Finally here!

I am proud to announce the birth of my little girl, Lilybelle Elena Hernandez.  Born on a Sunday, July 1st, 2012 at 2:31pm. Weighed 7lbs 11 1/2 oz, measured 20 inches long.

Small details about her labor process:
-2 days with contractions

-Water leaked while walking to the car then rode to the hospital

-I withstood more pain than I thought, reached 1 minute contractions without feeling like dying, but was persuaded to get the epidural (I really wanted to try, but people were freaking me out)

-After epidural, body relaxed and contractions subsided to 4 minutes apart. 10 hours of epidural later, I was dilated to 10cm. Read about it's effects HERE.
-15 hours total at the Kaiser Permanente hospital to deliver. The staff was wonderful! Had my mom with me as my husband slept, my son stayed with family.

-30 minutes pushing time, no cut nor tearing "down there."  The relaxation breathing techniques REALLY worked to relax my body. Easy to find on YouTube or click HERE.

-Lilybelle breastfed like a champ within 10 minutes from arriving, and big bro finally came to see her 2 hours later...told her he loved her a lot (still tells her that daily).

So that was the short of it all. I want to keep blogging really soon, but I need to focus on the baby, which is very demanding since she only breastfeeds...resulting in 14 feeds per day (through the night included). That's besides taking care of my toddler, feeding the family, cleaning, etc.  So you can imagine it can get super busy. I'll be writing soon about what nursing on demand is compared to scheduled nursing, tips, and sacrifices that come along with it to give your baby the best possible from birth.

See her newborn photo shoot at MariaElenaPhotography.com

So happy to be a new mommy all over again