The day after Imanuel Alexander was born, he had to do the Newborn
Screening Tests.  Basically, they had to poke his heel and they
drew enough blood to test for about 7 rare birth defects.  They
also drew blood to check his bilirubin levels to see if he was
jaundice.  About 60% of all newborns are jaundice but only for the
first few days.  Imanunel had border-line bilirubin levels so they
gave us what they call a bili-blanket which is artificial UV light to
help lower the levels.  The next few days, the baby continued to
look a bit yellow and so even after we were discharged from the
hospital, the very next day, we had to take the baby into our
pediatrician to get his heel poked again to draw blood to check his
levels.  The levels were still on the high side, so a couple days
later, we had to go in AGAIN and he had to get his heel poked. 
The baby was so traumatized from the pokes because not only do they
poke with a needle that looks like a flat screwdriver, they SQUEEZE and
SQUEEZE their poor little foot until they fill a tube with blood. 
Anyhow, at our last visit to the pediatrician (our third one already!),
which was this past week, the doc told us that his levels were
normalized and the baby didn’t look yellowish at all anymore.  My
parents weren’t at all nervous or worried.  They say that most
Asian babies are born like that and me and all of my siblings were born
jaundice, but with physiological jaundice, which is the kind that goes
away a few days after birth.  So anyway, here are some pictures of
the baby with the bili-blanket in the hospital and afterwards.

Me and baby (on the bili-blanket…but you can’t see it very well).

Here’s a better look.  His skin had to be directly on bili-blanket
during a lot of our stay at the hospital.  He didn’t like it very
much, and because Israel HAD to sleep with the baby every night we were
in the hospital and the gray cord didn’t stretch that far, Israel made
the executive family decision that the baby didn’t need the stupid
bili-blanket anyway.  (When he was with me, I made sure he was
laying on the bili.)

We nicknamed him our little “glow-worm”.

When we got home, each time the sun was out, we stripped IA and put him in the sun to help lower his bilirubin levels.
 
His poor feet/heels that were punctured more than 4 times in less than one week of life (2 on each foot)!

But at the end, everything turned out!  Israel was very excited about that.

But Bentley remains a bit sad that he has become #2.  “Will someone come over and play with me?”

So all you Asians out there…when you have children, don’t be too
worried if they think your baby might have jaundice.  Most likely,
it will be gone within a few days.  ^_^  Until next time, God
bless!

Hi everyone, it’s me.  I wanted to thank you all for your prayers and support!  I feel the love!  I’m recovering quite well.  The pain killers are so deceptive.  I am supposed to be at home resting and not doing any activity for 3 weeks.  Well, let’s just say that after going through labor, my standard of pain has dramatically changed.  I feel fine!  Israel and my in-laws are constantly yelling at me because I give in to the temptation of cleaning the house and doing chores when I should be in bed with my feet up.  My whole body was so incredibly swollen because I retained so much fluid from the IV.  After the C-section, we came home 3 days later and when I weighed myself then, I was the same weight as before I gave birth!!  That gives you an idea of how swollen and bloated I was.  Slowly the fluid and gas are exiting my system and I’m beginning to lose some weight.  So anyway, my point is that I’m really trying to rest so that I give my body the chance to recover completely. 

The entire delivery process was a big scare for me.  I did a lot of praying and pleading and asking God to give me strength to accept His will for me and for the baby.  I really thought the baby wouldn’t survive and it was a very scary experience…but God remains good!  I never thought I would love being a mom this much.

The first week was a blast for me.  The drugs were doing their magic, Imanuel changed so much in just 7 short days, and no kidding, it was literally a joy for me to wake up every 3-4 hours or so to feed and change the baby.  We’re in the process of getting the baby on a schedule and he’s getting some good sleep stretches during the night so that has been a blessing.  I love waking up and having family worship with the three of us.  It is so wonderful to be able to depend completely on God to help us raise this child.  It gives me such assurance that with God with us, we cannot fail. 

Well, I could go on forever about how amazing it is that we love our baby so much even though we just met him a few days ago.  He has really turned our world upside down.  We ask for your continued prayers and love as we attempt to raise one of God’s children despite our sinfulness and weaknesses.  It is our prayer that Imanuel will learn to grow into God’s image rather than our own.   

Now here are some pics that hopefully you will enjoy.

