Welcoming Little Lyza Home!

What a wonderful week it has been! I wish I could express to everyone how much we love this little bundle of joy!

I am sure you have heard Lyza's birth story by now but I will give a brief recap. We went to the hospital Thursday evening at 5 pm. They checked me in and started me on some medicine to get my cervix ready to be induced the following morning. We brought some movies to watch that night but only watched about 20 minutes. The majority of the evening was spent visiting with our nurse who is in our ward and really nice. I had her as my nurse every night I was in the hospital which was absolutely wonderful. She took such good care of us and really went out of her way to make us as comfortable as possible. Daniel went home at 11 pm to have one last night of good sleep (haha....that's what he thought) Shortly after he left I started cramping quite badly and just before 1 am my water broke. Strong contractions started after that and I called Daniel around 2:30 to let him know to come back to the hospital because things were starting to happen. I labored hard all night with very little progress. I was given an epidural at 6 am and when I saw the doctor at 1 pm I was still only dilated to 4 cm. My contractions were very hard and was having 2 and 3 consecutively which was starting to put a lot of stress on Lyza. Her heart rate was dropping quite low every time I had a contraction and because my cervix wouldn't open we decided that we should have a c-section before she got into serious trouble. We decided this just after 1 and they rolled me into the OR at 2 and Lyza was born at 2:14pm. That hour was a blur!

All of the staff in the OR were so excited starting the section when they found out that the gender was a surprise. Once they got Lyza out they told Daniel to stand up and look over the curtain to make the big announcement. I was shocked when he said it was a girl! Daniel went over and watched them clean Lyza up and cut the cord. Then they brought her over and laid her on my chest so that both of us could have a couple minutes to meet our lovely daughter. Daniel then went with Lyza and the nurses while I was being stitched up. It took about 30 minutes for them to finish but during that time the nurses were quick to develop some pictures of Lyza and hang them on the drape so I could look at them while I was waiting. It was during this time that they learned that her umbilical cord did not develop and attach properly to the placenta. Because of this it was a HUGE blessing that she was delivered by cesarian. If we had continued with a natural delivery we may have run into terrible complications. It is hard to even think about and I am so thankful that Heavenly Father was watching out for us. I feel that we were very blessed through her entire pregnancy and delivery.

After the surgery they took me to the recovery room and then down to my room around 4:30pm. That was a long time to wait and I was so excited to be with Daniel and Lyza. Lyza weighed 6 pounds 8 ounces, was 19.5 inches long and had beautiful dark hair and brown eyes. We enjoyed the rest of the evening cuddling and getting to know her. We are smitten!

We stayed in the hospital until Sunday evening. It was nice and relaxing, we really enjoyed our stay there. The staff at the hospital couldn't have been better. We felt as if they were our own family there taking care of us. One of the evenings they took Lyza for a while and brought Daniel and I a nice candle light dinner which was served to us in our room. The food at the hospital was delish! I felt like I was eating out at a restaurant every night.

We came home Sunday evening and were so excited to have Lyza home with us. She is our little Christmas angel and are so happy that she is healthy and doing so well.

Here are some of the pictures we have taken. It was hard to narrow it down because there are so many and she is pretty darn cute! Enjoy!

On the way to the hospital

Cutting the cord

Look at me!

Meeting mommy

Look at those gorgeous locks!

Daniel giving Lyza her first bath.

She already likes to stick her tongue out at the camera :)

Needless to say our Christmas travel plans are still a little bit up in the air. To those we will not be able to see this Christmas we wish you a very merry Christmas from the Keyes family!