Thursday, January 20th was a pretty exciting day for the Hansen household. I woke up to my alarm clock and while getting ready thought I "might" be in labor, as I was having uncomfortable yet subtle contractions every 5 minutes. I went back and forth in my mind, since I wasn't yet convinced this was the real deal, about what to do. Finally, I decided to have the neighbor come over while I drove myself to the hospital "just to see" if anything was going on. That way I wouldn't get in a predicament while walking the boys to school, but also wouldn't call in all the troops for a false alarm. In my head, I have an erroneous- yet sometimes accurate- vision of about a 20 minute labor to delivery scenario.

They said they would keep me and I told Yosh to get his booty on over to the hospital. And the fun began.  I got to the hospital at about 8 am. Epidural finished at about 11. Yosh went to grab lunch at 11:25 before getting a frantic call 10 minutes later that he had about 5 minutes to get back or else he was going to miss the delivery of his baby. That was clearly an exaggeration- he had 17 minutes. And he made it. And I pushed- twice- and she was here at 11:55 am, weighing in at 6 lbs 15 oz, 19 1/2 inches long. And just beautiful. Kaia Marie is the official name.

Porter reacted by jumping up and down, chanting, "Kaia, Kaia, Kaia." Dallin was in a hurry to get to the hospital. The boys came and were gentle, loving, and enamored. Just wanted to hold her and kiss her. Except for Deetz, of course. But he didn't not like her so we were satisfied. On the way home from the hospital, Dallin declared..."I don't know what I'm going to do...I think I'm in love with her." There you have it- day 1 and she has all of them- Daddy included- right where she wants them.

The next day, when Porter went to school and was telling his teachers matter-of-factly about Thursday's happenings, he included, "But Mommy didn't come home last night. She's sleeping with a doctor." And I can only imagine the little man's facial expression that left no doubt- that was really how it was!

Deeter has warmed up to Kaia and is more generously yelling, "Baby!" and "Aia" and is even giving out a few kisses to her here and there. It's been a good first few days with our sweetheart and once again we feel blessed to have a healthy baby in our home. I think that fear never goes away and health is welcomed humbly every time.

Not the best picture but this is my favorite outfit!