Rylee Joyce Roper

She is HERE!!!!! Our sweet, beautiful baby girl is here! Rylee Joyce Roper arrived at 9:26am on December 5, 2009 weighing in at 8lbs 3oz and 21 1/2 inches long. She is the sweetest most beautiful little thing I have ever seen :).

We are over the moon for her and I don't think anyone is happier than me that she is here. I'm so glad she isn't inside of me anymore!! As I mentioned in a previous post, it has been a challenging week or so for me and to have her here--healthy and happy--is the greatest feeling in the world.

Although it is all said and done now, getting her here was the hardest of all of my kids, but well worth it. Here is the story:

Jess and I decided that we would take the kids to see the temple lights. Matt was coming back from being out of town and his sister, Mar, was with him. Matt called while we were at dinner announcing that there had been an accident on the freeway and he would still be several hours :(. So, I braved the Temple Lights single and I am pretty sure that is what put me into serious labor.

Jess and Ben tried to help, but they have their 2 and, lets face it, it usually takes 2 adults to take on my little Sethie. He insisted on pushing Trent in the stroller, which is fine, but hard too because you have to constantly be on top of where he running off and/or who he is running into. We lasted about 20 minutes. That is when the contractions started to seriously come.

By the time I got the kids to bed and Matt was home, the contractions were still coming. I nervously charted them for 3 hours and although they weren't too consistent, they were very strong. I called my doc who advised me to go to the hospital. Since Mar was at our house, we were able to leave quickly and arrived at the hospital at about 11:45pm.

A quick check at the triage was disappointing. The nurse said I was only a 3. I nearly started to cry. She told me to wait it out for an hour and when she checked me again, I was THANKFULLY a 4 and allowed to stay. WAHOOOOO!!!

By 2am, I was in the delivery room, with my epidural and at a 6. It took me a lot longer to get to a 10 than in the past so Matt and I waited it out, trying to sleep (ha, ha) until it was go time. My doc was on call this weekend so he checked on me at 7am, broke my water and the action began.

Jess got there in time for the delivery and with 2 big pushes my baby GIRL was here! I couldn't help but ask if it really was a girl when she came out. She is!! A little chunk, you would hardly know she was 6 days early. She looks EXACTLY like my boys, except for her....RED HAIR!!!!!

We are LOVING her red hair! It is actually strawberry blonde and I hope it stays! The nurses and all our visitors were having such a fit over it. She is the cutest thing ever.

I love that she is here, I love holding her, I love her sweet little noises, I love her smell, I love to watch her try to open her eyes, I love that she seems so content in my arms, I love her bows and headbands on her little head, I love that she is healthy and strong, I love everything about her.

We were so blessed to have Mar in town and she held down the fort perfectly while we were at the hospital. Matt and I didn't have to worry a bit. We are also so blessed to have Gary and Shirley in town to help now. They are so wonderful--hopped right in the car and came down at first word that she was coming. We have such wonderful family and friends!

The boys ADORE her! It is going to be so much fun having this little girl in the house. Trent is trying very hard to give soft touches. He will definitely have the hardest transition of us all--poor little guy :(. I am glad he is little enough where he won't remember this time for very long and won't know anything different soon.

Welcome home sweet girl, we love you so much!