Charlotte's Birth Story

My sweet pea celebrates her first birthday tomorrow!  I can hardly believe it.  She has been such a joy to us from the minute she was born.

A year ago today, we were preparing to go to the hospital for her birth.  Paul's mom came up to help with Joey and we enjoyed dinner at our favorite Indian restaurant (it's a Losavio family tradition).  Early the next morning, Paul and I arrived at the hospital at 5 a.m. for induction.  It was so bitterly cold - the parking garage was iced over and Paul nearly fell on his arse as we were walking in.  Better him than the pregnant one, I'm sure he'll admit.

It was a busy day in Labor & Delivery and we were very lucky to get the last available room.  I would have been devastated if they had sent us away, but fortunately that didn't happen.  Believe me, I changed into that hospital gown and jumped into the bed as quickly as I could; I did not want to give up our room!  Our nurse started Pitocin around 7 a.m., but my labor officially started at 8:45 when my doctor broke my water.  My pain was tolerable, but the nurse anesthetist was extremely busy so I got on the waiting list for an Epidural.  By the time she got to me, the pain was still fine, but I was going to get my drugs while I could!  Once the Epidural kicked in, and the Pitocin was increased, my contractions were coming 1 1/2 to 2 1/2 minutes apart and were pretty intense.  Fortunately I couldn't feel a thing.

Around 3:15 p.m., after 6 1/2 hours of lazing watching TV resting labor, my doctor came in to check my progress.  And to her surprise, there was a head (I had a really good Epidural).  My doctor scrubbed up and the prepared the room for the delivery superfast.  After two rounds of pushing, not even 5 minutes, Charlotte was born at 3:29 p.m.  She initially scored a nine on her Apgar for her color, but when she was reassessed she scored a ten.  She weighed 7 lbs, 1 oz, and was 19 1/4 inches long.

Joey adored her baby sister from the moment they met.  She would hardly let anyone else hold her and became very concerned whenever Charlotte cried.

Here is the video from when Joey and Charlotte first met:

When Joey met Charley from Paul Losavio on Vimeo.

And some more pictures from Charlotte's first year:

birth

1 month

2 months

3 months

4 months

5 months

6 months

7 months

8 months

9 months

10 months

11 months

Joey's Birth Story

Tomorrow is my sweet Joey's third birthday.  I'm grateful that she's survived with two parents who came into parenthood without a clue, and that she has continued to thrive for the past three years.  Babies sure are resilient.

So flash back a few years.  At 39 weeks pregnant, I was not enjoying pregnancy in the least.  There was a baby taking up a lot of room in my belly.  To say that I was a little uncomfortable is an understatement.  We had a 40 week induction scheduled in the event that I didn't go into labor spontaneously, but when my doctor suggested induction for the coming Monday, Paul and I jumped on it.  Although short notice, scheduling an induction allowed our family to be present for the birth.  My mother-in-law drove up from Baton Rouge on Sunday, and my dad drove from Daphne, Alabama, on Monday morning.

We checked into the hospital at 5 am on Monday, February 25.  Once we got settled in I was hooked up to all sorts of monitors and given an IV.  The IV was the most painful part about the whole experience.  I know now that it was probably not inserted properly and it's not supposed to hurt so much, but I didn't know that then.  Anyway, my doctor broke my water around 8 am and then the contractions really started.   Those might have been more painful than the IV.  It's a toss up.

Not that I'm anti-Epidural, but I had decided that I would like to attempt childbirth without one.  For one thing, a needle going into my spine did not sound like very much fun.  But also I didn't want to be so numb that I couldn't push the baby out.  Once my contractions became painful, I asked for Demerol.  That took the edge off, for a little while at least, but mostly made me high as a kite.  After being sober for so many months it was fun.  But eventually the Demerol just wasn't cutting it and the needle in my spine didn't sound so bad.  The Epidural made my labor a more pleasant experience and I remember it fondly.

Josephine Lilly was born at 4:55 p.m. on February 25, 2008, after nine hours of labor.  She weighed 7 pounds, 6 ounces, and was 19.75 inches long.  She was perfectly healthy although I can't recall her Apgar score.  That's one of those things that parents brag about, right?  She didn't have a name for a whole 14 hours after she was born.  We actually brought our baby name book to the hospital because we had no idea what we were naming her.  The hospital records office needed her name to process their paperwork, so we were prodded by them until we made a decision.

Happy birthday, Joey.  I love you.