Here she is!

Which is better, knowing exactly when and where your life is going to change forever, or having it be a surprise. I never got the complete surprise of labor, since Matteo wasn't coming on his own, and I had to get a little push to get things moving. But none, the less, it all happened without too much notice.

With Miss Lillian's arrival, I knew about 7 months ahead of time, when and where my life was going to change, and never be the same. I'm not sure which method I prefer, being thrown into a whirlwind of semi-chaos, or having days, weeks even to anticipate what is to come. But either way, she has arrived and we have our little family of four now... and the dog.

Our little peanut's arrival could almost be what you call textbook, I guess. We knew it was going to be a c-section, since her brother was one too. So sometime last November, we picked a date on the calendar and said this was going to be our little girl's birthday. It just happened to be April 1st, April Fool's Day. She may hate us later in life for picking a day traditionaly used to play tricks, but I'm sure that may just be one more thing she will add to her list.

Lily's arrival really began on Wednesday (March 31st). Both Sean and I had the day off to "prepare" and enjoy our last day as a family of three. After some running around to get last minute things, we went out and enjoyed a nice dinner. Matteo then went off to Grandma and Grandpa Hickey's to stay the night, armed with his "Big Brother" PJ's and Tshirt for the next day.

After a semi-restful night sleep (I think I got about 4 hours), the alarm went off and after a quick shower and last minute packing, off to the hospital we went. I got hooked up to a monitor and of course, no contractions or anything on my own (not that I was expecting that). It took 3 nurses 5 tries to get an IV started, but once that happened, everything seemed to move seemlessly. Sean got "prepped" and after a little delay for an emergency c-section to sneek in before us, I was being wheeled into the operating room.

It was really surreal. For the nurses and doctors in there, it's just another routine procedure, but for me, it's the beginning of a completely different chapter in my life. You got in there alone and come out with a brand new baby! I got situated on the table, and had a wonderful nurse anestisis give me a spinal. After 5 attempts at an IV, the spinal was nothing. I barely felt it, which was nice. Next thing I knew there were putting the drape up and before I even knew it, they had begun. Sean was brought in pretty quickly and we sat (well, I layed) there waiting to hear our baby. About 10 minutes later, and some major pressure to my belly, she was here, our little girl!

Another 45 minutes or so, and we were in recovery, waiting to introduce Matteo to his little sister. A short delay later, and Matteo was giving Lily kisses and even holding her. He took to being a big brother like a duck to water. Very loving and very sweet. Lily got to meet both sets of her grandparents right away too.

It's amazing to think that just a few days ago, Little Lillian was a mystery to us. She fits right into our family. We can't wait to get to know her better and watch her turn into a lovely little lady!