Paparazzi

I think Izzy's first words might be paparazzi! She has had more photo shoots than her age in weeks. Between my constant snapping of pictures, my good friend Katie who is getting her photography business started and a photographer I hired, we will definitely capture her newborn days!

She had pictures taken when she was a week old by Megan Renae Photography. Go to Megan's website to see the results! Click on Proofing and type kristy09 in the password field. I don't know how I'm ever going to choose which ones to buy. What do you think??

Here are a couple taken by Katie Zeller as well...she said she wanted to do newborns for "practice", but if the others are as good as these sneak peak shots...then I would say she is done practicing!

Mom & Me

I've been hiding behind the camera in most of the pictures lately...1) because I'm the one that took the photography classes and knows more about the camera, but 2) because after being in labor for 26 hours you are pumped full with a lot of fluids which could make one swell...and let's just say I've never felt like such a marshmallow. While I was in labor I told Ben that my legs felt like they just pulled me out of the Hudson River like they do with bodies on Law and Order. Surprisingly, the swelling lasted at least a week...and all of a sudden I was a contender for the Biggest Loser and I found my ankles!

Anyways, long story short, here are some of my favorite Mom and Me shots with Izzy!

Sleeping Beauty

I have a slight handicap these days as I can only type with one hand. It turns out that Isabel really only sleeps WELL when she is tightly swaddled AND held. Of course I LOVE to cuddle with my baby girl, but don't judge me if you see me or my house looking disheveled! Here are a couple pictures of my sleeping beauty.

My little Glow Worm

About 24 hours after Izzy was born, she became jaundice. Basically this is the liver's inability to break down bilirubin. Bilirubin is a substance made when the body breaks down red blood cells. Overall her skin tone was slightly yellow...as if she had a tan. Initially I just thought she got Ben's olive color skin tone, but I guess that wasn't the case.

When they first tested Izzy, her levels were in the high-risk zone. So she was ordered under the lights. I think the whole issue was more traumatic for me than it was for Izzy. At the beginning her incubator was in the nursery, which was a bummer because it's hard to watch your baby from afar.

On the first day, I kept taking my camera with me to the nursery so I could keep looking back at pictures to calm myself....

After the next 24 hour testing period, her levels increased again, so I was really emotional and probably (definitely) starting to drive the nursery staff insane. So they moved Izzy, her incubator and the three lights into our hospital room. I told the nurse that watching her was better than watching tv.

Izzy did really well in the incubator when she was in our room (the nurses reported otherwise while she was in the nursery)...

Well, she was pretty good...I kept catching her with the temperature monitor stuck to something other than herself...or with her mask off her face. She was just so darn cute. I wish I would have kept the mask...

Her levels ended up going up again, but we learned that the levels also correlate with amount of time passed since birth. So eventually she got to a point that our pediatrician was comfortable with her going home. So they finally let us go home, with follow up blood work and a trip to the doctors office the next day! We were so relieved.

Here is our precious little girl on the day we got to go home! I couldn't resist her outfit even though it was huge on her!

Welcome to the World

We are excited to welcome to the world Isabel "Izzy" Marie Funk! She was born on Thursday September 10th at 2:16 am. She weighed in at 8 lbs 10 oz and 21 inches long!

I've had good intentions of adding this important info to the blog, but clearly I'm a new mom and slightly delusional at what to expect in terms of free time!

Of course we are biased, but here are some adorable pictures of our little miracle...

This is my favorite...taken by Miss Katie Zeller! This is just a teaser, I haven't seen the rest yet!

Here are some of the other pictures I captured while we were at the hospital. How perfect is she?

What an adorable colic and look at those highlights...

She makes the cutest faces all the time...

The man I love with with the child that we both love more than anything in this world!

Izzy's favorite way to sleep...on my chest! I wish I could hold her like this for the rest of my life!

The Day Before

What an exciting week this has been. On Tuesday I went to the doctor where we made the decision to induce labor! There were a couple different reasons for going down this path...

1. I was ready...both physically and mentally. My body was just shutting down from getting through daily activities...or at least I thought it was. Mentally, I was drained from all the stress at work. Though there is still a week of "busy season" left...I was starting to get useless.
2. My doctor was going to be out of town over the weekend.
3. I was really hoping to avoid a c-section. Knowing that the baby was about a half pound bigger than the average, I felt the earlier the better.

