Marcus Francisco Hernandez is Born!

Labor & Delivory...

I woke up at 2am with a painfull contraction, but went back to sleep...they didn't get really bad until around 9:30am, when they were finally lasting a minute and coming every 8-10 minutes.  Alexya and Sonny woke up around 7 and Alexya kept coming over and hugging me on the couch and telling me I'm "the best mommy in the whole world."  Sonny kept reading to me, his new books he got for Christmas.

We went to walnut creek kaiser and arrived at 10am and I was dialated 6cm.  I didn't want an epidural cause it would slow things down.  I just wanted to get it over with, cause I was so tired and hadn't eaten all morning.  So, they said they would break my water to get things moving faster...but then disappeared.  I kept asking for pain meds, to take the edge off, but they kept telling me to wait until they broke my water. 

 So finally at 12:30 they broke my water and said I was at 9 cm...and it was too late to give me anything for pain!  But if I felt like pushing I could push.  So I tried to push with the next contraction and it wasn't working.  They told me to stand up because my contractions were stronger when I was standing earlier and the pressure of the baby might help.  I was helped up and immediately felt insane pain!  So I started freaking out realizing that I wasn't going to get Anything for pain and Robert and the nurses had to all scream at me that I could do it!  Then came the incredible urge to push!

I was standing and couldn't stop pushing through the pain.  It was insane pain and I couldn't stop pushing, until suddenly I felt so weak I was gonna pass out and Robert just held me standing up.  I let him hold me and was resting my head on his forearms when the next push/contraction wave hit and I had the primal urge to bite his arm to deal with the pain.  I actually put my teeth on his arm and then somehow realized what I was doing and stopped!  Crazy!

I kept pushing and they told me they could see the head, so I had to get back on the bed right away.  They threw a pillow on the floor underneath me, just in case, and told me that I was "hurting my baby by not getting on the bed," which is the only thing they could have possibly said to make me move at that point.

I got on the bed through the pain and feeling of his head coming out.  I gave two last huge pushes and out he came!  The entire pushing from standing to finish took only 9 minutes, but felt like forever!

Marcus Francisco Hernandez was born at 12:49pm weighing 8lbs 6oz and 21 3/4" long, on December 26, 2013 (the day after Christmas)!  He is a perfectly healthy and handsome little guy and an amazing addition to our family!

I still can't believe I did it with no pain killers, not even ibuprofen!  But at least it made it go fast and furious and it's all over now.   What an experience!

Since we've been home....

Alexya and Sonny are so in love with Marcus.  They constantly check on him and talk to him and watch him, even while he sleeps.  They think every little thing he does and every little noise he makes is so cute and funny.  It's so nice to have helpers who will run upstairs and get me things when I need them (cause I really don't want to go up and down stairs right now).  They keep talking to him and showing him things and he just stares and calmly watches what they're showing him.  It's going to be so fun to see what his little personality is like, thrown into our family that is definitely got a variety of personalities!

The best thing so far is Marcus's relationship with Robert.  When he was in my stomach he would sometimes go crazy, kicking and thrashing, and every single time Robert would start talking to him, he would freeze...like he was listening to him.  No matter how much he would move, Daddy's voice would make him calm down and listen.  I was wondering if this would continue once he was born, and it has!  He gets fussy and cranky and sometimes is crying so hard I can't get him to calm down.  Robert will just walk over, grab him and say the magic words, "Marcus, it's ok, Daddy's here," and he stops to listen.  He'll sometimes still cry, but it's this softer, sweet version that almost sounds like he's trying to talk back to Robert...this soft little "ah ah ah ah" that sounds like he's explaining why he was crying!  It's freakin' adorable!  I love that they have this bond already and it seems like Marcus has a special bond with each one of us.  

I'm so happy he's here and healthy, and now I know our family is complete.  We have a beautiful, smart, confident, outgoing daughter; a thoughtful, sensitive and handsome son; an angel in heaven and an angel here on earth...we are very blessed!

