On Tuesday, we got the tree for our first Christmas as a family with baby Milla! She slept in her stroller the whole time we were at the nursery, which isn’t surprising since she sleeps almost every single time we take her out somewhere.

She did however wake right up while we were trying to trim the tree, so it ended up being the longest tree decorating in history, spread out over a few hours, haha. The little bean already has quite a few of her own special ornaments! Geoff & I bought her two different “Baby’s First Christmas” ones that we came across & couldn’t resist. My grandma & papa (mom’s parents) sent the special personalized “a star is born” one, and Geoff got her the Rudolph one as a sweet gift from daddy.

Last year, my friend Missy sent me a little pink tree because I’d been aching for one & couldn’t find any. It was the perfect bit of holiday cheer to set up in Milla’s nursery! We added yet another ornament we got for her, and the tree ‘topper’ came from a bouquet of roses our friends Leo & Jeff brought over after she was born. Clever reusage huh?

Milla seems pretty indifferent to it all. She looks at the lights on the main tree, but quickly becomes interested in looking at other things as well. That’s ok though, we’ve already taken plenty of photos & videos from the season that she will love looking back on when she gets older!

Milla is 3 weeks old today, holy cow! Time is flying This past week she celebrated her first Thanksgiving. Geoff & I watched the Macy’s Parade in bed while cuddling with the little bean, and then we had a big get together with my dad’s side of the family.

She slept most of the time, except for right when I was going to eat my stuffing & yams. She of course chose that time to start fussing to be fed. So I didn’t have much of a Thanksgiving feast, but these are the sacrifices that must be made as a mommy!

I was so preoccupied the whole time, I didn’t even get a good shot of Milla’s cute little outfit, bleh! She got passed around a lot since most people hadn’t seen her since the hospital, if even at all. Everyone fell in love with her of course!

Also this week, we were gifted a couple of Target giftcards, yippee! My favorite store in the world. Today we went to the new super duper one nearby us, with the big grocery section. The store was so nice! We stocked up on diapers & wipes, and also found quite a few newborn outfits. For some reason, that has been way harder than expected, we completely struck out when looking at Kohls & Babies R Us! Since Miss Milla pees/poops/spits up on her clothes on a near-daily basis, we definitely needed to buy some more!

On Sunday I took Milla to a baby shower for family friend Karli. She’s having a little boy in January. It’s going to be really fun for our babies to hang out! Anyway, she got a lot of awesome gifts. I was especially envious of the diaper bag she got. The brand is Petunia Pickle Bottom and I really want! Their patterns are so cute and I absolutely love that there is a pull out changing pad inside. Genius! The bummer is that they’re totally pricey, but there are some good deals on used ones on eBay that I might take advantage of.

Yesterday was Milla’s 2 week check up at the pediatrician. We were delighted to find out that she’s up to 8 pounds! She’d lost a little weight after birth, so it was good to see that she’s put it back on & then some. She also grew a bit in length. The doctor was pleased with her color & reflexes as well. Yay Milla!

The only bad part was that she had to have a little bit of blood drawn to check for several different diseases. She was not happy about it at all & screamed the whole time even though I was holding her. It was so hard for all of us! Once it was over though, she immediately was worn out & fell asleep until we got home.

Later that night, she had projectile vomit all over me, weeee! I’ve done more laundry in the past 2 weeks that in the last 4 months combined, easily! At least she’s still sleeping pretty well at night, only waking about 3 times and she usually falls asleep quickly after being fed.

That’s all for now! My laptop is working again so it will be a lot easier for me to update this blog. We’ll definitely have photos to share after the little one’s first Thanksgiving!

6:15AM – I woke up feeling really intense cramps in my stomach, very different from the warm-up contractions I’d been feeling for a few weeks prior. I woke Geoff up & called my mom. A few hours went by with no relief from the cramping, so Geoff called the hospital & they told him we could come in whenever we wanted. I still wasn’t 100% convinced that I was in labor and I didn’t want to be stuck at the hospital, so we hung around the house for a bit longer. We both showered, made sure we had everything packed, & installed the car seat before heading out.

