Zion turned a week old on Wednesday

And momma had herself a semi photoshoot. 

The ever elusive on-camera smile from Zion

I'm usually a half second late with my camera and always miss it. But I finally got a good one today. And it's not even as good as it could've been. Lol, but I'll take it. 

You don't know true prayer until...

You're asking God to please let your son continue to sleep until his momma gets home from her errands. We haven't introduced Zi to the bottle or pacifier yet. 

Keep fighting, son! She's almost byke!

Grandma came to visit last night

Zion's first trip out into the world since coming home from the hospital

Went to the pediatrician yesterday. After losing 4 ounces of his birth weight since birth in the hospital, he was up 7.5 ounces. Now weighing in at 6 pounds and 12.5 ounces. Normally babies would still be shedding pounds but Ang's milk coming in so fast helped turn the tide for Zi. 

Anyways, our first impression of Dr. Raghuveera was glowing. Very caring and gentle and sincere and patient and kind. Answered all of our questions without patronizing us. And put a lot of our fears at ease. 

Daddy/son nap time

Must be nice.

Zi living his best life. Not a care in the world. 

Where do I even begin?...

It's been so long since I've blogged on here, I don't even know where I left off or where to begin. It's kinda overwhelming. So I'm gonna fast forward through a few details and then get down to the main event. 

We had our shower. I can't even remember the date. I do remember that it was a massive success. It threatened to rain all day but never did. We had a great time with friends and family and ate a ton of good food and then watched Mayweather beat up McGregor. Can't forget to mention all the amazing gifts Zion received. Huge thanks to Momma and Chelle Woods, Auntie Lynn and Twink, Stace, Big Boz, Kiva and Grace for helping out. 

And then we finished up Zi's nursery. 

And then we went to Destin with the Fam. 

And then we survived Hurricane Irma and two weeks without power. 

On October 18th, at 6a, Ang and myself arrived at Florida Hospital in North Sebring to check in. At 8a, they inserted some kinda device into Ang to soften her cervix that was supposed to last 12 hours in order to begin the inducement process. Momma Woods, Chelle, Lil Mitch and Meme showed up around 10. We all left Ang in the room to rest and went to lunch at noon. I got back to the room at 1 and Ang was heavily medicated. 

30 minutes later, 3 nurses came rushing in to turn Ang on her side bc Zi's heart rate kept dropping below 100bpn. They came back 30 minutes later to re-position her and give her oxygen. It was very nerve wrecking. I felt absolutely helpless for the very first time in my adult life. 

So it's 2 o'clock and our nurse, Brenda (who was terrific), decided to check and see how much Ang was dilated. To her shock, Ang was 5cm and officially deep off in labor and ready for an epidural. We get the guy up to the room and get Ang to sign the waiver but can't find her blood results anywhere. Can't get the shot without blood work. 

Long story short, 6 nurses tried drawing her blood and failed bc it kept clotting up. By the time the guy from the lab got his vials and we got the results back and the guy was ready to give Angel the epidural, Zion was already crowning and Ang was ready to push. 

After 10 or so minutes of pushing, at 3:51pm, Zion came rearing into this world just ah crying his head off. He measured in at 6 pounds, 9 ounces and 19 inches long. 

All the cliche shit everyone says about never knowing what true love feels like until you have a kid is absolutely true. I'm not even gonna try and write a bunch of clever and fancy words. You cannot describe it. Point, blank, period. It's just a feeling. When you know it, you know it. And you'll never know it until it's your turn to know it. 

I love this child with more than myself. He is perfect. Here are pics.