Before it all went down

So the pregnancy journey has finally come to an end. Brooklyn Jaydah Elzy made her debut at 5:36 am Tuesday December 14th, 2010 after a long labor. We went in at 7pm Sunday night for Angel to be induced. In my novice opinion and unknowledgeable guess, I figured we would be done by Monday afternoon at the latest. I will spare everyone the exact details of the labor because it wasn’t a great time and actually traumatic (I don’t know if I can unsee some of the things I saw) but I did write a quick Haiku (a Japanese poem) about it.

34 hours labor
Crap I know this is my fault
Glad baby looks like her

I will tell one story. Angel didn’t want an epidural, and told me and her mother beforehand that even if she begs and cries try not to let her get it. When she told me this I knew an internal battle would happen. Like what if she’s really in pain and she tells me she’s going to divorce me. I did know that a quick labor would help the chance of her not needed the epidural, but getting induced makes the contractions worse. So of course the labor is 34 hours long. 18 hours into it she started asking relief. She cried three times, yelled at me four times, told me and her mom to get the nurse twelve times. It was getting pretty awkward in the delivery room me when she’s crying and me and are Mom are staring at each other not knowing what to do, but we were trying to honor her wishes. The issue is Angel was a slow dilator, at 8am she was a 3, at 1pm she was a 4. The doctor came in around this time and said that it’s usually one centimeter per hour. So I figure “okay then at 7pm she would be a ten” (the ultimate goal). So I was using that time as an end point. I tried to not let her have the epidural figuring by the time they checked her at 7pm she would be like 9 or hopefully a 10.

When the time came to check her, she was a 5. She immediately asked for the epidural and I didn’t blame her. 24 hours of labor and we were barely at a 5. If you told me it would take 2 more weeks to deliver this baby I would of believed you. Luckily, the epidural made the process better for everyone involved. Angel wishes she would have gotten it sooner.

At 5:36am the baby was finally born, it was definitely amazing and its one of those things you have to be there for. It’s weird because before Brooklyn was born you talk about her, buy clothes for her, and paint a room for her and all kinds of stuff, but it almost like you’re talking about Santa Claus or the Tooth Fairy because you can’t even imagine her here. Then at that moment when she’s about born it’s almost like she appears out of thin air. Oh and she wasn’t happy. Actually you can see for yourself.

I think she got that from her mom. They weighted her (7lbs 2.3 ounces) measures her (19 1/2 inches) and then gave her to me. She was done crying and wide awake and alert, she was just staring at me probably wondering who the heck I am. I’m looking back and I can’t believe that this baby is actually real, and that she’s half of me and half of Angel.
In the end everyone is doing well, Mom and Baby. Today we finally left the hospital. Thanks for everyone’s prayers and thoughts.

What’s up world, its crunch time in the pregnancy journey. If Angel’s water doesn’t break tonight, or tomorrow morning, we are scheduled to go to the hospital by 7pm tomorrow night. Therefore, at the very latest Brooklyn Elzy will make her debut sometime Monday December 13th. Unfortunately no one in our contest picked the 13th, but three people did pick the 12th Adrian, Dayna, & Leah. So if somehow her water breaks and the baby is born tomorrow you guys all win!!!. If I were you guys, tonight I would pray hard that her water starts flowing like the Niagara Falls . Free Pacer tickets and dinner are on the line (travel not included). Expect a written diary and video documentary of the labor, also I will host a live chat and give play by play on streaming audio.


Last thing, I don’t think I’ve ever change a diaper before. So this video below is my first practice, let me know how I did. Everyone take care and thanks for your prayers.

Homestretch

 I didn’t really forget about our blog.  I was just busy.  You see Angel’s pregnant which means I don’t have time to type, because I’m too busy rubbing feet, hips, and thighs (good excuse right).  Anyway, we are in the homestretch.  The baby is going to be born between now and December 17.  That’s a direct quote from our doctor. We’re all ready for the baby to come. I know this means less sleep, no life, and insanity for the next couple of months, but it’s time for the Harvard Grad to be born and begin studying.  Below are some different pictures of Angel during her journey.



This picture was in early summer we thought Angel was really starting to show when we took this.



This picture was later in the summer.  Brooklyn looks like she's taking after her daddy already

This picture was in the fall the baby just kept growing

This picture was last Monday look at that belly.

Getting Registered

Last weekend we visited Target and Baby’s R Us to register for our upcoming baby showers. Right now, we have three parties on the schedule. One from my mother, Angel is getting one from her co- workers and we are having a welcome the baby party whenever we go back to Cali.


I really wanted to be involved in the registry process with it being our first child and all. I never cared what a registry was until we did one for our wedding. The basic concept is a great idea if it was possible I wish I could have a running registry for my life. It would probably look like this.

