Codina Photography

I can’t believe it’s been more than a month since Andy was born. I’m writing this as he’s peacefully napping in his swing – oh thank you Fisher Price for making such a wonderful sleep inducing piece of equipment!  Life over the last month has been incredibly crazy and exciting. I never expected mommyhood to be so much work. It’s one of those things everyone tells you about but you always brush it off as if they are crazy. I used to think – “yeah, duh, it’s a baby, they’re a lot of work, we’ll deal with it when the time comes”. Well, you truly have no idea what this is all about until you experience it for yourself! No doubt about it!

Things in the beginning were tough. From not really knowing what we were doing and being afraid we were going too break him, to learning how to strap him in his car seat while being all freaked out in the mean time that we didnt do it right and he’s going to come flying out of the thing if something were to happen. You go from living your happy worryfree life to all of the sudden worrying about the littlest things such as being careful when walking with the baby so you dont slam his head around the corner of the wall or door, or simply being paranoid that his nose isn’t slammed up against your shoulder while burping so he can breathe freely, or OMG please don’t get boogers because I’m afraid to use that nose sucker thing on you!  Of course you get over all these fears pretty quickly as you slowly become a pro at all baby related things. But yeah, the first week is CRAZY because you’re learning how to change diapers, wiping little butts and wenises, learning how to burp him, changing his clothes, how to swaddle him properly so he doesnt come flying out of the thing, and most importantly…the most challenging thing I’ve done in my entire life: breastfeeding! Yes, it wasn’t easy. At least it wasn’t for me. It took at least 2 weeks to finally feel like I had control of the situation. At first I was all scared he wasn’t eating enough. When he dropped 7 ounces within his first 36 hours of life going from 7 lbs 13 ounces to 7 lbs 6 ounces I was pretty sure he was going to get really tiny and the pediatrician would ask me to start supplementing with formula. Of course that didn’t happen. After a week and a half when we went back to the Dr’s office he was a whooping 9 lbs 1 ounce and I couldn’t believe my eyes when that number 9 showed up on the scale! Proud mama! Yes, it is stressful knowing that his growth and development are all pretty much entirely dependent on my boobs at the moment.  I was so obsessed with making sure he was growing I even went on Amazon and ordered this wonderful thing which has allowed me to keep track of his weight. Yes, I realize I’m a little insane but it gives me peace of mind while we wait until his next official check up at 2 months.

In any case, 5 weeks have passed since his birth and I can officially say we’re now pros at dealing with most things. Andy is on a regular 2 1/2-3 hour feeding schedule during the day and he’s regularly sleeping ~5 hrs at night in the last week or so. Unfortunately, it hasn’t been easy for me to adjust to his extended night time hours because I wake up on my own every 2-3 hours expecting he’s going to be hungry…then I get all paranoid that he’s still sleeping and I slowly walk into his room and approach his crib just to make sure he’s breathing still. So yeah, I still get no continuous sleep because I’m a slightly crazy mommy but over the last couple of days i’m starting to let go of that fear and I’ve been sleeping until he wakes me up on the baby monitor within seconds of crying.

Having my mom here has been a blessing too. She helps us so much around the house. She does Andy’s laundry pretty much every 2-3 days because his basket gets full SO quickly with all the pipi and poopie explosions plus did I mention baby milk spit up really stinks? All those burp clothes are truly just gross after a couple of uses. My mom is also saving us a LOT of money by not having to order food out.  She cooks all sorts of yummy things every night and blessed her heart she always refills my water bottle near the rocking chair where I feed Andy so I don’t go thirsty. And of course there’s the times she takes him in the afternoons so I can get in some nap time….plus make my Zumba class. Am I lucky or what? Once she leaves at the end of the month it’s going to take a lot of work to get used to life without her.  :(

So let’s see, we know Andy has got daddy’s hair, nose, and lips. He’s also got daddy’s hands. Oh the hands. They are like a grown man’s hands but in miniature. They’re my favorite! He holds them together while he’s nursing as if he was saying a prayer and it’s the most adorable thing ever.  He farts and burps like a grown man – definitely got that from daddy too! I can’t help but laugh every time he has a little explosion down there while I’m holding him. You can predict the amount of poo by how loud the explosion is. Never fails. He loves to sleep on the couch next to us. We place him on a blanket and he stays there  with us while we watch TV…chewing on his binky of course. All in all he’s a great baby. Only cries when he’s hungry or when he’s got gas. He sleeps and plays when he’s supposed to and besides a couple of bad nights/days here and there he’s truly just a very easy going little one. :)

In any case, here are a TON of pictures that we’ve taken over the last month to document Andy’s first month of life.

