Stellyn Adams Lee: A Birthday Story

Aston, Jeff and I would like to introduce Miss Stellyn Adams Lee! Stellyn rounded out our family of 4 last Friday, May 22nd 2009. Here are her stats:

Name: Stellyn Adams Lee (Adams was my middle name and my Grandmother's maiden name on my Mom's side)
Birthday: May 22, 2009
Birth Time: 6:19 am
Birth Weight: 7lbs 14oz
Birth Height: 19inches

Stelly is so much littler than her big brother...but her size suits her well...she is perfect! The big surprise of the day was that she was a GIRL! All along I was convinced beyond belief that she was a he. The pregnancy was just the same as Aston's as far as I was concerned and then there was the issue of Hydronephrosis (she had enlarged kidneys in utero...up to 5 times more likely to occur in males). She was diagnosed with this at her 16 week level 2 ultrasound and at her 32 week ultrasound so I was convinced I was having a boy. Just an update: after birth she was given another ultrasound and so far they appear normal...we are due for a follow up in 2 weeks to be sure they didn't just look normal due to dehydration from birth.

Labor and Delivery: a Detailed Time Line (no need to read this if you don't want to know the gory details...I just wanted to document this for my own memoirs:):

Thursday May 21, 2009

• 7:00pm: Jeff and I arrive at The Palm. Aston stayed home with Gram while we went out to enjoy what was to be perhaps our "Last Supper". We ate enormous meals...three course steak dinners, lots of bread and topped it off with an XL slice of chocolate cake:) Jeff had a bottle of wine to himself.
  
• 8:30pm: We start to walk out of the restaurant and ran into Larry Brown who happened to be having dinner with Dr. Solomon from my OBGYN office. Dr. Solomon told us he was on call on Saturday. We took that as a sign that we would deliver on Saturday...little did we know!!! Miss Stelly was to arrive in less than 10 hours!
• 9:30pm: Arrive home. Jeff and Gram drink more wine.
• 11:30pm: Head to bed for the last time as a family of 3!
  

Friday May 22, 2009

• 2:07am: 1st "I know this is labor" contraction
• 2:16am: 2nd real deal contraction...I wake up Daddy Jeff and say "we need to go to the hospital ASAP"
• 2:25am: I call the OBGYN dispatcher and lie and say I have had contractions for over an hour at 5 mins apart...because I didn't want him to tell me to stay home for a while...Aston came within 3 hours of the first contraction so I was scared this would be even faster!
• 2:30am: I start ordering Jeff around by telling him to gather all of what I need and throw it in the car...poor guy was not awake and still drunk from the night before
• 2:40am: Wake up my Mom to tell her we are heading to the hospital
• 2:45am: I jump in shower (contractions are about 6 mins apart) because I hadn't washed my hair in 2 days and wouldn't be able to anytime soon.
• 3:00am: We head to the hospital (contractions are 3 mins apart)
• 3:15am: Check in to the hospital
• 3:30am: Belly monitor is on and they tell me I am 6cm dilated
• 3:45-4:00am: I throw-up my steak dinner...body getting ready for labor...but sooo not pleasant...poor Jeff:(
• 4:00-5:00am: I work through labor by walking around the room, swaying, sitting on the ball.
• 5:00am: Dr. Meek comes in and breaks my water (8cm dilated)
• 5:00-6:00am: More much more intense labor...I get in the zone...tune out everyone...except to comunicate to Jeff that I will never do this again:)...I am still walking around at this point...meanwhile, they figure out that her head is not making the last turn that it needs to
• 6:00am: They direct me into different positions to get her head in the correct position.
• 6:15am: They made me get on all 4s and do a cat/cow pose...and then I suddenly feel her head drop. Wanted to have her on all 4s but they made me turn over. Gosh what would I have done if I had had an epidural? It would have taken forever to get her head positioned correctly I guess?
• 6:19am: Dr. Meek barely made it back in the room in time. One GIANT push and she was out...I was shaking and completely emotional when Dr. Meek flipped her upside down and showed us she was a girl...think he was just as surprised as we were!

~Pretty in Pink: It's a girl!...these are the tamest of the post birth photos~

~What the heck do I do with a GIRL?!~

~I got myself a baby girl?~

~Daddy performed the snip snip...and proudly so~

~The Weigh-In~

~This is Aston's weigh-in...they kinda look the same here...but believe me Stelly is much more girly looking:) with softer features like thinner lips and a smaller head~

~Kissy Kissy:)~

~Starting to sink in...I have a baby girl~

~Our first of many millions of kisses~

~A perfect bill of health~