So Ben and I finished packing and went out to dinner. Biaggi's bought us a "birthday dessert" to help us celebrate and we enjoyed our last meal as a family of two! Then we checked into St. Joseph's at 12:09 am on 9-9-09. I was admitted, hooked up to the monitors and then they started the fluids and pitocin. The next morning the doctor came in at 10 am to break my water and things starting moving along. From this point the pain levels increased...which was delightful. Around 1 in the afternoon I got an epidural and I felt like a new woman. Things continue to progress...S L O W L Y!!! It took until midnight to be fully "complete"...which means you can then begin the fun part...PUSHING. By this point, I was emotionally and physically exhausted, but I just couldn't wait to meet the little one and find out if we were going to have a son or daughter. (As a side note...if you are the type of person that doubts you can push a baby out, just keep the element of sex a surprise...this was an incredible motivation for me!)

To leave out some of the gory details, I began pushing with all the love and support of my wonderful husband and my own momma at my sides. I would never have made it without these two. Plus I had some wonderful nurses alongside me as well.

Needless to say, two hours later, our little miracle was born. The doctor didn't say "it's a girl" or "it's a boy"...he just held up the baby's bottom and said, "look what we have here"...and we could see our little baby GIRL!

I have far too many pictures from this 26 hour period to share, but here are a couple of my favorites from my camera (another post to follow with pictures from the one and only Katie Zeller)!

You can see my emotions on my chin...it makes me so happy to see only this little bit of me in this picture. Baby Girl Funk (at this point) was equally as thrilled you can see. She was very animated during the first 5 minutes that I got to hold her. She really quieted down and kept opening her eyes and looking at me!

This is one of the best feelings in the entire world!

Ben was convinced that we were having a boy...but you can see his smile in this picture! Izzy is already going to be Daddy's Little Girl!

Ben thought that her cry was THE most adorable whale in the world. The nurse hollered back at him to let her know if it is still as cute in a month!

Old News

I know this is old news, but I wanted to share a couple of my maternity pictures. My good friend Katie took these pictures. She is getting her photography business started and hounded me to do a "maternity session". She told me over and over again that I would appreciate it later...and of course, she was right! Even though we have only been a family of three (4 if you count the pretty kitty) for almost 48 hours at this point...it is still nice to look back at these pictures and remember the days of just me and Ben and the amazing miracle growing inside.

So if you happen to need a photographer...let me know and I'll put you in contact with this chic photographer. You'll see more of her work in the next couple blogs as she shared some intimate moments with us in labor and delivery as well! Katie - don't ever go back to your day job...you have an incredible talent!

Ohh, Pretty....Kitty....Lulu....Pretty!!!

All Done

We are headed to the hospital at midnight tonight! Baby Funk is hopefully going to make its arrival very soon. Say a prayer that it's sooner rather than later. Here is my last pregnant photo (but you will be seeing one more blog with maternity pictures as soon as I get my hands on them)! I'll keep you updated as soon as we know more about our little "Funky Monkey"!

Daddy's Girl

Relax, relax...we did NOT have the baby yet! Just wanted to share one of the reasons why I'm definitely my fathers daughter. Besides the fact that we are both CPA's and very much right brain oriented thinkers...you can definitely tell from my latest purchases that I'm Daddy's "little" girl!

I couldn't resist! All of a sudden I found myself in Meijer passing the liquor aisle and I thought...not too much longer until I'm able to go down that aisle again ;) Then the right-brain analysis came into play and I thought...hmmm by the time Baby Funk arrives, the summer brews will be a think of the past for 2009...and if I'm going to be stuck in my house with the babe, how am I going to get out and check out the latest selection. I lingered in the beer asile a little longer (looking for bargains, of course) and the thought process continued until I found myself salivating enough to put a case of Sunset Wheat and the BIG bottle of Lambrusco (I know...class class class for red wine) into my cart! That was one of the best grocery trips I've made in a long time...until I got home. My husband was mortified by my actions as an obvious 9+ month pregnant girl. He said "Good grief! You know you are a month away from being able to drink that! Did people see you?" From that point on, Ben took over the shopping...he added the 24 bottles of Summer Shandy and case of Berry Weiss! So...Daddy, do I make you proud?!

Anyways, as for the baby (don't worry I haven't touched the beer reserves yet), well it's still growing as you can see. The interesting thing is that I'm not really gaining any more weight at this point. The scale has stopped moving!! That either means I'm losing weight elsewhere (one can dream) or my dear husband must have programmed the scale not to go up any higher (I love you honey)!

As for my 38 week doctors appointment...well, nothing new and exciting. I'm now 90% effaced, but have not dilated at all :( I was soo bummed...I was really hoping that Baby Funk was ready to make its grand entrance! So, I had to schedule another appointment for next Tuesday. I am praying that the 39 week appt will bring better news!