Mar is turning 6 months today
It all just happened too quickly. It was November 26th 2014 and we just discovered that Vanessa was pregnant. After that, morning sickness (aka all day sickness), thoughts about if the baby will be okay or not, would be a boy or a girl?, will the baby be okay?, is Vanessa feeling okay?, names, clothes, crib, stroller …
I think we were lucky. Vanessa’s pregnancy and labor were smooth and we had a healthy little girl, her name is Mar (Sea in Spanish).
I can say that they first days were tough, specially for Vanessa. We didn’t have much sleep and she went through the exhausting experience of delivering a child to this world I can’t even remotely imagine how painful and tired that is. But she got energy, we both did, and, with a ton of patience, we worked together on welcoming this little baby to our lives.
People always ask if we were ready. People worry that they aren’t ready. Well, we weren’t ready. We didn’t know much about babies. We went to one breastfeeding class at Kaiser Permanente San Francisco and that was it. But when Mar came, the very first two days at the hospital, every single nurse that we got assigned explained something different to us, showed us a different trick or position to breastfeed, how to swaddle, and many more. And all that after sleeping 2 or 3 hours in two days and with Vanessa exhausted from giving birth. I can’t express how thankful I’m to Kaiser and the support that they gave to us in the first two days of Mar’s life.
I was lucky enough to be able to take 4 weeks off of work and help and support Vanessa. During those 4 weeks both of us were waking up for each feeding, and I was trying to help burping, trying out new positions, bringing water … I hope that I helped my wife those days because I can’t even imagine how tired and changing her body was.
I was also lucky enough to have a wonderful, super strong wife who did, and keeps doing, all the heavy lifting. Vanessa makes sure that Mar has clothes, she thought about the room decoration, fed her no matter how frustrating and painful it was, planned the transition to solid food, etc. Vanessa I can’t tell you how happy I’m that you are the mother of my child and how proud I’m of how strong and patient you are. You are not only taking care of Mar but also doing a full time job in tech and you still smile at night. I love you!
Mar, you are turning six months today and I want to thank you for all that you have brought to my life. I can’t wait to see what the next six months, 1 year, 5 years, 20 years look like!
Happy first six months Mar!
