Baby Watch!

7:00 AM -- Holly just got off the phone with the hospital. They asked us to be there by 7:30 AM. We were up last night until 2:00 AM and Holly has been awake since 5:00 AM. We can't believe the day is really here. We're having a baby!

7:55 AM -- We arrived at Alta View Hospital. We are in the same room that Cannon was born in -- room 204 in the Women's Center. Our nurse is Gretchen. She just began her shift so we should have the same nurse for the delivery. She seems to be very good and is very friendly.

9:25 AM -- They have started Holly on the potossin. Our doctor, Layne Smith, came in to break her water. Holly is dialated to a 2 and 80% efaced. They have put a call into the anesthesiologist to give Holly the epidural.

10:10 AM -- The anesthesiologist gave Holly the epidural. Dr. Waterfall is off today, so we had Dr. Quell. He seems to be good, but not much personality. Holly said the procedure was the worst one ever performed (the most painful ever). The good news is that the epidural seems to be working better than ever. In the past, the epidurals have only worked on half her body. This one seems to have really done the job it is intended to do -- it's working on both sides.

12:05 PM -- No sign of the baby. We called the hospital ahead of time to see if the delivery rooms had vcr/dvd players. They said no, but we could hook up our own to one of their tvs. So we brought a small portable dvd player and rented several movies to help pass the time. Well, there are no jacks on the tv to plug in our dvd player. We tried watching the movies on my laptop, with no success. So now we're on to plan C. We're going to try watching the tv show Lost online. We're bored!

3:45 PM -- Holly is dialated to a 5. No baby yet.

4:50 PM -- The nurse came in to check Holly and she is ready to deliver! The problem is we have no doctor. He was here all morning but went to Jordan Valley (in West Jordan) to deliver another baby. Holly has been instructed to do no pushing, talking or laughing because the baby is ready to come. The slightest moving could get things going too soon.

5:07 PM -- The doctor has arrived and the baby has too. He made it right in time. Holly pushed twice and the baby was here. The baby looks perfect -- all toes and fingers are accounted for. She has lots of dark hair and chubby cheeks.

5:15 PM -- She weighs 8 lbs 4 oz and is 19 inches long. She is our biggest baby. The delivery was perfect and she is perfect, no problems at all. She is extremely mellow. She hasn't cried at all. She's gotten two shots and was given the eye drops and didn't cry at all. She let out one squeal each time then settled right down. The nurse is trying to get her to cry so she can clear out her lungs, but nothing can get her to cry. She is a very content baby.

HER NAME IS HARPER AFTON BROWN!