Born December 28, 2006 3:31 PM 6lbs 9.5oz 18in. She doesn't fit in any of the newborn clothing, had to go out and buy her preemie...she's so tiny and so loved. Selena was delivered via emergency c-section because she tied a knot in her umbilical cord. I call her my little miracle.

Edited January 24th...I thought I'd include the story of how my little miracle came to be, into my first entry as mommy to daughter #2.

I went into labor on December 27th, actually around 7PM. After struggling with contractions for quite a few hours, I called the doctor and we made our way to the hospital at 3:30 AM on the 28th. I was planning on a vaginal delivery like I had with my first. I had wanted to go into the "tub" to help with my contractions, but the Doctor wouldn't allow me to because she said that the baby's heart rate kept going down every time I had a contraction. So I opted for an epideral. After I had that, they kept me on my right side. As soon as I had the epideral, my doctor came in and checked me and said I was 6cm dialated. She gave me the pitocin to induce me and speed things along. It was around noon at this point, I was exhausted and had been up all night. She told me to try to get some rest. So I fell asleep on and off for the next couple of hours. When I woke up my right side was really sore for being in the same position so long. I called the nurse to help me turn to my left side. My doctor also came in, and checked my dialation. My dialation was still 6cm, the baby was still very high and when they flipped me to my left side, the baby's heart rate dropped. I was so scared. My doctor looked at me, and said "Rachel, the baby's heart rate has dropped and we can't get it back up. We're going to put you in an emergency c-section". I started crying because I was so afraid of losing her. She asked me if I had any questions, and I pointed to Rich and asked "Can he come?" She said of course he can, and asked the nurse to get him a gown. Needless to say, the next few minutes were like a scene in ER as Rich says. They were rushing around like crazy spitting out medical terms. Then they wheeled me into an operating room. A few minutes later my Rich was by my head in hospital garb, and they put up a cloth. He watched the entire thing over the cloth. I couldn't feel a thing, I could feel someone was down there but it seemed like they were just touching me rubbing my skin or something. It didn't hurt at all. The most beautiful part of it was when I heard my daughter cry. Then they clipped her cord, and placed her on my chest. She had so much hair, and was so beautiful. Then they took her over to the little area, and cleaned her off and let dad clip the rest of the cord. I watched the entire time. Then the two of them left for the nursery, and they were still working on me. I started to feel a little more as they were "putting me back together" so the anaesthesologist gave me morphine. I don't remember much after that. Despite it all being an "Emergency c-section" I have to say the experience was not a bad one. My daughter Selena, had a knot tied in her cord, and it was draped over her shoulder. That explains everything, she wouldn't drop down because she was in her cord, and the knot would explain the heart rate problems. I am very VERY thankful for the staff at the hospital, and my OBGYN. They saved my little miracle. If this had been my grandmother in labor with my mom, she probably would not had made it.