Light of Faith Photography: June 2013

"Heaven and earth seem to merge, far away, on the horizon.

But don't forget that where they really meet is in your heart as a child of God."

-St. Josemaría Escrivá-

She's here! She's here! She's REALLY here!!! :) Welcome to the Chehade family our beautiful Anabelle!

Wheewh* Let me tell you...What a completely life changing experience this has all been. Every ounce of energy was poured into those final days which welcomed our sweet girl!!! Even when I start to think of the blood, sweat, and tears that went into those days... it's soooo easy to state with conviction that I would relive every moment of difficulty or pain a million times over for the little piece of heaven which we hold in our arms today. Having her with us reminds us, time and time again, that even though the world is so ready to try to prove otherwise: strength, hope, and an all encompassing love -truly lie in the "small" treasures among us. I am constantly humbled when I catch the beautiful glimpse of God's image in something so small, perfect, and powerful.

Anabelle, 5 days old :)

Even though I attempted to envision the day of Anabelle's birth- all premeditated, preparation was tossed out the window as we entered the final stretch of our delivery "days". Having been in prelabor for 4 days, and active labor at home for 7 hours before hospital admission (with super strong contractions coming one after the other, I was dialating sooo slowly) the sentiment of waiting and patience was something God must have REALLY wanted us to practice! Karim was my rock and amazing support in this all (Especially in the moments where I was telling him: "I can't do this! I want a C-Section!" hahaha, Fortunately, somehow he convinced me otherwise!). While so much of the birth experience remains a blur now- what I have been able to hold onto is the reminder that God is always with us (And...you can surprise yourself with just how much you can do!) We were blessed with amazing nurses and a truly memorable and loving midwife. One of my greatest motivations was hearing Anabelle's heart on the monitor. It reminded me that her beating heart had been with me for months and in just a few moments I would begin the journey of discovering her heart in a new way. When she was finally born our midwife immediately placed her on my chest and stomach. It was something unexpected and incredible! Anabelle was so wiggly and the way she moved mirrored the exact movements that I had felt from the active girl inside the womb. hahaha, I immediately thought: "Hey! I know you!!!!" What an amazing first bonding experience :)

This little girl loves playing with her hands!

Our first night home also unfolded differently from what we had envisioned. The day we were discharged from the hospital was also the day that a horrible rampage occurred in the Santa Monica area. With the shootings and Obama's visit in town- we decided to avoid the area and spent the night at Karim's parents. Even though it was something unanticipated- it turned out to be beautiful as we were able to share the extra time with our family and also receive some help. It was also a lesson of detachment for me. Having prepared playrooms for many hospitals, I had always daydreamed of preparing a nursery for our first child. With the pending move to San Francisco and the limited space in our Santa Monica apartment- I had offered up my desire for a nursery and instead did my best in preparing a little space in our bedroom that our Anabelle could have as her own. Even though it was simple, I tried my best to make it something beautiful for that first "coming home" experience. Guess, God thought I could take it a step further and let's just say she had a VERY simple "manger" for the coming home experience. Having looked for something that could mimic a firm crib mattress, Anabelle spent her first night on an overturned sofa cushion in a little makeshift nursery area. hahaha, With the first-time parent jitters- I discovered that it would have made no difference if she had spent the night in the most beautiful nursery in the world or on her overturned sofa cushion! Both Karim and I were so attentive to her breathing, little smiles and grimaces, and tiny squeak of a cry that signaled diaper changes or feedings. Never would I have thought that I could worry so much over such little things! Welcoming the morning sunshine was something truly memorable. I remember holding her in my arms and looking over at Karim and thinking: "Wow! We're really do it! We're keeping our child alive!" hahaha, What a feeling of accomplishment! The morning sunshine never felt sweeter :)

Today, Anabelle celebrates her 3rd week birthday :) Everyday brings it's new difficulties to learn from but more so the chance to marvel at discovering all of the amazing gifts that Anabelle has to offer our new family.

Thank you for your thoughts and prayers these past months! What an adventure this has been!

With great love,

Teresita y Anabelle :)

I haven't been very good at using my DSLR these days, but I'll include some photos that Karim and I took with our phones. I hope to have a little photo shoot with her soon!!! :)

The day active labor started! She's a' comin'!

First bath...."Ahhhhhh! What are you doing to me!?"

Our "champagne" celebratory meal at the hospital :)

Karim studying for finals while we were at the hospital!

Anabelle's first bed! hahaha, oh what a humble manger we brought her to!

I could eat these feet alllll day!

Her first mass :) Saying "Hi" to her friend Jesus! :)

The TX Abuelos got to meet her! :)

We made it to San Francisco!

And this is why San Francisco is an awesome city!!! :)

What we do best! Cuddle...

....and kung fu! Everyone needs some good kung fu in their life ;)

Wait for the Lord; be strong, and let your heart take courage; wait for the Lord!

Psalm 27:4

Yesterday, marked the baby's first 'Psych Out'. I was about 100% sure that we'd get to see her beautiful face by the end of the day. But......"Hello due date!"....chirp, chirp...."Goodbye due date!" At 40weeks +1day, we are still eagerly awaiting the birth of our little girl.

Two nights ago I woke up around 2am due to a pretty strong contraction. I tried going back to sleep but they came pretty regularly and continued to wake me up. They stayed around the 8-10min range so I decided to let Karim sleep. Between timing and some middle of the night reading- I began thinking: "How cool would it be to have her on the Feast of the Visitation, a day which embodies the greatest day for pregnant women!!" (At that point, I was picturing our little girl dancing in the womb with John the Baptist & her BFF, Baby Jesus, heehee). I realized that since the next stage of labor was still hours away, we could possibly go to mass and receive reconciliation. That prompted me to finally wake Karim up around 5:30 and let him know that I was possibly in labor... and it was imperative that we go to the 6:30am mass. :-)

Looking back- I guess I should have approached this wake up call a different way- Still half asleep, all he must have heard was- "I'm in labor. Let's go to mass." To clear confusion up on why we were not going to the hospital I explained that the contractions I was feeling were not increasing or occurring close together yet. So after folding laundry (haha, I didn't want to leave clean laundry unfolded in case we did go to the hospital) we were off to our 6:30 mass where we shared in the Eucharist, celebrated the Feast of the Visitation, and received the sacrament of Reconciliation. Great start to our little girl's supposed "Birthday!"

hahaha, The day lost momentum after that and the contractions never increased or became more frequent. The rest of the day included hanging out at the house with Hana who just returned from Italy (!!!), taking the BEST nap on the trampoline under the palm trees, and winded down the day with some netflix. With the baby still dancing in the womb with her buddies John the Baptist & Baby Jesus, this made us think that it was indeed- just a false alarm and labor will ensue within the week.

I guess we can say her psych out did give us a cute taste of things we might experience in the coming days: a chance to find support in our family, a chance for increased unity between me and Karim, a chance to meet Christ in a special way, and tremendous excitement and motivation to finally meet our daughter!

So stay tuned for the real "Birthday" story! Coming soon to a theater near you... :-)

Since I don't have any adorable baby photos yet I'll include....pictures of fishies! hahaha, I'll take Dory's advice from Finding Nemo and: "Just keep swimming. Just keep swimming. Just keep swimming, swimming, swimming!" ;-)