Meet Allie, Jake's new baby sister.
Allie Diller Ramati! Born October 1, 2011 at 8:22 am. Allie was 8.8 ounces and 20 inches long.
Occasionally I'll look back at the start of Jake's blog to remember his birth day so it was important for me to do the same for Allie. My apologies if this is a little long but I want to remember as much as I can about her arrival.
It has been just under two weeks since Miss Allie was born and I finally have a little time to share some of the details of her birth. Since the beginning of this pregnancy I was sure that the baby would come early. Jake was 10 days early and with her being the second baby...I was just sure she'd arrive on a similar time frame. So despite her October 4 due date by mid-to-late September I was expecting her arrival at any minute but she had other plans.
I think that both Allie and I may have been waiting for Mimi (my mom) to come to Austin before her arrival. Although we had many generous offers to watch Jake when we went to the hospital, I dreaded the thought of having to call someone in the middle of the night to come over. With school closed for Rosh Hashana we spent a fun couple of days with Jake. Friday night during dinner I started to wonder if I might be going into labor! My mom and I watched wedding dress shows on TV. Finally around midnight Alex and I headed to the hospital. I was pretty sure that they were going to send me home but instead they admitted me and we were on our way to meeting the little girl!
We got settled in the delivery room and started the process of getting poked and prodded in preparation for the delivery. The worst part of the whole experience was getting the IV put in. The dingy night nurse just couldn't get it right. As a recovering needle-phobe this wasn't terribly helpful. Even having the epidural put in wasn't half as bad as the IV.
Then it was time to wait. They tell you to rest but every time I fell asleep the timed blood pressure machine would go off and wake me back up. I spent time cursing out the blood pressure machine, remembering Jake's birth, how our family was about to change, and thinking who this little girl would be.
The soon-to-be parents of two kids waiting...
Thankfully the shift change occurred around 5 or 6 am and we were introduced to Nina who was awesome. One of the best things I did when Jake was born was to listen to the nurses (and the doctor) first. Nina told me that my contractions had plateaued and they wanted to start pitocin to get things moving quicker as well as oxygen. I had both with Jake as well.
There were actually a number of other similarities in Jake and Allies birth -a few include being born on Saturday, the Dawgs playing and winning, the Ducks not playing on Saturday (they had the week off in 2007 and this year they played and won on Thursday night), and Alex once again used his best husband line ever, "I love you, you're doing great, and am I giving you enough personal space?"
Around 8 am Nina said it was time to start pushing. She called the doctor on call for my practice, Dr. Merritt and while we waited for the doctor Nina, Alex I did some preliminary pushing. I guess the doctors shift change happens around 8 because while Nina was looking for Dr. Merritt, another doctor from the practice, Dr. Garza was hanging around the main desk and was ready to deliver a baby. So he came in and we got started. It just all came together so easily. I pushed for approximately 15 minutes and we had our baby girl! Alex said that I didn't even break a sweat.
It may only be seconds between when the baby is out before they handed her to me but it was a surreal moment that seemed to last forever as I watched Alex cut the umbilical cord and I tried to take in everything that had just happened. I remember having felt the same way with Jake.
And then there she was lying on my chest - our baby girl, Allie. The enormity of it hit me right away and I teared up for the first time.
She looks like I did as a baby with her full head of dark black hair, the same lips and eyes and looks a little like a china doll (or Eskimonian depending on who you ask.) Her nose however is all Jake.
Alex went with Allie to get her first bath and to be checked out. She did score a 9.9 on her apgar test, just saying. While all that was happening (I think) I was moved to the postpartum recovery room.
At that point I was excited to see the baby again but also really excited to see my first baby. Jake and Mimi came to the hospital a little later that afternoon after some initial "nervousness" Jake was having about meeting the baby. I made sure to not be holding the baby when he first came in and he was so happy to see us.
He loved that the baby got him a special present of a Cars carrier and a new car from the Cars movie.
While Jake may have been nervous, Mimi couldn't wait to hold her new granddaughter.
The next day, Jake and Mimi came back to visit again and this time Jake was excited to hold his little sister. The sight of this made my heart swell and we feel so lucky how wonderful he is with her. He loves to kiss her and to check on her and seems to be her muse telling me when she is hungry or if she needs something.
A daddy in love and the giant pink teddy bear he bought for his new little lady.
We left the hospital on Monday afternoon and were so excited to bring Allie home. With the help of a crazy in love daddy, a great big brother and a very helpful Mimi and Bubba we're doing well.
As you can tell, Jake's world has changed as has our blog. When I have time I'm going to merge the two but in the meantime, the new blog address is
www.ramatifamily.blogspot.com but you can also access The Adventures of Jake and Allie through Jake's World as well.
More to come soon from this new family of four!
After we got home from the hospital, Bubba came for a few days to meet his granddaughter. Not surprisingly he was overwhelmed by meeting his granddaughter. Yet another girl to wrap him around her little finger.
It was great having Bubba and Mimi here. They went to the grocery for us, picked up Jake and spent some special time with just him and of course loved on Allie. After school at the park with Mimi and Bubba. Below Jake gets a push from Bubba and gives Allie a push on her first trip to the park.
After having her in town for 10-days, it was hard to say good-bye to Mimi. Below last minute fun, kisses and good-byes with Mimi.
She's covered for any and all teams with this adorable onesie from our VIP and Jake's godmommy, Libby. The perfect thing for our little girl! So cute!
This past Thursday Jake, Allie and I headed out for Allie's first photo shoot. She was an excellent model and the photographer thought said it was the easiest newborn shoot they've ever had. There were tons of cute pictures with Jake, Allie and the two of them together. I managed to take just a couple on my phone. More to come soon.
I'll return to monthly updates soon but this has been such a special October that it deserves a few extra posts. This coming week we're excited that Auntie Rachel and Uncle Warren are coming to visit, Halloween and Bubba's arrival for the month of November. November is always a special month but this year we'll be celebrating Jake's birthday and are super excited for all the family to come for Thanksgiving and for Allie's naming ceremony. There is so much to celebrate and we are blessed to be able to share it with you all!
