Our baby has arrived...

And with it we were pleasantly surprised beyond our wildest beliefs. The Lord showed up on the delivery day in more ways than imaginable! For months, people have voted on what name we should use with no end to that search, we dealt with scares about the health of the baby throughout the first 5 months, prayed the baby would turn into the correct position up until the night my water broke, and prayed that I could get my severe anemia under control in case a C-section was unavoidable. Super Bowl Sunday, we had our family and friends over to our house. The day before, the carpet was finally installed, Richard finished painting the baby's room. Sunday before the big game, my mom and I went to pick up the curtains while the men stayed and put furniture back into place throughout both rooms. I had some spotting Sunday and was very uncomfortable. I knew it wouldn't be long before we would see our new baby. I was very anxious to see the doctor on Monday afternoon; however, the baby did not wait until Monday afternoon. At 11:58pm, Sunday night, my water broke. My first reaction was "Oh, no...get off the new carpet." :) I ran to the restroom and yelled from there for Richard to wake up. By 12:10am we were at the hospital. I was shaking from nerves of a possible C-section. We still did not know if this baby was in position and I was (according to the hospital records) only 35 weeks! His lungs, and nonetheless he, would be premature. And I figured if everything was okay, my water had already broke, I had missed my epidural and would delivery natural a 4th time no drugs within the next hour (if the pattern of the others would follow). At 5am, I was still only dilated to a 2 and contractions were beginning to space out! 5am? Five hours later and I was no where, where I would have thought, although they did an xray to determine for sure the baby was in position. Our prayers had been answered and everything looked great! 7am..only 3! 9am...3+! Doctor finally agreed to allow me to have an epidural for fear I would once again miss it if I hit 4. I had already taken pain medication and was sleeping. At one point the nurse woke me and asked if they had already given me oxygen. I was a bit confused and asked my mom about it at that point only to find out she was off to the side crying in confusion as to what was going on that they were not telling me! We were scared once again for our little baby. A wonderful nurse then came in, checked the scalp monitor and replaced it. Because the baby was so high up when they first put the scalp monitor on, it was giving false readings that worried the first nurse. I went back to sleep. :) At 11:45, they woke me and asked me to turn onto my left. I thought I needed to use the restroom, but had issues, so instead the nurse checked me and learned I was READY TO DELIVER. (Perhaps it wasn't the restroom I needed?) Those epidurals are an amazing thing! Doctor came in and told me to wake up or else turn off the epidural (still snoozing from the pain meds at 8am). Also told me that if I couldn't feel the contractions, he would turn it off. Thanks mom for telling me when I was having one so I could tell Dr. Creel I felt one and was ready to push :). First push - Dr. Creel tells me, "Oh, wait, I'm not ready." Second push - our baby is here. I looked down and was amazed at how small the baby was and was announcing the fact when Richard is beside me crying and shaking his head no! Um, yeah, tiny baby...no way was this baby the normal 9 lbs or expected 10lbs! Still kept shaking his head no and starts telling me it's a girl! I thought he was being very mean and tricking me. Then my mom looks down and turns so red, and screams "IT'S A GIRL!!!". She turns and starts hugging nurses, husband is still crying and whispering (not sure why) it's a girl, and I have to ask Dr. Creel if they are lying to me. His response, "I thought we were having a boy?" Our little boy (after 3 ultrasounds) was a beautiful little girl and she has taken the full Italian side of the Consilio family! She has the beautiful Italian skin and the darkest hair with tiny ringlets! Jordonna Stella Consilio joined our family at 12:35pm February 2, 2009 at 7 lbs 8 oz, 19 1/2 inches long. Even though they say she is 5 weeks early (whatever!) she is healthy, lungs normal, and just perfectly wonderful!!! We can't wait for everyone to meet her!

And for those who are wondering: We have taken out all the blue clothes from the dresser and are figuring out what can go back and what can't and have replaced it with all the wonderful pink clothes everyone brought us to the hospital. The bedding is staying the same (my mom put too much love into it and it will now have a wonderful story to go with it) and pretty much everything else can work for our precious daughter.