the day siena was born

The contraction woke me up at 6am.

I woke up and waited for a couple more to come to make sure I hadn't dreamt it. They felt real.

I decided to let not wake up Mike because I knew one of two things would happen:

1) He wouldn't believe me, roll back over, and go back to sleep, leaving me alone with excitement and anticipation. or,

2) He would get SO excited that he wouldn't sleep and waste precious hours of rest that we would soon not have the luxury of.

I texted my mom that I was having contractions and to be ready, as she was going to be watching Lia while we were at the hospital.

Jumped in the shower, then was too excited from the contractions that I had to tell Mike (I forgot about the wanting him to sleep part). I told him that we were going to have Siena today, and that I was going to take a walk around the neighborhood. I wanted to have Siena that same day, because that would give us three full days together before Mike had to leave for a gig in St. Louis with the band for seven days.

Headed out for my walk.

The weather surprisingly wasn't killing me at 6am, and I remember being grateful for the slight breeze that I was blessed with during my fast-paced-I'm-getting-this-baby-out walk. I couldn't wait to go home and see Cecilia - my baby girl, who, within a day, wouldn't be the baby girl any more. She would be my Big Girl, the Big Sister, the Big Helper, the Big Etc, Etc. As much in excitement I was for Siena's arrival, it was definitely the ending of something with my precious baby - it wasn't just the two of us, but our world would be changed.

So, I made it home... 

The contractions during the walk were about two within every song that I was listening to on my phone... and I still felt really good. Walking through them really helped so much - I felt on top of the world, even knowing that those were pretty close together. 

Home is where Mike was making breakfast for Cecilia, so I walked in to a bright, smiling face greeting me. She's so sweet. 

I had to snap some pictures of her and me because I have NO pics of us while I was pregnant! Thank you to photographer Mike for the shots of Lia and me. But first, Lia had to boogie. And I had to capture it:

After this I got up and continued to pace around the house, as walking felt so good still. I called my mom and told her to get ready to head down soon. We remembered the 5-1-1 rule in regards to contractions (every 5 minutes, 1 minute long, for 1 hour). I was past that part - we were at every 3 minutes for 1 minute for past an hour. I began to get more serious - and of course, anticipation eating away at me - called my mom again and told her to ACTUALLY head down (from North Scottsdale). Since she was about twenty minutes away, and I wanted to leave NOW (because I'm impatient), we called our good buddy Ross... well, actually, we called Ike, who lives with Ross, to wake up Ross, to come watch Lia. He's her [almost] favorite babysitter.

We headed to Chandler Regional.

My one goal with this labor was that I get to the hospital after I passed the 3cm mark. During labor with Cecilia, I was at a standstill at 3cm for FOREVER... so I just wanted to pass that goal line.

...They checked me, and I was at 5cm! I was so excited!! I felt like we accomplished something! And I felt even better about giving birth naturally, that I had passed the point where I had gotten an epidural with Cecilia.

Only 5cm to go... this should be sooo easy... right??

...little did I know!

Here's a short vid at around 9:55am that Mike took of us at the hospital.

After about an hour and a half of lots of fun "rushes" (not "pain"!), it was time for me to push. 

11:52am Two pushes... and Siena was out.

Insanity.

I got to hold Siena immediately after having her, per my birth plan, as keeping her really close to me instead of her being whisked away was really important to both Mike and me.

I was basically sitting there, holding our new baby girl, in complete shock. I couldn't believe what just happened. I felt slightly light-headed and overwhelmed. I just pushed a baby out without any drugs or anything.

I looked down at Siena in utter amazement and glanced at Mike who had tears in his eyes at the feat we just conquered.

Siena Clare Guizar

June 21, 2011

Born at 11:52am

7 lbs 10 oz (same as her Sissy ;) )

20 inches

This was such a beautiful day for Mike and me - we set a goal and accomplished that together. It was an incredible amount of hard work, determination and love... and we did it. Our beautiful baby girl was born, and that was the most important thing. 

Love is not even close to say our emotion as to what our beautiful family has turned into. The blessings the Lord has given to us are literally beyond my imagination. I am so grateful, beyond words, for what we've been given.

To readers: Thank you for this patience in this post - for your prayers, for your support, and for your love. 

Now on to the ever-coveted sleep, gotta catch it while I can ;)

"On the day that you were born the angels got together and decided to create a dream come true."