- New Lexus

- Trip and vacation home in Hawaii

- A winning season from the Indiana Pacers

- any kind of Candy

So feel free to get me anyone of those if you so choose. The problem I have with registries is that they are not for men. They are for women, and women affiliated events such as, bridal showers, baby showers and weddings. You never see a group of guys getting a registry for a birthday party or something. When me and Angel registered for our wedding I realized that 95% of the products we scanned were things that I didn’t care about such as rugs, European soaps, and small kitchen appliances, Angel was having a much better time than I was.

I really was excited to be involved in our daughter’s registry, because I’m the proud father of a future noble prize winner. There is one problem I have an internal shopping clock that usually goes off at the 25 minute mark after we’ve entered a store. When that clock goes off I’m done. I’m definitely leaving the store and regardless of the circumstances. This clock does have exceptions; when I’m in any store that has the word foot in it i.e. Foot Locker, Footaction, or Best Buy, only then does the clock strangely go away.

First, we went to Target. Usually I hate Target and refuse to go because we go there for hangers or detergent or something and suddenly Angel is in the jewelry section or the dollar cart looking at some trinket. Behavior like that makes my internal clock go from 25 minutes to 25 seconds. So the Target rule has been developed, meaning whatever is in the basket after 10 minutes is getting purchased because I’m heading checkout line (Angel understands this which is why she goes to the jewelry section first). But registering at Target was great. The section was really small and it took 20 minutes to scan.

Massive Baby's r Us store

Secondly, we went to Babies R Us which I knew from the 15 minute introduction speech I was going to be in there for at least 2 hours. This is probably the first time I’ve actually been there for more than 5 seconds because of the special circumstance.

Our friendly senior employee who gave us our intro included tidbits like babies go thru 4000 diapers a year. (That’s a lot considering I’ve never changed a diaper in my life), scan as much as you possibly can, target the most expensive stuff, also sign up for a credit card, savings card and make sure to give us your bank account number on the way out. The positive was that I got a scanner. Scanning stuff is something I’ve always enjoyed even back in the days when working retail was my job. Scanning merchandise was my favorite thing, and I was probably the quickest and most accurate at it. (Too bad this means nothing on a resume’)

Getting her scan on

I'm all scanned out

Babies R Us is a massive store which made it seem never-ending. If you ever wondered how many different types of pacifiers and diapers there are, go inside. Also, if you like screaming babies, you can come here. I was determined to keep the trip organized. I said that we had to start one side of the store and work isle by isle and to the right. I figured being organized would make for efficiency and more importantly quickness. Plus, I didn’t think Angel would find something to scan in every isle. Unfortunately, she found a lot of stuff to scan and when I hit my 30-minute time limit and we were only 30% through the store, and haven’t hit important stuff like diapers, strollers, bottles and other stuff. The rest of trip consistent of me snapping saying stuff “what’s the point of buying diapers if we are just going to throw them away” and “do babies really need shoes, they don’t walk” After an hour and 35 minutes, 350 scans and 143 separate items we were done. I controlled the gun while Angel picked out stuff. After all that I was pretty much done mentally. So hopefully we get a lot of stuff, because I’m not going into another Baby store for at least 5 years.

It’s time to light up the blogosphere with another entry of the Elzy Fam Blog. September 21^st marks the first day of autumn. which means this is the season (with a due date of December 10^th) the future princess will be born in. That signals the home stretch for the pregnancy, and this blog will soon have more baby pictures and less pictures of us. There were two events of note since my last entry.

I’m fresh off of a 326^th place finish in a bike race of 337 people. Yes , 97% of all competitors beat me, and a lot of them were female. I was actually the 3^rd to last guy. In order to properly asses this I’m going to have a quick interview, the interviewer myself and the interviewee me again.

Was I prepared?

That’s a large, fat no. I showed up with basketball shorts, basketball shoes, a undersized helmet and a t-shirt on. I rode a mountain bike which the rear brakes barely worked and the handlebars gradually loosened as I rode. More prepared competitors had road bikes, bike shorts, some with full spandex suits and cone helmets.

I didn’t stretch at all; I just jumped on the bike and rode. More seasoned competitors brought stationary bikes to warm up with and one guy even spent 10 minutes messaging his butt checks to get loose.

Do I know how to ride a bike?

I do but I’m not confirming or denying the rumor that someone had to push me along to get started (because my gears were stuck) like I just got my training wheels off my bike.

Was I embarrassed?

Currently, I’m playing two angles for my horrible effort, first that I was riding a mountain bike and second that I didn’t care as much as those bicycle tight having, conehead helmet wearing idiots. (Actually, I pretty embarrassed, I’m a college athlete, and I still work out consistently, I feel like I was more athletic the 99% of the people there and then I was easily passed on a hill by a girl that was maybe 100 pounds & 5 foot 1.

What do I conclude?

You don’t see too many brothas’ in the Tour De France for a reason

I’m also happy to announce that an intervention will not be needed. For anyone who knows Angel she lives and breathes (and drinks) Starbucks. While to be honest the last few months I was worried about her. Our conversations all were starting to revolve around Starbucks. I would ask her how was work and she would say “I only went to Starbucks once today” and then I would ask what does that have to do with work and she would just ask me to go with her to get a Chai Tea.

