Her Ladyship as arrived!!

Well…I’m a mother of 2 kids now…pretty crazy to comprehend!!  We welcomed our little lady a day earlier than we expected.

I woke up Wednesday, Jan 30th and noticed I was having some cramping and fresh blood when I went to the bathroom. I got up, Owen ready and brought him to Martha’s…while doing that I noticed that I was having contractions every 4-5 minutes! So I called the advice nurse who said I might wanna come in JUST IN CASE and Yosh at work and told him he might wanna get a sub. Yosh came home…we took our time getting ready, showered, dressed, make-up, cleaned out cars, took chalkboard pictures…

And to make a LONG story short…the doc at kaiser that it was best that we delivery baby right THEN because my contractions were getting closer together…so why wait! I couldn’t believe we were going to have our baby! I started feeling guilty..like we didn’t tell Owen or pretty much anyone other than MY mom that it was Baby Time.

Feeling a little rushed…but was probably a good thing…I didn’t have much time to freak out at all. While Yosh gowned and scrubbed up…I got my spinal block…which was NOT bad at all! Little uncomfortable but TOTALLY not bad. Everything was go time…

And 7 minutes after Yosh entered the Operating Room our Ella Bernadette was TUGGED out of my belly!

Ella Bernadette
8lbs 12oz
19 inches

Doctors exact words: “SHIT she was way bigger than I thought she was going to be!”

So I waited to hear a cry….hearing it a few times…I started thinking something was wrong. I kept asking Yosh if she was ok and with look of panic on his face he tried re-assuring me that everything was fine. Our little chubbo weighed in at 8lbs 12oz…she was the spitting image of her big brother, just a bit bigger!

Longest part of the csection was them putting me back together. During that time…the nurses tried getting Ella to breath on her own and get a good cry. But she seemed to be struggling. They called the NICU team in after 10 minutes and they figured out she had fluid in her lungs. Before they took her to the NICU the nurses explained to me that it was common in csection babies to have fluid in their lungs b/c they were squeezed through the birthing canal. So I started to worried. Recovery was horrible…I just cried and cried hoping she was ok! And when they wheeled me into the NICU to see her I wasn’t allowed to hold her, just barely touch her…

All the wires had me so alarmed…made me so sad. I didn’t get that skin to skin bonding, the immediate nursing…nothing. I just didn’t understand how such a big baby who looked so healthy wasn’t. Scary!

Our first family photo :(

So we got brought to my room…where I wasn’t allowed to see my precious little daughter for 12 hours. Owen came to visit me…and was so confused as to why he wasn’t allowed to meet his baby sister! I was sad for him…I just wanted our family together.  How depressing it was that long day in the hospital room.  But Baby Sister DID bring Owen a present…he got the dragon that goes to his castle…so he was very happy that she "knew” it was what he always  wanted! lol

Once I was allowed to be up and walking (which was at midnight) you know my ass was up! The pain of standing up was NOTHING since I had motivation to see my girl! Catheter bag on one side…IV on the other we trekked down to the NICU and I FINALLY got to hold and meet my little girl! …Oh yes…I cried…again! lol

I still wasn’t allowed to feed  her…they didn’t want to stress her body out, so my poor girl was on a nutrient IV, as well as antibiotics in case of any infection.  We were told that they did a blood culture and started a 48 hr antibiotic so she would be in the NICU until AT LEAST Friday. I was sad…but since I was up and walking I felt ok being able to at least see her.

As the days went on it became routine…every 3 hours I would pump and then finally I got to walk down there and nurse my baby! I was grateful that she was so healthy…I think one of the nurses said she was largest baby in the NICU to date (but its only been open for about a year or less). haha She was huge compared to all those other tiny babies! But as the days passed and the tubes started coming out…the IV’s were slowed, everything was coming together for our healthy little one!!

Daddy got to change the first diaper, feed her the first time and put clothes on her for the first time. He was proud of himself for being the first for all of that! He was so great always giving me updates on how she was doing that first 12 hours of her life!

Then on Friday night around 7pm she was allowed to leave the NICU and room with us for the night. It was so awesome!!! Yosh and I were beyond ready for our miniature roommate to appear! The nurse played the stork that brought our “special delivery” to our room…and Big Brother was on his way to finally get to meet his sister!

…sigh….she was safe, healthy and where she belonged…right with US!

Big brother came and was in LOVE with her…it was the cutest thing ever. He begged to hold her for 10 minutes…and even sang her a song!

And finally our family of four were able to be together!! My heart was so HAPPY!

We loved our first night “rooming” with our girl…she’s the best baby!! She’d wake every 2-3 hours, eat and go back to bed! It was awesome! She is so much like her big brother…a very calm content baby! Truly blessed! The next morning I got the all clear from the OB and Ella got the all clear from the NICU doctor…we were on our way home after lunchtime!

Got home to Big Brother SOO excited to see his Baby Sister again, demanding to hold her again!! Life was complete.

So she’s here…I’m busy and tired…but loving every second of it. Now if I could only get my hormones in check (I’ll post more about that tomorrow).

xoxo