simondssays: janie caroline simonds

she's here! after what seemed like an endless 9 months of anticipating and preparing for her arrival, janie was born at 12:30 am on january 7. she weighed 6 pounds 7 ounces and was 19 3/4 inches long. we think she is absolutely perfect - no matter what she does it's the "cutest thing ever"...yawning, sneezing, stretching, even screaming.

it is amazing to me how much we loved her from the minute we laid eyes on her. parents tell you all the time that this will be the case, but it is so unfathomable until you're actually in it. the entire process of being induced, being in labor and delivering went so smoothly. i am grateful for all of those who shared their horror stories, because i was prepared for the absolute worst and it wasn't so bad at all. i wasn't sure how i would know when the right time to get an epidural would be because i don't really know how to rank my pain on a scale of one to ten. i can assure you that i quickly learned the difference between discomfort and intolerable pain, and luckily was able to get an anesthesiologist in the room pretty shortly after to give me an epidural. i googled the inventor of the epidural in hopes of being able to track him down and write the most sincere thank you note i've ever sent, and in doing so i learned that it was exactly 68 years ago to the day on january 6 that an epidural was first given to humans. once the numbness kicked in, andy, caroline, my mom and i celebrated the birthday of the greatest drug around by listening to and laughing at the screamer in the room next door, reminiscing on things we stole as children, and sharing other ridiculous stories that i wish i remembered because i don't know that i've ever laughed harder in my life. had i been able to move my legs, i would have been running laps around the hospital.

in a nutshell, at around 11:30 things started progressing much quicker than they had been all day. our wonderful nurse, ashley, called my doctor to let her know that we were getting close to starting to push, and within minutes it seemed there was a flurry of activity around our room as nurses prepared the baby warmer, biohazard bucket, a tray of lots of intriguing silver tools, and smelling salts, juice and ice for andy. dr. thatcher arrived just as we started pushing, and within 30 minutes janie made her appearance! andy remained conscious the entire time, and he even watched as our sweet baby girl came into the world. i cried as soon as i saw her for the first time, and still cry every time i look at her in my arms and think about how amazing it is that she is here and that she is ours. we can't wait for everyone to meet her!

on our way to the hospital...