Heeeeeere's Hazel!

Well, it seemed like she'd never get here, but now that Hazel has arrived, I already can't remember what life was like without her!
















Mom and Dad drove down to Asheville the Tuesday before she was born.  We spent my last evening as a pregnant lady shaking hands with skeletons, grilling burgers, and sitting outside by the fire pit.  

Thursday morning, we left for the hospital sans breakfast (ugh!!) and got there around 9 for an 11:00 am delivery.

Once we got to the hospital there was more waaaaiiiiting........we didn't get in to the OR until about 12:30 pm.

I had to go into the OR ahead of Jeremy in order to get my spinal block and get prepped for surgery.  Meanwhile, Jeremy got prepped outside and continued to wait...

Finally he was able to come in, and we got to listen to 80's pop music on the satellite radio!  It was awesome.

Once we were in there, things moved pretty fast.  The entire procedure took about an hour from start to finish.  Hazel was born at 1:15 pm, and the next two pictures are me hearing Hazel cry for the first time:

Then Dr. Moore held Hazel up and Jeremy got to take a peek and officially announce her sex to me.

We were, as you can imagine, ecstatic :)

First family photos!

Jeremy got to go to Hazel while she was cleaned up and he cut the cord.  She also had her little feet prints taken, and she scored 8 and 9 (out of 10!!) on her Apgar Test which is excellent!

Weighing in at a whopping 6 pounds 11 ounces, and measuring 18.25 inches long.

My hospital is a certified "baby friendly" hospital, so they were wonderful about keeping the baby and family unit together as much as possible until we were ready to go to recovery.

Mom and Dad along with Jeremy's mom and sister were all waiting for hours to find out whether we had a Hazel May or a boy "whose name was yet to be determined"!  Everyone seemed pretty pleased to hear we finally welcomed Hazel May to the family :)

Jeremy and his sister Becca enjoying the good news.

After the surgery was over, we went to the recovery room for about an hour where everyone was allowed to come say hello to Hazel.

Due to the spinal, I wasn't able to sit up for a while without getting wicked dizzy, but overall it wasn't too bad.

Hazel's head was wedged in a corner of my womb while she was breech, so her head came out a little lopsided, but it is already rounding out very nicely.

Then we got wheeled up to the mother and baby unit, where we stayed until Sunday, the 20th. 

There are apparently a bunch of old ladies who knit and donate hats to the hospital's newborns, so Hazel got to go home with this nice hat which is the only one she has that actually fits her little head.

She didn't quite know what to make of the car ride home and acted like the car seat was a straight jacket, but we all made it home and she's been mostly asleep pretty much ever since.

Oh my God I have a kid!!!  Crazy :)