Thursday, May 26, 2011

Stella Is Here!

Our baby girl, Stella Anne, arrived yesterday and we are so happy she is here.  Here is a quick recap of her birth:  I checked in to the hospital about 8 a.m. for registration and was in my hospital room by around 9 getting prepped.  At about 9:30 they started me on the lowest dose of pitocin to get labor started.  I was about 1 cm dialated at that time, and Stella was showing no indications that she wanted to come out -  hence the induction!  I was barely feeling contractions for the first several hours and was just reading magazines and chatting with my mom and Rob.  At around 12:30, my doctor, Kelly Shanahan, broke my water and they upped the pitocin.  I started to feel the contractions a bit more after that, but it was still super mild overall and I wasn't in much pain.  Our friend Ike dropped in around 3:00 to say hello and brought us some flowers.  He left at about 3:30 when my doctor wanted to check how far along I was (I was at about a 4-5) at that point.  Right after that I started to really hurt and the contractions were getting worse.  I was checked again at 4:00 and I was at 5-6 cm.  The next 20 minutes I was in EXTREME pain and they checked me again and at around 4:20 and I was at an 8-9.  Stella was born at 4:31 p.m.  Basically, I had an hour of pretty painful labor and managed to push her out with one (extremely painful) contraction.  No epidural or other drugs - so that was good!  I wasn't sure if I was going to be able to make it through this time without pain meds, but this ended up being the easiest of my three deliveries.  And I have bounced back really quickly.  I actually feel really great and plan to take Stella out for a nice walk tomorrow. 

She weighed 8 pounds, 10 ounces at birth.  Crazy!  Almost 2 pounds heavier than both Max and Eli.  We couldn't believe it.  She is a super sweet baby and the boys seem to really like her.  There was a random Spring snow storm the day of her birth - May 25, 2011.  Stella had a bunch of visitors the evening she was born.  My mom was there, Rob, Davis came by to say hello, Sarah, Stephanie and Erin.  The next morning Nichole dropped by to meet Stella before we left the hospital.  Bridgette and Lisa S. came by the house later in the day on May 26 and brought us dinner, Sarah also stopped by and brought us some cake (yum!).  Everyone has been very sweet and excited about Stella's arrival.  We are lucky to have so many wonderful friends. 

Below are a few photos of Miss Stella.  She is a beauty. 
 This is less than 24 hours old.  Love her chubby cheeks. 
 My sweet girl. 
 Eli, Max and their little sister.  Max is super excited.  Eli is a bit ambivalent.  :-) 
In the car seat coming home from the hospital. 

1 comment:

Libbey said...

Congrats to you all!!! Thinking about you, and hope the boys are all really helpful, and that you are getting some rest! Umm...love the baby back story, watch out for Max, that's slightly scary!