It's a Girl!

Chandra Lia Johnson
Born: April 30, 2011
Time: 3:53am
Weight: 6 lbs 12 oz
Height: 19 3/4 in

We have a beautiful baby girl! Chandra Lia was born April 30, 2011 at 3:53am at my parent’s home in Richfield, UT. Everything went great with the delivery. We are so excited to have a daughter, and Bracken loves his new little sister. She is so perfect, tiny, and has a full head of dark brown hair.

She surprised us and came a week early. I had some contractions late Friday night, but didn't think much of them because they were so mild. When Brian came home from working on the ambulance I jokingly told him that we might be needing to go to my parents that night. When the contractions kept coming, we ended up leaving at 1:15am.

Bracken was so confused when we got him up in the middle of the night. He said, "I'm not ready to wake up yet." but then he took 45 minutes to fall back asleep. When he realized we were on the highway going to Richfield he kept saying, "It's too dark, I can't even see any cows." Thankfully he fell asleep before my contractions got especially painful.

We arrived in Richfield at 2:45am. My Mom, Dad, and sister Breonna were in the process of getting everything ready for us. (My Mom is my midwife). My contractions were pretty strong by this point. They had set up the birth tub, but I've never liked the idea of being in the water for labor or delivery so I didn't think I'd use it. Mom checked me and I was only dilated to a 3, so I figured I had a long way to go. Mom wanted me to get in the tub and just try it out. The water relaxed me, reduced gravity on my belly (I’d felt like I had to hold my belly up through each previous contraction), and made the contractions so much less painful there was no way I was getting back out of there, so I actually ended up having a water birth.

Mom checked me about 45 minutes later and I was at a 7. But 3o seconds later I said, "the baby is coming!" I must've progressed from a 7 to a 10 that fast because within a minute her head was out, and with the next contraction I was holding our little baby girl in my arms!

When Bracken woke up Brian brought him into our room and showed him Chandra and Bracken said, “It’s my little sister!” We let him hold her and he just looked at her over and over and finally said, “Maybe…we can take her home?” We laughed and told him yes, we’d take her home. He has been so sweet with her, running in each morning after he wakes up to say, “Good morning Chandra!” He loves to touch her head softly, give her kisses, and hold her hands. He’s such a good big brother.

We've just been spending time with our little girl, loving and getting acquainted with her. We're so happy to have a daughter and little sister, and love her so much already.