she has arrived!!!

so i believe that the best things in life are never easy. and bringing our baby into the world was no exception. this morning at 5:29am EST, annabel helen robison was born! if her birth was any indication of future things, she will be quite the instigator of drama for the rest of her life.

i woke up at 330am to cheryl telling me that she thought that this labor thing was starting. her contractions were pretty gentle at that point but were getting closer together. i started moving around the house gathering our stuff, loading the car and preparing for a few days in the hospital. at 430am the contractions were pretty significant and about 3-5 minutes apart. we called the doctor and she suggested we make our way to the hospital. we arrived around 500am and the nurse checked us in and started her exam. everything was fine until she started using the fetal heart rate monitor and couldnt find the baby's heartbeat...never in my life have i felt such complete dread. she called in a few more nurses and one was finally able to find the heartbeat, but it was low (about 60 bpm when its supposed to be over 130). they immediately mobilized and began prepping cheryl for surgery. she was whisked away with her entourage of doctors and nurses and i was left standing there wondering what the heck was going happen. a nice nurse then led me down the hall to the postpartum room. during this time about three nurses asked me if i was okay, to which i had to honestly reply no. this was awful.

this story does have a wonderful ending though. about 20 minutes after i got the room, the nurses wheeled in the most beautiful baby that i have ever seen. she was perfect. her transition after birth and the trauma in the womb have her struggling a little bit to adjust and she'll be spending the day in the special care unit where they can keep her on oxygen and monitor her a little more closely. cheryl, meanwhile, is resting and recovering in her room from the whole ordeal.

so you may ask what caused all this commotion. cheryl had a 30% placental abruption. this is where the placenta begins to tear away from the uterine wall before it should. once it does this it stops functioning in a life-giving capacity and is simply tissue in the womb - not good for baby or mom. this is why annabel was having such a hard time breathing and is still now processing through the extra acid and crud in her lungs and system. theres no telling how quickly this tearing process was occurring but the doctor told me that if we had arrived just 30 minutes later, it would probably have been a much different visit.

thank god for all the blessings that we dont even know happened. most of all we thank him for our healthy baby and mom. st. ann, pray for us...