Meeting Nonna and Ga

Nonna and Ga have been very busy these past few weeks. Aunt Megan and Uncle Daniel had baby Alden exactly one week after you on September 12th, and Nonna and Ga flew out the very next day to meet him. They were there helping out until they flew home on the 23rd, then on the 24th they drove down to us to help out while Daddy left to work at a weight lifting championship in Utah.

As tired as they were, their faces lit right up as soon as they saw you. You seemed right at home in their arms too. I'm so glad they get to come spend time with you while you're still so little. :)

Carrying On the Tradition

Both the Messmer and Briggs families have a special tradition regarding bassinets. The Messmer's bassinet dates all the way back to your Great Papa Piciulo...he slept in there when HE was a baby! So did your Nonna and your daddy. Both of your older sisters (and all of your cousins) have made it their bed too, and now it's your turn to carry on the tradition.

The Briggs bassinet doesn't date back quite as far, but your mama and her siblings slept in it. Eleanore and Charlotte laid their heads down in there too. Every time a new baby sleeps in the Briggs bassinet, their name is added to the list underneath.  Just like your sisters, now your name is there too.

First Family Portrait

 It wasn't easy, but we managed to get our first family portrait done today. The photographer was able to capture a couple of beautiful shots of you too.

I think my favorite, though, is this one of you and your sisters. We are all so proud of our newest family member!

Just Us

Having two older sisters means that you are sharing Mommy and Daddy right from the start. Our favorite time with you has become the evenings after Eleanore and Charlotte have gone to bed and it's just you and us. We take turns holding your tiny little body and smelling your new baby smell. 

Don't grow too fast, I want this time to last forever (or at least a while).

Your Twin Has Arrived

 Today Alden Ames Beck was born!!  He was a whopping 8 lbs 12 oz!!  Phew!  Congratulations to your Aunt Megan and Uncle Daniel on their first beautiful baby boy.

Aunt Megan and I have enjoyed sharing our pregnancies together this year and since we both had the same due date it made it even more fun to see just how close together you two would be born.  Well, the question is answered - you are exactly one week older than your "twin" Alden.  I can't wait to introduce you two!

Proud Sisters

Your two older sisters are truly infatuated with you. They want to hold you every chance they get and often argue over who gets to hold you first.

Charlotte loves it when you open your eyes (she yells, "SHE OPENED HER EYES!!" whenever you do).  Eleanore could just hold you forever, and both girls smother you with kisses constantly.

Just wait until they see you smile for the first time.  I can't wait!

Bath Time

Your first bath was a family affair.  Both of your sisters wanted to watch and help however they could while Mommy and Daddy washed you.

 The experience was definitely not on your favorites list; you screamed through the whole thing.

When you were done and wrapped in a towel, both of your older sisters wanted to give you a kiss to make you feel better. We also noticed something after your bath: you're hair curls when it's wet!

 I hope you start to like bath time more, or it could make for some challenging evenings.

A Warm Welcome

 Flowers, flowers everywhere! We were welcomed home by a beautiful bouquet of roses from Daddy, Gabrielle. Nonna and Ga welcomed you here with a lovely bouquet too, in a pink pot with little baby feet on it.  :) The Hibbitts family actually came to visit you in the hospital while we were there and brought a mini rose bush that we are going to plant in the yard for you (along with an adorable outfit!). Everyone wants to welcome you home, my little angel!

Coming Home

 Your Daddy was so proud to drive his three beautiful girls, our family of five, home from the hospital. 

You were very content sitting next to your sister Charlotte and able to see your big sister Ellie in the back behind you. 

 Here we go!  Off to take you home.

Grandma & Grandpa Say Hello

You were only about four hours old when Grandma and Grandpa came with the girls to meet you for the first time.

I'm pretty sure the pictures speak for themselves...they were both over-the-moon in love as soon as they laid eyes on you.

Meeting Your Sisters

Your two big sisters could not WAIT to meet you for the first time!  Grandma and Grandpa brought them over just as soon as they got the word from us that you were ready to say hello.

Both of your sisters were just enamored with you.  I lost count of the kisses you received that day!  Daddy asked Charlotte if she liked her new baby sister and Charlotte responded, "I love her cute little cheeks!"  We all do.  :)

The girls loved the Care Bears you thoughtfully bought for them, and they enjoyed giving you one of your very own too! Both girls wore their "B is for Big Sister" shirts you got them the very next day too.

It was an amazing feeling to have our family of five together for the first time...

...and our three girls together! The love in the room was overflowing.  Can't wait to bring you home!

Your Birth Story

Since we had scheduled to have you induced on Monday, September 7th (your due date), I figured you wouldn't want to be told what to do and would come out on your own...I was right. We arrived at the hospital Saturday, September 5th at about 10:30am. It was a perfect day you chose, too, because my OBGYN, Amy Jackson, was on-call; so she was there to deliver you! Daddy was waiting at the door with a wheel chair for me and we headed up the elevator to Labor and Delivery with our hospital bags in tow.