10:45AM – We arrived at the labor & delivery wing of the hospital and were immediately set up in a huge & comfortable room. The TV was on when we entered the room & what should be playing but a Drew Barrymore CoverGirl commercial! I took that as a sign that everything was going to go smoothly

The nurse got me all set up in a gown & on the bed, and then attached the monitoring straps to my belly. We were able to watch & hear the baby’s heartbeat, as well as see on the screen every time I had a contraction. However I didn’t need a monitor to tell me when I was contracting! It was seriously severe pain, felt all the way from my back to my upper thighs. I was having them about every 2 1/2 minutes so it was official – I was in labor! On my due date no less!

11:30AM -  A really great nurse named Bobbi was with me the whole time. She checked my cervix & I was dilated to 3 centimeters. She called my doctor and Geoff began calling all our family members to let them know that the baby was coming. I was about ready to scream from the contractions, they hurt so badly. The anesthesiologist who would perform my epidural was in another surgery at the time, so I had to be patient & wait for him to be done there. I was really struggling & with every contraction telling Geoff that I wasn’t going to be able to make it. He was wonderful, holding my hand and having me take deep, calming breaths.

1:30PM – Finally my epidural arrived! I was practically in a whimpering ball at that point, so I couldn’t have been happier about a needle being stuck into my back. Anything but the pain of contractions! The process was relatively quick & painless, and I began feeling better soon after. It was incredible to see my contractions on the monitor & not feel a thing! I could still feel my legs, everything was just slightly numb below the waist. I honestly don’t know how any woman has survived a natural birth – much respect!

2:30PM - My cervix was checked again and this time I was already at 7! We couldn’t believe how fast everything seemed to be going. I asked the nurse when she was going to break my water & she had to inform me that she already had, somehow I just hadn’t noticed! Everything was feeling really easy at that point, and I was finally able to relax & just enjoy the experience.

3:30PM – All of the sudden, I was dilated to 10 which means BABY TIME! Geoff frantically called everyone to let them know they had to get there as soon as possible. My mom had just left work & quickly hopped on the earliest flight from San Diego that she could catch. Because we were waiting for everyone to arrive (including my sister Amanda who had started driving in from LA that morning after Geoff called her), we weren’t anxious to pop the little one out quite yet. I wasn’t feeling the need to push either, so my doctor asked if I would mind if she finished out her office hours. Since her office is literally walking distance from the hospital, I was completely fine with that.

4:30PM - The nurse had me do a couple practice pushes, which I needed because I wasn’t very good at it! She was having me take in a deep breath & hold it while I pushed, but I kept letting it out while I pushed instead, haha. Luckily I got it down & the baby’s head was crowning! I wasn’t sure how much Geoff would want to see, but he couldn’t resist taking a look. I’ll never forget the moment when he first saw her head. His face was just so full of awe & love. It was so special. Most of my family began to arrive, along with our friends Angie & Joe.

5:05PM – Dr. Moss came in the room, was all prepared in moments, and literally after 2 1/2 pushes, the little one was born (at 5:13PM)! I couldn’t believe how easy it all felt (thank you epidural!). Geoff immediately proclaimed that she had my nose, and did his daddy duty of cutting the umbilical cord. Then her messy & crying little self was placed in my arms for the first time. It was total love! I couldn’t believe that the tiny one I’d be carrying around in my belly for 10 months was finally here.

She was then weighed & measured, and cleaned off a bit before being put in the warming bed right next to me. Geoff held her tiny hand & comforted her while she was laying there and while the doctor & nurses continued working on me. I really was paying no attention to what they were doing down there since I couldn’t feel a thing and couldn’t take my eyes off of our baby! Once I was all taken care of, Milla was placed back with me & I nursed her for the first time. She took to it immediately with almost zero difficulties, just further proof of what a perfect little being she was!

The rest of our stay at the hospital was very pleasant, full of plenty of visitors & lots of bonding with our baby. Everyone on the hospital staff was incredible, plus they sent up home with all kinds of goodies like diapers and pacifiers. We were able to bring her home the following day around 6:00PM and have been the happiest little family ever since! We’ll be putting up a gallery of photos from the hospital soon, so watch for that.

Milla Rose Lampton was born November 09, 2009 at 5:13 pm in a Las Vegas hospital, delivered by the wonderful Dr. Moss. At birth she was 19.5 inches long and weighed 7 pounds, 4.6 ounces. She has steel blue eyes and dark blonde hair (but her eyebrows & eyelashes are so blonde that they’re almost transparent!). A full birth story will follow in the next post, so stay tuned!