Have you noticed that I have been missing in action? Let me introduce you to the reason why!
My due date was December 30th and this baby was showing no signs of making an early appearance. At my doctor's appointment on December 23rd, she told me that I was still 3 cm. Discouraged, my husband and I left a bit frustrated and tried to accept that I might be pregnant forever. Imagine my surprise at 1:00 am on December 24th when I started to have some strange pains. I thought "this can not be what I think it is." I pulled out my iPhone and started timing them. Sure enough, 6 minutes apart for 1 minute at a time. I walked down the hall and laid in another bed and started timing them for real. 6 minutes apart for 1 minute for 40 minutes. I decided it was time to wake up my husband. By the time I walked down the hallway, the contractions were 4 minutes apart! By the time I could form a sentence to tell him what was going on they were 2 minutes apart! We called the doctor and they said to get a move on.
I changed clothes, grabbed the bags and we got in the car to make the 5 minute {thankfully!} drive to the hospital. Don't tell the police, but we ran a red light because the contractions we about 1 minute apart. We got to the hospital. They rushed me into a triage room and started an IV and booted my husband out of the room and gave me my requested epidural. Thankfully, being a planner, I had gone in a couple of weeks ahead of time and reviewed my birth plan with them and let them know that my mom had a VERY quick labor as well. {She went into the hospital at 10 cm and had me, her first, in 3 hours! Not typical} So when I got there, they moved quickly.
My contractions were fierce. I did not even feel the epidural. They checked me and I was 7 cm. They moved me to a labor room and checked again in 20 minutes. I was 10 cm. The baby was still a bit high so we took a couple hour and a half naps. The epidural started to wear off and they gave me another dose. The doctor came in to check me and they realized the baby was facing the wrong way. A couple of contractions and they had turned her and told me to push. 10 pushes later, at 9:33 am on Christmas Eve, baby Gianna James Drew Vale made her appearance. There were 8 other women giving birth at the same time. I almost did not get a room! We were the last ones into the hospital and the first to have our baby. Yikes! Fast.
Gianna is an Italian name that means "God is gracious" that we have had tucked in our back pocket for a while. She has two middle men's names. "James" for my grandfather and also a very special uncle in my life. "Drew" for my husband's brother, Andrew, who passed away at a very young age a couple of years ago.
We are still learning the ropes with this little precious newborn. She keeps us crying, snapping at each other because we are exhausted, laughing and staring at her in awe. She has my husband's lips and my nose. All of my nieces have the same Vale mouth. I am glad our little lady has the same. She fits right in. Thank you all for your thoughts, prayers and warm wishes! Love to you all from our now family of three!
