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She is such a happy baby... especially right after feeding. She is giving us the gift of these great smiles after she's nice and full.
Oh, life is good... and comfy...
Here's the story of Brianna's birth:
At 4:00 am on Friday, Feb. 3, 2006, Bibi woke up with strong contractions. They were not regular so we decided to hang out a little so the hospital wouldn't just send us back home.
Bibi was able to rest in bed inbetween the contractions, but by 3:00 pm she was ready to go to the hospital. The contractions were anywhere from 5 to 10 minutes apart, so thought this might be it. We had planned to meet our good friend Jeannie Mai for dinner in LA and as we were driving to the hospital she called to confirm. So Jeannie was the first person to find out we were on our way to have a baby...
When we got to the hospital Bibi was already 4 cm dialated and the doctor ordered an epidural right away. By 4:00 pm Bibi wasn't feeling any more pain, although the contractions just carried on going... Thank God for epidurals! Here is a picture of Bibi and I waiting for the dialation process to happen. Yes, she is having contractions and smiling... epidurals are a miracle... :-)
Bibi was able to sleep from about 4:00 pm to 11:00 pm, by which time she was dialtated to 10 cm. At 11:30 pm, she started pushing. We are so greatful Ileana Burgos, a good friend of ours from Argentina, who was there to help us and support Bibi in the whole process. The pushing lasted for almost an hour.
And at 12:24 am on Saturday, Febuary 4, 2oo6,
Brianna Cherisse Pierson was born.
Brianna Cherisse Pierson was born.
I had the privilage of cutting the Umbilical cord and freeing our little girl into the world.
One of the reasons we chose to have the baby at Redlands Community Hospital is that they are very family and breast feeding friendly. As soon as the cord was cut, they put her on Bibi's chest where they cleaned her off a little. Then it was off to get measured and weighed in. Daddy needed to calm her down a little with so many new things happening all at the same time!
She weighed in at 7 lbs and 1.4 oz and measured 18 inches long.
After she was cleaned up, weighed and measured, she was bundled up nice and tight. I know she wanted to tell us what a crazy experience she had just been through... "You would never believe what just happened to me...!!!"
Then it was a quick photo op with the greatest OB/Gyn doctor in the world, James Rudolf.
And finally back to Mommy and Daddy... and time to eat!!!
She latched on to feed really well and surprisingly, took in almost an hour and a half feeding the first time!
She was very alert and seemed to be trying to look around, lifting her head and checking out this new and crazy place.
After the feeding and family time we were moved into our Postpardom room. Daddy and Brianna went to get her first bath.
By this time, Brianna was just wiped out. She looked at Daddy with eyes that said, "Just let me sleep now."
So we dressed her up and all three of us got some well deserved sleep.
Later on Saturday afternoon, Grampy & Grammy Pierson came to meet their first grandchild.
And Brianna also met her Great Grandpa & Grandma Bieber.
Of course there was much more time with Mommy & Daddy too...
We spent Saturday night at the hospital and by Sunday afternoon we were ready to go home. So we took Mommy and little Bri out to the car and she got her first car ride.
Finally, after an exhausting, amazing, miraculous and blessed 2 days at the hospital, we got home to start our new life as a new family...
