He's here! Labor: Anthony's perspective

Okay - I know this is months late, but better late than never! Here's the labor story, that I wrote about a week after we welcomed Ashton Lorenzo Reyes into the world.

We welcomed our Aloha Baby into the world and could not be any happier! Now for the play by play...

For at least 2 weeks before Heather giving birth she had been really uncomfortable; baby was really low and it was hard for her to sleep. We wanted to do all of those old wives tales to see if we could get baby out sooner than later. We started incorporating jalopenos into our meals, made labor cookies with cayenne pepper, went on evening walks and sex of course (that shouldnt' be TMI since you all know we just made a baby, haha).

On Thursday September 6th, we took our evening walk down University Avenue toward the Ala Wai canal near our condo. We had our 38 week appointment and she was barely 1cm dilated. On the walk Heather started complaining of a lot of extra pressure and needing to go to the bathroom. By the time we made it to the canal she had to take a break, which she normally never had to. After a little break she said she started having some pains so we walked back to the condo. By that time it was already around 6:30 in the evening and I was going to start making our dinner. Before I could even turn on the stove, Heather told me she was contracting. OMG!

By the way, Wednesday night she lost her mucus plug, so we knew it was going to be soon...just not sure how soon. Anyway, she said it just felt like mentral cramps but they were coming about every 5 minutes or so. We continued with dinner and began timing the contractions. We were really excited and myself in a little bit of shock. We weren't really sure if it was actual labor, but just started timing them. After dinner they were 4-5 minutes apart and we were unsure if we needed to go to the hospital or not. Our doctor told us to come in if the water broke or if contractions were 5 minutes apart. So, we waited a few more hours until around 11pm and drove to the hospital. Unfortunately, after a check she was only about 1 1/2 - 2 cm dilated and they sent us home. They told us labor was close but it could still be as far as a week away. Heather said NO WAY! We got home around 12:30am and I fell asleep, but poor Heather was up all night with progressive contractions that were getting more painful and closer together. I had no clue, because she let me sleep. Around 10am we decided to go back in. It was getting really painful for her and she wanted some relief. I wasn't too sure, because of what the nurse said the night before. I tried calling the dr but she didnt get back to us soon enough. We drove to Kapiolani Medical Center for Women and Children, went up to triage for the cervix check. This time she was 5cm dilated and they told us we were going to be parents today! Wow...

A flood of emotions for the both of us. Heather was so relieved, I was so relieved that she didn't have to go home and fight the contractions anymore. And I was really excited that my son was going to be sharing this special birth day with my dad. September 7th is my dad's birthday as well. This year happened to be his 50th birthday and he really wanted to share the day with his grandson. And he got his wish!

After the cervix check Heather asked for her epidural - unfortuantely they had to take some labs and it'd be a little while before, maybe an hour or so. This is where the true test began. Heather was in A LOT of pain. It was really tough to see her in such uncontrolable pain. She was doing so good breathing through each contractions, now around 3 minutes apart. The were getting stronger and sometimes no relief or break in between them. She was crying, she was anxious, she was trembling and shaking in pain and I was right by her side to console her (as much as I could). It was really horrible. For all those moms who did it all natural - more power to you. I would not want to see her go through that entire process without the epidural. It would have been too much. Finally she got the epidural at 6cm dilated. Wow - she was a changed woman! There was a smile on her face and she actually opened her eyes again. I was so relieved.

The epidural really slowed down labor though, so she had some time to rest before pushing. Around 9:20pm the attending doctor came in to check her to make sure that she was 10cm dilated. When she checked her she immediately told the nurse "Call Dr. Yazawa!" Ashton was so far down that you could see his hair. That's pretty awesome that Heather couldnt really even feel that. Luckily, the doctor lived close and arrived a minute or so before 9:30pm. Heather immediately started pushing - and after only 3 pushes and 10 minutes - our aloha baby was here! He looks a lot like me and how I looked as a baby, so I'm very proud of that. We love him so much and could not be happier.

Ashton Lorenzo Reyes 

8lbs 13.2oz - 21 1/2in long at 9:41pm on September 7, 2012

Here are a few pictures of him - 1 day old!

Kapiolani Medical Center

Honolulu, HI 

Ashton is almost here...

Well we are 37 weeks as of Friday and are really excited to meet our lil guy! I have had a lot of "how much does he weigh" questions. So I'm going to let you all guess :] We actually have no idea what he weighs but have guesses of our own. Anthony was 8lbs 7oz and I was 8lbs even if that matters at all! Good luck guessing.....we can't wait to see who responds :)
If you win I will write your name in his baby book of who guessed the closest or exactly what he weighs! Once again good luck and please don't wish a 10lb baby on me....haha!

