It's A GIRL....

SURPRISE!!!!

Aria April was born April 1st at 3:14pm. She is beautiful - she has a dimple in her chin, long dark hair (and signs of curl), dark eyes, long fingers and toes and big feet. Brad & I are both quite smitten. She was born at 34 weeks (40 is the "due date") so she was quite early. I was suffering from some pretty severe issues that were affecting my health to the degree that Aria was quickly becoming better off outside than in.

She was 6 lbs 1 oz and 19 inches when she was born (VERY big for a 34 week old) and yet she showed all the typical symptoms of a preemie - she was dealing with breathing issues, digestion issues, and even the placement of the wrinkles on her feet showed how far along she was (she was born at BC Women's Hospital which is a teaching hospital, so Brad was being taught what to look for in a preemie with a bunch of new doctors while Aria was being checked out).

She's been in an incubator since she was born, but we're getting more and more cuddle time as the days go on. She was jaundiced for the last two days, but that seems to be diminishing - and we just started trying breast feeding today and it's going extremely well. I love holding her and struggle with balancing that and being upstairs in my hospital room trying to get my blood pressure under control (part of what was making me so unhealthy at the end).

We're both doing well - and now it's getting to the point of a race to the finish - who's going to be ready to go home first?? Today both of us seemed to have a bunch of good signs!

We'll get pictures up soon - but this is a public computer at the hospital - so it's not really an option right now.

Oh yeah, and she also has a new cousin who was born only a week earlier than Aria. Silas David was born the Tuesday before - only an inch bigger, but 2lbs 9oz heavier! So much fun!

More later.
An excited mom (& dad).