Welcome Giuseppe Benedetto!

Giuseppe Benedetto (Italian for Joseph Benedict) was born on Sunday, July 10th at 9:50 am. He weighed 10 lbs 4 oz and was 22.5" long.

After accepting the fact that I may have first baby post-due, labor started on the morning before his due date. I slept horribly the first half of the night (as in, pretty much not at all) and then soon after finally going to sleep around 4am, I started feeling REAL contractions. I decided to get up around 5:30 to time them woke Dany 15 minutes later to tell him labor had started. We got ready and left for the hospital about an hour later. We checked into the hospital around 7:20am. I had a C-section with our last baby, Elena, so this was our first experience with a VBAC. My midwife and labor nurse were wonderful and so supportive. I had to stay hooked up to the monitors, but they are able to do this wirelessly now, so I could move around. I also had to have an IV. I labored on the birthing ball while listening to Catholic Latin Classics on my iPod and having Dany massage my lower back with a warm wash cloth. It was actually quite peaceful and I sometimes dozed off between contractions. Finally, it was appearant that it was time to get to work and about 15 minutes later, Giuseppe arrived!



Dany and my midwife, Gretchen. She also delivered Chiara 4 years ago, and unfortunately she's retiring in October :(

Look at that hair!! We've never had one with so much hair!

My parents and the kids arrived at the hospital in the afternoon to meet Giuseppe for the first time.

Elena has a love for babies unlike any of my other kids at her age and she's SO excited to have a real baby in the house now!

Matteo finally has a brother!! I've mentioned his goofy camera smiles before, right? :)

Visiting on Day 2 at the hospital...

We got to go home that afternoon - his due date and the Feast of St. Benedict! One night in the hospital is more than enough for me :)