Welcome Kayla Marie to the family

At 7 am today, Sunday, May 31st, Kayla Marie Brace was born as a happy and healthy 7 pound 8 oz and 20 inch baby girl. Baby and momma are healthy and resting after a relatively brief labor which started at 10 pm last night.



As some may know, Jenni's official due date was May 24th. We had several "last dinners out", "last grocery shopping", etc, but on Saturday night we were convinced we were destined to be induced early this coming week. All of this after a very encouraging doctor appt on Wednesday where our doc predicted labor within 24-46 hours and Jenni was already 3.5-4 cm dilated. By Saturday night we'd all but given up (despite Jenni having some light cramping), so we went to dinner at Maggiano's, visited some friends for a few minutes, and returned home around 9:30 with the intent to finish some laundry and watch a movie we've been meaning to watch for about 6 months now. 10 minutes into the movie Jenni bent down to grab a towel and said something to the effect of (sorry, events are already somewhat blurry) "UhOH, I think my water just broke". No, not a huge gush like the movies, but just a little trickle that was no-doubt her membranes rupturing. Within 10-15 minutes, she had her first contraction and they were 5 minutes apart and 30 seconds long right from the start. 40 minutes later things were obviously progressing and by 11:50 pm we were walking into the maternity ward at Highland Park Hospital (which has amazing facilities, huge birthing/recovery rooms, and an outstanding staff, btw). Here is a pic of Jenni from when we had checked into the hospital and contractions were still mild and 4 or 5 minutes apart. Still smiling!



From there, things progressed quite well and Jenni continued to have accelerating contractions. Being the middle of the night, things were quite serene and we were really able to focus on Jenni's breathing and relaxing between contractions (with the help of calming ocean sounds television on the hospital TV network, we didn't even need the iPod). The hospital had an egg shaped Yoga ball that was indispensable. Jenni was able to stay on her knees during contractions and lean over the ball while staying in bed. This was by far the most comfortable position for her even though the baby was positioned perfectly. Here is a pic of Jenni on the Yoga ball during labor. She is deep into her breathing and was basically meditating between contractions and focusing on her breathing and a little stuffed animal that looked like our dog Chomper. It was pretty amazing that she was able to do all of this with no medication and even without an IV. She was awesome.



Jenni was having a little break in the contractions and some light urges to push. I looked into the little trusty "manual" we got at the birthing class to get some kind of indication into what stage we were in and lo and behold, she fit the description of just having finished one of the most difficult stages of labor (transition) while barely breaking a sweat. Sure enough, the doctor came in shortly thereafter and Jenni was ready to push. After 2 tough hours of exhausting contractions and pushing, out came our beautiful little girl. A couple little cries were enough to ease everyone's concerns. Here is a wonderful pic of her nursing (which came quite naturally) immediately after delivery. Jenni looks like she's been at the spa for crying out loud!



There are a few more pictures with mother and father, grandparents, etc if you click on any of the pics and go to the Flickr site (no need to register).

And with that, I'm off to try to catch a few Z's while I can. Goodnight!

Long time without an update

I admit, I've been delinquent in my duties as the official biographer of this pregnancy thing. As anyone who still reads this knows, Jenni is preggo and due May 24th (any day now). We have taken a few "bump" pics along the way, but as you'd expect here in the final days, Jenni has gotten quite round (I might be in trouble for putting it that way, LOL). We have taken all the appropriate classes, are going to try for as natural a birth as possible, and we have indeed picked out a name for the little girl (and no, we aren't telling anyone the name, so don't ask). I have included a picture from the baby shower that shows Jenni a couple weeks ago. I also want to thank my Mom, mother-in-law, and Aunts Sheree and Kay who worked very hard to put together a very nice shower for us.



I will try to be more diligent in updating the blog and posting baby pics to Flickr or Facebook (we have been more active on Facebook than the blog lately). Other updates include the purchase of half a buffalo in January from a ranch in northern Michigan (about 300 pounds). We have made a lot of tasty meals so far that include meatballs, chili, burgers, steaks, fajitas, etc. Pretty sweet. Also, in a desperate attempt to get into shape before the baby comes, I have been doing p90x workouts (you may have seen the infomercials). Let's just say they are crazy-hard and have worked pretty well. I have 17 days left to go to finish the 90 days and have lost or relocated some much needed weight and feel great heading into sleep deprivation cycle. I surely would have lost more if I had been more careful about diet and cut down on the beer, but how is that any fun? If interested in learning more about p90x, see the p90x Official Website. We also made one last trip out to San Diego to visit my sister and a couple of friends out there before my sister moves to Ohio this summer. Here are some pics from the San Diego Zoo with Jenni and our friend Jim, his wife, and step-daughter.



In other news, the company I worked for the past 4 years decided to get out of the cellular business and closed up shop after several failed attempts to sell the division. As of April 24th, I have been happily unemployed. The good news is we had a good severance package and the better news is that I already have a job lined up to start at the end of June. This will make for a nice pre/post baby paternity leave that also coincides with some beautiful weather. This time and weather has given me the time to get the yard and garden in prime condition. We are about to transplant all our little seedlings we started indoors (tomatoes, peppers, eggplant, broccoli, herbs, zucchini & squash, etc). Meanwhile, spring is in full bloom and I was able to take a little photographic tour of the garden flowers/plants. You can click on this flower picture to get to see the whole collection.



As usual, we are in the middle of a renovation project. The Master Bed/Bath/Closet are currently in disarray as we reconfigure the size of the closet/bath as well as entirely redo the bathroom. We are waiting to finalize our refinancing (hopefully for the last time) before making the major purchases (tile, vanity/top, heated floor mats, etc). The closet has been re-framed and drywalled and we are sort of stalled here as the baby is due to pop out any time now.


Mother's Day is also when we usually celebrate Jenni's cousin Justin's birthday, so here are some family pics from the dual-celebration event.



And in final news, my little brother Derrick graduated from UIC with a BS in Mechanical engineering last weekend. Here are a few pics from the event. Congrats D!