The E-Mail I Wrote After Eloise Was Born

Hello, family and friends! Baby Eloise is finally in the world! She came out as 6 lbs, 15 oz and 19 and a half inches long. Apparently, that is almost perfectly average size; definitely our child. However, she did not have a huge Edwards/Cannon noggin. Thank goodness for that (although she did get my comically small ears). On Halloween night (4 days past the due date) Julie and I didn't really know what to do for "fun" while Julie was having mild contractions and feeling nauseated. So, we ended up watching "The Others" (a terrible choice given the crazy stressed out mother theme) and I read "Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark" with nothing but Julie's I-Phone flashlight app on in the house. We had only one person come trick-or-treating; a 17 year old kid who said he was going out for his kid brother who was too lazy to get out of bed and do it himself. So, we ate a lot of Kit Kats, too.

Throughout the night, Julie's contractions increased in strength and frequency. With each one, she woke me up and asked me to hold her back and use her I-Phone contraction counter app (yeah, there's an app for that, apparently). Finally, around 3 AM, they were getting within 5 minutes of each other so I took Jules to the hospital...where she would remain in labor until 12:02 Wednesday morning (over 20 hours later). The labor was stressful and almost came down to the point of needing a C Section because of risk to Julie and Eloise. Right before they were going to perform a C Section, Julie had rapidly dilated. She dilated (for those of you who've experienced this or maybe giggled through this discussion during an awkward Maturation Day or Health class)  from a 3 to a 10 in about 3 hours (which I'm told is incredible, particularly since the first many hours nothing happened).

As for Daddy, I got to hold Mom's left leg while she was pushing. I made the decision to not look down because there is only room for one hospital bed in this room. I failed to comply with that decision on two occasions. The first time, Julie ripped something or another and shot blood out like a fire hose. That was great for the old stomach! The next time I looked down there was a little face looking back at me.

Eloise is wonderful. We gave her a personality while she was in the womb because we thought it was a funny inside joke. Turns out, she already has a lot of it on her own account. She was born two minutes after Phil's birthday ended because she couldn't stand the idea of sharing the spotlight. While we named her Eloise after Julie's grandmother Lois, it's looking more and more like we accidentally named her Eloise because of her similarity to the children's books about Eloise at the Plaza. She is dearly loved by her parents and we are both excited for the vengeance that is about to be placed on us for being such stubborn children when we were kids.

We love you all. Eloise will love you all someday, too, when she worries about love rather than just sleeping, eating and pooping. Thank you for all your prayers, thoughts, gifts and love that you have sent our way. Come see us when you get the chance! God bless you all.

Love, Dylan, Jules and Eloise Jayden Cannon