Well it happened. Baby Makenzie Moreno has arrived! Her due date was always December 22nd, and that's the day she came. And I must say, it was impeccable timing. Luis was out of town a few weeks before, so I was glad she didn't come then. My mom didn't get here until the 15th, so I was glad she didn't come before that either. Luis's parents didn't come until the 17th, so once again, I was glad she waited until she did so that everyone could be here for her debut.
Here are the basics of her story. I had been feeling pretty good (as good as you can feel being 9 months pregnant) all week long. And then came Saturday and my body hit a wall. I felt drained of all my energy. It was the day we were making our "Christmas Tamales," so I was very glad to have a lot of experts here to help out. That night, I began feeling contractions and finally went to the hospital around 3:00 Sunday morning. It was such a blessing having my Mom and Luis's parents here to watch Raquel for us while we were gone. They were wonderful with her!
Once we arrived at the hospital, I learned I was dilated to a 5, so they immediately started searching for a room for me. While we were waiting, I heard them telling the pregnant woman a few curtains over, that since she was already dilated to a 7, it was unlikely she would get an epidural in time. I didn't think too much of it at the time, but after waiting an hour for a room and a few more hours IN my room, I began thinking I might end up in the same boat as her. Finally, the anesthesiologist took pity on me and ran up to give me an epidural in between C-sections (apparently there were an unusual amount of C-sections that night). Like I've said before, epidurals are pure gold.
After that, I pretty much hung around looking gorgeous until they told me I was at a 10 and the baby was ready to come. Dr. Dhaliwal (my doctor's partner) came in, broke my water, and we commenced pushing at 9:50 am. At 9:52, Makenzie arrived! That's right, I had a 2 minute labor. It was glorious. Makenzie is already on my good side:)
Right out of the shoot, Makenzie was looking for her first meal, so they tossed her over to me and had me start feeding her before they even took her weight. Thankfully, she was one of those pro eaters who knew how to eat from the get-go. When they finally measured her, she was 8 lbs 1 oz and 19 3/4 inches. The nurse kept chuckling because her belly ended up with a bigger circumference than her head. The sweetest moment was when she stopped crying and started cuddling with me the moment they handed her to me. She knew her Mommy!
It was such a beautiful moment to be able to hold her and look at her, knowing where she had just come from. It was very spiritual. It was very different from Raquel's birth, since Raquel was whisked away to the NICU right away and I was left all by my lonesome wondering if she would live.
My delivery nurse, Patricia, kept saying we should be the poster family for birthing experiences. There were no complications, the labor was fast, and our baby was amazingly calm from the start. It was a perfect labor and delivery, according to her. Below is a picture of me with my nurse. She was a sweetheart!
Later in the day, Makenzie received her first visitors.
Raquel wasn't sure what a Makenzie was, so she kept pushing her away.
What she DIDN'T push away, were her special "big sister treats" the hospital gave her.
Makenzie's other visitors included Abuelo y Abuela Moreno and Grandma Ferguson.
We love our sweet critter Makenzie very much!
