Tickled Pink!

Alexis Rose Hamilton's arrival

November 16, 2008 - 2:11 am

6 pounds, 6 ounces, 19 inches

Proud new parents

No one expected me to be quite so small!

With my Godmother, Aunt Wendy

With my Grampa Tom and Godfather, Uncle John

With my Uncle John and Aunt Kate

With my Nanny and Grampa Mike

With my family friend, Jen Radeloff

Homeward Bound!

Our precious baby girl has arrived! After 38 weeks of pregnancy (and 14 years together), Vic and I are proud parents and thrilled to be embarking on an exciting new adventure. 

We began Saturday, November 15th hoping that my doctors might be correct and that our baby would be joining us very soon. As we tried to remain calm and treat it like any other Saturday, I also made a mental note of all the wives' tales about encouraging the labor process to begin and fulfilled many of them over the next few hours - since it seemed that our baby was ready and merely needed a bit of "prompting".  After enjoying what we now know was our last meal before becoming parents (my mother's spaghetti recipe complete with red pepper for the spicy kick I had read about online), I received a call from my sister and ended it by telling her I had a feeling my water wouldn't break on its own (esp. as the full moon two days earlier had come and gone), and joined Vic for a relaxing night of tv watching - with him timing my mild contractions on his stopwatch.  

Not five minutes later, at 7:40 pm, my water did begin to break, and we excitedly put to use a paper test given to us by Dr. Cassell to ensure it was indeed amniotic fluid. And...it was time to have a baby! I called the hospital for instructions. Dr. Tandon told us to head on over as soon as we could! Vic ran around the house packing our hospital bags and trying to keep me calm. Soon, we were off to Bridgeport Hospital with my contractions really setting in. There was no mistaking it, I was in labor. We arrived at 8:30 pm, were admitted to room 5001 and life as we knew it was changed forever. My epidural was administered at 10:30 pm and in between contractions we watched "Saturday Night Live" in what now seems like quite a blur. I began pushing at 1:25 am, and 46 minutes later, Alexis Rose Hamilton entered the world! Dr. Tandon greeted her with a "hello, we're so happy to meet you." And then announced to us "It's a girl". What a moment! It's one we will never forget and our excitement for Alexis and love for her were instant. Our peanut weighed in at 6 pounds, 6 ounces, she was 19 inches tall and she was wailing her little lungs with all her might. 

We feel truly blessed and have enjoyed every moment of getting to know our beautiful baby girl and showing her our love. We will continue to update this blog to keep track of Alexis's many milestones. Family and friends, feel free to visit the blog and join us on this exciting new journey - parenthood. 

The Countdown is on

After Vic was surprised with a baby shower at the gym yesterday morning (is he a regular there or what?!), we went to my OBGYN appt. and were thrilled to hear that I had progressed even further from my appt. earlier in the week and was 2-3 centimeters dilated and 70-80% effaced. Dr. Cassell thinks our baby could arrive any day now, so the countdown is on in full force. We are tending to all last minute items in the nursery and around the house and are waiting anxiously for the contractions to really set in. We are so hopeful that Baby Hamilton will join us this weekend. In the meantime, we are just filled with excitement about what's to come!!

"Sitting Waiting Wishing"

Dear Cubbie-

This post is all for you! Here we sit, not knowing if you'll be joining us in a matter of days or perhaps in several weeks. While this pregnancy has seemed to fly by with us happily sharing the news about you in the first trimester, enjoying summer, moving to our new house and sneaking away for one last vacation before becoming parents in the second trimester and then keeping busy with fall plans and with preparations for our newest family member (you!) in this final stretch, it now seems that these very last weeks are the hardest and longest of all. 

I'm the kind of person who always likes to have a plan and is not very good when it comes to surprises or waiting (this is a type A personality as you'll soon come to learn), so sitting idly by as you decide when it's time to join us is not easy for me. Your daddy, on the other hand, takes each day as it comes and lives by the mantra that "you shouldn't wish your life away", so while he is just as excited to meet you, this homestretch is a lot easier on him. I'm trying very hard to follow his example.

I just made it to the 37-week mark which means you are considered full-term: a great milestone! So now we're just "sitting, waiting, wishing" that you come very soon. In fact, nothing would make us happier, and happy is a wonderful thing to be. Can't wait!

With love, 

Your eager mother and father