Sandy's Little Corner...: She is finally here....

After much talk and anticipation, I'd like to formally welcome to my blog world

the newest and cutest member of our family....

Katarina Isabella

She was born:

Saturday, February 9th @12:31pm,

weighing in at 7lbs 4oz.

By now there have been plenty of pictures, status updates and even a video to introduce this sweet little girl to our FB friends. But I wanted to take this blog post to write some words down to detail her birth through my eyes for all of those who might be interested and couldn't be there with us.

Casandra was actually due on Feb. 14th, but due to gestational diabetes, she was induced a week early this past Friday, 2/8 to avoid complications. However, induction does not always guarantee a short labor as the birthing process can take longer than any of us may anticipate.

Casandra and Sergio, checked in Friday morning, and got the logistics out of the way before any of us bombarded them with our presence in the hopes of something happening while we were there...but of course it didn't.

However, it did give me a chance to take some special camera shots I had been hoping to get of them during this time. I also purposely took the majority of them in black and white as I wanted to set a distinct tone to these pictures based on an inspiration I got from a blog I had seen a few months ago.

Aside from that, I have to mention just how impressed I was with how well Casandra and Sergio handled everything during what would be considered by most a time of much anxiety especially for first time parents.

Casandra was the epitome of strength and calmness. While we were there, she was getting contractions every 2 minutes and nothing seemed to phase her...at least she made it look that way. I've had 3 boys and I know that I didn't handle my contractions that way, by any means! And although she was definitely uncomfortable having been sitting on that bed for so long, she was able to keep up perfectly fine with our conversations, to check her phone, and even joke around with us. What a trooper!!

And my lil' brother, Sergio- what can I say! He was amazing...keeping strong for Casandra and showing her love and support any chance he could. He was there for her all the way. I was so proud of him!

Not that I ever had any doubt, but seeing them together in this way confirmed that this little girl was coming into this world to a great set of parents, and how lucky will they be to receive such a beautiful gift from God.

Throughout the night and the following morning, Sergio did a great job updating us on how Casandra was doing through texts, and FB updates even upto the point of her pushing with an all saying "Here we go..." He truly made it possible for all of us (including myself) who couldn't be there to feel like we were.

And when I couldn't handle waiting any longer, we made our way down to the hospital where our family met up with Casandra's family for the baby reveal.

When we finally got the ok to go in, we found this most precious sight...

What can I say...we were all in LOVE!

The next morning we went back to the hospital with Jerry who hadn't had a chance to see her and this time it was Jerry's turn to take pictures so I could actually be in a couple.