Wednesday, March 25, 2009

Finally here

Isabella is finally here, and we are all so excited. She is adorable, healthy and sweet as can be. Born Tuesday morning 3/24/09 at 8:58 am, weighing 8lbs, 20 1/4 inches long.
I went into labor Monday night with contractions every 7 minutes starting just before midnight. The kept getting closer and stronger but since Todd and Anthony were sleeping I decided to hold out as long as I could at home. Finally around 2:30 I decided I couldn't wait much longer, the pain was getting much worse with each contraction, and since it was the middle of the night I was very worried that if I showed up too late I might not get an epidural.
Todd has said many times since Anthony was born that he felt he missed out on the excitement of "rushing to the hospital" because I got induced with Anthony. Although when I woke him up at 2:30 in the morning he didn't seem super excited. In fact I think he said something along the lines of "are you serious? I am really tired and I've only been asleep for a couple hours." You can imagine my response was not very sympathetic since I had yet to go to sleep and was in quite a bit of pain. None the less he finally got up, got ready and as soon as his mom arrived to take care of Anthony we were on our way to the hospital. I think we got there shortly after 3am.
Usual procedure at the hospital is to check in at ER and they phone up to L&D that you are here, and then they take you up there. Since I work in ER I didn't really want everyone to know I was there so I snuck in the back way with my badge and walked up to L&D. I had my sister Rachael (who happened to be the OB doctor on call) call up there and tell them I was coming. When I got to the hospital the nurse said I was having contractions every 2.5 minutes and was 5-6 cm dilated. This made me panic slightly because I really wanted an epidural and I know there is a point where they say it's too late. I don't know what that point is, but I knew the nurse still had a lot to do (start an iv and get blood work from me) before she would even call in the anesthesiologist to put it in. Thankfully everything worked out in my favor and I got my epidural (which worked like a dream) in plenty of time. They gave me a little Stadol to hold me over until then, which by the way is a wonderful drug. Even though it didn't really take the pain away all that much, I loved the way it made me so sleepy and not care that I was in pain. Meanwhile my sisters Rachael and Francie and my friend Michelle showed up, so despite my sleepiness I stayed awake. I didn't think I could actually sleep much anyway.
I think it was around 8 or so when my nurse said I was complete and ready to push. We still had to wait for my cousin DeAnn to show up, who had agreed to come in and do my delivery for me, even though she wasn't on call. The rest of the details are kind of blurry to me, but what I do remember is that it all went really fast, I hardly felt any pain, and Isabella was born in about 20 minutes. Which is pretty much the exact opposite of my first labor experience with Tony. They say the second time is easier, but my two experiences were like night and day different. After I had Tony I told Todd to be thankful he got his son, cause I wasn't going through this again. (Obviously I had changed my mind, but that was for sure my initial thoughts after labor.) After I had Isabella I thought to myself, that wasn't so bad, I could do it again. (Of course just because I can, doesn't mean I will, that has yet to be decided.)
Anyway, here I am the next day sitting in the hospital and feeling like I could go home now. The pediatrician is checking out Isabella now in the nursery and I'm hoping she gives us the okay to leave later today. They aren't really doing anything for me or her that I can't do myself, so why not do it in the comfort of my own home. Plus the food here is terrible, I haven't ordered one thing that I'd consider good yet. Thankfully my sisters have been bringing me food so I'm not stuck eating the gross hospital food.
Anyway, considering I just had a baby yesterday and I was awake for about 36 hours straight, and didn't get much sleep last night either, I am a little tired, but otherwise I feel really quite good. Isabella is doing wonderful, she if finally getting the hang of nursing after a rough first day. She sleeps well, but seems to sleep better when being held than in the bassinet. This could be a slight problem once I get home, since Anthony likes to be held a lot too, especially if I am holding another baby. I don't think he really gets what is happening yet with the whole getting a sister thing. It will be interesting to see how things go once we are all home together. Meanwhile he has been with Grandma and Grandpa having a grand time I'm sure. Todd is supposed to bring him up to visit me later today. Hopefully I can get some good pictures of the two of them together. I actually have a lot of good pictures already from yesterday that I want to share, but I think I will wait till I get home and make a little slide show to put on the blog, rather than list each one individually. I know my free time will be very limited once I do get home, but my mom is on her way here now from NY to spend a week and a half with us to help out. Hopefully that will allow me to give some extra attention to Tony so he doesn't get too jealous of his new baby sister who will also be needing a lot of my attention.

P.S. if you want to see more pictures now, you can go visit my mom and sisters Rachael and Francie's blogs, they have all posted pictures and stories of their own about the newest member of the family.

14 comments:

Denise said...

C oN G r a T uL a tiO ns!

She is adorable! I can't believe you had her already! (You're probably thinking otherwise!) I remember you posting pictures of you laboring with Tony and this time it's a "she's here" post! I love it and I'm so glad everything was smooth sailing!

Shanna said...

Congratulations! I am so glad you had a good experience and she is there and healthy. I love the name by the way. I have not seen early pics of Anthony but she seems to favor him.

How exciting.

Shannon said...

Hard to believe you are blogging already. Good Job.

Isabella is so incredibly beautiful. Seems like it went fast but for you I'm sure you'd beg to differ.

Can't wait to hear from you.

Unknown said...

I was surprised when I saw the news yesterday because I thought the milk was supposed to spoil before she got here. ;) She is beautiful! Congratulations, and well done! I think she favors her brother!

Rachael said...

That's a great picture of you. Aren't you so glad you have your new camera?

Also, you shouldn't make your labor sound so easy, or Todd won't feel like he should get you a push present!

Elle J said...

She's gorgeous. I bet you could stare at her all day long. I hope you had fun with Tony visiting you today, or maybe you got to enjoy him at your house; hope you are home.

Thanks for posting and what a fun delivery story. I like reading about the "easy" ones. :)

It'll be fun to continue to watch your blog as you update us on your childREN! YEAH!

Kathy said...

Congratulations Lori, Todd, and Anthony! Baby Isabella is absolutely beautiful :)

Anonymous said...

Lori, she is beautiful and you sound like it all was a "piece of cake"...for such alittle sweetie!
Can't wait to meet her...maybe Easter. Sydney and Hannah told me on the phone today, "Grandma, when are you and Grandpa coming home from AZ."? I miss them too...!
Love to all,
Sandy

Tina in CT said...

Glad that Isabella's delivery went much smoother than Anthony's. Hopefully she'll continue in the same vein and sleep well at night and not put you through what her brother did. You'll need your rest.

Isabella is beautiful and very photogenic.

Are you in the hospital or back home?

I'm sure your mom is there by now so the cavalry has landed!

Kristin said...

I'm so happy i got to meet her! once all your family (that doesnt live here) leaves and you need someone else to hold her for you let me know!

she's gorgeous! and she does look like tony! he's such a cutie! you have gorgeous children!

so so SO happy for you!! :) and especially happy it was "easy" :)

Ellen said...

Congratulations! She is beautiful!

Paula said...

HUGE Congratulations! Isabella is beautiful and you did a wonderful job delivering her. You are so extremely blessed!

Mandy Lou said...

Congratulations - she's beautiful!!! I can't believe she's here already - didn't you just have Tony?! I hope you get a little bit of rest before you go home.

Anonymous said...

Congratulations! She is looking very beautiful already. Tony will get used to her over time - hopefully. Jessica used to poke Andrew's eyes. They fascinated her. They were only 14 months apart. I hope he doesn't do that - but you never know.

Your sister-in-law,
Adriana