Update!

So Much Has Happened Lately!

It has been one wild ride this last week and according to everyone I've talked to it is just the beginning. This is my 1st post as a parent! (Can you believe it?) The baby came 6 days late but when she decided to show up she made a dramatic entrance.

Our official due date was December 10th but, as you can see from the last post, we didn't deliver on time. We were scheduled to induce last Friday the 16th but when I arrived home Thursday night, Sara was already in labor! We putzed around until 4 in the morning when the doctors said it might be time to come in, and then we had to triage and see if we were indeed in labor or not! We were so they let us stay!
Around 11:30 AM we were still in labor but not a lot of progress had been made - I mean besides the epidural, and the 7 CMs dilation but the labor hadn't been moving along as they'd hoped. The baby's heart rate would drop whenever the doctors tried to speed things up so they decided that a cesaerean section was needed! Wham! That was it! 'Here's a jumpsuit and a mask! Follow us into this tiny little room where we will numb up your wife, and 'gently' retrieve the baby from the womb.' (Actually I was surprised by all of the shaking, tugging, not very gentle yanking that seemed to be happening on the other side of the curtain.)
Through it all Sara was a warrior. Even though she was terrified she held it together. Eventually there was a pause, a cry and then the anesthesiologist said, "I hope you were expecting a girl." I sprang to my feet peeked over the curtain and all I saw was this little gore covered goblin being held up before my eyes. There are no words to express all of the millions of thoughts that rushed through my mind in that instant although I do remember thinking, 'Wow! There Really was someone inside there all this time!'
Anyway, Evie Sue was brought into the world at 11:42 AM on December 16th 2011! She is wonderful! From the start she appeared to be alert, her beautiful eyes open and looking all around! I still have a hard time believing that I am a father to this amazing little person! It boggles my mind.
Our stay in the hospital was a little longer than we had anticipated, due to the surgery, but we brought our little girl home on Monday. The 1st couple days have been an adjustment, obviously, but thankfully with my mother-in-law's help we have been figuring everything out... for the most part. Sara's recovery is slower than she would like but everyday she seems to get stronger, and more accustomed to her role as 'Tap Wench'. Thankfully Dad took Tootsie for a couple days so we didn't have to deal with a neurotic dog on top of everything else.
Xmas is a few days away and we haven't really shopped at all. We are looking forward to spending time with family and introducing Evie Sue to her cousins, and Tootsie will eventually come home to discover how the hierarchy in the household has changed. The mother-in-law will stay through the holiday and then return to the Midwest to relentlessly torture our extended family with pictures and story of her beautiful new granddaughter! Luckily I have one more week of vacation from school and will cherish every minute I get to spend home with my family.

That is all for now.