Georgiana Costa was born on November 28th 2011 at 7:47 am at Santa Barbara Cottage Hospital. Here are photos from the blessed event. Mom, Leah and Michael were there for the birth. Dad came later to visit. (I unfortunately don't have a good photo of Leah but she was a MAJOR part of the whole event). We love Georgiana so much and below is her birth story!
On November 28th 2011 little miss Georgiana Costa was born at 7:47 am at Santa Barbara Cottage Hospital. She weighted 7 lbs 13 oz and measured 20 inches long. Never was there a more beautiful, loved and cherish baby in all the universe. :) She was born on my Grandma Dee’s birthday too!
My contractions were happening the whole week before the birth but nothing too painful or regular. I was doing the mediation technique that my Mom taught me to picture my cervix opening and I think that helped a lot in getting ready for the big day. When I went into my doctors appointment on my due date (November 22nd) I was dilate to a 3 cm which was a good sign. The day before the birth was a magical day. I had been emotional and anxious the whole week before and Michael decided to make the day all about me. Of course he had no idea I’d go into labor that night, but something must have tipped him off because he did exactly what I needed to get me in a good calm and peaceful place. First he made me breakfast in the morning. Then we snuggled for awhile and talked. He then suggested we play a board game so we played Cashflow (which is the book, “Rich Dad, Poor Dad.” put into a board game format) We played for about 6 hours so it was a pretty epic game. In the middle of the game we went on a walk. After we were done (Michael won) we watched “The Blind Side.” All the while I’m feeling my normal contractions but they start to come a little more regularly. I was feeling them during the board game and then started realizing they were coming more regularly during the movie. Finally they were about 10 minutes apart. I felt that things were probably going to continue moving forward but I didn’t want to go the hospital until my contractions were about 3-5 minutes apart. I think Michael may have not quite believed me that I was going into labor because during our birth classes they told the Dad’s that it wouldn’t be time to go to the hospital until their wife couldn’t talk through a contraction. Well I don’t think I got to that point. I called Mom at 1:00 am in the morning saying that I think we are going to go the hospital and we’d call her when we got there. Then my contractions stopped coming quite as frequently. We put all the final stuff in our bag and I put on makeup. (haha). But then we got back into bed because my contractions stopped coming as quickly. Well, within a few minutes they came back and we got everything together and left for the hospital. Michael called Mom to say we were were on our way. When we got there we got checked in and put in a little room to be examined. It was about 2:30 in the morning. It took a few minutes for our nurse to come in and she checked me and saw that I was dilated to 5 cm. She didn’t bother doing the rest of the exam because she knew I might be delivering quickly and wanted to get me into a labor and delivery room right away. So we go into the room and she hooks me up to everything. I started to have more regular and painful contractions so by the time Mom and Leah showed up I was starting to REALLY feel it. It was funny because as the nurse was checking us in she had me sign all this paper work and was asking Michael and myself all these questions. Michael was having to yell to her answers over my moaning because my contractions were getting so painful. Anyway, Mom and Leah arrive just in time to jump in there and start helping me. I was trying to find a comfortable position which I quickly realized isn’t possible in labor. I was trying to bounce on an exercise ball but all the cords I was hooked up to kept getting in the way. Then I just hunched over on the side of the bed and people were rubbing my lower back. Finally my best position to deal with the pain was just to sit upright on the bed. At one point I was leaning over on Leah for support, Mom was massaging my leg and Michael my lower back. I really don’t think I could have done it without this team! The nurse came in again and checked me and I was 7 cm dilated. I think I said, “That’s it!!?” But in reality that was pretty good. I was using all of Mom’s techniques for deep breathing which really really helped. I also think that all those years of voice lessons and learning deep breathing through the diaphram really made a big difference. I was very out of it for awhile because I was so focused on getting through each contraction. Finally I was dilated to about 8-9 cm and asked for my water to be broken to speed things along. Our nurse (named Red) called the doctor but she had an appointment and wasn’t going to come until after it. I think I may have said I was going to kill her….Then we asked if there was ANY doctor in the hospital that could break my water. I was started to get into a very out of body painful place where I had the urge to push but couldn’t because I could risk rupturing the cervix. It was excruciating to have such a big urge to push and not be able to - coupled with major contractions. Finally after an hour of being dilated 9 cm and not pushing I had one uncontrollable urge to push and did. Then my water broke. Immediately the nurse came in and saw I was finally at 10 cm. She set me up and gave me instructions to push. This was the most welcome news I’ve ever heard. I was SO happy to be finally pushing and the contractions lessened a ton - or at least felt like they did. I started pushing and did that for awhile until my doctor came in. She