 

It’s amazing how different he looked back then. Andy stopped wearing newborn diapers in his second week of life and moved on to size 1. We were all proud of him. He wore his newborn clothes for about that long as well and then they all became very short and tight very quickly.

 

Arturo’s family came to visit from Florida on Jan 13th and spent a few days here to meet their grandson/nephew.  We were glad Andy got to meet them and bond with them.

 

He has the most precious chubby cheeks in the whole entire world. Look at that face!

 

Andy also got his first full bath at the end of the 2nd week after his belly button fell off (around day 10 or so).  Luckily my sister in law, Marcia was in town and she gave him his first bath while teaching us how to do it. I felt so glad she was there to help us through this “event”. Yes, baby’s first bath is stressful so of course I cried during it – did I mention post partum hormones? yes, they are real people!  The next day Arturo and I handled his bath on our own while Marcia photographed us. Images below were taken by her – thank you Marce for helping us document all these things!

 

While Arturo’s family was here we took the opportunity to go out to a couple of places with Andy. We went out to only outdoor places that weren’t crowded because we’re not supposed to be taking him out too much yet during flu season, etc. Here are a couple of pictures also taken by Marcia.

 

 

I love that Andy has daddy’s hair color. We’re still waiting to see what color his eyes change into. They’re blue/gray right now.

 

Again more pictures taken by Marcia at our home studio. These are so precious and we’re so lucky she was here to take our first family photos!

 

 

 

 

 

During Andy’s 3rd week of life we noticed a huge change in him. He became a lot more alert and playful. He started staying up after feeding for a lot longer and playing with us. He started making different noises and sounds and he also started to follow objects with his eyes pretty consistently. He loves to stare at bright lights and definitely loves to stare at our face when we hold him as if he understands what we’re saying to him.

 

 

Finally Andy turned one month old back on Feb 1st. He looks so different! We’re constantly amazed at how fast he’s growing. His facial expressions are so varied now. He loves to stare at my mouth when I sing to him as if he’s in some sort of trance thinking “WHAT IS THAT THING?”  I swear he even moves his mouth around too as if he was imitating the movement of my lips – but maybe I’m just crazy.

I’m convinced his favorite place to be is his changing table.  He can go from desperately crying to being the happiest baby on earth in just a couple of seconds by just placing him on the changing table. It’s MAGIC i swear.  And then there’s his swing which we’re keeping in a corner of the kitchen/dining room. Our morning routine includes him spending some time in there while I get breakfast ready. Such a nice little boy that even allows his momma to cook breakfast for daddy in the morning while he peacefully stares at the moving birds and mirror on the swing.

 

We fed him breast milk in a bottle for the first time when he turned one month old. We had waited a while to do this but wanted to make sure he would take milk this way when needed. Daddy gave him his first bottle feeding while I snapped pictures. He was pretty happy and drank 4 ounces out of the bottle that day straight up. We are only using it when absolutely needed and it has allowed me to get some free time once in a while.

 

And finally here are some other pictures of our little blue eyed boy taken on his 1 month anniversary…happy as can be on his play mat after tummy time. How could we not be in love with that little face?

 

 

 

 

 

 

That’s it. Hope you enjoyed. :)

These pictures melt my heart. I love capturing their relationship with the camera.

I always knew he’d be a great dad, but he’s gone way beyond what I ever imagined. I’ll let the pictures do the talking…

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

One of the few pictures where you can see Andy’s bluish eye color. I know it’ll likely change into something else over the next few months…but in the mean time we love his blue eyes. I just keep hoping he gets daddy’s hazel eyes and not my plain boring brown ones. :)

 

Just a few for fun…

 

 

Love his little feet!

