Rebecca Aliene Gardner has arrived!

She made it! Rebecca Aliene Gardner was born Thursday, August 21 at 1:30 pm on the dot. She was 8 lbs 7 oz and 20.5 inches long. I ended up going into labor Wednesday night. I'm not sure exactly what time labor started (none of the contractions were comfortable, but I didn't think to mark the exact time they started), but by 1:15 am Thursday morning Kyle and I were at the hospital. The epidural arrived around 2:30 am and I was so relieved! I had been having contractions lasting one minute and occurring one minute apart for several hours, so I was ready for relief. The epidural itself didn't hurt much at all, and the pain relief was amazing. By 12:30 pm I was pushing and Rebecca was born at 1:30.

Kyle was amazing, of course. He was supportive the whole time and was my coach during the delivery. He was very involved with the whole delivery, and didn't even come close to passing out! I am so lucky to be married to an amazing man. He is so thrilled to be a daddy.
Our new family right after Becca was born. The nurses had to take her to the nursery because she was not receiving as much oxygen as protocol demands, so Kyle walked the baby down to be monitored for an hour or two. I made phone calls to my parents and brothers, but got no further. I was so exhausted it was unbelievable. I had no energy, especially since I hadn't eaten in about 24 hours. I hadn't felt well enough to eat dinner the night before, and apparently all you can have during labor is ice chips. The nurse knew I was hungry and brought me lunch after the delivery, but I was so exhausted, I could only eat about half the sandwich. Still, it was all so worth it.
I am probably biased, but I do think my baby is quite cute. She has a decent amount of dark brown hair that curls if we get it wet and keep the hat off (the hat eventually pulls it straight). I'm not sure if the curls will stay forever and be like mine, or if she will simply have a bit of wave to her hair. I'm hoping for the first, but she'll be beautiful regardless. It's amazing how much you can love a little person. I loved her before I gave birth to her, but the feeling of love has multiplied exponentially since her birth. It's still a bit surreal to think I am now a mother. It's so wonderful that Heavenly Father gives us the opportunity to raise His children.

All in all, I feel so blessed. I feel that my pregnancy was a relatively mild pregnancy and I was not miserable very often, if at all. The labor and delivery, while hard and painful, were still full of little blessings that I am recognizing now as I look back. I am recovering well and with help from Kyle and my wonderful mother, I'm sure I'll continue to improve daily. A word about mothers . . . they are fabulous! I can't imagine doing this without my mom. She came Friday around noon and plans to stay to help out for a few weeks. I am so blessed to have her! I am looking forward to watching my baby grow and progress. Parenthood is awesome.