The first picture of the baby with his eyes open

The Ramos Guys with their pet Bentley

The Ramos Girls needing Ramos Guys to look good in pictures

IA saying “Nooooo” after finding out he needs to take a bath…check out his stomach [His umbilical cord hasn’t fallen off yet (as you can see)]

By night, IA is a superhero (Thanks John and Kendra for the “Ramosito” towel…I mean outfit)

Jacob and Judy K. sitting in Jacob’s box.  Jacob promises that he’ll get a car soon so that she’ll be more comfortable

I don’t know what to write for this caption…make something up for us.

IA is also a ninja…a Christian one.

That’s all for now!  Israel was responsible for the captions, if you haven’t guessed yet.  Take care and God bless!

Judy throwing down “soydream” during her last trimester — the nasty taste in her mouth had just gone away 🙂

 

Home potluck at Stephanie’s house … John Yoon is confused about picture taking (far left) and Justin is thinking about how good his smoothies taste (far right)

 

This is to make up for all the times I didn’t post up pictures of Judy’s pregnancy.  I don’t know how much she likes this shot, so don’t tell her we put it up 🙂

 

Snow in November…right by Thanksgiving day.  We tried to get a picture with all the animals but it was too hard.  Aroe is in the back trying to run away forever…but we caught him.

 

Speaking about Family Pictures with animals…here’s a better one…Chance is in the basement — he seems to like it down there more now.

 

Jacob (our nephew) loves CEC.  We’re hanging with him two days before the delivery.  My bro and his wife Evelyn hung out with us for a month or so to help out.

 

The night of the start of the delivery…Friday

 

We arrive at the hospital…this is our first of like 12 nurses.  We don’t know her name though…I think it was Jennifer.  I took no more pictures until the baby was born.

 

(Every professional photographer takes a picture kinda out of focus…it’s one of the latest fads)

 

Here’s our baby!

 

He’s trying to go to sleep, but people keep on taking pictures

 

He has a lot of hair.

 

Two of Judy’s best friends welcome her into the “Mommy Club”.  They are all teachers that taught at Ann Arbor Adventist Elm and will now be upgrading to Tupperware Parties twice a year (after Judy quits her job).  Julie Klein and Justina are next to Judy and Imanuel and Kerri Mendez and Juan ISRAEL Mendez are on the far right.

 

This is Judy and the baby right when they met.  Judy’s still getting over the medication they gave her for the operation.

 

I’m teaching the baby how to sleep.

Our first family picture taken by Daniel Mendez (family photographer).

 

Ending with pcitures of the baby…I think you all have seen enough (don’t want to be like those new camera happy parents that everyone talks about behind their backs)

I know that everyone has been waiting for the details.

Imanuel Alexander Ramos was born on March 4, 2006 at 10:18 p.m.

He weighed 7lbs 3ozs and was 21.75 inches long.

Labor was a bit complicated, but we appreciate the prayers of those who thought of us during the whole experience.

Judy went into early labor at about 1 p.m. on Friday–she was already 3cms dilated.  The doctor stripped her membranes to quicken the process.  She thought that she’d be able to see Judy on Saturday since the Dr. was on call that day. 

At 6 that evening, she started getting noticeable contractions in more frequent intervals and by 10:30 that night the contractions got pretty hard.  Not too long after that, we decided to head to the hospital.  We arrived at around midnight.

When we arrived, Judy had dilated to 6cms and had been in active labor a while.  We checked into our room and tried to get ready for what was ahead.  The contractions got harder and harder.  At around 5 a.m., I asked Judy to get an epidural.  I could tell that the contractions were getting unbearable.  I was able to convince her (she was wanting to go pain medication-free).  We realized later on that Judy had stayed dilated at 6cms for more than 5 hrs and still had a way to go. 

After the medication, Judy felt a little better.  At around 2 or 3 p.m. the baby’s heart stopped beating for 5 minutes, almost causing Judy to have an emergency C-Section.  The physicians and nurses had asked to assume various positions, causing the epidural to fail to work on Judy’s right side.  All the movement apparently caused the baby to fall into a position that weakened and stopped his heartbeat.  While in the OR, the baby’s heart started to work again.  We stayed in the OR for a while until Judy’s and the baby’s condition became stable. 

Just when we thought our complications were over, we realized that Judy had been dilated at 8cms for a long time and was not making progress as much as she should have been (I think women are supposed to dilated about a cm an hr.).  It wasn’t until 6 pm on Saturday evening that Judy had dilated to 10cms and was able to start pushing.  At that point, we called her parents to let them know that in no later than 3 hrs (we thought it’d take that long), Baby Ramos would be born.

