The baby has arrived...finally!

I guess it was meant to be-I gave birth to our little girl on Christmas day. She was the best Christmas present any of us has ever gotten. When I asked Hayden what his favorite present was, he says, "my sister." Her name is Serena Noelle Brandt, born at 6:40 pm. Christmas day. She was 8 lbs., 3.9 oz., 20 3/4 in. long. Both of us are healthy, so we came home from the hospital today. Although there was a knot in her cord. Dr. Mark said it was good she came when she did or there could have been problems.

Christmas morning we all woke up normally and went downstairs to see what Santa had brought. It was around 8:30 am. when we started opening up presents, and when my contractions started. They were getting to be 5 min. apart, and pretty intense, so I tried to hurry the boys along. We finished and my dad came over to take the boys so we could go into the hospital around 10:30. I was dialated to 5 cm. and a week overdue, so they decided to keep me (probably not to the excitment of my doctor, but they didn't induce before!). By 3pm. I needed an epidural and I was dialated to 7 cm.. Dr. Mark broke my water at 4pm., and by 6:30, he told me I could start pushing. After 3 or 4 pushes, she was out. Mike and my mom were in the room with me and we all screamed and cried when Dr. Mark announced it was a girl. I couldn't believe it.

The boys are in love with her (at least right now!). Hayden is of course a big help, and Connor comes over and pets her gently and makes cooing sounds a lot.

I will probably post another entry tomorrow with more pictures. Until then I am going to try and get a little sleep!

Misery

I'm not putting on a happy face anymore. I have reached misery. I am now 5 days late, and the next two days are holidays so the earliest they will induce me is on Weds. night, which means I will then be 8 days late by the time the baby is born. Up to this point I have been doing okay physically (not so much emotionally!), but now the baby is crowding me out and I can't sleep, I can't bend over, I don't want to eat, etc. On top of my problems, the boys have had an exciting weekend as well. We went to a friend's Christmas party on Fri. night and Connor smashed his thumb in a door, losing the nail. Fingernail injuries gross me out. Saturday morning Connor started with diarrhea which he still has, and Hayden woke up this morning with the stomach flu. This is not how I pictured the holiday season this year! Mike has been great. Taking care of the boys and doing things around the house. It's great now that he is done with his masters, he has so much more time. Thanks honey!