The newest member of our family is here! Well, she is already 7 weeks old, but that's still brand new to us. There has been quite a bit of pressure put on me to create some new blog posts...so here you go! In the past 7 weeks, I have been quite busy. We have had my mom here, Mark's folks here, my mom again, and then we took a trip to NC to the Outer Banks to spend some time with my whole family--sisters and all. Then I got back to an adult-empty home. Yep, just me and my three nuggets. Mark had a business trip and I was left to tend to the unpacking and readjusting to a normal daily routine by myself.
God is so wonderful though. And I'll tell you why: I had several ladies fighting over who was going to take Carmella to and from school that week; and we had four dinners prepared for us over the course of the week. So I can say with confidence that we were well cared for and I made it through just fine.
If you want a little drama, please read on...if not, skip to the photos--they're great!
--The Birth Story--
Thursday, August 9 I had a scare of false contractions. I really thought it was going to be time to go to the hospital. It was quite early for our little Siena to arrive so I was doubtful that they were the real deal. I was once told to take a warm shower and if the contractions continue, then they are real, if they stop, then, well, keep on with whatever you were doing, there will be no hospital run that day.
Saturday morning (Aug 11) we attended a pool party. That afternoon I started having contractions. I thought it was a false alarm until we started timing them. We called a babysitter at about 10 pm because the contractions hadn't slowed or stopped, in fact they were getting stronger and closer together. I called my OB/GYN and they said to go to the hospital. So we did.
Mark's parents weren't due to arrive at our house until Aug 17th. So if this was the real thing, we needed reinforcements ASAP. We called in our two best sitters who tag teamed all weekend long until my mom was able to get there on Monday afternoon.
We arrived at the hospital and continued laboring all night long. They assured us that this was the real deal and we were going to have the baby soon. 10 hours past. It was about 9 am the next morning and still no baby. In fact, the contractions had basically stopped. A nurse came in and checked me saying that I hadn't made any progress and did not dilate any more than when I first came in. They gave me something to eat and started preparing me to go home. Mark and I were devastated. They didn't want to induce unless I had made some progress during contractions. The baby was due on Aug 21st and she was still a few days too early for the hospital to allow me to be induced. They like the babies to be 38 weeks or more, I was two days shy of that. Tears came in bucketfuls.
They hooked me up to a monitor and said they wanted to make sure the baby's heartbeat was stable before sending me home. During this time (about 2 hours) I started having contractions again--really strong ones. So the doctor checked me after a few hours and said I had dilated more. They were actually going to go ahead and break my bag of water and put me on Pitocin to get the contractions going even stronger. I was going to have this baby after all.
I declined any sort of pain medication and wanted to try to do this completely natural. I basically did it with Leo since the epidural didn't take. So I put my brave face on and truly grinned and bared it. The doctor and the nurse were quite impressed that I wasn't screaming at all when the contractions went through the roof. I kept telling them to wait because the screaming would for sure come. It wasn't until the pushing that they got an earful--but they were ready for it. And it didn't take long.
Wow, Siena was born at 3:46 pm, weighing 7 lbs 9 oz and measuring 20 inches long. She was and is perfect. What a roller coaster.
[Big Bro and Big Sis meeting Siena for the first time. They were both sooooo excited and wanted to give her kisses right away.]
[Grandma holding Siena for the first time.]
[Doting Big Sis.]
[Mark's parents came to visit on the 17th as planned. Grandpa and Grandma got some quality time with the kids for sure.]
We had a great time with all. Thank you for all the help, support and companionship for the big kids during this time. We sure feel loved. The kids really miss all the attention they got from the grandparents. Then we headed to the beach and they had cousins to play with for a full week. What a complete joy. I can post about this later, or you can just go and visit my sister's blog to get a photo journal from her viewpoint. It is wonderful, I promise.
http://larslaurel.blogspot.com/
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