Happy Birthday!

You were born on Thursday, November 5, 2009 at 8:51 pm. You came out 8 pounds and 2.8 ounces and 21.5 inches long. We went in that morning for an ultrasound so they could check the amniotic fluid levels because you were 5 days past your calculated due date. They found 1.3 cm of fluid where there should have been around 5. They sent us to the hospital and after dicussions decided to induce. We were really hoping for a drug-free birth so we were happy when their induction method was drug-free. They applied the prostoglandin to begin induction at 2:22 pm. Contractions started about 10 minutes later. This was the first contraction that actually felt uncomfortable. I'd been having some Braxton-Hicks contractions the 3 days prior but nothing that we thought were contractions leading to labor. Despite what our birthing classes told us about having a few minutes in between contractions to chat and talk and laugh...you did not start with those contractions! They were about a minute or a minute and a half long and about 2 minutes apart (which means you only gave mom 30-60 seconds of rest in between). Fortunately the birth suite had a jacuzzi tub I could get in since you were giving me lots of back pain.

You were definitely ready now to come out: we labored for 6 hours, pushed for 24 minutes through 8 contractions and then you were here! I had to have your dad fill me in on some details since I had my eyes closed for nearly all of it. I could tell when your head popped out and then I opened my eyes and watched the rest of your long limbs follow. It was pretty crazy because I could feel it too. Your dad says he'll never forget any part of that day. He was so happy when you came out and had a huge, amazed, awed smile on his face. They had to take you to the warmer since you came out in meconium, which is your first bowel movement. Fortunately you hadn't inhaled any of it. If you had we would have had some issues, but you're a smart cookie already and didn't do that to us. He followed you over to the warmer and started snapping pictures. They finally bundled you and handed you to me and it was pretty awesome feeling.

I always expected to have a fearful feeling when seeing you, thinking, "Now what do I do? Do I know how to do this?" That wasn't what I felt at all. It just felt natural and like you've always been there and it was just time to enter phase 2 of caring for you.

You are now a week old and your dad and I have figured out some things about you. We've identified the pooping face: you concentrate really hard, look off into space, and have an "O" look to your mouth. Dad didn't give you long enough one day and you managed to projectile poop 4 feet from your changing table. It was pretty funny! Your sleep grins as you doze off are adorable. It breaks our heart when you start to cry - you have this one cry that opens your whole mouth and makes your face get really red and has a sound like a yelp at the end. That cry is the worst.

You've already met your grandparents and your great-grandpa. Everyone thinks you're beautiful. You look like your dad, I think: slight strawberry blonde hair, same hairline. I think you have my ears, hands, and feet though. Dad's convinced you're going to be a 6 foot outside hitter. I think you have my hands so we'll turn you into a setter, even if you are 6 feet.

Dad's been like the paparazzi snapping your picture. I think we have over 200 already and you're only a week old. I'm not complaining. He's hoping to fill our external hard drive with pictures of you (it's 500 gigabytes so that would be an accomplishment but I'm sure we'll do it).

You're starting to stay awake for a few hours each day just wiggling and looking at us and listening to us. We try to read you a book a day so you hear some different vocabulary than we use. We figure, "Dixie, no. Kaya, down," isn't quite stimulating enough!

Just in case you're ever unsure, we love you very much already and can't wait to watch you grow.