Paisley Noelle - Week One

It has been one week since Paisley joined our family. What a blessing she is! The delivery went as perfect as expected. We knew we were going in for a c-section, and since I had one with Lexi, I kinda knew what to expect. We had friends at the hospital all along the way: one of Rabu's student's parents was our Labor and Delivery nurse, a sweet friend from Church is the Labor and Delivery Nurse manager, and another sweet friend from Church was working in the nursery. It was nice to see friendly faces all along the way. God totally went before us and made this a wonderful experience.

They took me back to the OR at 9:00 last Tuesday, once they had given me my spinal block and were ready to get started they brought Rabu in. Then the doctors did their job. Seems like next thing I know I hear Dr. Blackstock saying, "oh my goodness, she is gorgeous!" and then baby girl let out a scream!! I am so glad she started crying right away. As many moms know its that split second from when the baby is delivered until they hear their baby cry is a little stressful. I just started crying when I heard her very strong voice. She was here! So Rabu went back with the baby as they cleaned her up and took all her stats. 8 lbs 6 oz, Born at 9:30 am, 20.75 inches

The doctor asked if we had named her yet, and I answered as I had answered for the last 3 weeks... We have not decided yet. Even though we were pretty sure we were going with Paisley. The nurse that is a friend of ours said, uh he is telling the name in the other room.... I asked what he was saying and thankfully Paisley was the answer. So then she was named! Well half way. We still did not have a middle name. Oh well we had 3 days to come up with something. Thankfully it did not take us 3 days, by the next day we had decided on Noelle. Paisley Noelle Leyva...our beautiful little lady.

My sister had brought me this adorable blanket right before delivery it was a quilt made out of the sheets that matches Paisley's bedding in her crib and another fabric. The other fabric had a paisley pattern on it. It made me smile, well I guess I smirked because after Lea heard the name she said, "that is why you made that face." I felt like it was God's little way of saying yep, Paisley is the name!

They brought Paisley over to me as they were "putting me back together". Such a sweet sweet moment. The first time you see your child. The sweetest thing is that she kept reaching out for me, she eventually grabbed my nose. She just kept making me cry and smile. I was just so happy to see her. Rabu and Paisley went to the nursery to finish cleaning up Paisley. He told the family her name through the glass. They took me back to the Labor and Delivery room to begin recovery. I was feeling great, but really I was pretty drugged up. :)

They finally brought Paisley to me and I got to hold her. We started feeding and she ate like a champ from day one. She has been a great eater since. She is already back to her birth weight in one week!! Praise the Lord!

Later they moved us to our post-partum room, a small one, but we were next on the list for a big room!! Yay, again God's favor on us. By that night we moved into the larger room. Such a blessing because there was room for friends and family to visit and celebrate our new little life.

Lexi came up to the hospital just hours after Paisley was born. She was just happy to see Rabu and I. She got up in bed with me and just cuddled a little bit, said "baby" and then was ready to run around and play. Lexi has warmed up to Paisley little bit and little bit every day. Yesterday, Lexi kissed the baby for the first time, and today when Lexi was going bye-byes she told the baby bye-bye and played with her little foot. She is already an awesome big sister. When the baby cries she looks at me and says, "UP!" She wants me to go get the baby up, she knows that it stops the crying. Also one time she looked at me and said, "Mommy, milk". She knew that was another way to get the baby to stop crying. Lexi is a smarty pants!

The recovery with the C-section has been exponentially better with this one. I was up and walking around pretty good by the second day this time, and I am doing so much more around the house because I am feeling good! God is so faithful.

Mom came and stayed with us for 4 days after we got out of the hospital to help with meals, cleaning and Lexi. She is such a blessing. Friends have been bringing meals and checking in on me daily. We are so blessed to have such a great network of friends that we love and love us!

Our little family has grown from 3 to 4 and it is just an amazing blessing. I cannot imagine our lives without either of our beautiful girls. What an amazing responsiblity to raise two girls to hear God's voice and not listen to the other voices that will try to call them away from the life that God has planned for them. We are so excited to have this opportunity and privilage to parent these girls. God is so Good! You know I am just amazed at how God just fills you with the love that you need to give, but I just feel like I am exploding with love for my family. I keep saying, our family feels good. It just feels right. I am so thankful to God for His blessings to our family.