The Scialabba Family: Nicholas Patrick Scialabba

He's here! The newest member of our little family has arrived! Nicholas Patrick Scialabba was born on Friday, November 30 at 1:25 pm weighing 7 lb 15.6 oz (which was rounded to 8 lbs) and 20" long at 38 weeks gestation. He is absolutely perfect.

Prior to his arrival we had two false alarms. The first was on Thanksgiving as I was having a sharp, constant pain in my abdomen and around my right side to my back. It would last for a few hours at a time and then taper off for a bit before coming back. Unfortunately that meant I spent all of Thanksgiving on the couch (either sleeping or watching football) and was unable to participate in Thanksgiving dinner with Michael and Mikey. (I had made most of the food the day before with the exception of the turkey that Mike prepared on Thursday.) My boys took excellent care of me. By the next day I was back to my regular self and my midwife believes I had some sort of GI issue. The following week (Thursday, November 29) we went to the doctor since I thought my water had broken. No such luck. I learned I was 2 cm dilated and was sent home disappointed and frustrated. I was so disappointed that the baby wasn't coming yet and the frustration stemmed from the fact that I kept thinking all of these symptoms were "it". I vowed on Thursday that I wasn't going to call or text anyone until I was actually in the hospital giving birth. And then Friday morning rolled around.....

The contractions started to wake me up at 1:35 am. I kept a log on the notes section of my iPhone with when I felt a contraction and then would time them and indicate the pain level. From 1:35 until 4:00 am the contractions were coming between 10-12 minutes apart, lasting for one minute and were increasing in intensity as time elapsed. By 5 am the contractions were coming closer together (8 minutes apart) and I was in pain, so we called the hospital. As I got up and went downstairs the pain and contractions weren't as bad---leading me to believe I was having yet another false alarm. I spoke to my midwife (Michele) and she suggested calling back in an hour to check in. 45 minutes later I was still in pain and I called to say I was coming in. We woke up Mikey, gathered my bags, I packed some activities and breakfast items for M and we left. As we got in the car at 6 am we called "cousin Emily" at Boston College and asked her to meet us at the hospital to take care of Mikey, just as we had planned on her doing. Thank goodness for Emily.

We checked in quickly and waited for Michele to get me in the waiting room. They brought me into a pre-admission room to hook me up to a monitor and see what was going on. As I got into bed, Emily arrived and Mike took them down to the car to go home. When Mike left I started crying to Michele saying that I was afraid this was another false alarm. After a quick (and painful) examination, it was determined that I was 4cm dilated and I was in fact in labor! She admitted me and then left for her two week vacation to Hawaii. Lucky lady. (This is when we called our parents and notified them that I was in the hospital. We got a hold of my Dad who then contacted my Mom. My mother was on the way to work, pulled over to call her school and tell them she wouldn't be in and then drove home to meet Dad and drive up to Boston. They arrived around 1 pm. "Papa Fred" was at work and said he would come as soon as he could and Mimi left Queensbury by herself and headed straight to Wellesley to check in on Emily and Mikey.)

The midwife who was covering the maternity floor after Michele was named Suzanne Wright. She was familiar to me since I had seen her a few times for my prenatal appointments. It was so nice to have a familiar person be involved in such an important event.

I'll spare you the nitty gritty details of the actual labor and delivery. I will disclose that there was an epidural involved (thank GOD for that!) and I had to use oxygen in between pushes. I pushed for an hour and twenty-five minutes prior to meeting little Nicholas....but he was worth it!!

Big brother Mikey was able to meet him just a short time after he was born and he was ready to take on his new role. When I was pregnant Mikey would talk to my belly and say "Baby! It's time to come out! You're ready now!". When Mikey came into the labor and delivery room and saw Nicholas he said "He came out now!".

And now for some pictures....