Guess what folks!

MothMan has a little caterpillar!

Lisa and I now have a baby girl... named Emma Janet.

She was being a little stinker leading up to delivery...

Yesterday morning, Lisa woke up to pee and noticed some bleeding... so we headed to the hospital to get checked out.

A few tests and an ultrasound later (which took most of the day :( ) we were told that baby was smallish, and there was less amniotic fluid than normal... the reason being, apparently, a placenta that just wasn't cutting it anymore... basically baby wasn't getting fed enough.

So, because it was close to term anyways (due date Oct 8) it was decided there was no benefit in waiting, so they tried to induce Lisa Saturday night.

Around 7pm or so, they started the Oxytocin drip, but after 5 minutes that was stopped... as it made Babies heart rate go erratic.

It was enough, though, to start Lisa rolling. She started having very small (barely perceptible, but very frequent (every 2 minutes) contractions.

She was kept hooked up to the baby monitor all night to monitor the contractions and hear rate of baby... which meant no sleep for Lisa, as she couldn't really get comfortable. And no sleep for me as I was watching the monitor like a halk... plus baby was being difficult and moving a lot, so the monitor was being really loud and having to be repositioned frequently.

After a restless night, it was noticed that babies heart rate wasn't keeping steady... after a contraction, it would drop slightly on occasion.

No one was too worried, but we were watching. At around 4am Lisa was JUST about to finally dose off... and I had just finally fallen asleep in the chair, when suddenly there were nurses running in, bells were ringing, they were hooking Lisa up to oxygen.

Holy crap, what the hell... apparently the heart rate had dropped very low (around 60bpm) just as a nurse was walking by, and she heard it. Lisa was zoned out and I'd fallen asleep, so we hadn't realized...

Baby recovered, and the heart beat picked up to normal. Looking at the monitor read out, it showed that Lisa had had 3 contractions in succession... and that really threw baby for a loop.

Lisa's obstetrician was called in, and it was decided that baby was telling us that it just wasn't strong enough to deal with a regular, vaginal, birth.... c-section was strongly recommended.

Lisa had talked frequently of not wanting to have to have a c-section... but we both knew this was the right decision, so we quickly said yep, lets' do it.

The surgery team was great... everyone was organized within half an hour, and we were on our way. Everyone was being very mellow and light-hearted and kept our spirits up, and before we knew it Lisa was getting her spinal anesthetic, I was brought in, and 10-15 minutes later, we had a beautiful baby girl in front of us. :)

Emma Janet weighed in at just a hair under 6 lbs (5 lbs 15.9 ounces)... and she's an absolute cutey!

She appears to be in great health and Lisa and I had a great day spending some time with Emma (in between her time in the nursery).

I'm not totally sure if being a father has TRULY set in for me... I thought I'd somehow feel completely different when I saw the baby, but it didn't happen.

I thought maybe when I held the baby... but that didn't really feel any different.

I was expecting a big eureka moment... but I think it's just sort of easing into me. This evening before I left Lisa to come home, and wheeled the baby to the nursery, I was holding Emma for a while... and started to feel some of that "Wow" feeling come over me.

So I think once everything calms down a little bit, and we get into a routine, I'll really begin to see the world through the eyes of a father.

I do know that I'm thrilled beyond words to finally meet this little peanut... we didn't know if we'd have a girl or boy, and it didn't matter, but we are thrilled to have a little girl, who will probably grow up to be a bit of a tomboy. :)

Here's a few shots taken over the course of today... check out the little MothBaby by clicking the image below.