Cynthia Anne's Birth Day

So, it's been almost a week since our little one made her big debut.  Here's how it happened and of course some precious pictures of an absolutely beautiful little girl!  (sorry it's a little long...)

My due date came and went.  February 14, was the due date, instead, Josh and I made ourselves a nice pasta and chicken dinner and sat at our kitchen table by candle light to enjoy some time together.  The next few days we went on a few walks to see if that would help our little angel get here before Friday, I was always completely exhausted by the end and had to go home and put my feet up for a while to get some energy back.

Mom getting ready...

Dad, patiently waiting...

So, Thursday night is upon us.  We decide to go to be early since we are going to have to be at the hospital at 5:30.  We do go to bed early, but neither of us really got any sleep.  Josh was even up at 2am, and went to the gym to work out.  5am is finally upon us and we head to the hospital, excited about what's about to happen, but in a little disbelief that we are about to meet our daughter!  We get all checked in and they start prepping me for the c-section.  Josh is awesome during this, getting our stuff all set up and organized, probably more just to keep himself busy more than anything!

The time has arrived, they wheel me back to the operating room, but Josh has to wait to come back, he says this was the longest 20 minutes ever...it didn't seem like that long to me, I guess I wasn't just sitting there though.  Finally, Josh comes in, and they start the procedure.  About 15 minutes later, we hear, "There's a full head of hair..."  and not 30 seconds later we hear our daughters first cry!  It still brings tears to my eyes just thinking about that moment.  It was such a precious moment because I knew that she was our daughter and that we had created this little life!  From that first little cry I was in love, even though I hadn't seen Cynthia yet, oh, and I sure couldn't wait to see her!  Just a few minutes later, the nurse holds her out from behind the curtain, and yep, a FULL head of black hair, and she immediately stole my heart away!  She officially weighed in at 7lbs 11 oz, and was 19 inches long.

They start cleaning Cynthia up, fixing me up, and Josh gets to go around and see our daughter!  He takes some pics, then comes back to show them to me!  I knew that I couldn't wait to hold her!  He goes back and forth a few more times, but then finally comes back holding Cynthia Anne!  How precious that was for me to get to see her hold her for the first time!  My husband is a great man, but the tenderness that just overcame him was awesome for me to see!  We spent the next few minutes talking to Cynthia while they were still fixing me up.  Finally, they are done and we get headed back to our room!  It is on the short ride back that I get to hold Cyndi for the first time, oh so special.

To be honest, the next part is a blur, I just know that I was so focused on our little blessing that it didn't really matter what was going on, who was in the room, or what they were doing to me!  She was (and still is!) just so beautiful and perfect, Josh and I could just keep staring at her for hours!  When Josh would talk, she very much knew that it was her daddy talking, and she would look for the sound of his voice and calm down if she was crying, so again, that tenderness of his shone through and made my heart swell up that much bigger!

We had quite a few guests come visit us and Cynthia, which was nice!  So, thanks to those of you that did!  We did however have a little fight with jaundice over the next few days.  As of now though, her bilirubin numbers have gone down and she is gaining her weight back!  Josh and I are still trying to figure how this whole schedule thing works, or at least how to get some sleep in!  We are having a blast with this little girl and are trying to live moment by moment and take it all in, even though we wonder what each of the next steps is going to have in store for us!

Daddy holding Cynthia for the FIRST time!

Our new little family of 3!

Mom holding Cynthia for the first time!

Cynthia getting her first bath

Getting nice and warm

I just couldn't resist this picture!!

She's ours?  We get to take her home?

Oh how we've been so blessed! 

Cynthia getting her first bath at home

Just relaxing in daddy's arms

Who wouldn't just love this face?!?! 

A light at the end of the "tunnel"

So, the week of our daughter's birth is finally here!  It is a little strange to think that only 8 months ago we just began preparing for this little one's arrival, and now, it will definitely happen sometime this week!  Tuesday, Valentine's Day, is our official due date.  Last Wednesday, I was dilated at a 1 and 50% effaced.  We talked about induction, but because of a uterine abnormality, if labor does not start on it's own, my doctor is not sure how effectively the muscle will be able to work on its own.  So, if labor does not start on it's own, I am going to have a c-section on Friday morning.  It's a little scary to think about, but we are so thankful that this pregnancy has gone so smoothly.  Because of my uterine abnormality, we were actually a little worried that we would be dealing with pre-term labor...but our God is a BIG God and is in complete control and has an amazing plan, we just have to trust Him through it!  We NEVER thought that we would actually be talking about going past our due date!

Please pray for us this week, that we will have patience and that we will be rested and relaxed!  Josh has been such as great husband during the last 8 months, so supportive and taking such great care of me.  I know that he's going to be a great daddy to this little princess, and I know that he's so ready to meet her.  I've been blessed to get to carry her for the past 9 months, and to get to feel her movements and talk to her constantly, I know that he is so ready to get to hold her, see her face, and look into her eyes!  We are both ready to start the next step of this journey together and are so thankful for the prayers of our friends and family!

Here are some pics of my ever growing belly from the past two weeks.  A friend told me early on that I would never believe how big I would get, and it's true, I never thought that I would be this big.  I do think that my dear husband is ready to get his pajama pants, sweats, and t-shirts back though, since that's pretty much my wardrobe at home!

at 38 weeks, only 2 more weeks to go!

at 39.5 weeks