It's a Wonderful Life!

On Wednesday, January 14th, 2009, our daughter was born! Emilee Mehr officially came into this world at 2:21 pm MST. She is adorable (easy for me to say) and such a blessing for both Desi and I. Since Desi has been busy with the majority of Emilee's care, I have been asked to update the blog and spread the news.

And now, the rest of the story (from my side at least).

Here we were, all excited Monday that our little girl might be born soon that day. In the morning, Desi and I visited the doctor for routine testing (for all you women out there, I have tons of respect because of all you have to go through, medically speaking). Desi's doctor wasn't there that day, so we saw a nurse practicioner. She told us that Desi was 3cm dilated, 70% effaced, and would probably have been admitted into the hospital had she chosen to go to the L & D rooms. We decided against that and went home. Desi had no desire to labor in the hospital for hours and hours and little desire to be induced. So, as I said, to home we went and waited.

The day wore on with Desi constantly updating me as to progress. I would receive a 'Something feels different' or a 'that's not normal' remark from her every hour or so. Really, not much happened until Monday night when Desi started feeling real contractions. They were stronger than her other episodes, but still very sporadic. So, we decided to try and get some rest because if true labor was coming, we wanted to be somewhat rested for the event.

To be short, those events were anti climactic. Tuesday morning all feelings of contractions and weirdness left Desi and we spent all of Tuesday waiting for some sign that the little one was coming. Nothing! We even walked the park next to our house twice (a total distance of about 2 miles when you take in to account the distances to and from our home to the park). Still, Nothing! Absolutely nothing!

To say that Desi and I were frustrated on Tuesday would be an understatement.

However, Wednesday morning around 3:30am, Desi woke me up to say, "Britt, I am having contractions again. This feels like the real deal. I think we should time them." I must have said something like, "Huh?!" and then she told me she thought we might need to go to the hospital. I hastily got out of bed to get ready for a redlight run for the hospital. As reality slowly began to fall upon my tired, Desi shouted from the bathroom, "And my water just broke." The real deal was finally happening.

We both took hasty showers and raced to University Medical Center here in Tucson and arrived around 4:30am. Desi labored until 1:20pm. Then, all systems were a GO and her body was ready to push the little one out. She pushed for an hour and one minute and little Emilee finally came. She weighed 7lbs 4oz and was 51cm long (which would be between 20-21 inches). As you can tell from the pictures, she is beautiful and such a joy.

Through the whole experience, I was (and still am) so proud of Desi. She was controlled and acted so well. Her doctor called her a perfect patient. I know that no one is perfect, but I think Desi approached perfection as she labored and now as she is fulfilling the role of Mother. It is such a blessing and amazing for me to watch her as she takes care of our daughter. She is a great mother.