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.