day 1

...and here it is, my inagural post! i'm using this blog to record, for family and friends, what is happening with the kids (bez and sofia), tony and me.

the biggest news in the zuniga household is the birth of our baby girl, sofia, almost 3 weeks ago. what a magical experience it has been welcoming this sweet little girl into our family. what a surprise she was, too! here is the story...

on may 18th (1 week before sofia's due date), i was finishing up a conference call with my boss at 11:00am and headed out the door to go to my 39-week dr appointment at 11:40am. i was having contractions every 15 mins or so, but nothing too strong or regular, so i was expecting a run-of-the-mill dr appointment (listen to the baby, blood pressure, cervical check and out). my last words to my boss were "ok, i'll talk to you this afternoon".

during my appointment, i had my doctor check to see if i was leaking amniotic fluid. sure enough, i was and the dr asked me to go check into the hospital so she could get labor started right away. oh boy! we weren't quite ready for the suddenness of it all! i called tony and had him head over to the hospital from work asap while i checked in and got my paperwork completed. tony arrived around 12:45pm and they got my antibiotics, fluids and pitocin hooked up and started. from about 1:00pm to about 6:50pm, my contractions were slowly increasing in frequency and strength, but nothing too difficult so i decided to forego any pain relief.

around 6:50pm, the doctor (not my doctor, but one from the office we had met with before) came in and checked me, i was right at transition (6cm, 90%, +1), but they needed to completely break my water before we could move forward. She broke my water and went to eat some dinner. my next contraction was immediately much stronger.

it seemed like an eternity that we were in transition - the contractions were extremely strong and i tried really hard (for all of my pregnant friends) to remember what it felt like. unfortunately, the maternity-amnesia has set in and all i can say is that it was very intense and very painful, but i know it was not any more than i was capable of handling. eventhough it seemed like an eternity, in reality it was only 7 or 8 contractions before i started pushing. They went to grab the doctor and let me start pushing at 7:30 - 7 pushes later and she was here!

sofia was/is perfect! 7 lbs 10 oz, 19.5 in long - sweet, sleepy and beautiful.

now i have given birth both ways - with bez, i had an epidural during transition and delivery (that was an 16+ hour labor) and this time we went natural. i can say that i wouldn't change a thing about either birth experience. what an amazing thing to go through!

after she was born, bez came to the hospital in his jammies and had the chance to meet her. i am happy to report that he is proving to be the awesome big brother we knew he would be. tony was, as always, amazing - he held my hand through the labor, cut her cord and changed her first diaper. when we were all ready for bed, we wrapped her up and i snuggled her next to me and dozed off.

now it feels like she has always been here....