Our baby is here, beautiful & healthy!!!

There she is, Siri's first few minutes outside her mommy's womb :)
Mommy getting to hold her baby girl for the first time, oh, what an emotional moment!
Siri, in the evening of her birthday, June 2, 2008 (unfortunately she scratched herself)
Siri Natalia Hyde, doing her favorite thing, sleeping :)

Yes, our little baby girl is finally here....2 days after her due date, YAY!!! We went into the hospital on Sunday morning, a little after 10 a.m. because I thought perhaps my water might have leaked and I did start having some minor contractions. Although it was determined that my water had not broken yet, the nurse/midwife advised that my labor be "augmented" (I was already in labor but in the very early stage so technically it's not an induction) because they saw that my amniotic fluid was slightly low and that their wasn't a large amount of fetal activity. They broke my water around 3 pm and then I began feeling stronger contractions and started going into "active" labor. After 12 hours of active labor, our little Siri was ready to come out. She was born on Monday June 2nd, at 3:42 a.m. at 8 lbs, 2 ounces. Yup, she was a big baby :) The whole process of Siri's birth was not what I had anticipated but I hear it never goes the way you think it might. The birth experience for me was great despite a minor "hiccup" in which I had to endure 2 hours of painful contractions (sans epidural)......think of sharps pains shooting across your lower back, not so nice! But of course it's all worth it when you get a wonderful gift in the end, our beautiful baby, Siri Natalia Hyde. She's such a precious little baby and we just adore her, so taken back by the fact that she is in our lives now . She's been a typical little newborn so far, just eating and sleeping and keeping us up in the middle of the night. Here are some pictures of Siri in her first few minutes and days of life!!