It's a Girl!

Our precious little baby girl, Alessandra, arrived on Thursday, January 13th.  We couldn't believe that little Alessa (our nickname for her) made her appearance on her official due date following in her mommy's footsteps! So crazy that that family tradition of due date babies has continued.  But my, was she stubborn in making it out!  Aside from the two weeks of constant contractions, the actual active labor went pretty quickly, although she had me pushing for over an hour and half.  She was just too comfy!  I had been at my weekly doctor's appointment the afternoon before and there hadn't been much progress.  The doctor told me to make an appointment for the following week and if I didn't go by then, they would induce me.  So, needless to say, I wasn't very hopeful that I would go into active labor on my own.  But low and behold, I started feeling painful contractions that night.  And by the next morning, I decided to play it safe and work from home instead of going into the office.  Luckily, I did!  I called the doctor's office at around 10:30am, we arrived at the hospital around noon and I was admitted to the labor and delivery unit by 1:00pm.  And from there, things actually progressed really quickly. One of the most common questions I've gotten since then has been "how was labor?" to which I respond "I am in love with epidurals."  It's honestly the best way to sum up the experience! :)

Alessa arrived at 7:31pm that evening.  She weighed in at 7 lbs. 9 oz. and was 20.5 inches long.  Right before I started pushing, Sean took out the video camera to record our final predictions for baby Gabbard.  While Sean had a last minute change and said boy, I stuck with my prediction of a girl and guess 7 lbs. 7 oz. and 21 inches long.  Not bad for a guess!!  While it certainly was a 50/50 chance, we both had a hunch for most of the pregnancy that we would be having a little girl! We couldn't have been happier!!  She looked alot like me as a baby, just with lighter features.  But there is no denying she has mommy's lips and daddy's dimples! And from the moment she joined us, she was sticking out her cute little tongue - getting the nickname of "Lessa the Lizard" quickly.  Here are a couple of pictures from the night Alessa was born.



check out that conehead! :)