Ok... the news

She's here!!!! Bear with me as I type with baby in tow. Aubrie Anne, our pride and joy arrived Sat Jan 14th @ 10:30am. Weighing 6 lbs 13 oz, and 20.5 inches. Our perfect little angel!!!!! We are so in love!

Some pics for you... http://aubrie.shorrockin.com. Snobpapa likes to take pics!

The labor was long. 57.5 hours long upon the start of active labor. Owch! I'll spare most of the details for now (though I'm getting better at the typing). Prelabor started Wed day... then progressed to more active labor at 1am on Thurs. Midwives suggested to labor at home, which we did all day Thurs. It progressed a lot Thurs night. Throughout day and night contractions ranged from every 2 minutes to every 10 with varying intensity (though many very strong) so it was a difficult day and night. Water broke Fri morning. Midwife came by... only 2-3 cm dialated. Labored more at home with our wonderful doula. Midwife came by again in the afternoon to come with us to the hospital. We had to wait for a room, so labored more at home than I would have liked. The car ride around 7pm was TOUGH! Arrived at the hospital. Finally was worn out, and had to opt for the epidural. The anesthesioligist was in surgery, so that took awhile and I got some drugs to help (ok, it made me feel good between contractions... but really... doesn't do much for the contraction!). Thoroughly enjoyed the epidural. But, around 5am?? (I think) it started to wear off. More importantly, I developed quite the fever. The combination of transition sans-epi and fever made for a very rough time. I was also ridiculously ill (poor snobpapa!). Also, still only about 8 cm!!! All this time, I was also on pitocin to speed things up (which luckily, I was very sensitive too, so it helped tons). I don't think my body would have managed without it :(. Finally, the anesthesiologist was able to return to top up the epi. My fever started to level off a bit, so talk of c/s diminished.

Finally, at around 9:30 I was ready to push. All the hours of labor made her super low. It didn't take much. I pushed for about 10 contractions, then her head was visible. We thought it would be several more pushes. Then.... out she SHOT. Our little crazy canninbal. Resulting in a lovely quick second stage of birth, and a lovely well-shaped beautiful baby... but a very torn up mommy :(. After looking it over, the midwife decided to consult the OB surgeon. A little late... as I had bled a LOT. The repairs were grueling and took a long time. I missed out on a lot of time with my darling girl, but loved watching snobpapa bond. After the repairs... I was a little worse for wear, and passing out. That meant a longer stay in the hospital than I would have liked, too many blood tests, and too long on the IV drip. But, we're home now and in LOVE. It is so worth it. I'm anxious for a speedy recovery to enjoy our daughter. Please pray for some quick healing! (And no more trips back to the hospital!)