Week One

Since we didn't create this blog until 2 weeks after Emma was born I'm doing my best to catch up! I won't bore you with all of the little teeny tiny details, but Emma changes so quickly and I feel like there is so much to talk about!

Emma's first week was a bit of a rollercoaster for all of us. It was such an exciting time, but it was also a very challenging time. As I'm sure is the case with any new baby, it was difficult to find time to sleep. Thankfully we had plenty of grandparents around to help us out in the middle of the night! Since I was still in a good amount of pain it was hard for me to get up a lot or walk her around and all of that fun baby stuff, so thank you grandparents who helped us get some much needed rest! We also had some trouble learning to nurse which was frustrating for all of us, but thankfully within a few days we had it down and life started to settle down a little bit.

As the week came to an end, we began to develop somewhat more of a routine. I continued to feel better and better every day so I was able to keep Emma with Dave & I at night. It was great to get used to getting up in the middle of the night and live without sleep, while at the same time still having help in case we needed it. We also took Emma on her first trip to a restaurant that week. We went out for pizza and she was a perfect angel. We also ran into the Dr. who delivered her at the restaurant - small world! :)

It turned out to be a great week getting to learn about our new daughter, seeing her smile and even laugh, and thanking God everyday for the amazing gift that He blessed us with!!!

Emma's Birthday!

On August 8, 2008 our little baby girl was born! Emma Kelly Anderson came into this world at 4:39 PM weighing in at 8 pounds, 4 ounces, and 21 inches long. We had been waiting for this day for so long!

For a few weeks prior to her birth our Dr. had been looking for any sign of labor (dilating, effacing, contractions, water breaking, etc.) but absolutely nothing was happening. He finally told us that he suspected she wasn't dropping because her head might be too big to fit through the birth canal. So the day before she was born we went in for my last regular appointment. Our Dr. gave us basically 3 options at that point: 1) continue waiting and eventually labor would come, 2) try to induce labor and 3) have a c-section. We thought about it for awhile and decided to just go ahead and do the c-section. There was a good possibility that both options 1 & 2 would end up in a c-section anyway, so we decided just to go ahead with the c-section which turned out to be the right decision because once she was born the Dr. said she did indeed have a fairly big head (just like her Daddy)!!

It was a bit of a strange day, waking up and knowing that before you went to bed that night that you would be a parent, but it was also a very happy day. We were finally going to be able to meet our daughter! The anticipation of becoming a mommy and having to have a surgery had me a bit on edge the whole day and it was about all I could do not to cry, but everything went so smoothly and our Dr. did an excellent job - we are sad that he will be retiring from O.B. this month. All in all it was a very happy day and Dave & I are so blessed to be moving ahead in life with our new daughter!