Only because I LOVE reading the birth stories of other mothers so much I will attempt to write about mine here. Just for the record though, looking back on how Gwinna came into our world is truly of little importance.  We are so grateful she is finally here!

I was one of those...

Absolutely NO inducing of any kind!

 NO pitocin please.

NO epidural.

NO C-section.

I had my lovely, perfect little "birth plan" all typed up and printed on bright yellow paper so that not one of the many nurses/midwives would miss it.

AS NATURAL AS POSSIBLE.

That was the main gist of the "plan."

Ask me if I even took it out of my bag...

no...

So many times Heavenly Father has a different story in mind for us than we ever could dream up ourselves. I am living in Utah, for instance! But that is another story...

AS IF!

 This is what I have to say about planning how child birth will go.  I have learned it is out of my hands.

Our little Gwinna girl decided that she wanted to come into the world 7 days after her "due date."

Despite our efforts of getting her here faster, which included:

2 whole fresh pineapples (almost all to myself)

Spicy Thai

Hours of walking  (Legoland, San Diego Zoo, Seaworld)

Raspberry leaf tea

 Grandma Debbie and Aunt Sophia did not want to miss anything so they arrived on Saturday.  They claimed Gwinna must be waiting for them to get there. She may have been...

On Sunday morning July 15 at 5:42 I got the "show" that people talk about;) Almost immediately following that I began experiencing the cramp-like symptoms that I have also heard so much about.  Michael woke up at 6:30 to an excited, yet surprisingly calm wife.  We had a very relaxed day. 

We attempted to go to the Mormon Battalion but Old Town was too crazy.

 Michael slept as the girls laid out. 

We talked about desserts and celebrities and our families. 

Michael and I went on a walk to move things along. 

We had pesto pasta with tomatoes and spinach dip with sourdough bread for dinner! Some of my favorite foods.  

Throughout the whole day my 'contractions' (if you could call them that at this stage) got progressively stronger. We put 'Bride Wars' on and Mama, Soph and Michael all took turns trying to relieve the pain in my back. At 11 PM we went in only to discover I had only progressed to 3 1/2 cm, 90% maybe 100% effaced. My water broke around 1 so we headed back in.  Now I was at 6 1/2cm...still too slow for me but I tried not to dwell on the numbers.  That would have driven me insane since I still had HOURS to go! She did not arrive until 4:14 PM on Monday July 16th.

My poor, dearest family.  It was an exhausting marathon for all of us, during which, my mom broke the rules, unbeknownst to her.  As I was in the beginning of the 3 (maybe 4??) hour pushing stage she fed me some amazing dark chocolate squares so I would have some energy. She also massaged my back, my feet, legs, and told me I looked so beautiful and that I was handling everything so well (by not yelling at anyone or crying.) Thank you MAMA!

Sophia was there when I needed to squeeze a hand and she was so supportive by not being totally grossed out by everything! Poor girl...she was exposed to entirely too much!

My sweet husband also saw too much...I will leave it at that. He was doing just as much work as I was through the pushing stage! He held me and counted for me and told me how to do it all.  I fell in love with this man all over again.  He was my cheerleader this time!

When it was evident that our girl was not going to make her appearance through my efforts the lovely midwives gave me more time to push.  Before I was able to reach the time I heard myself say "I don't think I can do this anymore."

Arrangements were made to get an epidural and to set up for the dreaded C-section.  At this stage I will admit that I welcomed the epidural...I was exhausted by the contractions and ready to relax physically and mentally.

by the way...EVERY doctor and midwife and nurse that I had was incredible...each in their own unique way;) One of the nurses I had was named Chit  (Sophia..."oh Chit") and the man who administered the epidural looked like he was about 24 (actually 39)...both very kind and confident. 

What a miraculous thing that epidural was when it finally kicked in! Now I understand...(not convincing enough though...I still hope for an all natural, drug-free birth someday) So nice to relax.  Michael said I had the biggest smile on my face as they were about to cut me open AND while they were cutting me open...

  I was all strapped down when he came in. I fell in love yet again.  He was beautiful in his little hair net deal and blue scrubs. One of the midwives was with us. She told us everything that was happening.  She told us that Gwinna would be out in minutes...

Time just stopped for me and I looked at Michael. His eyes were wide, exhausted and full of tears and I could not stop smiling! We were going to have our little creation in minutes!!!! It seemed like a moment later that we heard her little unique scream.  The first thing we heard the surgeon say was "wow, that is a big baby!" 9lb 5oz. The first thing I saw was her little blue foot and then her sweet wide eyes!

 Beautiful.  

Michael went over and they told him to hold her, "she's your baby" they reminded him.  He was absolutely beaming...wide awake and so happy! He kept going back and forth between us and kept saying "she's so beautiful Hannah, she's so beautiful!" 

He asks me sometimes if I am jealous that he got to hold her first.  Honestly I am so glad that he got that experience!  Michael Joe...he's the love of my life and I really feel like I would not exist without him.  

He is my air:) 

(I don't care that I stole that from a song and that it sounds really corny) 

SO...some pitocin, an epidural and one C-section later we have our little miracle who is calm and beautiful and already sleeping through the night! 

Gwinna Jovee Silva. 

We are in love. 

San Diego ZOO on the 4th of July

LEGOLAND

The bathroom even had lego creations!

Lover of food...can you tell?:)

fantasy land boat ride...something like that?

MINILAND!!!

so cute

piggies;)

look our bellies match!
actually mine appears to be bigger...

Oh Stanley.
What a good sport.
Every kid that went on this was about a foot shorter than him;) 

Stanley boy

Acupressure mat...a beautiful thing

Stanley has amazingly strong hands. He gave us both masssages! Awesome...

The Mormon Battalion...what a miraculous story.
 We loved learning about it!
And Stanley got to pan for gold!!!