Our baby girl has arrived

Sarah was born on Wednesday at 7:55 am. She weighs 7 lbs 14 oz (3580 g) and she's 22" (55 cm) long. Peter and I went to the hospital Tuesday night at around 11pm. My contractions were 4-5 minutes apart. I was quickly admitted, by midnight we were set up in the delivery room. My obstetrician broke my water shortly after, which greatly increased the intensity of my contractions. I made a last minute decision to get an epidural. It wasn't as bad as I'd heard. The needle hurt going in, but I was almost immediately relieved from my contraction pains. It took full effect in about 10 minutes and I felt great. I was hooked up to a monitor so the nurse could keep an eye on the baby's heartbeat and the now painless contractions. She stayed in our room the entire time until I delivered. Peter and I tried to get some sleep while I was dilating. By 6:55 am I was 10 centimeters and ready to push. For about 50 minutes I pushed at every contraction and she slowly made her way down to the point where her hair was visible. The nurse was concerned, because every time I pushed, her heart rate would mysteriously drop. My OB decided to use forceps to help her out. Everything changed once her head was out. The umbilical cord was tightly wrapped around her little neck 3 times. That's why her hear rate kept dropping with every push. The cord got tighter and tighter. At this point she had to be taken out immediately so I received a 4Th degree laceration, all the way from front to back. One more big push and she was out. The 5 nurses, the OB, Peter and I all held our breaths as he quickly unwrapped the cord. She coughed immediately and let out a big cry. And so did I. She was put on my chest for a little bit, then one of the nurses put her in a pre-warmed bassinet, cleaned her up and checked her vitals. She received an unbelievable Apgar score of 9. The placenta came out within 5 minutes. A nurse massaged my stomach to detach it from the wall of my uterus. I don't know if it was due to the pain medications or just the emotions but I didn't see it or feel it come out. I was quickly sewed up and cleaned up. The 2 grandmothers were invited into the room not long after. They were taken back by how beautiful their granddaughter was. Uncle Jeff, uncle Vili and my dad showed up later in the afternoon. When dad got to hold her he was speechless. He managed to get just one word out: PERFECT! And she is. She has a lot of long dark hair and gorgeous big eyes. We're not sure what colour her eyes are yet. We were discharged from the hospital Thursday morning. We made a stop at Peter's parents' house to show Richard his first grand baby (he was unable to come to the hospital due to his illness).
I've never seen him so excited. It was only a short visit, we needed to get home and settle in. Tyson was very curious at first, so we quickly made him understand that it was OK to sniff, but not to lick. Our first night at home was a long one. Sarah still needs to get into a routine. Peter and I took turns staying up with her. I'm on baby duty now, Peter's sleeping. Sarah is starting to wake up now so I have to go.