepared we were. It could easily have been another story, with the diabetes affecting his development and in turn, his introduction into this world. But he's our amazing little dude and we are looking forward to this new chapter in our already blessed life.

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Say Hello to Isaiah Henry Paraiso Valtier A.K.A. "Ziggy"

On Tuesday, December 2, 2008 at 7:57am Isaiah was brought into this world and into our lives. God has blessed Annie and me with a beautiful baby boy and we are now enjoying every minute of parenthood. It’s not easy and the sleepless nights have been long, but looking into his eyes reminds us how wonderful and lucky we are to have a healthy son. We can't wait for everyone to meet him.



Isaiah was brought into our lives with an interesting story that only Annie can re-tell. Story time will come when she can break away from Ziggy. Or rather, when Ziggy can break away from her!

The Christmas season is upon us and we are truly blessed with this gift from God.
Hope the holiday season is treating everyone well.

God Bless,

Anthony and Annie

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