my birth story

Monday, March 24, 2014

i took a bit of time off from blogging to settle into life with a newborn, but i am back! pete was fortunate enough to be here for the first week of Luke's life and he is flying in again this weekend, but the last week has been an adjustment to say the least! i feel like every new mom goes through the "can i leave my baby for five seconds to wash my face real quick?" stage, and i am finally getting myself & the baby out the door in an hour instead of two! progress. 

i have taken a million and one pics of Luke in the first 2 1/2 weeks of his life and i feel like... a mom. and organizing them is beyond me at this point, so i'm just going to start with the earliest pics, his birth, and go from there! 

my official due date was March 18th, making my c-section scheduled for March 11th. On March 6th, at around 4am, i went to the bathroom for the millionth time that night and knew without a doubt that my water had broken. within five minutes i started having contractions. i called the nurse at the hospital and she told me to take a hot shower, drink lots of water, and give it an hour or two to see if it was just a false alarm. i knew it wasn't, but figured hey, i'll shower and at least my hair will look nice if i deliver today! it was not an easy task getting ready while having wave after wave of nice strong pain, but i convinced the nurse around 6am that i was indeed in labor, and she told me to come on down to the hospital.

talk about the worst car ride ever. i felt every single bump, the heat was too hot, then i was too cold, the radio was annoying, and i didn't want my parents to say a word to me... mind you, i was only 2cm dilated. i am no wimp, but i was not having it. labor was just not my cup of tea. during this same time, my husband was trying to get on any flight he could to get from california to CT in record time, and i was just furious knowing he wasn't going to be there for the birth. 

i got to the hospital about 25min later and there was a woman there scheduled for a c-section at 9:30am. i looked at her, she looked at me. there was a moment where i said with my face "i am in labor, i'm so sorry to trump you in the c-section time department, but i want this baby out of me" and a look from her that said "go right ahead!" ...and i was off to get prepped. i met my surgeon, who turned out to have a daughter who did gymnastics at the same gym i trained at, we did the whole "nice to meet you, lets do this"... and i walked into the operating room. everything was happening so quickly, and i was in a good amount of pain, so i didn't have time (or really care) to have any sort of freak out session. and to be perfectly honest, nothing can be more terrifying than the surgery i had last year where i was awake, bleeding out, and asking my mom if i was going to die. i pulled my shit together, slumped down, and in went the spinal. 

i immediately felt a nice numbness fall over my body and they relaxed me onto the table and started putting up the sheet. all i could think about was how i was going to meet Luke soon, and praying he would be a healthy baby. my mom came into the room wearing scrubs and sat down beside me while they pricked me until they were confident i was completely numb. and then it was go time. it took about 20min of lots of pulling and tugging. at one point they put something up on the sheet to rest and i asked my mom if that was one of my organs or something just hanging out outside of my body............. yikes.

then there was a TON of pulling and tugging and i strained to hear that cry that you just wait for and it came! my mom took a video of my face when we heard the first scream and my smile tells it all. they yelled out "7lbs 12oz and a head full of hair!" ...it was 10am on the dot... and both of those announcements made my jaw drop. where the heck was this big baby in my belly? and a head full of hair? i braced myself to see a miniature version of pete and boy was i right! they placed him on my chest while they took another half hour to sew me back up. i wish i stopped biting my nails before these pics were taken, but they are so special. the first moments with Luke are below...
after i was stitched back up, they brought me to a recovery room and i got to hold a nice & cleaned up baby Luke. pete was in the air at this point but i was sending him pics regardless. i couldn't believe he was finally here.
late that night, pete arrived at JFK and drove to the hospital to meet our son. to say he was smitten at first sight is an understatement. the pics i have of him holding Luke melt my heart and i'm so lucky to have so many great pictures from that day.

it has been a very long pregnancy for me, a very very long 10 months spent on opposite sides of the country, and an extremely emotional time in our lives and in the lives of both our families. it has been a rough first three years of our marriage, but i can speak for the both of us when i say that Luke is worth it all and i can't wait to see what the future holds as a family of three.
next up: my c-section recovery & more of little man!

Luke Kenneth Babnis

Thursday, March 13, 2014


born March 6th, 2014 at 10am on the dot.
7lbs 12oz & so much love. 


he is now one week old. one week! and has brought such joy to our lives. with his smiles, his little sounds, his brown eyes and head full of hair... i can't believe he was in my belly a week ago. and now that belly is gone, and i wake up to this little miracle every morning. 

pete and i have always loved the name Luke. it was between that and a few other names, but Luke just fits him... and Kenneth is a family name. i will be sharing my birth story, because obviously he decided to come early, obviously he was a lot bigger than i thought!! & i would love to share my experience with a c-section and tips for the hospital stay. 

and of course, lots more photos of baby Luke will be coming over the next few days. i am still adjusting to life with a baby, still working on this thing called breastfeeding which i thought would be super easy (not!) and still healing from the surgery.

we love you Luke, so so much. 
love, mom & dad


38 weeks!!!

Wednesday, March 5, 2014


38 weeks!!
this little nugget will be here in 6 days! and that's IF he doesn't come before then! ... not to get into too much gross detail, but i had something happen yesterday morning that is one of the first signs that baby is ready to come out. i called my surgeon & he said it could be today, a couple days, or i could make it to next tuesday... every woman is different. so naturally i had a panic attack and went into full "getting ready for baby" mode... cleaning everything i could get my hands on & packing up all my bags just in case.

so i am READY. ready to go. ready to meet this little peanut!

i will be posting as much as i can, but i'm not tech savvy enough to know how to post from an ipad in the hospital so follow my instagram: LAbabnis for pics of the baby until i get back home :)

over the past week...

Sunday, March 2, 2014



i qualified into the "full term" club


have been as exhausted as i was my first trimester 
& have been taking major cat naps with Hobbes


found this in a magazine waiting for my checkup.
seriously?! i cant even touch my toes at this point.


i went blonder!


did my fair share of girl scout cookie consumption


had brunch with my best friends...
this is what it looks like before we take a good pic.


there we go.


and hung out with this cutie, who got me all excited to meet our son in 9 days!

happy sunday!!