Our sweetheart is here!

NYAH LEIGH was born on Tues, March 23rd @ 3:31 pm. She weighed 7 pounds 12 ounces and was 19 3/4 inches long. I thought I would start off by posting some hospital pictures and writing up her birth story. What an amazing experience! There is absolutely nothing in the world as spiritual and awe-inspiring as welcoming your child into the world. I loved (almost) every moment... haha! :) Even through the pain and discomfort, I cherish each memory. I better get it all written down before the those memories of details start to fade - I want to remember every little thing! Here is our precious daughter...

Nyah's Birth Story
I realize now that I am completely clueless when it comes to knowing if it's "true" labor or not... For those of you that don't know, I waited way too long to get to the hospital with Gabe. By the time I realized that the labor was for real, my water had broken at home and I was in the middle of one minute apart contractions that felt like something I can never describe. It was an excruciating drive to the hospital, let me tell you! This time around we (especially Eric) were a little nervous of getting to that point before being tucked into a hospital bed with a nice epidural on board! So after several days of more regular contractions, that were starting to become more painful, we decided to head into the hospital.
4am Tuesday morning the contractions woke me up. My first urge was to get in the shower to relax and hopefully feel better. However, that is exactly what I did with Gabe and it ended up being the real thing. (So although it had worked that time - it made the contractions much easier and slower (hence why I was fooled into thinking them false) - I definitely should have gone to the hospital at that point.) That is why, when Eric heard my shower/relax plan, he vetoed it immediately and shuffled me and my packed hospital bag out the door! Luckily we have a wonderful friend here, Raelynn, that was prepared to come over in the middle of the night to be with Gabe. She took him home with her and he spent a grand old time with his buddy Ethan over the next 24+ hours!
5am Once at the hospital, I found out I was only dilated to 2-3 centimeters! How disappointing and not a little embarrassing. However, I was definitely in labor, albeit pretty early labor, so they admitted me and started antibiotics. (I'm GBS+) Over the next 6 hours I very slowly progressed to a 4... whoopee. :)
10am My Dr dropped by and decided to break my water to get things going a little faster, now that I had 2 doses of antibiotics. (I was between 3-4 cm dilated at this point.) Bad news: meconium in the amniotic fluid. I was so disappointed and worried. Knowing too much is a curse when it comes to these kinds of situations. I immediately started envisioning worst case scenarios of meconium aspiration - of ventilators and weeks in the NICU. But the baby looked perfect on the monitoring so everyone was pretty certain she had not pooped out of stress. Once I talked myself down from the unlikely hood of it becoming a nightmare meconium aspiration, I still was worried about her needing a resuscitation and being taken away from me and put in the NICU... deja vu, ick. At the very least, she would not be able to be placed directly on me after birth - an experience I had been looking forward to since I was deprived of pretty much all contact with Gabe for days after his birth. At the same time, I was so thankful to be in a hospital that had a NICU and a team of Drs/nurses that knew what they were doing and who would be there at delivery. Just knowing that we had all kinds of medical expertise available to us was a big comfort.
11am Time for an epidural! Labor was now entering a whole new level beyond "uncomfortable". Not too bad yet but let's just say I wanted it to stay that way! Once the epidural was working, I was so mad at myself for not doing it earlier. I felt a million times better. They say it doesn't make you tired but to me it feels like I have suddenly not slept in 2 weeks! Maybe it's the sudden disappearance of pain that makes you feel the exhaustion, I don't know. All I know was that I was so happy to just float away!
2:40pm Another check reveals the discouraging news that I am still only at 6 centimeters... after being in the hospital 10 hours! Eric and I were wondering if our baby would ever come! However, very soon afterward I started having what felt like a massive charlie horse with each contraction in my lower left back - it was awful! By 3pm it was getting so bad that we decided to have the anesthesiologist come in to bolus my epidural since I was only a 6 and wasn't going anywhere soon... or so we thought.
3:10pm The muscle spasm feeling has now spread across my left abdomen in what the doctor called a hot spot (a spot where the epidural is not working). We are just waiting for the bolus to start taking effect and I'll be honest... I am starting to lose my calm and happy facade! I'm in such intense pain that the nurses are a little alarmed and want to check me again, even though it's only been about 30 minutes.
3:15pm I am completely dilated and effaced and the baby has dropped so low that the nurses are running to call my doctor in! Eric and I are in shock... and a little giddy with excitement! (I have to add here that Eric's face was a moment I want to remember... when he heard them say the baby was coming right now he looked like he was either about to throw up or pass out! He leaned over and confided to me that he wasn't sure he was ready for this! He makes me laugh - and for some reason I thought his stress was kinda sweet!) Five minutes earlier we were preparing for hours more of waiting and now... our little girl is ready to meet us! I can't help crying even as I write this... what an emotional roller coaster childbirth is! My Dr got there extremely fast and I was pushing within moments of her arrival.
3:31pm Beautiful Nyah is born! Despite some minor shoulder dystocia, it took only about 4 pushes and there she was! I was crying and laughing, just like with Gabe's birth! She didn't cry very much but she was breathing and doing pretty well. They wrapped her up and let me see her for a minute then whisked her away to the NICU where they wanted to check her O2 sats on the monitor to make sure she was ok. My first glimpse of her face was wonderful - she was beautiful and here and healthy and a girl for sure! :) I couldn't have been any happier.

Nyah only had to stay in the NICU for about 15 minutes before they released her with a clean bill of health! What an answer to prayer. Eric brought our little bundle back to me and I got to hold her and really drink her in. There aren't words to describe the wonder and joy that filled me as I just looked at her. She is a miracle. She is healthy and whole, despite a million and one things that could have gone wrong during pregnancy and delivery. She is just gorgeous, despite the bruised face and broken blood vessels in one eye (from dropping so fast in the birth canal, I'm told.) She couldn't be any softer, sweeter, or more lovable. My heart is full to bursting with love for her and my family. There is no experience in life more spiritual than this. Holding a sweet, new spirit straight from our Heavenly Father. I'm going to love her every moment of our lives together and beyond. I'm going to teach her all the things she needs to know that will bring her happiness and success in life... that she is a daughter of God that loves her even more than I do and wants her to be happy more than anything, and that by following His teachings she will find the ultimate joy in life. What an awesome responsibility parenthood is... but I'm so excited to embark on the adventure another time! We love you all and thank you for your support! It's wonderful to be able to share these precious moments with the people that we care about the most!