After being checked in, we started out in a triage room (normal protocol at Mount Carmel St. Ann's) where they checked monitors to confirm (as I already knew) that you were, in fact, definitely on your way out.

Things moved pretty quickly after that. I went to the bathroom and as soon as I returned, they put us in a labor and delivery room. My contractions were getting much stronger, and because of the way you were positioned in there, I was experiencing some incredibly painful back contractions. Your daddy was able to capture one last picture of you inside my belly...obviously between contractions because I'm smiling.  :)

I was really hoping to try to deliver you naturally, without any pain meds, but those back contractions were worse than any contractions I had ever experienced. So as soon as I had a liter of fluids in me, the nurse anesthetist came in and (thankfully) took the pain away.

Unlike your sisters (I love that you're showing your independence and uniqueness already!), you never broke my water. When Dr. Jackson came in to check on me, she broke my water. You gave us a little scare because there was meconium in the amniotic fluid which means that you had already had a bowel movement while in my belly. This doesn't sound too bad, but there was a possibility that it had made its way into your lungs, so we had to have a neonatal nurse on staff in the room when you were delivering, just in case you had problems breathing (spoiler alert: you didn't!).

Once my water was broken things progressed pretty quickly. In fact, we hardly had time to take any pictures! The nurse had me start pushing before the doctor came in. As I pushed through the contraction, your heart rate decelerated enough for her to ask me to stop pushing and call the doctor in for the next round.

Dr. Jackson came in and had me start pushing through the next contraction. After one push, though, her eyes went wide and she said, "Okay! I think we're going to try to breath through the rest of this one." I was scared that something was wrong at first, but Daddy started to laugh and said that your head was already right there ready to come out and the doctor didn't even have her gown or gloves on yet.

On the next contraction, I pushed once and saw your head. On the second push, you were out! Five total pushes and you came into the world. Your daddy, Dr. Jackson and I all held our breath as we waited to see whether you'd take your first breath. It didn't take long! You took a big breath in and let out a wail that would make your daddy's very loud Italian family proud.  :)

She put you on my chest and I was immediately in love. Daddy cut your umbilical cord and leaned down to meet his newest, beautiful daughter.  He looked at me and asked, "What do you think she looks like?"  We had a couple of names picked out, but as soon as we saw you, we both agreed, you were Gabrielle Therese.

You had a beautiful head of dark hair, weighed 8lbs, 2oz and were 19 inches long.

 Neither of us could wait to give you your first kiss.

Dr. Amy Jackson did a great job catching you on your way out.  :)  She was almost as excited as we were to meet you and say hello.

Welcome to this world, our beautiful Gabrielle Therese Messmer!

Getting to the Hospital

You have been teasing us all week with random contractions here and there. This morning I had a contraction just before your daddy left at 7:30am for his "Walk with a Doc" event down in Grove City (about 45 minutes away). He asked me if he should just cancel and stay home. I told him, "No, go ahead and go. I've been having random contractions all week. I'll be fine." Not my best decision...

Throughout the next couple of hours my contractions got stronger and started coming about every 15 minutes.  At 9:00 I sent a text to Daddy telling him that I thought the rest of my mucus plug just went.  He asked if he should come home.  I responded nonchalantly, "I don't think so.  If I have another strong contraction I'll let you know."  As I was pressing the send key I realized that I was not being very smart.  I sent another text immediately following the first saying, "Actually, yes, why don't you just come home."

Your poor daddy was already a mile out on his "Walk with a Doc" route when he got my text.  He turned around where he was and sprinted the mile back to his car to head home.  In the mean time, I finally realized that this was it.  You were on your way.  I called Grandma and Grandpa and told them that they could start heading down because we were heading to the hospital.  Daddy was too far away, so I told him to just meet me at the hospital.

I then called Brenda and asked her to come pick up your big sisters so I could head to the hospital.  She was too far away, so she sent her husband, Anthony, to get them.  As we waited for him to get here my contractions were getting closer together and stronger.  I wasn't sure I was going to be able to drive myself to the hospital very much longer! So, I made a call to the Schotts, our neighbors across the street, and asked them to come over to watch your sisters until Anthony got here.

Stella Schott came right over and got to our door just as Anthony pulled up.  I felt bad for making her come over for what turned out to be nothing, but it was actually a wonderful blessing in disguise.  Stella convinced me to let Dave and her drive me to the hospital.  And God bless Dave, he got you and me there safe and FAST!  He was going 70mph down Africa Road (usually 55mph)! 

When we got to the hospital, Daddy was waiting at the door with a wheel chair for me.  We unloaded our bags and headed for Labor and Delivery.  It was a wild ride, but we made it!  You're on your way, and we get to meet you in just a few short hours!

Progression

You're getting bigger and lower every week.  We're ready when you are!

37 Weeks

38 weeks

39 Weeks