I’m so excited to share the good news with y’all. We are officially a family of four, and I couldn’t imagine life any other way. Sofia was born on November 21 at 7:28am weighing 7 pounds 7 ounces 19 3/4 inches. I had a  scheduled c-section because the baby was breach (which basically means she hadn’t flipped). I had a feeling this was probably going to be the outcome since my son was breach as well.

On the day of the c-section, we got to the hospital a little after 5am, and they started checking me in. I was really excited that I would be meeting my baby girl in just a couple hours. After, I was all checked in they hooked me up to a monitor to listen to the babies heart beat, and check my vitals. Listening to her heart beat made me feel less stressed while the nurse put the IV in. I have a phobia of needles, and look the other way whenever needles are involved. On a side note, I’m not sure how I gave myself shots during the whole IVF process. As soon as I went into the operating room my nerves got the best of me, and I was so scared of everything that was ahead of me. I’m not sure why I was so scared since I had done this before, and had a good idea of what to expect, but I was so petrified of what was next.

Once the doctors and nurses were in the Operating Room they gave me the epidural which wasn’t easy because my nerves by that point were off the charts, and trying to stay still wasn’t easy. I seriously had the nervous shakes. I don’t know if that’s the technical term for it, but that’s the only way I know to describe it. The nurse told me to take a deep breath, and that seemed to help calm me down just enough to get the epidural. After that, I was laying on the table waiting for it to kick in. The first thing I noticed kicking in instead was the nausea. I remember the doctor saying I might get nauseas, but I didn’t think much of it because it didn’t happen with my son. The nausea was really bad, but thankfully shortly after they brought my husband, Manny, in and that seemed to help. He held my hand while the doctors worked on me. I remember thinking while they were working how am I going to love this new baby the same way I love my son. I started to wonder if it was even possible to love this new baby as much as I love my little Manny Jr. A few minutes later, they pulled her out, and I heard her cry. That was one of the best sounds to hear. I took a deep breath, and thought this is what Manny and I worked so hard towards. Hearing her cry, and knowing I’d see her in just a few minutes made all the shots, and doctors appointments so worth it because now we had our sweet baby girl.

The nurse gave me a quick peak before weighing her, and cleaning her up. Manny was there for all those special moments. He brought her over one more time so I could see her, and have a moment to say hello to my new baby girl. She was the prettiest baby girl I have ever seen. She had the prettiest delicate features, and the sweetest personality. The first thing I thought was my mom would have loved her. I didn’t get to do skin to skin with her in the operating room because the nausea was so strong by that time I was worried that I wasn’t strong enough to hold her. Manny went to our room, and bonded with our new baby girl until the doctor was finished with me.

Manny Jr. met his baby sister a few hours later. He wasn’t really sure what to make of her. I think he was more scared of the hospital, and his mommy not being able to pick him up. He’s only 21 months, but he’s beginning to really love his sister. He gave her a gentle pat on the head the same way he pets our puppies at home. I figured that was a good sign since he loves them so much.

Since I was pretty sick after the c-section we didn’t take many photos after the delivery. I had every intention of hiring a photographer that specialized in birth photography, but with me being sick afterwards I’m really glad we didn’t do this. I pretty much had every side effect from the epidural that you don’t want to have. I couldn’t keep anything down from the nausea so I nursed, and then Sofia cuddled with my her dad the rest of the day. The next day I finally started to feel a little better, and had a chance to do more skin to skin time with Sofia, and nurse her. Thankfully we were home by Thanksgiving to celebrate the holiday with our family.

These photos are from our newborn session. I knew, I didn’t want a really posed newborn shoot, and really wanted more of a lifestyle shoot sharing our new normal as a new family of four. Thankfully we were lucky enough to get a few pictures of my son, Manny Jr. Ever since he started walking getting pictures of him has become a new whole challenge. He’s 21 months, and loves to run all over the place. Sitting still is not his favorite activity. I am really happy that we have some really cute photos of our  family of four.

Thanks so much for stopping by, and for all the love you have given us as a family through the blog and social media. It really means the world to us!!