After pushing for about 3 hours and not having a baby, the doctors decided that we would need a C-Section.  For some reason, the baby, being under so much stress, did not have the energy to help while Judy was pushing.  His heart rate at that time was going faster and faster.

We prepared ourselves for the operation.  As I was getting dressed with the scrubs, Judy was getting prepared by the doctors.  After about 15 minutes or so, the nurse came out and mentioned that I wouldn’t be able to go into the OR.  The epidural wasn’t working well on Judy (her right side) even though it was given to her in its fullest strength.  The doctors put her under general anesthesia for the operation.  The good news?  At 10:18, the kid was born.  To add to that, the Lakers beat the Pistons that evening and I was able to watch it while Judy came up out of her sleep.

Things are going well now.  We got in yesterday and are trying to catch up on rest.  We thank everyone for their prayers and ask that you continue to keep us in your thoughts.  We also want to thank everyone for bringing the baby and Judy gifts and flowers. 

As Judy continues to recover, we ask our eager visitors to hold off visitations for a while.  Judy needs time to recover properly and we all need time to get used to our newest addition to the family.  Thank you for understanding.

P.S. If anyone wants an birth announcement, please give us an address to send it to

During this month, we’ve crossed the Atlantic 6 times.  Thanks to Ironman (Chester Van) and Justin(case) for hanging out with me.

The purpose of our visitations was to “visit, attend, observe, and explore a possible relationship” with other “youth conferences” around the globe.  We visited New Zealand, Korea, and Australia, and we’re finally home for a while now…at least until the baby comes and I learn a few things on how to be a father.

The baby is not born.  And I promise that I will not notify most of you when he (if “he” really is a “he” according to the ultrasound) is born.  But don’t worry, Daniel and Kerri, we’ll call you since you are always nice to me…and constantly hook me up with the cashew cheese sauce.  😛

I’ll end with a story, since it’s good practice for sermonizing…don’t worry,  people, no altar call this time…

Justin(case) and I are in Australia, hit really hard by jetlag.  We eat some REALLY good Thai food…and since we are health reformers, we eat it with enough time to digest before going to sleep.  However, when night came, nightMARES came with it.  I woke up several times in the night being kind of weirded out.  So I wake up in the morning, kind of out of it and I call Judy.  I remember that the time difference is four hours forward and the opposite side of the next day 🙂

I figure that it’s 10 p.m. Judy time so I call home and pay a million dollars a minute.  I wait for that caller privacy ID thing to kick in at home in MI and I hope to hear Judy come on…but no answer…no that’s not what happend.  The machine says “the person you are looking for is not available.”  So I’m like hmmm…Judy doesn’t want to talk.

So I call her cell phone…straight to voicemail.  Now I know how all you feel when you try to call me 🙂

I freak out…she’s about to…you know…(deliver…she’s in the hospital, she’s having the baby, she’s had the baby…)

I talk to JK (Justin Kim, not just kidding) and ask for advice…he doesn’t say anything comforting.  And then I get desperate so I HAVE TO CALL JUSTIN NAMM!  I call him up and ask him what’s going on with Judy and he says that he thinks that all is well.  I hang up and tell Justin Kim.  And I’m expecting some words of assurance.  And JK says, yeah, but can you really trust Justin anyway?  So I freak out again and get mad that I just may have wasted half this month’s paycheck talking to JN. 

After consulting with myself, I realize that it’s not 10 pm…it’s 2 PM and Judy’s at school teaching!

When I realize that, Justin says, “yeah, I knew that” — but he didn’t tell me before!

So, there’s the story.

Goodbye.

IR

P.S. All you gamblers on Steph’s xanga, I mean “guessers” who guessed Feb…you are not right.  Sorry.  (But you are all winners in OUR books.)

