She Has Arrived

We have birthed a beautiful baby girl… our first born… a daughter. She is so very precious to us and we are thankful. She has brought us great joy… we can’t stop looking at her… holding her.

Her is her arrival story… the extended version for all who are interested, read on…

She settled in my womb in the frank breech position (upside down), which had me trying all kinds of tricks to try to get her to flip so that we could have her naturally. We tried everything from handstands in the pool to acupuncture, but she wouldn’t budge. Our midwife scheduled a cesarean birth at Victoria General Hospital for March 26th, 2009 when I was 39 weeks and 1 day prego.

We arrived with my mom and dad at the hospital at 6:00am. I have an (irrational?) fear of needles and cuts, so I was terrified. Andy and I had written down logic to counter balance my fears on his iphone, so that at any given moment when requested Andy could look up on his phone and read off something like, “Hundreds of women will safely have this procedure done today in North America.” He also had saved up stories of his childhood to tell me when I needed distraction (i.e. When I was getting the IV put in, he held my hand and told me about the time when he was 3 that he bounced down a flight of stairs on his bouncy horsy). All of the preparations were done and the nurse wheeled me to the OR (side note: She wheeled me right by my mom and dad in the waiting room and I yelled out half giggling/half teary-eyed: “I will bring you back a grandchild!”).

In the OR, Andy could not be in the room while I had the spinal put in (yikes!). So our midwife talked with me with her forehead pressed against mine. It was really sweet of her and effective… I was totally distracted. They strapped me to the table and my body from the chest down went numb. Andy came in the room and sat by me and held my hand. While I updated him on what he had missed, we thought they were still preparing my abdomen for the surgery, but really she was being born!!! We were not even aware that they had even cut me open. We had no idea until Dr. Miles leaned over to Andy and asked, “Would you like to look over the curtain and announce the gender of your child? Your baby is about to be born.” It happened so fast that Andy never got to tell me the stories he had saved up! Andy leaned across the curtain and stared. (Pause for a bit of background: We had thought the baby was a boy since last November because I thought I had watched the ultrasound technician type in the male gender sign on the computer. So after that we referred to her as a him and picked out boy names and did not really consider the possibility of having a girl.) Andy took so long looking for the expected “boy parts” that the doctor leaned over to him and whispered, “It’s a girl.” Andy slowly mumbled, “It’s a girl.” And again louder, “It’s a girl!” I yelled back to him, “It’s a girl!!???!!” Andy watched the rest of the birth while I lay on the table saying to myself over and over again with little tears falling from my excited eyes, “It’s a girl. It’s a girl. I can’t believe this. It’s a girl” or “Thank You God. Thank You. Thank You.” They had some trouble getting her head out. We have lot’s of pictures of her head and shoulders inside of me, but her abdomen and legs outside… so cool. Andy watched the doctor reach in and hook his pinky finger into her mouth and pull her out. Meanwhile, I felt a total release of pressure and I knew that she was born. Wow. It was so awesome. The doctor popped her over the curtain for me to have a look but all I saw was her forehead and eyes (she was still attached to the cord and couldn’t reach too far).

They cut the cord and handed her over to the pediatrician. She cried and Andy went over and recited one of the books he had been reading her. She looked over at him, grabbed his finger and calmed right down. They brought her over to me and she was wide-eyed and calm. Wow. Our very own baby… that we have been waiting for… right in front of us, face-to-face!

Andy took her to meet grandpa and grandma and they wheeled me to the recovery room where we met up a few minutes later and spent our first few moments as a little family.

The few days in the hospital were great. The actual surgery was not nearly as bad and scary as I feared (of course). We spent our 3 days there sleeping, snuggling, staring and nursing. That was literally all we did. It was wonderful and both of us consider it amoung the best days of our entire lives.

Andy took 2 weeks off to take care of Savannah and I and to get to know his little daughter. The very first few weeks of newbornness are so great. She was so floppy and so sleepy. We would take turns snuggle sleeping with her flopped on our bellies.

Since we are experiencing some of the challenges a baby brings (but we both still have one foot in bliss). Mom’s least favourite part is crying and lack of any sort of predictable routine or expectation for each day. Dad’s least favourite part is the inconsolable crying.

We love her so much and are still in awe that (with God’s help) we have created a human and will be in relationship with her all of our lives.

We have chosen the name Savannah Kate for her. She is very sweet natured. Smiles a lot. Gazes into our eyes a lot. She was 6 lbs 10.9 oz at birth and was 18 inches long. She has big blue eyes (for now at least), fat cheeks and a bit of red hair. She is about 10 weeks old now and over 4 lbs more woman than she was at birth. She is most content near us, even if we are not holding her. Andy and I fight over who gets to hold her, who gets to wear her in the sling and even who gets to sit next to her in the car (yes, now one of us drives and the other sits with her in the back seat).

She has been welcomed and received well. Dear readers, thank you for welcoming her with such love, joy and generosity. This girl is well loved.

So there you have it… the story of how she came to us. Isn’t this wonderful?! With Elizabeth, the mother of John, we recognize God’s hand in this gracious gift, by remembering Elizabeth’s words, “The Lord has done this for me…” Thanks be to God.

And with you all, our dear friends all over this pleasant world, we welcome you sweet Savannah and we bless you.

Savannah's legs shown coming out of my guts. So crazy. Even though it would be cool to watch, I am glad they put that sheet up.

Savannah's breech legs. Her legs were folded upward in the womb. Her legs would flop back into that position if you let go. She has grown out of this now. Pretty funny to watch.

Our first moment as a family.

Grandpa meeting Savannah. So cute. Dad was so proud. She was only about 20 minutes old. Andy wouldn't let anyone hold her. Grandpa had to wait.

Isn't that the best... a day old baby asleep on your chest. Nothing like it.

I love this picture. Look at the way she is holding my armpit. Wow. I just love her so much. Note how drugged up I am.

This is Savannah leaving the hospital. I love that she is waving. This was such an exciting moment for us. We probably took 20 different pictures. We just couldn't believe that we were actually leaving with a baby.