took over and I guess it was about an hour of pushing (which seems long to me now but didn’t at the time) and the baby’s head finally came out. They took my hand and let me feel her head - it was such a crazy experience. I mean, you carry this baby for 9 months and feel it kicking but when the reality that a human is being born out of your body finally hits you its surreal. Anyway, they then got out her shoulder but her arm accidentally came out too and had to pull her out pretty quickly so I tore a bit. They then had me put my hands down and grab her under her arms and I pulled her out onto my chest. It was amazing! She was officially born at 7:47 a.m so I had about 5 hours of hard labor. Seeing her face for the first time was the most amazing thing. I was kind of wrapped up in all the excitement and it was so cool to see the look on Mom, Leah and especially Michael’s faces when the baby was born. I saw everyone crying and exclaiming and there was such an amazing energy. And our nurse Red ended up staying even though her shift was done because she really wanted to be there for the grand finale. She even took a picture of Michael cutting the umbilical cord and emailed it to us (even though it was totally against hospital rules!) Also, the moment they said it was a girl was so cool but truth be told I pretty much thought it was a girl anyway. For a split second I thought they said a boy but then I hear “girl!” and it was so awesome. They then cleaned off the baby a little bit and I just was staring at her and seeing her features up close finally. She looked so familiar to me and so beautiful (even though she was purple!). Then after awhile they wrapped her up a bit more so Michael could hold her and then Mom and Leah. We were all there just talking and so excited which was crazy considering everything I just went through. All the pain was gone and there was just such a rush of energy even though I got no sleep and just went through the most painful experience of my life. It was so nice to do everything naturally because I felt the actual birth and the baby was very alert too.
Finally they took the baby to the nursery and Michael went too to take video. I was wheeled down to the maternity ward and checked in there. Mom and Leah were with me and we were just all talking and excited and rehashing the experience. Michael came back and had a cute stamp of the baby’s foot on his arm that the nurse gave him. Dad then came up and brought Sam with him because he was babysitting for Leah. So he came up and got to see the baby. Eventually every one left because no one got any sleep and it was just Michael and I alone. It hit me that we finally had our little family. It was so nice to be just with Michael and relish in our beautiful baby.
So the time in the hospital was great. Obviously I had some hard things to learn like breastfeeding and calming a baby. Georgiana had some big things to get used to and she handled it like a champ. The nurses were amazing. Our favorite nurse was a Chinese woman named Hao (pronouced, “How”) and she would come in and stay a long time and help and talk. We loved her. She was sweet and her husband worked in the hospital too and they would have lunch together everyday. :) Also, the hospital had lactation specialists come in twice a day which was SO nice and they were all so sweet. At night, I would have the nurse take baby girl to the nursery between feedings so we could get some sleep. I was so happy that Michael stayed with me the whole time and slept on the little pull our chair. We left at the last possible minute on Wednesday at around 3 pm. Hao gave us a bag full of supplies and we were on our way home. That night Mom came to help and boy did she ever. Just having her here was so reassuring and it took a lot of the pressure off of me and Michael. Michael and Mom discovered that Georgiana loved to be bounced on the the exercise ball and so that was really helpful. Every night got a little better. The first night was a little rough because Georgiana didn’t really like the bassinet. Mom figured out that we could just put her in her carseat and she like that a lot better. So then we put the carseat IN the bassinet and that helped a ton. The second thing we figured out was that it was easier to nurse baby girl in bed with both of us lying down to minimize a lot of moving around. So that has made it easy for both of us to get more rest. And Michael and Mom helped in the night when she was fussy and bounced her so I could sleep more. When Mom left I cried like a baby so she ended up staying another night. The next morning when she left I cried again but not as hysterically. I just felt safe with her there and truth be told really just wanted to company. :) Since then we have been doing just fine. Georgiana is a precious angel who is really a great eater and sleeper. If she’s fussy she really just needs to be bounced on the ball to get settled down. We love her so much!
Now that we have our little Georgiana finally with us I can’t imagine life without her. She’s only been alive one week and yet she is the most precious, wonderful, cutest spirit one could ask for. I love her little faces she makes when she is sleeping. She smiles a lot in her sleep and make the most adorable noises. Michael and I are enamored and in love and the sweetness of having her in our lives is fading the memory of the difficulties of the pregnancy and birth. (Even though I had a pretty easy ride overall). I can’t wait for all the different stages of life to watch her go through but at the same time don’t want it to go too fast. I’m already freaking out that she is a week old….Anyway, this experience has taken me to a new level in life and I’m just so grateful for my beautiful family. :)
