The beginning.

Hey we have a baby! It is absolutely amazing. I still can't believe she's actually here when she was in me not long ago. So, in this post we'll give a quick recap of labor/delivery, if anyone is interested, and show some pictures!

As mentioned previously, I came in on Saturday afternoon at 2pm for the induction. As also mentioned previously, I'd been fairly nervous about getting induced because I'd heard some horror stories about getting induced and the woman's body not being ready at all and it was just an awful experience.

However, I actually had the most fantastic labor experience you could hope for. By the time we got to the hospital, got the IV in, signed stuff, got all the directions, got the doctors orders, broke my water, blah blah blah, it was really closer to 4:30 by the time they started the pitocin. And, amazingly, I was already at 2.5 to 3cm and 80% when they started. The contractions started off not too bad, and so we watched a lot of basketball without too much distraction, but when halftime of the BYU game came around, the contractions quickly became quite strong and very painful. Needless to say, I didn't really pay a lot of attention to the second half of the game, and by almost the end of the game the anesthesiologist was giving me the blessed epidural. Oh my heavens I could have kissed him it was such an incredible relief. I was at 6cm and 90% when the epidural was given at about 8pm.

From 8pm to 10pm I went from 6 cm to 9 cm and all the way to 100% effaced. Around 9:45 the contractions got quite painful again so at 10:00 the anesthesiologist gave me another bolus of epidural, which was just in time because at 10:15 I was at a 10 and they had me start pushing, and 30 minutes after that our baby was born! She was born at 10:48 pm on March 19, weighed 7lb 2 oz and was 19 inches long. It was an incredible experience.

But lets talk for a moment about how amazingly ideal labor and delivery was for me. This being my first child, and being induced, everyone totally expected me to be in a long labor for 12-18 hours minimum. I was in active labor for 6 hours, if you count from when they started the pitocin and I could feel contractions. It definitely was very painful, but I got an epidural that was an absolute lifesaver. I have no idea how women can do it without one. And I pushed for just 30 minutes, and out came the most beautiful baby girl in the world. We are so happy.

We are just in awe of her. It's amazing that she's our little girl, and just how tiny and adorable she is. It still feels so surreal.

It took FOREVER for us to decide on a name for her. We had it down to two names, but we just could never decide. We made a final decision about 1/2 hour before leaving the hospital. Our little girl's name is Natalie Michelle. We love her so much!