Welcome to the world, Baby Sarah!

That's her name: Sarah Eloise Boss. It took us the better part of her first day of life to come up with the middle name — aagh! We're so indecisive! — but we're thrilled with it. And her.

The doctor had sent me to get some (fairly) routine tests at the hospital on the 17th: a quick ultrasound to make sure there was enough amniotic fluid to keep the baby comfortable, and an hour-long non-stress test to make sure baby and placenta were both okay. The ultrasound wasn't very positive — it showed low levels of amniotic fluid – and we didn't make it through the whole non-stress test because my OB called in the middle of it. The upshot of the whole thing is that I ended up with a c-section scheduled for that evening (and it would have been earlier in the day if I hadn't eaten a candy bar just before going in for the non-stress test). So instead of waiting around...and waiting...and waiting...and eventually being induced...I went back eight hours later and had a pretty okay time of it. The OR staff were all friendly and funny and uber-professional, and thanks to an extremely effective spinal block I didn't even realize they'd started the surgery until just before Sarah was out. (Hurrah for meds!)

She was born screaming — she has such a loud little cry! I got a quick glimpse of her before they took her over to clean her off and weigh her, and then when they brought her back to Scott the only thing I could think of was how beautiful she was. She had a little scrunched-up face and a pointy nose, and when her eyes were closed there was this perfect little wavy line that went under her eyelids and over the bridge of her nose. (It's already starting to disappear, and she's not a week old yet.) Lovely little mouth, lots of dark hair that sticks straight out after she's had a bath, long narrow feet and hands.

(Continued on Sunday the 28th)

We've been home for a week now, with my mom here to help, and we're starting to settle into something resembling a routine. Sarah's a hungry little kid. She was born hungry and nothing has changed, really — she just eats to the point of drowsiness and if we're lucky she falls asleep before she realizes that she's not eating any more. But because she eats so much, she sleeps quite well too. She's had three nights in a row of sleeping about five hours after her midnight feeding (which Scott's doing), and I've gotten enough sleep that I feel pretty good.

Bethie's doing reasonably well with her little sister. She's thrilled about the baby — wants to help with everything (and even tried to pick her up today, which was, you know, troubling but sweet) and walks around saying "Baby Saa! Baby Saa!" Sarah has even replaced Aunt Gigi as Beth's favorite person to "call" on her Elmo cell phone. On the other side of things, she's gotten quite clingy with all three of us, Grandma included, and the number of buddies in her crib entourage has grown from two to about five, with definite potential for more.

More about our happy little family to come. I've got to get some sleep before that 5:00 a.m. feeding rolls around.