I’m just about finished completing the general lesson plans for my substitute who will be filling in for me for the month of March.  I’m almost reluctant to go home.  Next week is Spring Break and then I’m officially on maternity leave for the month of March.  Going home means that I most likely won’t be coming back to school until after the baby is born!  This thought gives me the chills.  The kids were very excited about the fact that the next time they see me, I will have a baby.  They shrieked with joy when my principal made that announcement after worship this morning.  *sigh*  It’s very hard to imagine that I’m going to be a mother.  I mean, I’m going to be someone’s mom.  Israel is going to be someone’s dad…very soon!  It’s a crazy feeling and it’s becoming more and more real.  Well, I’d better head home.  I can’t stay here much longer.  I need to prepare for the Sabbath and get my house in order.  Have a happy Sabbath everyone…     

The other day, Israel’s brother, Juan, told me some interesting trivia about their family.  Juan, the first son, was born to their parents when their dad was 26.  Juan had Jacob, his first son, 2 days before he turned 26.  Israel turns 26 on Feb. 26.  If he follows after his brother, the baby would have to be born tomorrow (2 days before he turns 26).  The problem is Israel doesn’t get back from Australia until his actual birthday, Sunday, Feb. 26 at 6pm…on which he will turn 26.   

Cast your vote on when you think the baby will be born!!  

www.xanga.com/steffyjaney

 

Jen came to spend the long weekend with us.  Along with Jen came a bunch of junk food, unwanted snacks inbetween meals, pizzas AFTER “dinner”…and the list goes on.  And, I believe she even read the last xanga entry!  THANKS, JEN! 

Anyhow, I’m not sure if that’s what did it, but last night, I started getting some contractions.  They most likely are “fake” contractions called Braxton-Hicks.  Basically it’s like your body doing practice contractions before the real ones come.  They’re pretty crazy because your uterus just tightens up and your stomach literally feels like a basketball.  It gets SUPER hard and you’re not tensing at all.  I’ve been getting them on and off throughout the evening and even some today.  They haven’t been at regular intervals, nor do they hurt…but it makes me a little nervous.  Within the past couple days, I’ve also had major muscle soreness in my legs…particularly in my thighs.  I don’t know if it’s from my weight gain, my sleeping position, or if I accidentally pulled something.  My bones in my hip area are starting to get noticeably loose as well.  It’s a very weird feeling…like my body is preparing itself for the big day.  The baby is dropping gradually.  There is pressure build up down there and at times it feels like I have to go #2, but I really don’t.  They say that’s the baby’s head pushing down there.  I’m doing weekly trips to see the doctor now and they are going well.  The baby is in the right position and everything is normal.  I just have to wait.  I’m trying to be more in-tune with my body since I generally am not at all. 

On a different note, this is my last week teaching until I am home-free!!  (until April that is…)  Our spring break is next week and then I have a long term-sub who will come in for the month of March.  I’m hoping that they baby will come right around Sunday evening or Monday (Feb 26-27) so I can have spring break to recoup in addition to the 4 weeks of paid-leave for the month of March.  I intend to finish off the school year in the months of April and May.  We’ll see what happens though.  Israel leaves for Australia tonight and so we’ve definitely been praying that the baby will hold off at least until Sunday, which is when Israel gets back.  But God’s will be done.  I’m sure God will work things out for the best.   

Thank you all for your prayers, love, and the many gifts that we’ve received the past several months.  I can’t believe the baby will be here so soon!  I mean, the baby WILL be born within the next couple weeks…YIKES!  Israel and I are getting more and more anxious for his arrival.  We’re waiting to see exactly how our entire lives will change.  🙂          

No one would believe how much weight I’ve gained.  I’m beginning to scare myself!  At first I thought it was the scale at the hospital…but that’s no longer an excuse…DOH!  It doesn’t help that Israel has been losing weight like crazy.  You know how husbands are supposedly supposed to gain weight with the pregnant wife?  Well, Israel got so sick from the motherland because he ate unclean food.  Well, so did Pastor Justin Kim.  They both ate unclean bottom-dwellers of the sea!  They have been defiled!!  I should add that it wasn’t on purpose of course.  Israel ended up with some stupendous stomach flu and he was vomitting non-stop.  As a result, he lost a bunch of weight which closes the gap between his weight and my weight and it is getting embarrassingly close!  What am I to do?!  What a stab at my pride.  So yeah, the purpose of this entry is so that you don’t ask me how much weight I’ve gained.    If, after the baby arrives, I jump back down to my pre-pregnancy weight, I may feel more secure with myself to let you in that info…

Okay, well, I need to take the kids out to recess now.  Hope everyone has a great weekend.  I’m really excited about the DKAY baby shower that will be tomorrow.  Hope there’s a lot of food!!  — NOT that I’m going to eat a lot of food…because I’m watching my carb intake…