Sweetness has arrived!
Mark Leon and Christina Marie would like to proudly
announce the arrival of their new daughter, "Pepper"
(real name TBA)
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"Pepper" was born April 3, 2002 at 4:15pm in Portland, Oregon at Oregon
Health Sciences University ("OHSU"). She is a very healthy and energetic girl,
and most adorable, too!
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The following text was originally sent to family and friends on April
12, 2002 . . .
 a word
from the new Daddy . . .
My apologies for not getting this information out sooner. It has been a very
hectic couple of weeks for me and email just hasn't been a priority! What has
been important is spending time with my new family. I am very excited to be a
new father and am enjoying spending every available minute with my Pepper. It
will be very hard to drag me away from her side;
any new job offers for me better be pretty $weet if they are to require
me to work away from home. ;^)
Christina is in great shape, too. She is going to be a great mother! Her labor
was painful due to back labor, but relatively short compared to other first
moms. Her recovery has been quite positive, too.
While most of you know we strived and worked very hard towards a natural home
birth, it unfortunately wasn't possible this time. Pepper was in a breech
position (butt down, head up) for about the entire last month of the pregnancy.
We tried to externally "turn" her once with a midwife, and again with a doctor,
but she was too stubborn to budge (sound like anyone you know?).
Other than the position of the baby, we had a very low-risk pregnancy. Tina
maintained an extremely healthy lifestyle and diet and prepared non-stop for a
natural birth. The breech itself was even a low-risk situation; Pepper was a
small-to-average sized baby and was in a "frank" breech position, which is the
least risky of the breech positions. It was the opinion of many that her size
and position was not going to present a problem for a natural vaginal delivery.
Our biggest problem really was finding a doctor who would deliver a breech baby.
It appears that even though breech babies have been delivered for thousands of
years, much more than half of the doctors we researched either had no experience
with breech deliveries or simply would not do them. Even with the
open-mindedness of the Northwest, we had to scavenge the country (it seemed) to
find a doctor who was willing and experienced with breech deliveries. We found
ONE.
We both wanted so much to give birth naturally with no intervention, and Tina
was a "trooper" during her labor. She went through her *entire* labor without
any pain meds or other interventions and was only a couple of hours away from
delivery. Her cervix had dilated to 8cm and the baby was almost on her way. The
doctor needed one final exam before he could safely proceed with the vaginal
delivery. They were to perform a cat scan on her pelvis area to make sure the
baby's head size and position would not present a problem... the head and pelvis
sizes were OK, but unfortunately the *position* of the baby's head was not good
for a breech delivery and the doctor noted that most likely he would have to
resuscitate the baby if delivered vaginally. At that point Tina made the hard
decision for a c-section. I know it was very hard on her to do that, but she
wanted what was best for the health of the baby. And as she had already gone
through probably 95% of her labor, all the natural endorphins and hormones had
kicked in so a c-section at this point would not interfere too much with the
baby's natural defense systems. I was in the operating room for the whole thing
and tried to comfort Tina. She was so strong during the whole labor and the
delivery, too. I continually remind myself about how strong she was and am so
proud of her!
But when I got to see Pepper breathe, and then got to hold her for the first
time my outlook on life immediately changed. When she was placed in my arms I
was oblivious to anything and everything around me for what seemed like an
eternity. All the stress that I had felt up to this point had magically
disappeared. It was just me, Pepper and Tina alone in the world...
Our new family. And it was and IS a great feeling! I can't wait to see what the
future brings us.
Well, I am an official "Daddy" now. That should be surprising to some, but I
think most know that I was destined for fatherhood. And now no one can take that
title away from me and I will do everything in my power to keep the title
pristine. My Pepper deserves the best and that's exactly what she will get.
During our pregnancy we have received numerous emails,
letters, and phone calls from
several of you with your support. We have also had a very successful turnout for
our
on-line baby shower wish list.
We would like to give our thanks to everyone for your continued and positive
support throughout our pregnancy. We couldn't have made it without you!
I will give you future updates via a special website for Pepper. Please navigate
your web browser to
http://www.Bizwax.com/Pepper
for regular updates on Pepper's progress as well as many "too-cute-for-words"
pictures.
Best Wishes to you ALL!
Mark Leon
 P.S. from the new Mommy...
I also apologize for our not having been forthcoming sooner with the news, but
as you can imagine we are both very busy! It didn't go down at all the way we
had imagined, but our baby is wonderful and I'm recovering pretty quickly. I
would like to reiterate the thank-you above regarding your support and also for
the generous gifts. We are soooo glad to have such wonderful friends and family,
and we can't wait for you all to meet our daughter!
Thanks again,
Tina
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Online digital still image collection
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Online video collection
coming soon!
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Thank You!
A sincere word of appreciation from Pepper and her family
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