 

Did I mention I love my boys? :)

I will start this by saying that playing both mommy and photographer at the same time is NOT a good idea!  Taking pictures of our own child was so very hard. I was paranoid I was going to drop him, or twist him, or simply break him. Next time I will gladly pay a fellow photographer to do this for us so that I do not have to stress out about it. Because of my anxiety as first time mommy there were many shots we could not get –  mostly because I was just scared of doing them or simply felt bad putting him in those poses.  Let’s just say I have a new understanding of what parents go through when I would do newborn pictures of their tiny little ones. And did I mention it requires a LOT of patience? As the mother, I just did not want to put my little one through the stress! But we managed to get a few good ones. I especially love the ones of Andy and daddy. They are so special to me.

We took these pictures when Andy bean was only 7 days old. It took me a long time to edit them considering he’s almost 1 month old already. Looking back at these I realize how much he’s changed in just a couple of weeks. He looks completely different now! It’s truly amazing and I can totally understand when people say time flies when you have a baby.

In case you’re wondering what his little “V” shaped spot is on his forehead…it is an angioma…just a birth mark. The pediatrician said it would look pretty noticeable during the first year and would start to fade as he gets older. I think that’s pretty much the only thing Andy got from me. I was born with one too, right on my forehead as well. It still shows up sometimes when I get upset and cry but otherwise you can’t tell there’s anything there. :)  We’ve gotten used to seeing him with it and I really don’t even notice it anymore…unless it’s a picture.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Hope you enjoyed. As you can imagine I have a huge backlog of photos to download onto my computer. Hopefully as I settle more into my role as mommy I will get some extra time to work on them.

Meet baby Andy. He joined us on New Year’s day at 9:16pm, exactly 5 days before his due date. He’s the most precious little boy and he’s everything that we ever imagined and much more. He’s perfect in every way.

 

 

I have been meaning to write Andy’s birth story for 2 weeks now but being a new mommy has demanded a lot more of my time than I ever thought possible. If you’re not into this kind of stuff this is your time to stop reading and move on…and if you’re here for pretty baby pictures just hold tight, those will be coming in the next few days once I find time to edit them. :)  The pictures below were all taken either via iPhone camera or using our small point & shoot.

Everything started with Stomp! Arturo won tickets at work to see Stomp at the ASU Gammage on the night of December 29th. I always thought I’d never make it to the show (considering I thought I’d be giving birth sometime earlier in December).  The 29th came about, and given that everything was calm and quiet, off to the show we went. I had been having Braxton-Hicks contractions for several days but they weren’t painful nor regular. However, that night during the show they became a lot stronger and consistent about 10-11 minutes apart.  These contractions started feeling a little different.  Not super painful but definitely very uncomfortable. We spent the 1 hr 45 minute long show timing contractions on Arturo’s cell phone. They did not become closer together so we decided it was probably nothing and even went off to a late dinner right after the show. We ate at an awesome pizza & wine bistro right on Mill Ave in Tempe and had our last “date night” as a family of two that night.

As the night came to an end and December 30th rolled around the contractions dissipated and we stopped worrying about them. We spent the entire day Friday (Dec 30th) just relaxing at home and planning our New Years Eve dinner: pot roast, cuban style black beans, sweet plantains…the works. As night time approached I started having contractions again. This time they were a bit more painful and about 8-10 minutes apart.  All the prenatal classes we took said to wait until contractions were 4 minutes apart and consistent for at least an hour before heading to the hospital.  Clearly, I was nowhere near that so we sat outside by the fire and made S’mores with my parents!

That night I showered and went to sleep for a couple of hours only to be woken up at regular intervals of 15 minutes or so by these nasty contractions. I did not sleep at all that night. We kept timing things (did I mention there’s an iPhone app to time and record your contractions? – pretty handy!) and still too far apart so we decided to just stick around and wait for morning to come. As usual, morning came on December 31st and as I woke up to have breakfast contractions were completely gone. Seriously? We decided to postpone our New Year Eve meal…just in case you know? My mom cooked a chicken soup for me instead which was yummy.  Too bad that as I was eating it, I managed to hit my front teeth with the spoon and I CHIPPED A TOOTH! Again, SERIOUSLY?  I may have had a small anxiety attack at this point. About to give birth…and now a chipped tooth that I couldn’t stop touching with my tongue because it felt all rough and weird! Just what I needed!

