The Saldana Zoo

Well, after seeing my doctor on Friday and determining that I had progressed just a little since Wednesday, we decided to go ahead with the induction to play it safe. So at 2:30pm she stripped my membranes. We left for the hospital and I started contracting on the way there. By the time I got into my room I was contracting every 2-7 minutes. My doctor got to the hospital around 5 and at that point I was contracting about every 3 minutes and I had dilated another centimeter and a half. My doctor broke my water and we waited it out for a little bit to see how quickly I would progress from that point. Seeing as I went from 6-10cm in about 10 minutes about an hour and fifteen minutes after my water was broken when I had Elise, we were expecting this to be fairly quick. By 6pm we decided to go with the lowest dose of pitocin they could give me just to see if that would help regulate my contractions. It did. By 7pm I asked for the anesthesiologist. He came in and gave me my epidural. My doctor came back around 7:30 and said I was 7cm and she wanted to see what would happen with the next contraction. Well, after one contraction she started getting the bed prepped for the delivery and then we waited for another good contraction. I pushed once and our Viviana Renee was born at 7:40pm. 5 hours after the whole adventure started =). She weighed in at a whopping 5lbs 13oz and is 19 1/4 inches. Initially I thought she looked a lot like Elise, but I'm seeing more of a resemblance to Matthew's newborn pictures now. Either way, she looks like a Saldana =).

I was cleared to go home last night but opted to stay with Viviana through today because we're trying to get the breastfeeding thing down. We're waiting to hear back on her bilirubin levels and the pediatrician needs to come by to see her today. When he was here yesterday he sounded like he wanted her to stay a full 48 hours before sending her home. I think because she's under 6lbs, but I'm not sure. I'm ready to go home and be with my family.