Another Dr Visit for Baby Zoë

Baby girl gets a check-up today to make sure she's growing well. She weighs 7 pounds and 14 ounces! She's our healthy little nugget and the Dr said her umbilical cord is okay.

Her First Bath and We Totally Panicked

We finally decided to give Zoe her first bath. We knew we had to be careful with her belly button though since it still hasn't fallen off.

So, we setup the GoPro to capture this wonderful bonding moment with our baby.

All seemed to be going well. She seemed to be very relaxed in her tub as well. And then she cried! And we immediately noticed that her belly stub looked like it was coming off. We thought that we must've done something wrong and that it was hurting her. We totally panicked! I probably panicked the most and couldn't really think of what should be done. We both couldn't figure out what to do and started bickering. Then, I decided to give the Dr. a call. Meanwhile, Jeric was checking online.

Eventually, we got comfort in knowing that she was ok. Her stub was doing something naturally.

Sweet Treats from Krystal, Ray & Preston

Yummy donuts sent over from Krystal, Ray & Preston!

Soooo derishush!

Happy 2 Weeks Sweetie

Happy two weeks my little love bug!

You in your little cute swim suit!

The Day of Many Visitors

We had a looooooot of visitors today. Everyone's been dying to meet Zoë and Sunday seems to be the best day.

Our first visitors of the day were Ninang Chi, Uncle Alan, and Travis.

While they were visiting, Ate Len and Kuya Phil also dropped by.

Zoë was pretty tired, so she ended up taking a nap. Then, Alex and Gen came by. I was hoping Zozo would be awake, but she was still asleep. A few minutes later, Ninang Denise came by as well. Since Zoë was stirring, she picked her up and spent a bit of time with her. Then, Auntie Del, Uncle Lito and Ninong Ton Ton came by! We also had a surprise visit from Maegan! By this time it was a little overwhelming. But even though, we were very glad that they all got to see our sweet sweet baby.

Saturday Visitors

It's been about a week since we've been home and everyone has patiently been waiting for a good time to come see our bundle of joy.

Today, Ate Ween, Mika and Leah came to visit. Mika and Leah stayed in the living room with Jeric while Ate Ween came in the room to carry Zoë.

We asked Leah if she wanted to be Ate Leah, but she said, "no". She wants to be Auntie Leah.

Yummy Gift In the Mail

Mama Joan and Mike couldn't visit us right away, which was totally okay with us. We completely understood. Still, they were so very thoughtful and sent us a care package.

It arrived in the mail today!

Sharis Berries!! Chocolate covered strawberries, oh so yummy!

Thank you Mama Joan, Mike and kiddos!

Happy 1 Week!

Happy 1 week Zoe! As crazy as this week has been, we're so glad to have you in our lives. *smoochies*

Finally Finished Zoe's Age Blocks

Totally forgot about Zoe's age blocks for her pictures until today because she's 1 week today! Good job mommy!

Oh well.. time to buckle down and get to work! Gotta get all these onto the blocks!

Jeric did the ironing...

Tada...

Once they were all ironed, I got to stuffing..

And here the blocks are! 15 for 2015..

Zoe's First FaceTime

Jeric was out and about somewhere while me and Zoe were in the bedroom. She was pretty awake and since Jeric hardly gets to enjoy her being awake because she's always sleeping, I decided to FaceTime him with her. He loved it!

The third pic is my favorite!

Daddy & Baby K.O.'d

Sneaked into the bedroom to find Daddy and Zoe totally knocked out!


So precious!

Ninong Chris Paying a Visit

Before Chris heads off to backpack in Europe, he came by to visit his little niece.

Zoe's First Big Smile

I wanted to prop Zoe up on her boppy for some cute "sitting" pictures. She kinda slouched all snuggly right into the little hole. I got all situated and started snapping away.

The first picture totally has her looking like royalty. I mean, don't get me wrong, she is the princess of the Samoza dynasty so the picture is fitting.

Here she is nonchalantly giving out orders. Hehehe.


Anyhow, after snapping away, I totally, accidentally caught thee BIGGEST smile! It was also her first real smile!


How cute is that!!