As the day progressed still no signs of contractions. I was just chilling in front of the TV watching Dick Clark’s New Years Eve celebration with Arturo and my parents. Midnight came, we drank some non-alcoholic cider (yums!), had our 12 grapes (I had 24…a 2nd set for baby Andy in my tummy), and went to bed. I woke up around 4am on January 1st with really painful contractions this time around. Definitely a lot more painful than the previous days….like ‘take my breath away’ painful. Slowly around 6am they were 5-6 minutes apart consistently. I showered as Arturo lied in the empty tub next to the shower with the iPhone timing my contractions as I was having them. Freaked out by the frequency and intensity we decided it was time to head to the hospital! O.M.G. I was anxious and nervous but somehow calm at the same time. As I was getting ready Arturo went downstairs to wake up my parents.  Clearly they were already awake and getting ready as when they heard the shower running at 6am they figured it was time to go! By the time we made it out to the car and to the hospital it was around 7:30am. And guess what? My contractions were GONE! AGAIN!!!!

At this point I was pretty sure we had just come to the hospital for no reason and that I would be sent back home until ‘real labor’ started. I was wheeled around for a bit until we got to Labor and Delivery on the 3rd floor. It was a VERY strange feeling to be pushed around in a wheel chair. It was kinda cool although I felt bad for the guy that was pushing me around. I could have walked! Really. No contractions, remember? By the time we got checked into triage it was almost 8am. The nurse came in, took my vitals, and hooked ‘us’ up to a monitor – baby Andy’s heartbeat on one side of the screen, and my uterus on the other side. The monitor was definitely recording some contractions that I couldn’t feel myself but they didn’t seem too strong on the screen. Baby Andy’s heart was strong and healthy so no worries there. After I was done telling the nurse my contraction history and sounding pretty convinced I would be getting sent home it was time to check things ‘down below’.  As the nurse felt around she started saying with a little bit of amazement in her face – “oh wow, I’m so proud of you baby girl. You are 4-5cm dilated already! We’re having this baby today!”. At that point I was pretty much in shock! Seriously? Almost half way there? A rush of emotions started hitting me and I dont remember whether I started crying there or started panicking instead. I kept thinking – OMG a New Year Day baby!!!! What a date to be born on!

Within 15 minutes I was officially ‘admitted’ into Labor and Delivery and got moved to our own delivery room.

We settled in, got the bags from the car, and off I went for a 45 minute walk around the hallways of the 3rd floor.  This was the plan for the day:

Walking around the halls with Arturo was fun. My parents joined in for about 20 minutes and then got tired. The walk went by pretty quickly for me. My contractions came back as I walked…maybe because I knew it was time? I dont know…but all of the sudden they returned. Everything started to become very real at this point. “Holy crap we are having a baby today” is what I kept thinking.

After getting back to the room I was hooked up to the monitors again and then it was time to get the IV put in. I had never ever had an IV in my life and I was slightly freaking out about it. Yes I know it’s simple and painless but there’s no such thing for me when it comes to hospital stuff.  Of course the first time the nurse tried putting the IV in my arm she missed the vein and the saline started spilling into my arm! GREEEEAT!  Within seconds I had a huge bump on my arm and it became very swollen and painful. Another nurse came in to see if she could get a better spot. Luckily she was successful the 2nd time around. I’m 2 weeks post partum today and I still have a HUGE bruise on my arm where the IV missed – I swear it’s changed into all sorts of colors over the last 15 days – green, purple, pink, etc.  After the IV drama our official nurse for the day came in and said she had called the anesthesiologist for the epidural and that he’d be here within 20-30 minutes. As I sat on the bed hooked up to the monitors I started to realize I wasn’t feeling the contractions anymore.  One of my biggest fears regarding the epidural (besides getting it!) was that it would delay the birth itself by slowing down contractions/dilation and that I would get stuck at 5cm fooooreeeever and not move from there.  And of course at this point I wasn’t feeling contractions anymore…and the anesthesiologist would be here soon…and OMG am I seriously getting a huge needle in my back? Yes, I started to panic a bit again so I called the nurse and in hopes of delaying the epidural I asked if I could go for another walk to get things moving again. So off we went for another 45 minute walk. Except this time around we made it back to the room within 20 minutes because my contractions came back full force! They became so close together (at least 2 minutes apart) and SO painful that I decided immediately that I was no longer scared of the epidural and OMG GIVE ME THAT THING ASAP!