Wow, Heather wrote an update! haha 

-Anthony

MHRM Residence Weekend

Aloha. This past weekend (Friday/Saturday/Sunday) I had "Residence Weekend" for my masters program for UH Manoa. It was held at the Hawaii Prince Hotel in Waikiki - what a nice place! I was feeling a little nervous to start the program. It's a big step, also feeling slightly overwhelmed with everything else going on in our lives. But I was pleasantly reassured after this weekend that this was the best decision I could have ever made for my family and my future career.

The morning began around 8am on Friday with breakfast. The program has around 38 students on Oahu and and 16 neighbor island students. This weekend all students from the Big Island, Kauai, and Maui came to do an intensive orientation. I was one of the last people to show up and it's pretty daunting to walk into a huge ballroom of strangers alone. But, I knew that I had a few goals for myself.
1. Network, network, network!
2. Be myself and try to get to know as many different people as possible
3. Be a sponge and soak up as much information as possible.

Well, I definitely succeeded in those goals and then some. After a great conversation over breakfast, we started the program with introductions around 9am. Professor David Bess who is a former Dean of the College of Business and current professor for HR Management and Advanced Organizational Behavior started off the morning with the typical ice breakers. He began lecture and it seemed to fly by very quickly. The day was basically all about team dynamics. How teams work together and the process teams go through in the forming process. These are all things that we all go through in our personal and professional lives on a daily basis. And this stuff is very interesting for me. We were then broken up into teams (that we'll be working with for the rest of the semester). My team is made up of 6 others: Ashley, Anna, Linda, Katheryne, Paige and George. Our group is the definition of diversity. We do have a few things in common, but come from very different walks of life and backgrounds. I know I'm going to learn a lot from them and the rest of the professionals in my cohort class. Linda is the Instructional Designer for the U.S Coast Gaurd and works at the Training Headquarters just outside Bodega Bay. She is also a council member for the city of Sausalito. She is really nice lady and going to be a great mentor for me.

Sunday we went through a DiSC training session with Sarah Kalicki-Nakamura from Th!nk Hawaii. It was an inspirational session where we were able to take a 79-question self assessment and compare our interpersonal communication styles to those of our peers and teammates. If you are primarily "D" then you assert a "Dominant" personality, "i" is influence, "S" is steadiness and "C" is conscientiousness. Can you guess what I was?

In the afternoon session we had a training with a guy named Craig Chong who owns Fresh Leadership here in Hawaii. It was an inward look at ourselves and self relflection on what important events in our lives have gotten us to where we are. That really lead to the book we have to read by next Wednesday which is called "What got you here won't get you there." The title alone resonates with me. If I keep doing what i've always done, nothing will ever change. Now that is okay if I'm happy where I am. But if I want something else, something different, something more for my career and family then I have to change something up. I have to take risks (moving to Hawaii to start a masters program) in order to take my development to a whole new level.

So yes, this weekend really pumped me up and re-framed my mentality abut this program. I'm not nervous or scared to be taking on a gigantic workload with grad school...I'm optimistic and excited for 16 months of personal and professional development. I won't get these next 16 months back and I'm ready to be extraordinarily present during this time. To soak in every ounce of inspiration I can that will help me be all that I can be in my career.

Shout out to my mom! I miss you very much! I know you miss me too. I love you and can't wait for you to visit with Dad and meet our son and your grandson. You both will be the best role models for him as you were for me and I'm so happy he's going to have you two in his life.

This is a picture of us sitting in the grass last summer looking at the Eiffel Tower in Paris - sipping wine and eating peanuts. This is why I love her so much. We can just enjoy eachother and laugh. Safe fun. Haha

Here are some pictures from the weekend...

They gave us this cool laptop bag with our degree name written on it.

Our name tags and which island we're from

Morning view from the 7th floor of the Hawaii Prince Hotel

Welcome, Master of HR Management students!

Evening view of magic island and Kapolei/Ewa Beach on the right!

Cody & Mone's Visit to O'ahu

We officially had our first visitors and we're so happy it was with our great friends, Cody & Mone. It's already been over a month since we've been here and time has really flown by. The first few weeks were spent getting logistics figured out and setting up our condo, the weeks after that was spent adventuring Oahu and figuring out our favorite spots. The few days before Cody and Mone came were the most boring days of my life. Haha I was sunburnt so we didn't want to go in the sun and we had basically done everything. So, we started watching Lost on Netflix. Heather was an avid watcher but I had never seen it before. At this point, I'm on season 2 (over 30 episodes in) and the hatch is opened, Danielle has stolen a baby and Walt is abducted by Pirates. I'm hooked like a fish! Sorry for the tangent, now about our week with our visitors...