Birth Announcement Photo Shoot

Time for our DIY photo shoot with baby girl!

Since we've finally gotten a teeny bit of a routine down and have fully settled ourselves at home, we thought it was prime time to snap photos for her birth announcement!

We had to have two different shoots, one more boyish and one super girly. both of them had her in her diaper... but now I wish she was completely in the buff. Just because it's cuter. I'm sure she'll be glad we opted for diaper on when she's grown up and we bring these photos out to reminisce, haha. Anyhow, the boyish pic is of her in some Jordan kicks and a beanie and her girly one is just her with her princess crown.

Baby's First Check-up

Today's the very first check-up for Zoe. We get to see her progress on growth and development and get a lot of our first-time-parent questions answered. Sorry Dr., we're about to bombard you with a mother load! LOL

Zoe Riley 4 Days Old
6 lbs 6.1 oz
12.99"


Poor thing. I think she was super cold. Mommy wont forget to bring a blanky next time for all the baby nakedness in between weigh-ins.

Skin-to-Skin With Daddy

Some skin-to-skin with Daddy! This is the most precious thing ever. Daddy and Baby bonding time. So adorable!

Papa Eric and Lola Dinky Visiting

Mom & Dad Samoza came by to visit Zoe!

Dad Samoza is still afraid to hold her because she's so teeny tiny.

Enjoying Her Rocketship.. LOL

We started using our MamaRoo today because we wanted to see if she would enjoy it and if it would comfort her enough. See seems to like it!

Home Sweet Home!

Ahhhh, we're finally home. Thank heavens. I don't think I could last another minute in that hospital. I mean, don't get me wrong, they have a nice labor & delivery area, but nothing beats the comfort of your own home!

Putting Zoe in her car seat was fun! LOL. You could totally tell we were so knew at all this. Hahahaha! It took us quite a bit to figure it out and even then, we ended up stopping over to read all the instructions and redo it. Alas, we figured it out and are back on the road!


Here we are.. our first day home with our cutie pie.
Daddy & Zoe

Still Need That Transfusion

Ugh, it turned out I still needed a blood transfusion. I know it's to help me, but I couldn't wrap my head around the thought of someone else's blood being in me. I tried my hardest to see if I could just forgo having the transfusion, but my Dr said that although it is entirely my decision, she felt that it was extremely necessary since my HCG levels are still dropping. :(

So, I agreed and had them prod me with yet another needle.

At this point, I'm so over the hospital! I've had a nurse hook up my IV wrong, which resulted in my arm ballooning slightly, the anesthesiologist poking me wrong twice before requesting for another one, my right arm bruised because they couldn't get the IV in there either, they eventually had it hooked up on my wrist, and then with the blood transfusion, the nurse straight up asked Jeric to help her remove the pin/needle from the bag. What? Um, no! First off, he has no gloves, second, he's totally not certified to do any of the such!

This was also an additional day needed in the hospital. I should've been discharged today. :(

As Jeric would say, Go Me Home!

The Aftermath We Never Expected

Active labor went really well and we were both soo happy to finally meet our baby girl face-to-face. Everything was wonderful and life stood still for just a moment. And then suddenly, things took a turn for the worst!

My Dr was concerned with how much blood I was loosing and also the fact that she couldn't get it to stop. That's when I started feeling drowsy and out of it and then they pulled Zoe off of me, which made me a little panicky. Luckily, they assured me right away that she was perfectly fine and that they were just going to clean her up and hand her to Daddy. But then, my eye started to twitch and the nurse who was actually Zoe's nurse was a bit concerned. She didn't say so at the time, but she was scared that I would start seizing. Thank goodness she didn't say that at the time. I'm sure Jeric would've fainted right then and there. The nurse ended up handing Zoe over without cleaning her first. She just wrapped her up for him. But, then, things got even worse. All of a sudden 7 more Dr's rushed in. They all went immediately over to me to try and help out my Dr. At the same time, one of the other nurses was trying to get my left hand ready for a blood transfusion as they feared my levels were getting too low. She had such a hard time finding a vein. They tried and tried, but were unsuccessful. So, they came to my right arm and had to see if they could put it through where I had the antibiotics flowing through. At this point, Jeric started feeling faint. Zoe's nurse noticed, so she decided she might as well clean Zoe up and have Jeric go sit down before he did faint. Everything didn't phase me too much because I was pretty drowsy and out of it. But Jeric wasn't. He was wide awake and extremely worried.

