Congratulations to Ryan & Ynes Vance! Their beautiful baby girl came a little over a month early and she is perfect in every way!

Ynes & I have just recently become friends but I am so excited for her and her growing family!

I almost typed, "enjoy ever second, it goes by so fast" but I am sure you will hear that a lot hah

Ryan says, "the minutes go slow but the days go fast"

all the best 

xoxo

Nikol

Great job mama, you did something amazing!

Congratulations to Nicole & John! They're amazing baby girl arrived and Nicole is sharing her birth story, its amazing what our bodies can do.

So happy for them!

Today I have the help of my mother & my husband John so I have more energy to type out a birth story of my Gabriella, we call her Ella :)
In January I was ecstatic to find out we were expecting a baby and I was so excited about becoming a parent however I did not have an easy pregnancy. I might have shared this with a few of you during class. I really do not like to complain and thankfully it was all very small fixable and precautionary type issues - I am blessed everything worked out, and it was all very worth it. It sounds like a lot, so here is some background: I had fibroid removal surgery last year, my fibroids were large and inside & outside of my uterus so there was a possibility I wouldn’t be able to carry but my OB did a fantastic job and I was cleared to have normal vaginal birth when the time came. Calculating my due date was tricky for my OB as my menstruation cycle is irregular, the due date was changed twice. Eventually it was determined as 9/24. I also have hyperthyroid so I went to lab every week for blood work to check my levels. I had horrible morning sickness, Hyperemesis Gravidarum is a horrible thing to experience, I tried every remedy but still lost 16lbs. I couldn’t hold down water so I received IV fluids and was put on a prescription that just barely took the sickness away, I felt better around 20 weeks. I had to take the Glucose test multiple times because by sugar was high, and I also did the 48 hour urine collection at home to test my protein, not so fun lol. I developed chronic hypertension putting me at risk for preeclampsia and I worried about the affect high blood pressure had on my baby's growth. Lastly I was born with a heart defect called ASD - atrial septum defect, a whole the size of a quarter in the upper chamber of my heart. It was fixed at age 3 and I am 100% healthy now. I did not know it was hereditary. So I was referred to a USC Perinatologist. We saw him every 2 weeks, Ella's heart was checked for all the major defects, she was cleared and he still watched her growth very closely.

My 37week appointment with USC specialist was 9/3 and my husband and I liked to go because we got to see Ella in 4D ultrasound often and watched her change and grow. The appt before it was implied that a C-section was necessary b/c she was still breach but we'd wait and see closer to due date to officially change the birth plan (I wanted an epidural filled vaginal birth). On 9/3 The tech took her usual measurements and when the Doctor came in he wasn’t his normal jovial self. He was quiet, direct and uncharacteristically serious. He looked me straight in the eyes and spoke slowly with "Nicole, the baby hasn’t grown since the last time you were here (2 weeks ago), I am afraid her growth is in jeopardy." He further explained an issue with my placenta & the umbilical cord not providing enough nutrients to her and told me it was better to have Ella out of the womb. I tried to listen but I felt numb. I asked that we wait another couple of weeks because I was worried she wasn’t ready and he patiently but very sternly said "Nicole, you need to go to the hospital right now. I am calling your OB immediately." He went to his office to make the call and I heard their conversation - my OB agreed an emergency C-section needed to happen asap. I cried and my husband thankfully stayed strong & calm. We took his report, drove home, packed our bags and went straight to the hospital. My OB called us on the drive back to SCV and explained the procedure. I arrived at Labor and Delivery and the kind nurses said "Hello Mrs. Leon you are very popular today, we have been waiting for you, Welcome!" John & I walked to our room and saw a familiar face from Labor of Love class (Shiva's husband who wished us well) 45 minutes later I was in the Operation Room getting IV spinal meds- it worked immediately but made me shiver with the shakes, it was cold and I was also extremely nervous. My nurse Paula prayed with me to calm me down and told me "You just get to meet your daughter a little earlier, what a happy happy day it is!" that really helped me.

I was super nervous because C-section was my very last resort plan for delivery. But it wasn’t bad, it wasn’t bad at all! In fact my surgery a year ago was 10x more painful. They called the NICU team just in case because although I was considered full term Ella was being born 3 weeks earlier and measured on the small side. The Operation Room had loud techno music blasting and my OB said "Welcome to the party, the BIRTHDAY PARTY!!" The procedure was probably an hour but it felt like 20 mins. I felt pressure and a big tug, heard a small baby cry, the nurses awww'd and saw my husband crying. The doctor joked "It’s a BOY" and John told him it wasn’t funny (lol). Gabriella Sophia Leon was born Sept 3rd at 9:33pm; she weighed 4lbs and 14oz, 18inches long. Off to the side I saw the NICU team clean her up. John went to be by her side and told me she scored 9 on APGAR, phew. They told me she is healthy and she will not need to go to the NICU but can stay with me in my recovery room my entire stay at the hospital, I was so so relieved. It hit me am now a mother and I was absolutely elated. I really felt the nurses were so amazing at Henry Mayo. The lactation consultants were very helpful and kind also.
I posted on Facebook a few days later "I wholeheartedly love motherhood. It is so much more than I could ever imagine. It’s absolutely amazing. It’s everything everyone says and so much more! My soul burst into pieces the moment I saw my daughter and heard her for the first time. It was as if God ripped out my heart and replaced it with a heart 10x larger for me to love with. Love has an entirely new meaning for my husband & I and we are beyond blessed and so in love."
We came home 3 days later, I am healing well and Gabriella is doing so great. She smiles and laughs in her sleep and rarely cries. She is gaining weight and passing her physicals. We are working on improving the breastfeeding process & I really need to sleep when she sleeps - instead I hover, watch & adore every inch of her. I am humbled by the amount of support I am receiving from my friends and family - a friend created a meal train for us so people can drop off food to us, my old co-worker friend stopped by to give Gabriella preemie sized clothes because although she is not premature Ella's NB clothes are kind of big on her, my Grad school buddy gave us food the other day and another friend gave me a bottle/nipple sterilizer because I didn’t have time to go buy one before her birth. Many friends are still sending me gifts and emailing/calling etc. I try to get back to people when I can.

Welcoming beautiful Gabriella into the world, born September 3rd at 9:30pm, 4lbs &14oz, 18 inches!

So happy for my longtime friend, Nicole and her husband John!!

All the best to your family of 3
xo


If you know the family and would like to send them a meal please do so, these times are when friendship and food are so welcome :)
MEAL TRAIN <3

Nikol