Isabella Francine Vargas

Isabella Francine Vargas was born on Friday, July 31, 2009 at 8:23am!

She is 6 lbs, 15oz & 19" of pure perfection, in our eyes at least!

My wonderful husband Jim held up great during the entire birthing process! The morning started out a bit stressful when my water broke at 3:00a. I was prepared for a "trickle" of water to come out..NOT a water fall! It took us a full hour to leave the house because we were trying to think of a good way to get me from the house to the car to the hospital without leaving a trail of water. In the end I wrapped myself in towels & off we went! As always, Jim works best under pressure & handles stress in a calm, laid back manner. I, on the other hand, was a mess! I became the dreaded "back seat driver" - yelling at Jim to run red lights & drive as fast as he possibly could. At one point I spotted a cop & tried to convince Jim to pull over & get us a police escort. I was SO scared that we were going to have the baby in the car because the contractions were coming on strong & fast! Fortunately we made it to the hospital "on time". Within 30 minutes I received the glorious epidural, before the contractions even had a chance to become painful. Of course, getting the epi itself hurt like hell, but I still say it's a small price to pay for ultimate relief! Around 7:45a I started to get panicky because somehow, thru the numbness, I had this feeling that the baby was coming "NOW"! Our Dr. was paged & came in to check me. His reaction said it all - my "feeling" was right on target. He told me not to push & ran out the door to tell the Operating Room that he was going to be late for the scheduled c-section that one of his patients was supposed to have at 8am. 5 pushes later Isabella was born! And, unfortunately, 5 minutes after she was born I had a bad reaction to the epi. Go figure!! I spent two hours shaking uncontrollably & vomitting. After receiving 2 seperate medications my body finally calmed down. At first I was very sad that I wasn't even able to hold Bella for more than a few seconds after she was born, due to the fact that I was so sick. I felt like I had missed out on my "bonding" opportunity with her. But I did feel good that Jim held her for a good 1 1/2 hrs after she was born, keeping her by my side at all times. In any event, I've since had lots of bonding time with my precious little girl :) However, I made Jim promise not to take any pictures of me yet. While I'm sure everyone ELSE will say that I'm glowing I prefer not to be photographed with 15 lbs worth of swelling on my face, hands & feet due to fluids!

Here's Jim, hanging out with Miss Bella..

Nana introduces big brother Kyle to his little sister. His first comment? "She's so small, she's so tiny!!!"

Auntie Carole meets Bella! A special thanks goes out to Auntie Carole for caring for Kyle while we were at the hospital!

Just look at Bella's double chin!!

Nana, Kyle & Bella sharing some moments together

Everyone was all smiles!

I love the adoring look on Kyle's face as he looks down at his little sister!

Here's the proud Daddy of two..

Auntie Carole spends some more time with Isabella

Auntie Leslee meets Isabella

At first Uncle Mike didn't want to hold Bella, claiming she was too small! But it didn't take long for him to give in :)

Jim was rather tired towards the end of the day, but insisted on staying for one more feeding before calling it a night!

Have I mentioned yet how much hair Isabella has?? Three times as much as Kyle had when he was born, that's for sure!

She may be small but she's got some fat on her!

Welcoming Isabella into our world was an exciting & emotional time for all of us! I'm overwhelmed with love for both of my children, as well as my husband & I truly feel blessed to have such a beautiful family!