Luckily, my Dr got the bleeding to stop. So much so, that I didn't even need the blood transfusion. And all was well. Thank God for our little bundle of joy and for keeping me safe!

Now we can finally breath and enjoy every second of our little Ms Zoe Riley.


After everything settled, we were finally escorted onto the recovery room. We thought, ah, at last, we can get some much needed rest. Boy were we wrong!

The nurses had to check on us every few hours or so. Then, there were the ones coming in for tests for Zoe.

Oh well, it was still fun enjoying our little bundle of joy! My mom also came by to help us out. :)

Welcome Baby Zoë Riley!

After 21 hours, baby Zoë finally made her grand entrance!

Once the Dr. said I was ready to go, she left and had the nurse work with me. The nurse got me all ready. She held my right knee and Jeric held my left knee. Now all I had to do was follow her guidance and give birth to our beautiful baby.

Active labor wasn't so bad actually. Although, I wonder how bad it would've felt without the epi. Jeric didn't want to see the actual labor, but where his position was, there was no way he couldn't.

By the time Zoë was really ready to make her appearance and started to crown, the Dr. came back. She was really there just before Zoë came out. While she was crowning, the Dr. was amazed by how much hair she had. Even Jeric said she has a LOT of hair. Hahaha. The Dr. made a few jokes too, about how we can pull baby out by her hair or that she could braid her hair.

Moments later the Dr. asked me if I wanted to touch her head. I was like, "Are you sure it's okay?" Haha. I was pretty nervous, but also curious. So, I did it. I touched her squishy little head! She totally did have a ton of hair!

After 30 minutes of pushing, she has arrived!

Meet our gorgeous, precious, little angel!

Labor Continues

It's the next day, but only because it's past midnight. In reality, it's only been minutes since they inserted the balloon catheter and for the next few hours, I get no sleep because of the pain from having the balloon catheter force contractions. That was pretty damn uncomfortable and a tad painful. It did get me from 1cm to about 2/3 cm's though. And then it totally just fell out. That's when the contractions started to pick-up too. They started to actually get a little painful. Still couldn't have my epidural though.. had to be at least 4 or 5 cm dilated. Eventually I made it there and it was time for my epi! Thank heavens!

This meant more needles though. Oh, that's right. I forgot to tell you that I needed antibiotics administered through an IV. They tried my right arm, but couldn't find a vein. So they tried my left side. Supposedly, the nurse got it in. But then my arm started to swell! She totally missed the vein and had the IV fluids blowing up my arm. Ugh. Finally they found a vein on my right wrist and in went the antibiotics, which created a burning sensation! Totally not fun. And now back to the epidural.

So the anesthesiologist comes in and gets me prepared. While I sit facing the nurse, the anesthesiologist gets ready to insert the catheter. First she gives me a shot to numb my back. She only gives me one though, thinking it would be enough. But when she tried to insert the catheter, I said it hurt, so she added another dose of whatever it is they use to numb me. She tries again and says I need to relax. The nurse was really kind, she knew I was way too much in pain and that the anesthesiologist was probably inserting it wrong. But the anesthesiologist said it's fine. After a couple of excruciating minutes, she finally got it in. She was about to begin administering the epidural and that's when she realized that the catheter was inserted into my vein. So, she had to remove it and try again. Waaaaahhhhhhh!

Second time around, she moves up my spine a few spaces. She begins numbing it, but hello! She still only administers one shot for numbing. I think two are highly necessary! I scream in pain again and then she decides to numb me twice. At this point, I'm pretty pissed. Again, she begins inserting the catheter. This time is much more painful! Yet, she keeps shoving the catheter! And I'm really in agony here. The nurse notices it and the anesthesiologist also can't seem to get the catheter deep enough. And the more she keeps trying to shove it in there, the more I scream out in pain. Eventually, she gets the message (yah, after the damage has been done) and calls for another anesthesiologist.

