She's got Boys!!

That's right boys, plural, like two of us in the house. On Tuesday May 26th at 1:14 pm Daniela delivered Damiano. He came out weighing 7 pounds, 15 oz at a lenght of 20.5 inches. He did not scream one bit on his exit even though his hands and feet were pretty pruned as if he had been in a pool way too long. He's got some fuzzy hair, long fingers with nails, and feet so big they did not fit on the given paper where they make a carbon copy of them. We are all at home now trying our best to figure each other out.

So how did it go? Well things got started on Sunday morning early. We woke up and she was feeling some light contractions so I did not attend practice. Instead we decided to walk up Tumamoc with Her Mom, Dad, niece and nephew. We only walked up once even though as we came down she said she could have done it again. Those light contractions lasted all day long and by the late afternoon they were starting to pick up. But really compared to what happened later, these were no biggies. She did great through out the whole day, we were all just anxious though waiting for the "big" stuff to come. So that night we went to the birthing center just to get a check up and heads up as to where we were. They told us to go home and rest and get ready.

When we woke up on Monday morning we again went on a walk but this time on flat ground with the intent of making it to the fig tree on campus. This is a walk Daniela and I take all the time that usually takes us about 1 hour. This time though it took us 2 1/2 hours. She was needing to stop, rest, and "get through the contractions". We did make it to the tree though and we came home with a bandana full of huge plump figs. Note: please do not go looking for the tree

By the time we got home things really started to light up. It was about noon and active labor started. We were all still at home and she was doing great. Thanks here to Olivia, a mom of an old El Grupo rider, Ian, who is a nurse at the Birthing Center who came over and helped us all day long.

We stayed at the house until about 7pm, when she felt like it was time. Also making this easier was the fact that Michele her great friend came over to help. So in the car we went. Daniela, myself, Roseanne, her mom, and Michele. I drove the van over as the women were in the back on the floor of the car doing everything they could.

By 8pm we were well situated in the hospital at TMC and things were on. I mean holy moley this is crazy like on. She was incredible. The room was freezing though I just had on a pair of shorts and a long sleeve shirt, so through out the whole time in the hospital I had a blancket wrapped around me like a kilt. I wore a "skirt" the whole time. Daniela though was burning up. She could not wear anything or have anything touching her. Even though after each contraction we would all want to put some blanket or something on her, but each time she told us no.

We stayed in this state of effort and level of contractions until 8 am the next morning. She was in super labor for 12 hours unable to get to ten centimeters. She was stuck at 9cm. Why? Well the baby was sunny side up, as the nurses said. He was face up instead of down, making it much harder to exit. So after all her hours of amazing work, she was cooked and needed rest and fluids. She was totaly dehydrated and exhausted. So we decided to have an epideral and an iv. Incredible what western medicine can do. She was totally cooked and literally within minutes of the iv she was a new person, and the epideral stuff is incredible. I mean she went from having to be the strongest person in the whole world, to being able to sleep through the contractions in about 20 minutes.

Once she was able to sleep, we all fell over as well. The whole team. Mom, Michele, and Olivia. We were also cooked. The women had been up all night helping Daniela masaging her and helping every way they could. All I had the mental strength to do was sit next to her holding her hand. Really that's all I could do. Without the whole team we could not have done it. Thank you everyone for being there. It takes a village for sure.

By 12 noon Daniela was waking up and back to strenght. We were ready. And sure enough by 1:14 pm she had done it. Damiano came out all smiles.

Thank you everybody for all your supprt, well wishes, and love. Damiano will soon be able to play and I cant wait.