Okay, so it's been a week. I've been busy. Shoot me.

The labor was long. 13 hours or so. They had to induce as Veronica's water had broken, but she hadn't dilated much. This did not look like fun.

But hey, modern medical science, hours of bone chilling agony. A lot of blood and pain and amazement...and here is Gabriela, literally seconds after being born on her mother's chest.

I can honestly say this is a moment I will never forget. I would like to point a few things out to new father's to be. First off, if it hurts, they did something wrong. Fix it. Demand it be fixed. Suffering is for suckers.

Secondly, kids are born back of the head first, weirdly. So if the doc says "Look, your daughter's head!" Don't, seeing only a mass of black hair, make wolfman comments. Not something anyone really wants to hear. Trust me on this one.

So, as far as I can tell, birth is all about the head. Once that's out the rest comes quick. As much as it is common, our doctor alone had 3-4 births and a cesarian the night Gabriela was born, it is a true miracle that compares to nothing I have ever seen. Life from no life. Where there was one, there are now two. With all the months of feeling her move and seeing ultrasounds, it was still, to me, something of an intellectual exercise. I accepted Veronica was pregnant, it didn't really hit me there was a seperate person growing there.




I have to say, the nurses and doctor move quick. Gabriela had a few moments on V's chest, then was whisked off to be cleaned, and prodded, and weighed. Her response I think, was, you've got to be kidding me. I came out for this?

She is, as you can see, the most beautiful, cutest, smartest and simply amazing child born on this earth. Sure, all parents say that, and I understand their limitations, they never met Gabriela. I simply happen to be right. Witness this picture, and you will understand.

Or, I could just show you this short film I call simply, "Gabriela With Hiccups"





Now I do have to point out, as wonderful as Gabriela is, there is a certain, shall we say, bait and switch that goes on when you have a newborn. And, gentlemen, I am speaking after one week! At first they seem to be the most calm, perfect, trouble free people ever.

I mean, who could possibly think an evil, no, an uncomfortable, thought could cross this little girl's head?


























Well. I have no pictures of the evil side of her, or her evil twin that replaces her while my back is turned at 2 a.m. Trust me. It exists.

But let's not dwell on that, shall we? Instead, let us end this post with my latest study. I call it, Cutest Ear Evar.