We came back to the room and the anesthesiologist showed up within 20 minutes.  Arturo held me down as I tried my hardest not to move. I tried to ignore what was going on and forget about everything…puppies and kittens…puppies and kittens is what I kept telling myself. Within 5 minutes the dude working my back was done and my legs started to become numb. First I couldn’t feel my toes and within minutes my legs felt as if they were 100 pounds each! They helped me lie down in bed and I got a horrible case of the shakes. My entire jaw and mouth were shaking and I couldn’t get them to stop. It was such a creepy feeling.  I also felt dizzy and nauseous. Probably a sign of the fast drop in blood pressure you experience after an epidural.

Around 11am once the epidural had kicked in the doctor came to visit me. Funny enough I had never met this doctor before. My OBGYN is an office with four different doctors and I kept seeing one of them regularly. Luckily for her my regular OB was probably recovering from spending her New Yrs Eve in Las Vegas so she was not around. Dr. Giali (the on call doctor) was great though. I immediately felt at ease once I saw her. She broke my membranes at that point (another thing I was terrified of) but I did not feel a thing! Blessed be that epidural!  At that point I was about 7cm dilated but that the baby was facing in the opposite direction which would make it a little harder for him to come out. From there on I would have to lie down on my side with these HUGE foam pillows in between my legs to help ‘turn’ the baby around into the right position. Oh, and he was also stuck somewhere up there in la-la land at around -3 station (basically means he hadn’t dropped fully into my pelvis). The doctor felt confident that he’d drop and that he’d ‘fit’. All reassuring things. Good!

For the next 8-9 hours I would proceed to lie down on my side being rotated from left to right in one hour intervals with the humongous uncomfortable pillow between my legs. Around 5 or 6 pm I was told the baby was still up high but had dropped just a bit and that I was close to 9cm dilation. Contractions were coming fast and strong according to the monitor (again, so thankful for that epidural because I just felt some ‘pressure’ but no pain). I was stuck at 9cm for the next 2 hours and I started to freak out a bit when no progress was made in this time frame.  I ended up getting a slight fever of about 99.5 degrees. Oh Oh. My biggest fear was to end up in C-section. Well, if baby isn’t dropping, I’m stuck at 9cm, and now I have a fever there’s a very good chance they’ll take me into C-section if things don’t change quickly.

Shift change came around 7pm and the most incredible nurse took over my care. She was AMAZING.  She started ‘rotating’ me from one side to the other at more frequent intervals and she did some ‘stuff’ down there that I’ll spare you the details of.  Just know that by the time she was done she said I was pretty close to 10cm and that the baby had dropped a bit more. I was given a dose of antibiotics via IV once my fever shot up to 101.5 degrees but baby still hadn’t dropped all the way so I had to wait a bit more. Within the hour I started feeling like I had to poop. I know, TMI! Sorry! The urge became stronger and stronger. Once I told the nurse and she checked “under the hood” she happily reported that it was time to push because baby Andy’s head was right there. RIGHT THERE???? OMG. I was overwhelmed with emotions. She stepped out of the room to call the doctor and at that point Arturo and my parents started surrounding me all together because I lost it! I was crying uncontrollably and my parents were crying too. I especially remember my dad. I don’t think I had ever seen my dad crying so desperately before. He kissed me and said I had to be strong.  The whole minute this all lasted was very emotional! I was mostly thankful that I was about to push this baby out with no C-section! I remember feeling scared, nervous, happy, excited, all at the same time.  Within minutes the nurse was back and she had me do a couple of practice pushes on my side. Did I mention I could feel everything down there? I know the epidural was running low a bit. They do that on purpose so that you feel the urge to push with the contractions.