Alexya Turns 7!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Baseball, Softball & StarWars!

Here are my two monkeys all suited up and ready to play ball!
Sonny is on the Giants and Alexya is on the Tigers.
Alexya's team is a new division for her (8 & under) which has all girls 7-8yrs old, so she's the youngest and smallest.  A couple of the girls on her team have never played before, so that made her more comfortable.  Since she's so small, she was worried she would be the worst on the team, but she's happier now...size isn't everything. ;)
Sonny is the opposite, he's one of the tallest on his team, which is 4-6yr olds.  But, he's the only one on the team that hasn't played before and the youngest, so he's the worst.  He tries really hard to hit the ball and everyone cheers him on, but he's still not coordinated enough.  The important part is that he's having fun.  He even asked me after the game a couple weeks ago,"Mommy, did you have fun watching me play today?  Cause I had fun."  :)

 

Sonny got to play catcher at the last game and loved it!  He pretended he was Iron Man when he put his "armor on" every inning.  So cute to watch him play catcher, cause he's focused and really into it.

 

Here's a preview of Halloween! 
Sonny already knew he wanted to be Darth Vader, since he's so into Star Wars now...so we got him the costume early and got him a Red lightsaber. 
Alexya loves Star wars too, but wanted to be Ahsoka, the girl jedi who's Anakin's padawan...but her costume was a little revealing..and expensive...so we talked her into Princess Leia...with a light saber! :)

Baby update: I'm at 27 weeks now and he is kicking and kicking the crap out of me!  I love feeling him move around so much, but sometimes it really hurts!  He's a strong kid.  The kids love talking to him in my tummy and telling me what games they are going to play with him and teach him when he comes out (like video games & lightsabers!) ;) 
I took my glucose test last week and found out that for this pregnancy, I'm anemic.  So, I have to take Iron supplements, but other than that it's fine.  I've already organized the baby clothes (washed and put away by size) in his room. 
I also created a wishlist on BabiesRus.com for myself for random things I still need/want...in case anyone wants to buy something :)  Just go to the website and type "wishlist" in the search box.  (I live in Martinez.)  I created one for the baby and one for Alexya & one for Sonny, for Christmas and Birthday presents too.

Anyway, those are the updates I have time to write about...but will try to do more soon!

It's A Boy!!!

Now I know why all I've been wanting to eat is MEAT! LOL :)

We are all very excited that he's healthy!  20wk ultrasound went great and everything looks good :)

Alexya and Santino are excited to have a little brother, besides the one they have in Heaven that they never get to play with. :)

Swimming & An Announcement

The kids started swimming lessons this week.  They love the water & love swimming, but I want them to be able to do more than just tread water...so, swimming lessons!  It was a rocky start with Sonny deciding he didn't want to do it on the 1st day, right after he got in the water and all the kids started kicking...he got out and wouldn't go back in the rest of the class.  So today was day 2 and went much smoother.  I love watching them go under water...since I have to plug my nose, I'm impressed that my kids don't have that problem!

 

We also have an annoucement: We are going to be adding another kid to our family and he/she is due on Christmas Eve! 
We've been trying for so long after Francisco, that we finally decided it wasn't meant to be and just talked about it not going to happen.  We moved on and were just focusing on our kids we do have and not thinking about a baby anymore when...surprise!  So, we had to change gears and get over the shock and then we were very happy.  At the same time we were very worried that anything can go wrong, as we learned last time, so both Robert and I didn't want to tell anyone. 
We asked the doctor if we could have our 18 wk big ultrasound sooner, so that we could just make sure everything is there and working right sooner.  They let us have it at 14 weeks and everything is fine!  There are kidneys and they work and everything else is there...what a relief.  We (well mostly me) couldn't stop crying in the doctor office once they told us, I was just so relieved.  It's amazing the things you take for granted until something bad happens.
Anyway, we are at 16 wks now and they still want to do the 18 wk ultrasound so that's another milestone we can look forward to.  At that apt they should be able to tell if it's a boy or girl so I'll keep you posted.
All the morning sickness is gone! Thank God!  It was horrible this time!  So I'm feeling much better and able to run around with the kids and work and enjoy this pregnancy at the same time.  We know this is the last one, so we want to enjoy every day of it as much as possible. 
Alexya and Sonny are very excited to be getting a little brother or sister and have the best suggestions for names.  The only one I can remember right now is: Tony Stark (Iron Man).
Alexya also asked me, very seriously, "Mom.  I think we need to have a talk.  What do you want us to do once the baby comes?  Like what can we do to help?"  She then told me she would feed the baby, but wouldn't change any stinky poopoo diapers.  LOL!  This is going to be fun :)

