The full story of how Emma greeted the world and her first day of firsts will come later, when I get a chance to sleep, collect my thoughts, and stop letting Emma take naps on my chest. This is the Reader's Digest version of the event, but for an even shorter version I have one word to sum it all up: OUCH!

Holly and I learned that nothing normal was going to happen with this labor. It came on strong, took a break, then finished fast enough to catch the nurses and the doctor off guard; Emma was just about to crown and the doctor had to tell Holly not to push because the doctor's tools and the soap was not ready. The next push and Emma was here. I did not pass out, but I also didn't see anything as my eyes were closed.

The epidural worked but only to reveal that Emma was pushing against one of Holly's nerves sending a pain down the left side of her bottom, making Emma a pain in the butt. The poor thing still had to suffer through everything, and the pushing nearly did both her an me in (I had to help hold her ankles and count to ten).

Every nurse thinks Emma is beautiful, but I must have watched too much Star Wars as a kid because she reminded me of Yoda: big eyes, wide face, and a mashed up chin. She can wail and scream, but thankfully the pitch has not yet killed our ears (the volume does though). Some kind soul makes little caps for babies and donates them to the hospital, and the one in our room was so perfect Holly decided it was better than the one she brought.

Emma likes her food, but she likes to chew it, so her and mommy are having a hard time coming to terms with this. They both have some learning to do, and the hungry wails of my little girl have me exhausted with concern. We are determined to breast-feed and have been encouraged that it can take up to two weeks before mommy and baby figure things out.

We were discharged today, though for us it feels a week too early as there is comfort in having nurses pop in to check in and having them just a button press away when things go awry. We did find that Salem Hospital's Family Birth Center is populated with kind, understanding, sympathetic mommies dressed up as RNs and CNAs. We may go broke sending out thank-you cards.

Our first night at home is at hand, and I don't think anyone is expecting to get any sleep. So far the cats are disinterested, but that will probably change. Grandma Murray is up for a couple of weeks to help us adjust, and so far she is loving it, and so are we.