Some have people have a six sense, like the kid off movie “The Six Sense” who sees dead people. My mom’s sixth sense is the ability to find the lowest possible price on any product without using the internet. My sixth sense is ability to pass gas in a room full of people and slip out unaccused and Angel’s is to find any Starbucks located within a half a mile. The problem with her sixth sense is that it cost a $4 chai every time see uses it. It got so bad I was try to guilt her and say every time you spend money on Starbucks that’s four more dollars we have to come up with for our child’s Harvard education.

I was never sure how to deal with it. I decided I was going to have an intervention. I was thinking about taking her on the Dr. Phil show or finding some type of Starbucks Anonymous for her. Then last week we were sitting in the living room I was on the couch watching TV, she was at the dining table (which is behind the couch) on her computer, and Kobe was laying on the floor licking his rear end when she surprise everyone and said “ I think about Starbucks way too much. I guess this isn’t normal. I need to slow down for a while.” Startled, I hit pause on the remote to the television (love DVR saves our marriage one day at a time) and turned to look at her. Without looking up, she just kept about her business, so I turn back around and went about mine. So congrats to Angel on her admission

Lastly, we do have some picture of my lovely wife below, from when she was kind of pregnant to being really pregnant.

3D Ultra Sound of Baby



4 1/2 Months



6 Months



4 Months

6 Months

Summer Vacation

Hello 27 followers (and the 10 people who actually read the blog) the Elzy Fam Blog is back after a month off. Sorry to deprive you guys of my witty yet insightful writing. The blog has been silent because like the United States Congress I take the month of August off (at least from blogging). It’s important when you live in Indiana to enjoy every moment of summer because like you learned in school, summer is actually 3 months here and August is the most consistent month, when there isn’t much variation in the weather. As far as our recent summer activities there were two separate trips to Chicago and one trip to South Haven, Michigan (a nice little California like beach town off the lake). Our latest trip to Chicago was this past weekend. We both love the city, I personally love the architecture and all the stuff to do. While Angel loves the shopping, diversity and that it’s not Indiana. Angel was a trooper; she walked around the city despite being six months pregnant. We walked to Navy Pier, Millennium Park, and the Magnificent Mile. She did this all while having the future princess of the world in her belly, and some swollen feet. She also put in 100 miles driving, and actually stopped us from getting robbed when we accidently ended up on the wrong part of town. I’ve posted some pictures below our recent summer activities.

In other news currently a documentary series is being filmed about Mrs. Elzy’s pregnancy. Below I’ve posted a teaser video, this documentary won’t be released for a few more weeks so please don’t slam me with emails begging me to see the movie or asking how come it’s not on Netflix yet.

Most important Angel will be 26 weeks pregnant on Friday. Which means baby Brooklyn is about 3 months away, things are starting to get serious, we have registered for child preparation classes, and Angel’s belly button is ready to pop out. We are both getting more excited by the day.

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25 Weeks Pregnant

The View of Downtown Chicago

South Haven, Michigan

Millennium Park

This is the world premier of the untitled documentary about Angel Elzy. Enjoy

The Ultrasound & Baby's Name

With every pregnancy there are two separate experiences. By experience I mean the moment that reality hits you, you are about to become a parent! For the woman it starts as soon as she discovers that she’s pregnant. Her body starts changing, she’s cramping, her body hurts, "certain" body parts are sore, and suddenly she can’t keep food down. She can’t drink alcoholic beverages, eat soft cheese,hot dogs or sushi. She’ll often take 14 hour naps and make so many trips to the bathroom that she begins to refuse liquids. In the first trimester the craziness going on in her body serves as a constant reminder that she’s pregnant and a baby is coming. By the time her body returns to some kind of normality, her stomach starts expanding and she gets a baby bump. Being an outside observer, this doesn’t look fun. I felt so bad for Angel because she would come home and sleep from 6pm to 7am and then get up and go to work. One good thing was that I was able to watch NBA playoffs every night uninterrupted. Point being, pregnancy is more real for the woman from the very beginning.

For dads, the experience starts when he discovers that his wife is pregnant. He goes to the first appointment which basically verifies “yep, there’s a little something in there” but it still doesn’t seem that real for the next two to three months, mainly, because she doesn’t look any different and he doesn’t have to change one thing about his eating habits. He might even forget she was pregnant in the first place if there weren't pregnancy magazines lying around the house and if he didn’t have to make constant runs to the store to buy Gatorade and restock the toilet paper. When does it become real for the man? At the 20 week ultrasound.

Next thing you know you’re sitting in a dark room, staring at a black and white screen, looking at a fully formed baby with a beating heart, legs, hands, feet and a huge head. Then the reality of the situation is hitting you, “there is real baby in there and then on top of that it’s a GIRL”. So not only am I realizing, I’m having a baby, I have to worry about doing her hair, being sensitive, playing with dolls, puberty, and oops, I just realized I’m not writing in third person anymore.

Debuting our beautiful daughter ...

~Brooklyn Jaidah Elzy~