The latest addition to our family

Solana Corrine was born on Sunday, October 19, 2008 at 2:02 PM. She came out weighing 6 lbs, 13 oz and is 20 inches in length.

After many weeks of nesting, a week full of sporadic "real" contractions, and a false alarm last Friday, I decided on Saturday that I wanted to get this baby out. I walked the dog around the neighborhood (and up hills) in the morning, we went to the Linens N' Things liquidation sale (which was a madhouse), we visited two malls, went to our neighbor's grandson's birthday party, then walked the dog again - this time as a family.

I finally started feeling strong, consistent contractions around 6:30pm. Around 8 pm, I realized that I wasn't going to make it to church in the morning and told Thom to go to the church drop off some brochures that I was supposed to hand out on Sunday. That was when he knew that this was the real thing. Once he got back, we got Mya in her jammies and took her to my parents' house.

Long story short, I started at 4cm, we took the last bed in L&D, I was slow to dilate, water bag had to be broken twice, epidural didn't work for delivery (ouch), and baby was born after 15 hours of being in the hospital. We left the hospital a little less than 24 hours after Solana was born. I know people say you should take advantage of your hospital stay and get your rest and help. But I had the hardest time getting up and down off the bed because I'm short. I was in so much pain that I had to figure out creative methods of getting the baby out of the bassinet without having to get out of bed (again, because I'm short, I couldn't just reach over and get her). Hospital food was okay. I liked my breakfast.

Anyway, after we left the hospital, we headed straight for Solana Beach. Thom took Solana with him while standing in the ocean. After we got our photos, we headed for an oil change, then went to my parents house to eat and finally headed home at 7pm. We had visitors (the dog sitters) for a little bit and then finally went to bed as a family of 4.

Solana is nursing well. She's a good baby - hardly cries. Mya is a proud big sister and a good helper. I'm doing fine. Pain is much more noticeable this time around - even though Mya's birth was more traumatic.

Yaay - I get to do projects for two grls now!