The Grand Arrival of Liam Alejandro Cordero

 I can not believe our little baby is finally here! Despite the challenges of life with a newborn, I could not be happier. Javier and I are absolutely love struck by this little guy! He was born at 3:39am on Friday, October 12th after almost 13 hours of labor after I had to be induced.
    The three days before Liam arrived I started to really go downhill physically - my face began to swell on top of the swelling I already had in my hands and feet and I noticed my weight spiked out of no where despite no change in my diet. What got me to call the doctor was that I had a headache for 3 days, and that combined with all my other symptoms made me think I had preeclampsia, which was confirmed when I went into the doctor's office Thursday morning. The doctor came in after my labs were done and said "Well, you just earned yourself a trip to the hospital and you're not leaving without your baby!" I couldn't believe it! I had to go straight from the doctor's office to the hospital and I began the most amazing experience of my life.
     A little before 3pm the induction process began with a foley bulb and an IV of pitocin. Contractions started right away but they weren't bad at all for a long while. After some walking and trying to get things going, the contractions really picked up. I did a whole bunch of reading during my pregnancy on everything pregnancy/baby related, and it seemed that all the research showed that pitocin contractions are more painful than natural contractions because they are forced. So, I decided that I wanted to get an epidural, as my contractions were picking up very quickly, and I got that around 10pm. Honestly, I felt that my labor was going so well, and it wasn't as hard as I expected it to be. Then, my epidural stopped working when I was in the transition phase of labor (most painful) and THAT was difficult, but Javier, my nurse and my midwife did an amazing job of helping me through it, and after an hour I got another round of pain medication and it was time to push! It only took about an hour and a half, which is supposed to be pretty good for a first time mom, and it didn't seem nearly that long. Then Liam made his quiet appearance, which really scared us because usually babies come out screaming, but he was perfect! He just sat there, and made a few little baby noises and had his eyes wide open studying this new world that he just entered. It was all incredible, it's hard to believe it was all real sometimes! It was a very positive birth experience, much better than I expected it to be, and Javi was there with me the whole time helping me through it and being such a great coach :)
     Now we are home with our little newborn Liam! He really is a great baby. Most of the time he is very calm. He loves to cuddle - luckily he will go in his swing or bouncer if he is asleep, because in the hospital he wouldn't sleep unless he was being held! Every once in a while the poor little guy gets in a fussy mood and cries for a while but he calms down when his dad sings and walks with him :) Javi is such a great dad! It seems to be coming all very naturally to him even though he has never had much baby experience, you would think he was a pro! Liam had a little bit of trouble breastfeeding but luckily everything has been resolved and he has gained 4oz! He is already getting so big!
     All in all, life is going so well and we are so happy, and despite the sleep deprivation and a few bumps in the road everything has been great! I will do my best to update on Liam as much as possible, and I'm sure pictures will not be a problem (they might get out of control)! Here is a bit of picture overload documenting Liam's first few days of life :)

Minutes after he was born

Looking up at Daddy :)

Milk mouth

Milk drunk

 

Anticipation

    After a rather long and unwanted hiatus, I am back into blogging! I wanted to share all of what is going on in our newly-wed-expectant-parent lives without making everyone on Facebook want to block me on their newsfeed! Not only that, but there are a lot of people these days who miss out on the updates because they don't have a Facebook, and that is just not fair! So... where to begin!
    Liam Alejandro is due in TWELVE days people! The time could not have flown by faster, and at the same time, this pregnancy feels like an eternity of physical discomfort. I am more than ready for him to make his grand entrance. Javi and I have taken our parenting and birthing classes, and we have the apartment all ready for the little man! Now it is just a waiting game. We have weekly appointments with the midwife now and everything is looking good to go! We have been told Liam is a little guy, probably going to be about 6-7 pounds, so we will see how accurate that is soon enough!

Here he is! Kicking me hard already at 19 weeks

    If anyone is interested in knowing, his movement is crazy! I think an elbow/knee/something stuck out of my stomach a good inch or two when Javi screamed when a touchdown was made in a Steelers game. When I lay on one side and then get up, my belly is lopsided and then slowly moves back to the center... strange. Everyone has told me I will miss being pregnant, and while I'm not convinced of that quite yet, I know I will miss his stomach dance parties. I could watch my stomach move all day!
    This is going to be a long post - but there is so much that I have to share! I assure you, if you have read this far, not all my posts are going to be this long, especially after Liam arrives... when we will see how much time I have to post at all! But I wanted to share some pictures from Liam's nursery, literally, the nicest and most organized room in the entire apartment. My very own bedroom has never even been this nice and put together, and there are still a few finishing, decorative touches I would like to get around to... eventually. It's a good thing that he is just a baby and will have no idea he has the nicest place in the house...

Bedding made by my wonderful, crafty mother, fabric from Carousel Designs 

Glider where I will be spending a lot of time with the little guy
Cushion cover also made by my crafty mother

Little basket of blankets, burp cloths, his football security blanket and Sophie la Giraffe!

The dresser that I refinished (tutorial coming later) and transformed into a changing station, dresser & storage

Little man's clothes hung in order by size... he will be dressed better than both Javi and me

The car seat all ready for the hospital with the little strap cover buddies and car seat cover incase it is chilly

The letters I painted from Hobby Lobby and I made the bunting banner (I would also like to do a tutorial for that at some point!)