First Bath

The other night I was glad to see Sylvie's umbilical cord stub had finally fallen off. I celebrated by giving her her first full bath the next day! Thanks to Dad for helping to capture the process (and my sweet hair).

I've been amazed at how comfortable I've gotten handling a little baby. Giving her a bath was no big deal! And as you can see, I've also gotten good at multi-tasking (thus the curlers).

 Awe! Isn't she the cutest? Also, this flower petal tub is the best. It's nice and warm for baby and cushions her from the hard sink. (You can get one here.)

  Baby butt!

Nice and clean and all wrapped up in a towel.

Oh and in case you're wondering, my hair turned out fabulous.

I have to say I was a little nervous carrying her around without a diaper on. The other day as I was changing her diaper, a rocket of liquidy green poop suddenly shot out of her butt, covering my hand, the dresser, and wall. I literally screamed in surprise. Not what I expected. I think I have a little PTSD now as I get flashbacks and cold sweats every time I have to wipe her little bum. Seth says he's going to install a plexiglass shield around the changing station, but I haven't seen it yet.

Introducing....

Sylvia Kay Hanson!

Weight: 6 lbs. 14 oz.

Length:19"

Date: July 10, 2012

Time: 8:55 pm

She's finally here and we couldn't be happier. I can't tell you how amazing it is for me to look down at this baby and realize Holy Crap. This is MY baby. She grew in my stomach and now she's here and she's so beautiful and she's really MINE. It's still so surreal to me. It's one of those things that for a long time I wasn't sure would ever happen. But it did and I'm so glad. I never thought I'd want to hold a baby for hours on end without putting her down or kiss her a million times a day or find joy in changing poopy diapers. I'm a mom and so far I think I'm pretty good at it. I think that's what surprises me the most.

I guess maybe some of you haven't heard the birth story yet so I'll give you the run down. For my entire pregnancy this baby was breech and was intent on not turning like she was supposed to. So on the morning of July 10th, we went into the Davis Hospital to try and do an external version to turn her.

The first thing they did when we got there was start an IV in my hand and get an epidural started. At this point in my pregnancy any sort of pushing on my belly hurt like hell so an epidural was a no-brainer. I'm sure many of you will hate me when I say the insertion of the IV and epidural were by far the most pain I felt all day. After that epidural kicked in, I couldn't feel anything from the waist down.

About an hour after my epidural was started, Dr. Hughes (a.k.a. Dr. Baby Flipper) came in with a load of other personnel. He put his hands on my belly and pushed and maneuvered and about 30 seconds later, Sylvie was head down. Yeah! I was very relieved that the version was successful and sat back in bed as a Pitocin drip was started in my IV to start contractions.

Every so often a nurse, or my doctor, Dr. Joseph would come in and check on me. I was progressing kind of slowly and at one point Dr. Joseph mentioned the possibility of sending me home if things didn't get moving. My heart sunk. I had no idea there was a possibility of going home without a baby. And what made it more frustrating was I couldn't move or do anything to help the process along. But, we tried to stay positive (by watching "What About Bob?") and hoped for the best.

Finally at about 6:00pm Dr. Joseph came in to check on me one more time. This was the moment of truth. After hemming and hawing for a moment or two, he decided I was dilated enough to break my waters. Wahoo! Now there was no going back! My baby was going to come!

For several hours Sylvie's heartbeat was nice and healthy. It would increase after every contraction and then level out. It had a lot of variation which is what they always look for. However, later in the evening her heartbeat started to dip after each contraction. Dr. Joseph decided that the best option at that point would be to take her c-section before her health took a dive. I was a bit disappointed, but wanted to do what was in her best interest.

Thankfully Seth was able to go into the operating room with me. He got all dressed up in a jumpsuit, booties, hair net, and face cover while they wheeled me into the operating room to get prepped. I felt so helpless and nervous going in there. I couldn't move, I was all drugged up and foggy, couldn't do anything to improve the situation, and I was about to get cut open. I felt much better after Seth came in and was able to stand next to me and hold my hand.

After waiting for about 20 minutes for a second doctor to arrive, they got started. Just a few minutes later I heard my baby cry. Everyone was telling Seth to take pictures of her coming out. The doctors cut the cord and finally showed me my new little daughter, all covered in white goo and blood. I felt such a huge relief to finally see her. Then the nurses whisked Seth out the door with Sylvie while I stayed back in the operating room to get put back together.

About a half hour later, we all met back in our hospital room... me all stitched up, Seth with our new baby all washed, weighed, and bundled up with a bow in her hair. All the drama was over. She was here and she was safe. This long-awaited new chapter in our lives was finally here.

It's Almost Time!

This morning Seth and I went in to the doctor to get another ultrasound, mainly to check and see if Sylvie had turned yet. I wasn't surprised when the technician told us that she was still breech. So, we went in to see the doctor to give him the news. He started mentioning inducing at 39 weeks and I cringed to myself. The ultrasound tech had just told us that our baby was up to about 7 lbs. 4oz. and the doctor had measured my belly and said I was measuring in the 40 week range. I was mentally prepared to get this baby out a few weeks early!

Well, after calling in another doctor who would be attempting the external version, they decided to induce me earlier than 39 weeks. In fact, they decided this coming Tuesday, July 10th would be best. AHHH! So, come Tuesday morning we'll be headed to the hospital to finally meet our little girl! The plan is to go in and get an epidural started after which Dr. Baby Flipper will try turning her. They said the odds are 50/50 it'll work, but I'm thinking it might be higher than that in my case because the ultrasound tech said with all the fluid in there, Sylvie has been enjoying Olympic-sized swimming pool conditions. If it doesn't work after a couple tries, I'll be going in for a c-section at noon.

So now my brain is trying to adjust to the fact that I'm going to be a new mom sooner than later! It's kind of nice knowing exactly when she's going to show up... no more guessing! Now I've got a few days to get all the final details taken care of... laundry, house cleaning, grocery shopping, packing, etc. Ready or not, here she comes!

Sylvie at almost 37 weeks. She's smiling!