The new guy comes in and off the bat, after locating a good spot to insert the catheter, he gives me 2 shots to numb me up. And when he begins inserting the catheter, I cringe in preparation for severe pain, but I'm quite surprised to not feel a single damn thing!

Finally.. the epidural has been administered and my legs go numb! As they've reached maximum numbness, I have a bit of fun pinching my things. Hahaha. The notion of not feeling my legs when I touch them cracks me up a bit. And then the drowsiness ensues and I finally get some much needed shut eye.

Hours later, I wake up and it turns out that the epidural ended up slowing my dilation down and because of how long ago my water broke, I had to be induced with pitocin. Ugh. This got the ball rolling though and my contraction strength starts to increase and then the epidural wears off on one leg. Which is apparently normal. I clicked the little button that's supposed to give me more of the meds, but I swear it does nothing. I tell the nurse and she gets the anesthesiologist back. He increases my dosage and also has me lean on the leg that wears off so that all the meds flow down to that leg. It does it's job and my leg starts to numb again. But then, ugh, nurse flips me back to the other side. She said that she needs to keep flipping me from side to side in order to help baby move lower. But, common, can't you let the meds really kick in first?

Anyways, the pain starts to pick back up again and the numbness really seems to completely wear off. This time, I really couldn't handle it. It was extremely painful. So, instead of grabbing the anesthesiologist, the nurse thought it be best to wait for the Dr. since it's about time that she'd check up on me anyways.

When the Dr. comes in and checks up on me, she said, "Oh, no wonder you feel a lot of pain, you're ready to go!"

And so it starts...

The Day My Water Broke

**Warning!! Contains graphic content. LOL. Read at your own risk.**

I decided to have my membrane stripped a few days ago and I guess it did it's job because my water totally broke today!

Jeric's Auntie Flo and little cousin, Tristan, were visiting from New Jersey so they came over with Mom Samoza, Marky, and Lola Taba. Denise and Ray also stopped by since they were nearby (visiting Uncle Alan at UCI Medical Center).

Mom Samoza brought over some Chipotle and El Pollo Loco for lunch. Marky and Tristan were supposed to swim, but while we all ate and hung around, they never got around to it. Instead, Jeric, Ray, Marky and Tristan headed over to the gym.

Meanwhile, us gals were watching old home videos. At one point, we started talking about my water breaking and not long after, I totally felt it. I felt a slight trickle, but didn't feel like it was from my bladder. So I headed to the bathroom and yup! My water broke! It was only trickles of water though. I wasn't 100% sure though, so I asked Mom Samoza and Auntie Flo and they both said yup, my water broke. Denise called the boys and I started getting things that we needed. There were just a few things I forgot to pack, like the chargers and the GoPro. Weirdly enough, I also didn't panic. I was super calm. LOL. The boys finally came. Jeric and I went straight over to the hospital while the rest of them stayed back to clean up a little and lock up the apartment.

At the hospital, I was sent into the evaluation room where they wanted to monitor me first, just in case it was a false alarm. I guess since I only trickled water, I wasn't completely going into labor just yet. Of course, when I was changing into the hospital gown.. GUSH! My water COMPLETELY broke! Thank goodness I was already in the hospital gown. The nurse immediately took me over to the labor & delivery room. They hooked up monitors to me and checked if I was dilated. Well, no contractions and only dilated about 1cm.

They said I had about 5-6 hours for me to start contracting before they had to step in and induce. So I walked around the room hoping to get things going. My Mom and Mom & Dad Samoza came by to keep us company and bring us food.

The waiting game begins..


We had many other visitors come and go through out the night. And then visiting hours were over and it was just us.

Unfortunately, the contractions never kicked in and it was on to inducing. Since they saw that my labor plan wanted the use of more natural ways of inducing first, my Dr had a balloon catheter inserted. It's basically a little deflated balloon placed at the cervix. Once it's in, they pump the balloon up with air, thus forcing the cervix to open up, which signals the body in hopes to kickstart labor. And now we wait. And I do my best to try and sleep.