Also, a big THANK YOU to Andrea & Caleb for loaning us more baby gear than we could have imagined! Not only is it going to make our lives easier having so much stuff we don't have to go buy, it's really top the line stuff!  Stuff I would never spend the money on!  So thank you very much & we'll give it back as soon as we're done with it!  ;)
Also, thank you to Erica for giving us even more baby gear!  We are all set and very happy you kept your stuff :)  Thank you!  And we can't wait to see what you and your mom come up with for the baby's room!

Now,  Please enjoy some fun hairstyles...brought to you by: Alexya and Santino's Salon:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

End of School & A's Game!

Sonny finished up his 1st year of preschool & Alexya finished up 1st Grade!
Summer has been very fun so far and relaxing.  Just have to worry about work and not all the pick ups and drop offs :).
I'm very proud of Alexya because she got all 3s on her report card! 1 is needs improvement, 2 is Average & 3 is Excellent.  I can't believe she's doing so well in school, but then again, with all the homework time her and I put in, she better being doing excellent! ;)
I'm also very proud of Sonny because he got an excellent report card as well.  They don't give numbers, just check marks for doing well and he got all check marks :)  He's looking forward to going back to school in Fall because he misses his friends.

 

End of year Pirate Party in Alexya's class.  Sonny and I got to come and dress up too!

We took the kids to their 1st A's game, since they were babies and can actually remember, on 4th of July!  Aunt Candice joined us and we had the best time!  I wasn't sure if they were old enough to be interested and calm throughout the game, but they were great!  They love watching the A's games on TV with us and know all the players and have their favorites: Lexy's is Coco Crisp, Sonny's is Cespides and mine is Donaldson (such passion! he reminds me of Eric Byrnes!).
So going to the game and getting to see it in real life was fun for all of us.  Aunt Candice spoiled the kids by getting them snacks and two stuffed A's monsters (one green, one yellow).  They promptly named their monsters, Coco Crisp and  Cespides! LOL!

Sonny was pumped that he got all this free stuff as soon as we walked in! :)

 

 

So fun!  We're going again on July 27th!

 

 

Santino's Playing Soccer!

Sonny finally got to do a sport like his big sister!  He's been just waiting and waiting for the opportunity and this Friday was his 1st chance to play soccer!
He kept wanting me to take pictures of him holding his ball :)

 

Sonny and Daddy doing a warm up run before class!  This kid loves to run!

It was really nice having a chance to just watch Sonny learning and not being distracted by Alexya...since she was in school.  Sonny actually got a chance to have our complete attention and he was loving it!  We loved the chance to just get to watch him and see how he is when other people are teaching him.  At first, he was quiet and just doing what he was told...but then he relaxed and got comfortable....and that's when he wouldn't stop talking and asking questions and really had fun.  It was so amazing to watch him. 

We're so happy that we did a Friday class, since Saturday's are Lexy's softball games and we give her all our attention.  This way Sonny gets a day all to himself and we all loved it.  After class we let him play at the park nearby and then took him to breakfast!  So I think this is going to be our new routine on Fridays.  (since robert's off and I can work in the morning and evening, it's perfect!)

 

Goal!!!

 

A happy 4 year old