Alli's First Bath at Home

Daddy gave Lila her first bath, so he was ready and excited to give Alli her first bath at home too. He's such a sweet daddy and was so careful to bathe her just right. Of course, like many newborns, Alli didn't like her bath at all, but she was so happy and smelled so good once she was done and dressed in her pjs.

Lila Welcomes Alli Home

We got home from the hospital Friday afternoon, and we are so happy to finally be here! It was nice to be able to have the nurses watch Alli for a few hours each night so that we could get some sleep though. When we got home, Lila was waiting for us and was so excited to see her baby sister again. She gave her more kisses and really enjoyed patting her on her arm and rubbing her head. She is surprisingly gentle when she wants to be.

We are really enjoying having our whole family of four together in our house. It's so surreal that God has blessed us with these two beautiful girls! Good thing our dog is a boy because Josh is quite outnumbered now :)

 Alli all ready to go home in the same outfit that I wore as well as big sister Lila wore home from the hospital

 Daddy excited to get home

 So tiny in her carseat

 Lila excited to see baby sister again

 checking out the baby

 kisses for the baby

 Showing Alli her nursery

 Lila holding Alli for the first time

 sisters pointing at each other...best friends already!

Lila meets her little sister

Yesterday morning, Grammy and Mamu brought Lila up to the hospital to meet her baby sister for the first time. I was so excited (and maybe a little nervous) to see how she'd react to Alli.  She acted really excited to see her and gave her lots of kisses on her forehead. It was so sweet to see her reaction to meeting her baby sister (even though I'm not quite sure she knows that Alli is here to stay), and to say that we are blessed would be a HUGE understatement.  They brought Lila back up later that evening after her nap, and she gave Alli more kisses, as well as gave us all a show with her crazy energy.  We really miss Lila and are so excited to bring Alli home for good later on today! 

 excited to see her baby sister

 bending down to give Alli kisses

 Lila didn't like that Alli started to cry and told her "don't"

 precious baby

 Lila being silly

 Sweet sisters

 Precious little sister

A sister is a gift to the heart, a friend to the spirit, a golden thread to the meaning of life.  ~Isadora James

My Birth Story

I'm going to go ahead and attempt to write my birth story while it's still fresh on my mind...

I was scheduled to be induced on Wednesday, July 13, 2011 at 6:30 a.m. at Clear Lake Regional Hospital. Our alarms were set and ready to go off bright and early to be at the hospital by 6:30 am. However, they called at around 4 am to tell me that they weren't sure if they were going to have room for me and instructed me to call back at 7:30 am to see if they had a bed. I've had friends that have gotten their inductions bumped days because of this sort of thing so I was discouraged that I might not be going in on Wednesday like we had previously thought. Needless to say, I didn't get much quality sleep after that phone call. But, to my surprise, they called me back at 6:30am and told me to come on in! Josh and I got ready, packed the car, and were on our way.

We got to the hospital around 7:20 am and were set up in a nice big corner room with a comfy temperpedic bed (although that was not the type of bed that was supposed to be in there...oh well, I got lucky!).  Paper work was completed and iv's were put into place while we waited for Dr. Klein to come in.  Dr. Klein came in around 8:30, checked my cervix (which was dilated to 3cm), and broke my water.  The nurses then started the pitocin, and it was time to simply wait on contractions.

It took until around 10am for me to start to really feel the contractions, but by 11:30 I was already ready for my epidural (that pitocin is NO JOKE!!). I could have probably waited a little longer to get the epidural, but I knew it took around 30 minutes to receive it once I asked, so I figured I would go ahead and request it, and boy am I glad I did! Once the epidural was ordered, the nurse checked my cervix again, and I was surprised and disappointed to find out that I had only made it 1cm farther in 3 hours! I thought for sure that I was in for a looong day after that.

The anesthesiologist made it to the room around noon and my epidural started to work its magical powers about 10 minutes later. The contraction pain went away immediately, but I still felt really intense pressure down below which I didn't feel when I had an epidural during Lila's birth. The nurse said that was normal and that it should numb up in about 15 more minutes. Around 12:30 Dr. Klein came back in to check my cervix again, and found quite the surprise. He looked at the nurse and said "she's ready to go," which I thought was a joke because he is just like that. BUT, he was dead serious, and apparently I wasn't just fully dilated, her head was halfway down the birth canal.

It's just amazing to me that I went from 4cm to 10cm and basically crowning in less than 1 hour! ...although I'm not complaining! Josh had gone to the lobby to get his lunch that my parents and his mom had brought back, so I had to call him to come back into the room before we started pushing. Alli was out in four pushes, no tears and no stitches needed! She had the sweetest little cry and the tiniest little head.  Of course we took a million pictures, and Josh did such a great job as the photographer. He got some really awesome shots of Alli on her way out too (which I'll spare you of!).

Once she was in this world, it was hard to believe the whirlwind that was that morning.  It all happened so fast (not that it wasn't painful!), and was so amazing. God is so good, and I'm continually amazed at His beautiful creation!! We are so in love with our little family of four!!

