Our Little Man

We are so happy to announce that our little boy has arrived. Joshua Anthony Giordano was born yesterday morning (March 8th) at 4:09 AM. He has been the sweetest baby so far and is doing great with nursing and sleeping. He is so quiet and it's actually a lot easier to take care of him right now than little Maya! We did find out that she has an ear infection which probably explains why she has been such a little monster lately. She was so cute when she first met her little brother and just wanted to hold him. She wouldn't let Gramma Debbie hold him for the longest time. At one point she was holding Josh and she said, "I want to take this home." Glad to know he is an object and not a little person! Also, my mom told me about this conversation she had with Maya this morning when she realized we were gone:

Maya: "Where did my mommy and daddy go?"
My mom: "They went to the hospital to have baby brother."
Maya: "Okay. Do you want to have some cereal?"

She is such a cutie and will make a great big sister. We hope they can get along and love each other.



The newest addition



Baby Josh





Maya meets her lil' brother, she doesn't look too happy but she was!



Gramma drooling over the baby - Maya being stingy.



Kisses from big sister



Joshua's birth story:
Around 1 AM on Sunday morning I started to have some small contractions. I didn't think much of it but figured I would be having the baby within 24 hours or so. With Maya I had contractions the entire night before and they were pretty far apart. About 7 minutes after the first contraction, another one came. Six minutes later ANOTHER one! I thought, "Oh wow, these are coming pretty fast." I woke up Nick and we monitored them for about 45 minutes at which point they were all about 5 minutes apart and they were intensifying. We woke up my mom so she could listen for Maya and then we headed for the hospital. Just like with Maya, we had to stop and get gas for the car! Talk about being unprepared. Nick was quick though and we were back on the road within a couple of minutes. The contractions keep coming at 5 minutes apart and they were really getting bad. In between contractions I felt really good and Nick and I were joking that people weren't kidding about having the 2nd baby arrive faster than the first. Little did we know....we got to the hospital close to 3 AM and got all checked in and set up on monitors. The pain was really bad, a lot worse than what I remembered with Maya so I was already inquiring about an epidural :) The nurse checked me and I was only a 3 CM so she had to get the okay from the doctor to get the medication. All of a sudden things started moving really fast and I found myself rolling all over the bed in agony! It was awful. About 10 minutes later they checked me again and I was a 6 CM. Within 30 minutes after the first exam I was fully dialated and was then informed I couldn't get the epidural! I have no words to explain how I felt, I seriously thought I would die. Nick was standing next to me the entire time, being so supportive. When the nurse said I couldn't have the epidural I heard him say, "No, no." He felt so bad that I was in a lot of pain. He has been an amazing father and you can see how happy and proud he is when he holds his little boy. About 5 minutes after we found out about he epidural I really had the urge to push and they kept telling me "not yet!" because they weren't quite ready. The doctor on call arrived (mine didn't make it in time) and they told me I could go ahead and push. I had 2 huge contractions and pushed as hard as I could and little Josh was out after about 3 minutes. I am so grateful that I didn't have to push longer than that! We love him so much already and know what a blessing it is to have him in our family. We are still in the hospital but should be able to leave later this afternoon. We are excited to be in the comfort of our own home. If you made it through this entire post you are a true friend! This was pretty long.

Thanks to everyone for visits, prayers, and your thoughts. We love you all!