She's Here!

One of the birth plan preferences* we had was to not find out the gender of our baby until delivery day. We also wanted John to be the one to announce the gender after the baby was born. After our baby was born, I looked to John to make his announcement. He studied the baby carefully, turned to me and said "It's a girl!" My jaw dropped (if you're coming in new, I was convinced this was a baby boy. Totally 100% convinced) and I said "What?!?!?!" John repeated himself clearly "It's a GIRL." I still didn't believe him and I had to sit up and look for myself. Twice. Yes indeed, we have a little girl. I don't think I've ever been so happy to be wrong.

Another birth plan preference* was for me to cut the cord if at all possible. And I did it! I'm not really one for blood and gore, but I cut the cord and am very proud of myself. We have pictures, but I currently cannot post them because...well the whole world can technically look at this blog. If I can get them appropriately cropped, I'll put them up to share.


By the time things got cleaned up and everyone was out of our room it was almost 7am. John and took a while just to admire our new baby girl. I was still in disbelief, so I kept telling John "It's a girl!" and John kept on smiling. Smiling big.

Somewhere in here, we decided it was too early to call anyone and tried to nap. John was successful in this, I was too smitten by my new baby girl to do more than doze off before waking up to look at her. While I was gazing at her, I was trying to figure out which one of our girls names was going to fit her best. At one point, a special song came on the radio (it is a long story and not very interesting) and I was pretty sure I knew what her name was.

I know this picture quality isn't the best, but it is the first picture of me holding my daughter!
John holding his baby girl
A little more cleaned up, after the cord has been cut
Weighing in...8lbs 8 oz
What our girl did a LOT of...cry. She was NOT happy when she had her clothes off!

Nor does she like having her hair washedBut, she sure is pretty when she is all cleaned up!
All cleaned up and back with Mama
I am in love with her wild woman hair! It is super soft and wavy, although with everyone touching it it gets greasy fast. This picture also gets the hair color about right. Again, with everyone touching it, it turns darker with all the oils (yuck).

*Birth plan preferences are a set of wishes that you would like to have followed during your delivery. During labor it can be difficult to communicate what you would/wouldn't like to have done, so most of the time plans are written up beforehand and signed off by both the dr and yourself. However, birth plans are not honored in emergency situations.