These are pictures from Tivon's first days at home. The first picture is Tivon exploring his crib--he loves the dots! And of course we can't forget about our first child-Shalosh. Daddy is having time with the kids in bed. Next the family is playing and singing music around the piano. We did this when Tivon was in my belly and it really seems to calm him down now. He really pays attention to the keys and stares at daddy as he sings. Finally we have a shot of Tivon after his first bath at home. He loved the bath but not so much the drying off time (as you can tell from one of his many pouty faces!)

Pimp my baby! Tivon became jaundice the day after we came home. So back to the hospital we went. They had to take blood to get a billiruben count. Then we had to start light therapy. Fortunately, we were able to do this at home. Josh decided Tivon looked like one of those cars that is lit up from underneath; hence, pimp my baby! After daily trips to the hospital, Tivon was in the clear by the third day.

All the happy grandparents were here to enjoy Tivon's birth (and help mom and dad too!)

After a few more hours of contractions and two hours of pushing, Tivon Christopher was born at 10:48 pm on July 6th. Dad was happy too because he had jumped right in and helped out. The nurses were preparing the room and Josh literally took over their job for awhile. He also cut the umbilical cord--What a trooper! I don't know how many hours of actual labor I get to claim but when Tivon needs a dose of appreciation for his mother, I will tell him over 26 hours of labor! The little Ti man was 7lbs 12 oz and 20 1/2 in long. Here's the kicker though. His head was a whopping 15 in circumference--ouch! Tivon was curious from the beginning. He was constantly looking around with his big eyes. It was really cool because he seemed to recognize my voice as soon as he heard me. He continues to be wide-eyed and loves staring at length at patterns.

Here we are before they gave me the final dose of pitocin that put me over the top. The doctor had broken my water at 2 pm and still little had changed. The nurse decided to up the pitocin 5 points (she had only been doing 1 point at a time) and boy did things change. I was in pain before but now I was in PAIN. I waited until the doctor did my check up at 5 and told me that I was only 3-4 cm dilated. I finally gave in and requested an epidural. Unfortunately, the anesthesiologist had gone home. So about 6 pm I finally got relief. So much for the hopes of an unmedicated birth. Oh well, maybe next time?

After they started the induction at the hospital, I walked and walked with Mom and Josh. Too bad Shalosh wasn't around--she would have loved it. I had contractions all night but apparently nothing too productive. The next morning at 8 am, they started me on Pitocin. For all of you who don't know about pitocin, it supposedly makes the contractions alot more powerful (meaning painful). They continued to up my dosage all day with little success of regular contractions. I was having hard contractions but they were back to back with no break in between. Urgh!

I went to the Doctor on July 5 for a check up and lo and behold nothing had changed. So we decided to go ahead and induce that evening. Eek! I was very anxious but tried to remember my yoga breathing and relax! To make the time pass, Mom and I went to get mani's and pedi's. Boy did that help and my feet would look cute in the stirrups! We had a quick dinner at Fazoli's for some carbs--although I couldn't eat much because I started having contractions and I was nervous.

Before the big day, we had a little photo session to document the belly that would soon be a baby. Yes, this is a very posed picture. I know the cheesey placement of hands is over the top but we wanted to make sure everyone could tell how big my beely really was!

Here we are in Spain in Spring 2003.