Eva's Arrival

Eva is already 1o days old! It's hard to believe looking at her that I actually gave birth to this big bundle of baby. She's very health having already gained back her birth weight just 4 days after she was born. She eats, sleeps and snuggles well! As with all my children, Eva's delivery needed a jump start. When I went to see my OB on my 39th week, I was just 3 cm dilated. Yes, I had been having contractions but nothing consistent, so my OB scheduled an inducement on my due date, 4/15.

Funny thing, the morning of my inducement my contractions started. I was so excited hoping that my contractions would produce something but after an hour the nurse started the pitocin. One would think that the pitocin would keep my contractions consistent but low and behold they were getting longer apart, so the nurse kept increasing the pitocin. For those who don't know, pitocin makes contractions harder when giving natural birth. My water was broken, and the contractions got even harder. Little did I know that the hospital policy was to not allow laboring women out of their beds when their water was broken. To labor in a lying position is horrific! I wanted to be up, walking and squatting, but I was literally forced to lie in the bed for 5 hours of intense contractions. I couldn't even get out of bed to go the bathroom.

After about 3 hours I started losing patience and became fearful of the pain coming at each contractions. I asked Guido to get the prayer book out and he and I did morning prayer together. As we prayed for strength and I released my anxiety and fear about the birth, it was as if an immediate peace filled my body and gave me the ability to relax at each contraction. When I asked Guido about the labor later on after the birth he too said he noticed the physical change in me after praying.

When I reached about 8 1/2 cm dilation, I asked the nurse for some pain medication. I really just wanted the edge taken off the contractions before it was too late. About a minute after she gave the medicine I felt like I wanted to push. The nurse didn't believe me, she told me it was still to early, but I told her again, in a rather firm voice, that I was ready to push. She told the other nurse in the room to call the doctor and said, "I'll let you push". When I did, Eva's head came out. I think I caught the nurse off guard! She told me to stop pushing and to just breath shallow breaths (are you kidding me, HELL NO, I'm pushing!). The doctor came into the room just in time to catch Eva. After three pushes she was out and wailing loudly. Her APGAR was 9; her face was a little blue, the umbilical cord was wrapped around her head. Her color came back instantaneous and she continued to wail. She weighted exactly 8lbs, and was 20 1/2 inches long.

Meanwhile, with my eyes closed and completely exhausted, I delivered the placenta and caused some panic in my husband and the doctor as I started to bleed out heavily for about a minute. For just a moment Guido thought I was dying, but the bleeding stopped and all was well. No need for an episiotomy either. It took me awhile to get my eyes open again as the medicine they gave me had really made me drowsy. The nurse brought Eva to me and she immediately began to breastfeed. An hour later I was taken to a clean room and got a little bit of nap.

The kids came the next day to visit with Eva. When Xavi and Veronica saw her they were immediately in love and ecstatic about her. Olivia was rather reserved, but as the days have progressed, she now kisses the baby on the head ever so gently. My favorite phrase that Veronica says about Eva, "Awe, her's so adorable".