Isabelle Ryne Vigneron Has Arrived!!

After a whirlwind of events Isabelle Ryne Vigneron was born at 7:18 am 4/7/2012 at Maple Grove Hospital in Maple Grove, MN. She weighed in at 6 pounds 7 ounces and was 20 1/4 inches long.

Her middle name is in honor of Patrick's middle name - Ryan. Since 2 is plenty for us, I wanted to honor Patrick even if Isabelle was not a boy. 

As we were figuring out the initials and what it spelled (always a must) - we realized it spells IRV.  How incredibly special since Isabelle's late great grandpa's name was Irvin.  We knew her name was a perfect fit when we realized that.

This little lady was 10 days early.  I had a feeling she would come early, but the timing was pretty crazy.  Gramma and Grandpa came up on Friday for Easter weekend, which was the first time we would have continuous overnight coverage for Amelia if I went into labor.

As we all went to bed on Friday night, I jokingly said, "Well, I'm going to go work on some labor" - guess I that was more true than I realized.   So here was the timeline of events:

2:15 (am):  Contractions start.  I start to time them and question if they were real. 11 to 8 to 6 min apart - bounced around quite a  bit.

3:00: Wake up Patrick - I didn't want to deliver at home, but didn't want to wake him if it was fake!

3:15:  I call the doctor, Patrick wakes my parents.  To my great relief - MY doctor was on call!  She said to wait 30 min to see if the contractions were still coming.  They increased to 3 to 4 min apart.  We decide to head into the hospital since it was about 20-30 min away.

4:30: Get hooked up to monitoring and start the 1 1/2 hour wait to see if I was progressing. I was dilated to 4 at this point.  The result of 1 1/2 hours would decide whether I would get admitted or get sent home.  When the monitoring began my contractions had slowed to about 7 to 8 min.   My doctor recommended I walk around a bit.  This made my contractions start coming almost non stop, I could not stand up straight and we hobbled back. 

6:00:  I am dilated to 6 and the nurse decides to admit me.  I could barely make it to the room and was asking for an epidural.

6:20: Arrive at the room and the process of trying to find my vein begins.  Now to really make this hit home - I couldn't get an epidural or any pain relievers until they started an IV, which they could not find a vein.  This continued for quite some time.  It took 4 times before they could get an IV started. 

6:45ish:  I am dilated to 8 and options other than an epidural are being discussed.  It is decided to go with a 1 shot in the back that lasts for 3 hours.

6:55:  The shot is FINALLY administered and ever so slowly it starts to work.  Honestly, it probably was pretty fast, but was NOT an epidural.  I'm not a naturalist.  I need no stars or hero compliments.  I was literally begging the entire time NOT to go natural - the pain was so intense and I could feel pain after the shot.  Needless to say - I liked my ala-carte epidural with Amelia's induction! Enough said.

7:00 or 7:05:  I'm fully dilated and they are  telling me I can push.  After 3-4 rounds of pushing - Isabelle entered this world at 7:18!!!

What a whirlwind!  I also have to give a huge thanks to Patrick because he was so encouraging through the whole thing and I could not have done it without him.

 Isabelle and mommy.  Yes, that is relief you see on my face!

 Our little pumpkin after she has been cleaned up.

 Daddy, Mommy and Isabelle.  (Amelia was sound asleep at home - without any knowledge of how much her world had just changed)

 Daddy and Isabelle

 My awesome doctor!!!  She was technically done with her on-call shift by the time I was ready to deliver, but she wanted to be the one to deliver Isabelle so she came in anyway!  I was so incredibly relieved - especially since there was a nurse change going on at 7:15.  I love my doctor!

 Amelia's first time seeing Isabelle!  She was and has been very curious of her sister.  There has not been any negative attitude towards Isabelle at all, just curiosity. 

 Amelia wanted to hold her sister so gramma helped.

We gave Amelia one of Isabelle's diapers to play with and at one point, she laid the diaper out on the ground and walked over to me, who was holding Isabelle at the time, with her arms up as if to say, "Okay Mommy, hand Isabelle over - I have to change her diaper"  -- it was sooo sweet!

 Grandpa and Isabelle

Gramma and Isabelle

 Isabelle's first bath

 She did not like being cold at all

 Underneath the heater after her bath

Isabelle passed all of her 24 hour tests along with all of her gestational diabetes tests! Yay!

When we left the hospital she had lost 6% of her body weight and was 5 lbs 15 oz.  Today we went to her newborn appointment and she weighed in at 6 lbs 5 oz!!!  So she is gaining weight like a champ!

The doctor also mentioned that she has above average muscle tone, which means she is very strong!  When they put her on my chest after being delivered she lifted her head up - I was amazed!

 Isabelle in her little hat provided by a volunteer group of grandma's!  They were so cute.

 Easter Sunday.  Amelia was more scared and timid around me than Isabelle the first day.  This was the first time she climbed up on my lap.

 Amelia in her Easter dress. 

 Hanging out in the hospital room

 Our first new family picture! 

 Isabelle all packed up and ready to go home!   We ended up leaving much later than desired on Monday due to a severe headache caused by the shot in my back for pain meds....long story short - I had to have a procedure done to make it possible for me to even sit up without a severe headache.  Did I mention I wish I could have had an epidural???  I'm still a little bitter - I was totally not expecting that turn of events.

Isabelle at home with some pretty chubby cheeks!

The sweet new addition to our family.  Welcome baby girl!