Around 9 something the doctor showed up and they set me up in full push position. I don’t remember the details of the next few minutes but I do remember how concentrated in PUSHING I was.  I know Arturo was on my left side helping me hold my leg up. My  mom was on my right side also helping me hold the leg up, and my dad was somewhere in a corner of the room by my head probably completely freaked out. Apparently at some point I actually screamed for my mom and I said ‘Mami mami mami mami’ although I do not remember this one bit.  Andy’s head was out with 5 pushes within 10 minutes. One more push and he was fully out at 9:16pm.  You know how they always say the scariest part is when they finally come out and you’re waiting to hear them cry? I don’t remember this. He cried SO FAST that it took me by surprise. I remember hearing his cry and thinking – HE’S OUT ALREADY? They put him on my chest and that was the sweetest moment of pure satisfaction and joy I remember.  I couldn’t believe he was the little thing I carried around inside for 9 whole months. Arturo and my parents were also fascinated by him. Within seconds the placenta was out, and within minutes they were done fixing stuff down there while I held the baby. I don’t remember any of it in detail because I was just fixated on this little person on top my chest with HUGE hands and full of life. Andy was 7 lbs 13 oz and measured 20 inches long.  He was completely healthy and beautiful. He’s the most special gift we’ve ever received and we’re all so thankful and lucky that he’s here.

 

Proud daddy! :)

 

The next 2 days after birth are a total blur in my head.  All in all we had a great experience at the hospital. We are so lucky for all those incredible nurses that took care of us! They’re truly amazing ladies!

A couple of days later at home I went to check a Moleskine journal I purchased a few weeks back where I’ve been writing daily notes about Andy’s life.  When I first opened it after being back home from the hospital I remembered I had already started writing on it a few days before. This totally made me laugh. I quickly crossed things out and proceeded to write out the details of the day as it had happened.  I clearly had NO CLUE about how our life would change on the very first day of 2012! :)

Welcome to the world baby Andres! We love you very much. We’re very excited to have you in our life and we can’t wait to see you grow over the years! :)

 

Having taken hundreds of maternity pictures for many many women in the last few years I was doing photography I was surprised to find that I was very hesitant to take them for myself when the moment came. I dont know…maybe because I’m so used to being the one behind the camera and having total control over what I shoot and what angles I capture…it just felt weird to give up that control and let myself be the one in front of the camera this time around. So of course I waited…and waited….and waited…and finally when I was 38 weeks pregnant I finally agreed (still yelling and complaining) to go outside so Arturo could take some pictures. My parents are in town too so they participated and with some help my dad was able to take some pics of Arturo and I together.

I wasn’t really looking forward to the experience at all.  I had to make my huge belly and butt fit into clothes I wore the first 7 months of pregnancy that are now way too uncomfortable and tight. So yeah, i wasn’t very happy nor comfortable but after we got there and started shooting I started to realize how meaningful these pictures would be in the years to come. There’s nothing like celebrating pregnancy and capturing the way our bodies change to accomodate the growing life inside of us. To think that in that huge belly is our son…so tiny and innocent…just waiting to come out and join us in this world. It’s pretty surreal! So yeah, now I’m very glad we took these. I will forever treasure them and I’m very glad I had a chance to take them before giving birth (did I mention we waited until the last minute?). So yeah, don’t wait so long like me…I should have done these a month ago before my clothes stopped fitting and before walking 20 feet left me out of breath…but it was well worth it in the end! :) Hope you enjoy!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

My favorite one from the whole shoot, photo credit to my dad – sorry dad for making you get on the floor and get all dirty to snap this angle. :)

 

And this one is just for fun. I think it provides a nice perspective on how humongous my belly really is. Us short torso girls rock huge bellies!

 

And one of my parents which I love.

 

That’s it. Hope you enjoyed.

P.S: obviously no baby yet. 39 weeks today. Lots of painful contractions but not close together enough to be active labor. Maybe in the next few days…Next week for sure…I’m pretty sure (fingers crossed!)

Yup. No baby yet.  We’re officially on Baby Watch 2011. We’ve spent the past several nights timing contractions and never ever do they get consistent or painful enough to be considered ‘labor’ contractions. So let’s see when little Andy decides to make his entrance.

In the mean time, we spent Christmas today just relaxing at home not doing much…just eating, sleeping, and watching TV.  I leave you with some random pictures I took tonight as I was motivated (for just about 5 minutes) to take the camera out.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Arturo has been making lots of fresh orange/grapefruit juice lately. It’s become a staple in the Codina household. We drink it for breakfast or as a late night snack.

 

The final product in all its freshness….YUMS.

Anyways, hopefully next time I post it will be baby pictures!!!!!

 

Ingrid