We picked them up from the airport last Friday and were ready to have some fun. After orienting them to our condo, we rent straight to Waikiki beach, which is about 5 minutes from here. We got some time in at this packed white sandy beach and relaxed in the sun. After getting back and showering, we went to Kona Brewing Co in Hawaii Kai for some pizza & beer. If you ever come visit, that is definitely a recommendation of ours. They have a lot of great local beers and delicious pizza. Their happy hour is has great deals too. We hit up Costco after dinner and then headed back. With the time difference (3 hours behind California) we were in bed by 10 o'clock. Haha party animals we are...

Day 2 was really fun. We took Pali Hwy to the Northern Windward side of the island (bypassing Kaneohe Bay) and headed west toward the North Shore. It's a great scenic drive and a lot of great views and places to stop along the way. Basically, we packed a lunch and were off the adventure. The first stop was at beach park with a lookout called "Chinaman's Hat." The beach is hardly crowded and has great views. We had some beers, played some volleyball and then headed back on the road. The beach we wanted to end up on was Papailoa Beach on the North Shore where the TV show Lost was actually filmed. Heather and I had been there a few times and we really liked it because of all the sea turtles there. Cody, Mone and I snorkeled there since there's a lot of reef and we all saw probably over 15 sea turtles of all shapes and sizes. After all getting pretty burnt, we headed to a small beach town caled Haleiwa to get some famous shaved ice at Aoki's. Soooo goood. That night we went to do the touristy things and walked down Kalakaua Rd (Waikiki Beach) and ate at Senor Frogs. Senor Frogs in Honolulu sucks. Don't go there. Bad service and bad food. Great company though!

Day 3, we were pooped. We took them to the Aloha Swap Meet in Aiea near Aloha Stadium. It's a good place to go and buy souvenirs when you're here. Go early though, it gets really hot. We bought some souvenirs and then our plan was to go do some body boarding, but instead we had a lazy day at the condo. We got to relax inside (away from the sun), and drink...a lot. Captain Morgan rum drinks and a mexican beer medley Haha We watched a lot of Episodes of Lost, went in our jacuzzi and I had my famous spicy meatlof. Another solid night of fun.

Day 4, Heather and I had our baby appointment in the morning so once we got back from that we drove to Hanauma Bay to do some snorkeling. Definitely recommend Hanauma Bay if you want to get some good snorkeling in. It only costs $1 to park all day, and $7.50 to snorkel. The water is really clear and lots of tropical fish. After a great day of snorkeling and people watching, we drove down the windward side and checked out the beautiful colored water on that side of the island. For dinner we tried out Ono Hawaiian Food on Kapahulu Street near our condo. You know you're at a local restaurant when you have no idea what the menu means! Literally none of us knew what the food was. We ended up trying combo plates which consisted of traditional Pork Lau Lau (which Mone says is Yum Yum), Kalua Pork, and other traditional Hawaiian foods. It was really good! It's a great place to check out if you want traditional food.

Day 5, we woke up early and Cody, Mone and I hiked Koko Head. I love that climb. Its tough, but has the best views on the island in my opinion. We hiked it and spent some time up there checking out the Eastern side of the island. After that, we picked up Heather and hit up Waikiki Beach to rent paddleboards. It was awesome. We all really like paddle boarding! The best place to do it is on Waikiki since the waves are basically non existant where we go. Preggers sit on the front of my board and I took her around on a little trip. It was fun. I wanted to buy a board but they're about $1000 - so I will keep to renting every once in a while.

Day 6 (Last Day) - we spent just hanging out at the condo until we had to take them to the airport. It was really sad and we didn't want to see them go. We had a great time with you guys though and you know you two are always welcome here. So start saving...haha Thanks so much for coming and we'll see ya when we come visit California.

I was going to put pictures from their visit, but Mone has them all...I'll put some after she downloads them. Cheers!

Picture Update!

Aloha! I thought i'd update you all with some pictures. However, if you follow me (@areyes06) or Heather (@heathg1018) on Instagram then maybe you've seen these before.

Hotel Reyes

So any guests that will be staying with us will be sleeping on this futon with that view. How lucky are you???? This is also in Ashton's room, so any guest that is staying with us post-baby - you will be waking up every 1-3 hours to feed him, change diapers while we sleep. That is your payment to us, thank you and you're welcome.