Introducing Allison Neal Gentry!!

"A baby will make love stronger, days shorter, nights longer, bankroll smaller, home happier, clothes shabbier, the past forgotten, and the future worth living for."

We're so happy to announce that Allison Neal Gentry came into this world at 1:01 pm on July 13, 2011. She weighed 7 pounds and 1.9 ounces. She is absolutely perfect in every way, and we are so blessed that God has chosen us to be her parents!

I'll post my birth story sometime later, I just wanted to share the exciting news, and of course a few pictures :)

Last Weekend as a Family of Three

This weekend was the last weekend that we will spend as a family of 3. As much as I want to meet baby Alli, it really is bittersweet knowing that Lila won't be the "baby" anymore. 

This past weekend was like many others that we've had. We visited with some neighborhood friends at the pool on Saturday morning, and it was cute to see the babies play in the water together. Saturday night, Grammy watched Lila while Josh and I went on a date to a local restaurant, Opus Bistro, which is right on the water.  It was so delicious and such a pretty place. 

Today, Josh was able to play golf early with his friend before he came and got me for church. We enjoyed a nice lunch afterwards with Grammy and Lila before heading to Highland Village while Josh took Lila back to the house to take a nap. That evening we took it easy, ordered pizza, and watched some tv. I still can't believe how much our lives are about to change this week, but I'm so excited for what's to come!

Maternity Pictures

http://www.kelliacosta.com/slideshow/karibeth11/

We got to see a sneak peek of our session the other day, which made me so excited to get the rest back! They turned out so beautiful, and Kelli Acosta did just an amazing job!! I can't wait to put them in Alli's room and around the house! 

38-Week Alli Update

This morning I had my 38-week doctor's appointment, and I was really nervous about it because I was going to talk to my doctor about speeding this process along. I am still between 2 and 3 cm dilated, but I'm almost completely thinned out, which is good.  I am normally a really patient person (and I am definitely cherishing the last few days of us being a family of 3), but Josh is scheduled to go back out on his boat next Thursday, July 14th thru Monday, July 18th (6 days before my due date and come back 2 days before), and this time they are talking about going all the way to Louisiana to do shrimp boat boardings.  I thought for sure that Josh's command wouldn't make him go out this time since that is right when this baby is due, however, he acted like they were still going to make him go if there was no baby by then. It was really stressing me out that Josh might be several 100 miles away from Galveston on his boat and miss the birth of our daughter. Long story short, I told my doctor this morning that Josh would possibly have to be gone starting next Thursday, and he suggested that he would just induce me on Wednesday to solve that problem! I just love my doctor and his willingness to work with me on this! Now I'm just nervous about the induction process! Lila came on her own in just 3.5 hours, so this will definitely be a different experience. 

Now that I have a baby day on the calendar, it feels so much more real! I can't believe that we will get to meet our little baby Alli in just 6 days or less! Wish us luck for a fast and painless (ha yeah right!) delivery!! 

Fourth of July Weekend (picture overload!)

Josh had to work most of the weekend, so it was just Lila, me, and Grammy until daddy got home on Monday afternoon. We spent some time at the neighborhood pool on Saturday. It was such a nice day, and Lila had a great time (as always) jumping off the side into our arms.

We took it easy on Sunday since I didn't want to go into labor while Josh was gone off-shore with his boat. We went to church and tried a local country-cooking restaurant for the first time which was so delicious. Naps were in order for everyone after stuffing our face with all sorts of rolls, cornbread, beans, and fried goodness. After Lila went to sleep for the night, Grammy and I got to decorating her stroller for the Fourth of July Teddy Bear Parade the next morning.

our decorating supplies

Fourth of July hair bow

On Monday, the fourth, we dressed in our red, white, and blue, snapped a few pictures, then made our way to old-town League City for the Teddy Bear Parade. There were several age groups for the stroller/bike/wagon decoration contest. It was such a cute parade through the older part of League City and ended in Butler's Courtyard, which is such a gorgeous place in the city that I've never seen before.  Lila's stroller won first place for decorations in her age division, and she had the best time running around the courtyard visiting with two little dogs and all of the other people that were there for the parade.

 sleepy riding in the parade

 our decorated stroller

 37 weeks 5 days

 last stop on the parade

 looking at the fountain with her friend, Hailey

We got home just in time for lunch and for Josh to get home from work. Josh and I put Lila down for a nap and headed to the pool while Grammy stayed at the house.  It was so nice (and weird-feeling) to go to the pool without Lila. We were actually able to relax in the water and in the sun without having to worry about chasing a very busy toddler around. That night, we cooked out and ate hot dogs, baked beans, and Grammy's homemade potato salad, then went on a long walk around the neighborhood. We were all too exhausted to stay up for the fireworks, but watched a few of them from the front yard.

daddy pushing Lila on her princess mobile

Lila in her pillowcase dress that Mamu made her

 Lila didn't want to have to share her flag with Chevy (hence the mean face-she can be such a stinker!)

(please excuse the squeaky shoes)
It was a great holiday for us and I hope it was for you too!