Nora's Birth Story

Andreja had a doctor's appointment scheduled for Friday (June 26, 2009) and during her appointment she was told that she was already 5 cm dilated and had to go straight to the hospital. If she had gone home and her water had broken, then she probably would not have made it too the hospital. I (Chris) was all for having the baby in the hospital, not at our house:) As Andreja headed to the hospital she called me and I left work immediately. I didn't want to miss Nora's arrival into the world. I got to the hospital around 10am and Andreja was already in the delivery room. Because he water had not broken, Dr. Angus (the doctor who was on call) decided to wait to break her water until he could deliver a couple more babies. He ended up delivering six babies on Friday. No wonder Northside Hospital is known as a baby factory:) Dr. Angus was actually on call when Andreja went into labor with Emma, but since the epidural slowed down Emma's arrival, he headed home before Emma was born. Andreja and I enjoyed some Wimbledon while we waited for her water to be broken. Dr. Angus told us that Nora would be born before dinner. Andreja was wondering when was dinner time for Dr Angus. Was it 5pm, was it 9pm??? As time progressed, she began having more and more contractions. The next time Dr. Angus came to check on Andreja, she asked him when was dinner was for him. Although he normally told people that they would have their baby before dinner time, Andreja was the first expectant mother to pin him down on when exactly that was. The nurse and I were cracking up. At 1:30pm the nurse started the pitocin, which induces labor. At about 2:30 pm, Dr. Angus came and broke Andreja's water (at this point, he had delivered two babies in the last two hours). Andreja was increasingly more and more uncomfortable. A little before 3:30pm Andreja started pushing. After only about 30 minutes, Nora was born at 3:58pm. We were joking that if she was born after 6pm then she and Emma would have the same birthday in Croatia.

God was watching out for us with this entire event. We didn't have the baby at home. It was a pretty quick process. Although Andreja felt more pain than with Emma, it only took 30 minutes to push Nora out. We are so excited that Nora is part of our lives and can't wait to see what she is like, as she begins to develop a personality, as well as likes and dislikes.

During this entire process, Emma was with her Grandma Sue (Chris's Mom), and he Aunt Pam. When grandma, grandpa and Pam brought Emma to the hospital, Emma was so excited to see her little sister. She wanted to touch her, hold her, and point out all of he facial features. Emma kept telling Nora, "Open the eyes, Nora." When Nora's eyes didn't open, Emma thought she would assist. We had to put a quick stop to that. It was fun to see how excited that Emma was to see and touch her sister. Around 7pm, I took Emma home and put her to bed. Then my parents came to stay with Emma so that I could be with Andreja for a while before heading home to be with Emma.

We are home now. We got discharges around 11am sunday morning. We were greeted with some of our friends almost as we were exiting the hospital. They are lucky that we were not already gone. It was good to see them. We are so glad to be home all together. It was different this time with having a kid at home already. We know we are on our own during the night but excited to figure out our new family dynamics.

Happy Birthday Emma!!!! Can't believe that she's TWO!!!

Today was Emma's second birthday. We had planned a party, but Nora's arrival postponed that for at least a week. Emma did get a couple gifts from her Aunt Ruth and Aunt Faith. Ruth gave her some play food, which Emma was very excited about. From Faith, she got some Duplo Lego animals and a girl. She wanted to show it all to Nora and she let Nora hold all of her animals.

Some exciting fruit!


What's inside?


Here you go Nora.


Nora enjoyed being covered in animals:)

Sweet Sisters

This morning Emma came to see Nora in the hospital. She was very excited to see Nora. She wanted to give Nora a little gift. So we brought her a little rabbit.

Emma loves to touch Nora's face.


After seeing Nora's feet, Emma wanted to show her her toe nails.


What a beautiful picture!!


How happy!

Nora Hope has arrived

Nora Hope was born today, June 26, 2009, at 3:58 p.m. She weighed 7 lb 1 oz (3.195 kg) and was 20 inches (50.8 cm) long. Below are some pictures of Nora.

Early Birthday Presents

Emma received a couple early birthday presents, including a picnic table from her grandma and grandpa Conway and a pool from Teta Teja, Igor and Mia (aunt, uncle, and cousin from Croatia). She loves to swim in her pool and splash with her friends (the neighbors Alondra, Pedro, Maria, and Cookies). They have a great time together.

Enjoy the pics.

Emma & Potty

Emma relaxing reading Real Simple magazine while trying to do some business.