Ashton's Collage

We decided to make a collage of pictures/drawings in Ashton's room so we can show him pictures everyday of all of our closest friends and family. So, feel free to send us pictures to put up! In the center is a drawing from my Aunt Dianne. She drew me a picture entitled "The Lost World" for me when I was in 6th grade. It's a great picture of dinosaurs and I'm excited we could showcase it in his room. 

Collage close-up

Maternity Pic

This is probably my favorite maternity picture of Heather. Aren't I great photographer? Even though I like taking a lot of pictures of Heather & our baby, I also like to be behind the camera too. So I was feeling a little jealous...thus...the picture below.

Don't be confused, I am not carrying the baby despite my classic "holding-the-belly" pose.

     So, we got rid of our iPhone's to try and save a little money. It's been really nice actually. I'm learning not to be so dependent on my phone and it's kind of liberating. Because I'm not carrying my iPhone around anymore I'm missing some good photo opportunities, but oh well. 

     We've adventured the island and already starting to develop our favorite spots! We live about 5 minutes from Waikiki (which is the South/East side of O'ahu). The windward side is the farthest east as you can get and from its name, it's windy. We really like Waimanalo Beach Park because the color of the water is the best of any part of the island. The North Shore is also a great place. There is a small surfer beach town called Haleiwa that we really like. They have 2 famous snocone places called Marimoto's or Aoki's. We've gone to Aoki's twice and its aweome. I recommend vanilla ice cream at the bottom. The Waianae/Leeward side of the island we've driven once but actually didnt like it very much. It's pretty dry and not much going on over there. Don't worry, if you come visit we'll be able to give some great recommendations on places to go depending on your interests. 

    Besides the beach, baby classes have been keeping us pretty busy. We just finished a 3-part series called Prepared Childbirth at Kapi'olani Medical Center (where we plan to deliver). It was informational, but probably not very necessary. Yesterday we toured the birthing center and it's really nice. We like it and its really close to our condo. Today, we started a 3-part series called Infant Childcare. Today, we talked all about breast feeding. I was joking with Heather during class that I was just too immature for that class. Haha seriously. Nipples everywhere. We watched lots of videos about proper "latching" and manually milking yourself. TMI. Haha It was at least informational, since Heather does plan to breastfeed. The next class is all about how to handle your baby like holding, burping positions, changing diapers, giving a bath, etc. We even have fake babies to practice with. The last class is on CPR and safety. The last class is at the end of August, and Heather will be 38 weeks, so who knows if we'll even make it! 

Well, that is all for now. Hopefully Heather will write a post sometime! Haha 

Things Babies Can't Do

A while back I was joking with Colin when I was in shock about being a soon-to-be dad. We decided that I needed to make a bucket list of things babies can't do that I need to accomplish before September 14th. That got me thinking about the things I was used to doing that I may not be able to do anymore, or at least for a while.

So here was my list...

1. Go to Las Vegas
2. Do keg stands
3. Go to the movies as much as possible
4. Fly (peacefully) in airplanes
5. Go to bars
6. Shoot a lot of guns
7. Sleep through the night
8. Cuss like a maniac
9. Go to nice restaurants
10. Backpack through the wilderness

I accomplished 8/10 of those since beginning this list.

