I’ve been on maternity leave for the past few months enjoying time with my family in our South Tampa home so I figured I’d start back on my blog with a little family update and share the Spring newborn photo session I captured of my youngest two kiddos.
In March, we welcomed our 8th baby, a girl, into our hearts & home. We lovingly named her Valentina Joy, which means healthy & strong. It also represents love, as Saint Valentine “married” persecuted Christians during the Roman Empire. Lastly, her Daddy, my beloved husband, a cardiologist no less, was born on Valentine’s Day so this name really stood out to us and no matter how many names we brought to the table, no other names could compete with it.
Baby Valentina proved to be both healthy and strong throughout the entire pregnancy and even after a swift and somewhat tramatic birth. Every prenatal test and ultrasound showed us our healthy & strong little girl and we just couldn’t believe it, our hearts were filled with love. As I got though each day and week and month, I thanked the Lord for our precious gift, Daddy’s precious little lovey girl.
The honest truth, though, is that we did have our fears, especially early on, because of my advanced maternal age (being 43) and the fact that our last child does have Down Syndrome & an Atrial Ventricular Septal Defect (Congential Heart Defect), which was repaired through an open heart surgery at seven months old. We weren’t afraid of another child with this diagnosis as he is one of our greatest blessings but we were more so worried for the potential health issues that are associated with it. We decided to put all of our fears and anxieties in the Lord’s hands and trusted Him no matter what the outcome would be because He doesn’t make mistakes. When we received the genetic results that she had a 0% chance of having a chromosomal abnormality I stood in shock but when I saw that she would be a girl, I cried, I literally cried tears of JOY at the thought of my husband getting to have his very own little princess and so her middle name was decided as well.
We were truly blessed with her natural & spontaneous conception days after being told by IVF Doctors that I was not a candidate for IVF due to advanced maternal age and being classified as having a Diminished Ovarian Reserve. There are many things I did to promote conception (vitamins, exercise, diet change, etc.) but I will leave that for another post. Either way, God is good and allowed it to happen!
Her birth story was pretty cool so I’ll share it here:
At 39 weeks, I went in for my regular OBGYN appointment. My midwife checked my dialation around 11a and lo and behold, I was already SIX centimeters dialated and 70% effaced even though I wasn’t having any contractions or cramps! She recommended I go straight to the hospital or else chance having her at home because she was certain that if my water broke, she’d be born immediately. Well, I decided to go home so I could situate my other kids and grab our belongings. At around 2:30p, I started cramping and they were getting more intense so I advised my husband that we should probably head over to the hospital. We left our home around 3p, arrived to the hospital around 3:30p and got into our room at 4p. I labored gently for a good two hours with manageable contractions. I really wanted a natural and unmedicated birth. I ended up getting nitrous oxide (laughing gas) only. At 6p I was dialated to 7cm and at 80% effacement. I changed positions, within 10-15 minutes my water broke and then my contractions became incredibly painful and things started to move fast. I went from 7 to 10 centimeters/80-100% effaced and birth within 15-20 minutes. She came out fast and furious and in shock, it took a little while for her to cry but once she started, she didn’t stop.
It’s definitely been a whirlwind of a time adjusting to 24/7 breast feeding, as well as balancing a toddler, homeschooling my 10-year-old and all of the teens and their busy school schedules but I am finally starting to see the light at the end of the tunnel as things are seeming to get into a nice rhythm as we enter into the summer months. I’m looking forward to starting back up with newborn and family photography with my first session post birth hopefully next week :-)
Check out some fun Spring photos I captured of the babies. My husband really wanted to dress her in a bunny costume & my little guy was the farmer I suppose lol
