Welcome Leah Victoria

After a long and painful 20 hours we could finally say hello to Leah. Michelle gave birth at 148am July 26 to a 8lb 9oz. 20.5" baby girl.

We're still at the hospital and I'll be sure to post pictures once we're home, everyone is ok and Leah is a very healthy and way to cute baby. Michelle had to put in some serious hours and didn't think she could do it after a series of "I can't do this anymore" but when it came time to actually push she rose to the occasion and she was now determined to get this baby out.

Her labor went so long because, while she was having many contractions throughout, they weren't doing much in the way of moving the baby. We decided to use Pitocin to help regulate the contractions after 15 hours. I need to point out that Michelle went into this not wanting any type of medication but in this case, after she wore herself out completely after 15 hours of pain we had to do something...so she had Nubain, which is a mild pain reliever to help her rest in between contractions. And make no mistake, there was still an unbelievable amount of pain but something in a mother's brain triggers when it's time to push that baby out.

20 minutes into pushing we could see....hair, lot's of it. The head was very visible after that point and with some more work (I can't remember exactly how long) the head came out...from there it wasn't too much more for Michelle to push out the shoulders and with some "easy pushes" (meaning the Dr. said "don't push as hard") the rest came out.

Immediately following the full body being out....within seconds...the baby was placed on Michelle's chest where she laid for about 10 minutes. I cut the cord and the baby let out the necessary cry then just rested herself on Michelle and was completely content.

After everyone agreed how cute the baby was we spent some time just holding her and watching her react to the new world around her. We got back to our room (we had to deliver in a different room) at 4am to get a nap...Michelle had to be back up at 5am (can you imagine!) with the nurse to feed etc. Michelle stay in the hospital until Monday to heal, but it's ok we have a private room and she can be with the baby 24 hours a day.

I'll be sure to post some pics ASAP. I'm sure Michelle will have her take on all this.....stay tuned...