1. Go to Sin City...Last October Heather & I went to Vegas with our good friends (and Heather's cousin) Brett & Erin. We were lucky enough to stay at their timeshare with them and we had a blast. This was (of course) before we knew we were expecting a baby though. So, we went again! In March we went to Vegas with Cody & Mone! We stayed at the Hardrock off the strip and had a great time. Heather was 15 weeks pregnant but still a trooper! So...take my pregnant fiancee to sin city was able to be checked off the list!
2. Do Keg Stands...I came up with this on my bi-weekly hangouts with my friends Christina & Justin. We decided that babies can't do keg stands and that was something I needed to do. I haven't done a keg stand since my freshman or sophomore year in college...and I didn't accomplish this one. We even had kegs at our going away party and I totally forgot to do one. I'm surprised because I was completely sober at that party. :) I'd freely welcome a keg stand prior to being a dad, but now we're in Hawaii and it'd be tough logistically.
3. Go to the movies as much as possible... Check! Heather and I really like going to the movies and we've gone to quite a few. I don't know if I'm ready to have the TV on Yo Gabba Gabba and Blue's Clues...actually we've decided we want Ashton to only watch dvd's and tv in Spanish so he picks it up quickly. I was a linguistics major at UCD and that is something I studied pretty often. So, if you want to be a cool person - send us some DVD's/Books in Spanish! We will get good use out of them! Favorite movie of the summer so far??? I really liked Ted, The Dark Night and Spiderman. I want to see The Watch though!
4. Fly (peacefully) in Airplanes...so I have accomplished this! Since finding out we were having a baby, I've flown to Vegas, Hawaii, and Hawaii again! I guess it was as peaceful as a plan ride could get. I'm nervous to fly with a baby though because I know how annoyed I get when a baby is crying on a plane. We plan on coming back to California sometime in December or January (hopefully) so we hope Ashton is a good boy.
5. Go to bars...well that one is really hard for me because I don't drink and Heather can't drink. However, I was coerced into attending a bar function with friends once or twice. :)
6. Shoot a lot of guns... damn it! I didn't get to do this. And now my shotgun is in storage. I'm sad I'm going to miss dove season this year, but I guess living in paradise makes up for that.
7. Sleep through the night - We're really trying to get as much rest and relaxation as possible up until the baby gets here. With the time change here though (3 hours behind California) I don't think I've been up past 10:30pm and slept in past 8am. I've been a grandpa here!
8. Cuss like a motha fu%$# maniac - haha well, I feel like I talk the same as I always have. I don't really cuss THAT much. But will be really aware when I'm around a kid, but as a baby it doesn't really matter.
9. Go to nice restaurants - Check! Nothing annoys me more than kids running around, under the table, screaming and being little maggots. Actually, I kinda like them acting like that, just not at nice restaurants. I'm sure it'll be different with my kid though. For heather's bday we went to The Firehouse in Old Sacramento which was awesome! Now, though, since we're both unemployed we're trying to be on a budget and eating at our condo as much as possible.
10. Backpack through the wilderness - babies can't do that! But daddy did! Before moving to Honolulu, I backpacked through Lassen National Park with Cody and his little brother Jake. It was initially a 3 night/4 day trip that we cut down to 2 night/3 days. It was really tough but really fun and rewarding as well. I've never backpacked before and so happy I got the chance.

Now, any other suggestions?! I don't have much time...

Disclaimer: If you have a problem with my blog updates, do me a favor and stop reading. If you enjoy them, you're welcome.

We moved to Hawai'i

Aloha friends & family. Sorry it took so long to update, but we just got our cable/internet hooked up a few days ago! So here is an update, it will probably be unorganized and confusing FYI.

We've been here for 2 weeks now (we moved on July 14th). And...we absolutely love it. Surpised? Haha We literally fit our entire lives into 7 suitcases and moved to an island in the middle of the Pacific Ocean. Wow...

We were really anxious to see the condo once we arrived. (BTW - the flight was fine). We'd seen pictures of the condo and skype'd with our landlord but still you never really know until you see it in person. We love the place. It is already starting to feel like "home." I don't think i'll ever get used to the beautiful Diamond Head views I get to see every single day. Each morning I wake up, make some coffee and sit in the living area gazing at Diamond Head. It's gorgeous and I still can't believe we live here. The other day after drinking my coffee I decided I was going to go on a run to the water. I made it (taking a roundabout way) in about 2 miles. I took off my shoes & socks, jumped in the water, sat down on the beach while drying off, then I ran home. What's not to love about a life like that? Well...we've been doing a lot more than just that, but we are enjoying the downtime and relaxation for now before I start graduate school/get a job and we welcome our baby boy.

I've had a lot of interviews so far (I think 6). They have all gone well and just waiting for positions to open but networking it going well. I'm not worried at all and know the right job will come along and I am doing everything I can. I actually am really enjoying time with Heather - adventuring around O'ahu. I worked fulltime throughout college and this is the first time I haven't been employed since I was 16. I have another interview on Monday.

We've had a successful OBGYN appointment and another coming up on Monday. We love the doctor and really thanksful for that. We also starting taking baby birthing classes at Kapiolani Medical Center. We don't really like it haha. I guess its educational, but we've both done a lot of reading and research on our own and we feel its a lot of overlap. They're teaching us birthing positions and breathing but it probably won't be necessary since Heather is pretty set on an epidural ASAP. We'll see though.

CODY & MONE are coming to visit us in August!!!!!!!! It's actually only a couple weeks away and we're so excited!!!!!!!!!! They're the first visitors in Hotel Reyes. We actually have a lot of visitors planning on coming this year and really excited to see everyone. We're basically all booked up through the rest of the year so Hotel Reyes may open back up in January...haha

So, sorry for the randomness...the next posts will have some structure I promise. We also finished the nursery so pics will be coming soon. Heather & I are doing well and really enjoying the Aloha life.