As I sit here in our living room admiring our beautiful baby daughter, it is hard to come to grips with one thing. Last week at this time, Sidney and I had gone to work and lived our lives just like any normal day. Seven days later we now live an entire different existence, one that transformed through dramatic events over the past several days. The hard part isn’t that we have our precious Sloan (hardly); rather, it is just conceptualizing the fact that the crazy delivery journey we went on started less than a week ago.

Currently I am admiring my baby daughter. Let me introduce all of my readers to Sloan.

Last Wednesday seems like forever to me. After I finished my workout I called Sidney to check up on her as she wasn’t feeling too well that morning. Expecting her to tell me that she stayed home from school or that she had started to feel better, she told me something completely different. The doctor’s office had advised her to go to the labor and delivery wing of Conway Medical Center to get checked out. I jumped in the locker room shower, got dressed, dashed into my office for two minutes, and rushed to the hospital.

Sidney was hooked up to a machine that was monitoring her blood pressure and the movements of our baby. She had also given a blood sample that was being evaluated. With Sidney in obvious discomfort, we waited about an hour until the doctor came in. When she did arrive, she gave us her recommendation…

Let’s induce.

Throughout the entire week-long saga, including throughout the C-section, I didn’t come nearly as close to passing out than at that moment. I had to ask my sister-in-law to let me sit down in her chair to gather myself for a second. Sidney, the person who should have received all the support and attention at that time, coached me to put my head between my legs and take deep breaths. The journey had just started.

The journey had just started but it would ultimately end with this beautiful girl.

Sidney would be transferred shortly thereafter to an actual labor and delivery room (we were in an exam room at the time). Once in the new digs, the failed induction process would span over three days. At around lunchtime on Friday, with the medications given to her ultimately counteracting each other resulting in only mild contractions, the decision was made to go with an unplanned C-section. By 3 p.m. on that glorious St. Patrick’s Day, we welcomed Sloan Anne Reser into the world.

We are so pleased with our daughter Sloan.

After Sloan’s birth, three more nights in the hospital followed. Although Sloan was doing great, the medical staff needed to monitor and treat Sidney. As we spent Sunday evening in our postpartum room, the final night of our stint at Conway Medical Center, it would be an understatement to say we were itching to get out of the place. Although we couldn’t be more thankful to the nurses and doctors, it was time to check out.

When Monday morning rolled around, we were so ready to go home!

Sidney and Sloan were discharged on a gorgeous, sunny Monday morning. I was a tad bit nervous driving us home but I got the job done. Taking our daughter into our house was so liberating and joyous. That night, Sidney’s family came over and we had a “Welcome Home” dinner for both “my girls.”

Sloan on her way home from the hospital.

This post was meant to just give the bare bones of our crazy and unpredictable ride. In the future I hope to write more about specific parts of our experience. But let me tell you this: Sidney was so brave throughout the entire 5+ days spent at the hospital. True to her sweet nature, she has said numerous times since we have been home that the unique ordeal was totally worth it.

Sloan is now home and we are so happy.

We are incredibly happy. Sloan has already stolen our hearts and is the sweetest baby we could have ever imagined. Sidney is still healing but she is one proud mama. We thank everyone for your constant support and we can’t say enough how great God is. Don’t Blink.