She's here!!!

Claire Irene Robinson 

arrived March 4, 2013 at 6:03pm at 6lb 12oz 20in.  

 She's amazing!!  And she's HERE!!  :)  

I can't get over what a miracle she is and how blessed we are.

Baby Claire arrived via c-section after 21 hours of labor, so it was quite the task to get her here!  My "birth plan" was for the baby to arrive safely and be healthy, so I'm 100% happy with how things turned out!  The baby's heart rate had been a concern the entire time I was in labor, but when it suddenly dropped and became a more serious concern, I thought all my worst fears might be coming true.  So I didn't hesitate when the doctor strongly recommended a c-section, and we had her out within the hour.  It was a good thing too because she was face up and twisted sideways in such a way that they said she never would have come out on her own.  And the umbilical cord was wrapped around her neck so continuing to labor would have been dangerous.  Regardless, I was just so thrilled to get her here.  Seeing her for the first time was such an emotional experience for me and I'll never forget that moment.  I couldn't believe she was really here!

Although it sounds fairly awful to go through hours of labor only to have a c-section in the end, I actually had a very positive and wonderful experience and wouldn't change it.  It was insanely painful and I can't put into words how painful contractions are (still in shock over how unbelievably painful that was!!) and c-section recovery is so much harder than I ever anticipated, but the actual experience of laboring with my wonderful husband there to support me, and then having the c-section with my excellent doctors and nurses making it so positive, and then finally seeing Claire for the first time was all just so incredible and the best experience I'll ever have.  I felt so strongly that my Heavenly Father was in every detail of my experience and I'm so happy with how everything turned out.  She's a beautiful baby and Aaron is an amazing dad already - I'm so blessed!  Thanks for sharing in our journey!  I can hardly believe we finally made it and my beautiful daughter is here!!