The Mares Family Welcomes Baby JeanaMarie Austin Rose! Our 11/12/13/14 Baby.

"Rest time. Being born is hard work folks!"

At 11:23 a.m. on 12/13/14, Savannah gave birth to our fourth and final baby, JeanaMarie Austin Rose at Presbyterian Hospital in Downtown Albuquerque.  Our little bundle of joy weighed in at 6 lbs. 12 oz. and 19" long.  Savannah was in labor for about six hours and was extremely tough and brave as JeanaMarie exerted a lot of discomfort upon her mama till the very end of her delivery.  Savannah began getting contractions that were about 2-3 minutes apart around 2:30 a.m. and we arrived at the hospital at exactly 4:00 a.m.  After getting settled into the delivery room, daddy went to work and started to photograph sunrise photos of the Sandias so someday our little jita would know just how beautiful the morning was on the day she was born.

Savannah was surrounded by family throughout the day and their presence was comforting.  Those that were present the whole day were: Papa (me), Savannah's parents Henry and Cindy, her siblings Priscilla, Isaac, Leaah, LouCynda, and sister-in-law Vanessa.  Big shout out to brodids Tio John Alex who was so very wonderful and gracious to stay at our home downtown with Mateo, Mariely, and Elias.

The most awesome surprise of the day came when our nurse informed us that our young children at home could come and visit their new baby sister for about an hour!  She said that the old policy forbid this during the winter because of the flu season but they started to receive so many complaints from families wanting to have their children bond with their new sibling that they reversed this decision.  Lucky for us as Mateo and Mari were beside themselves with joy and excitement to hold JeanaMarie for the first time.  Of course I was there to capture those first precious moments - and they are unforgettable!  Elias on the other hand wasn't too impressed with his new baby sister and spent most of his time testing out her booger-sucker and bouncing around the hospital room talking about LouCynda's dog Otis: "No, no, no Otis.  Don't jump on me Otis", even though Otis was 45 minutes away at home.

On a side note, we arrived at the name JeanaMarie with thoughts of my mother Gina who is no longer with us.  The name Austin came about as my brother and his family live in Austin and we had just spent Thanksgiving a couple of weeks prior with them, not to mention it had a nice Texas twang to it!  And finally, the name Rose is to honor Savannah as this is one of her two middle names!  So now you know the short story behind JeanaMarie Austin Rose's long name.

---

(To see all the photos from our 36 hours @ Presbyterian, click the "Read More" hyperlink below!)

Read More