She is FINALLY HERE!!!!!!!!

She is finally here!!! I can't even begin to say how excited I am!!! I will try not to ramble but I want to include all information plus a little on top of that :)

The child that has been awaiting to join the family has arrived! I came to the hospital last night at 9pm and we got started. First thing is getting hooked up to an IV. Once that was done, they put something in my cervix to make it soft and to help the process. At 3am, they took that out and at 4am, they gave me Patocin and about 30 minutes later the Epidural. There was no argument on that one! At 7am, my Doctor came in to see how we were doing. I was only dilated between 3 & 4 so he went ahead and broke my water. They continued to check my progress throughout the morning. At 11:15, I was dilated at 5. At about 11:45, my family arrived. Dad, Mom, Jon & Nina. At the same time, a nurse came in and said it was time to check again just to see. (I was feeling a little bit of pressure so they just wanted to check) My dad and brother stepped out and when the nurse looked to see what was going on, the head was coming out! She said I was fully dilated and ready to go. In the matter of minutes, they had me up and ready to go, the table of tools was brought in, and of course, my Doctor came in. At that time, my dear friends Tammy & Michele came in. (I had asked Tammy to take photos for me) My nurse had already told me to push once while they were bringing in the table of tools and she stood there to hold the head. I pushed about 4 really good pushes and at 12:02pm (10 minutes later) our new baby was here! As soon as she came out, they laid her on my chest and Dale got to cut the embilical chord. I cried.

I had so many emotions going through me and the only way I knew how to express them was to cry. She was so beautiful! I fell in love instantly! My husband was at my side the entire time and I was able to watch them clean her up from where I was laying. The whole thing was amazing! I started looking around and realized who was in the room with me. That's when I saw a family. Not just blood related but woman in my life who I have come to love and respect. Two woman from my lifeteam were there, my doctors wife who I absolutely adore, my mom, my sister, my husband and three nurses who did a phenomenal job, and of course, my doctor who I can't say enough great things about. I saw life so different at that moment. What a great moment to celebrate with people that I care so much about. Wow!

They took the baby to the nursery to finish things up there (the room we were in was too cold for her). About 20 minutes later, they brought her back to me and I got to feed her. She was having reflux issues so they wanted to see if eating would help. The poor thing was so tired that all she wanted to do was sleep and all I wanted to do was hold her! :) At about that time, Dale walked in and said, "are you ready?". Right behind him was Abigail. She was sooooo excited!!!! She is staying with Nanna & Pappaw and they brought her up to see her little sister. Her face was priceless. She got in the bed next to me so she could get a good look. I think it was love at first sight for the two of them. When the baby wouldn't latch on with me, the nurse brought in a bottle and Abigail got to give her the first feeding. She is going to be the best big sister ever!

It has been such an exciting day and I am exhusted but I had to write about it. It is now 4:15am and I have had time to bond with my new daughter. She is beautiful, sweet, little, and she has a head FULL of hair! We have had so many visitors already and I feel so blessed to have such good people in my life who love my family. I love all of them the same way! We have so many pictures but I am only posting one. Dale took this photo after everyone was gone and right before we sent her to the nursery. We still have no name for her but I think it is finally narrowed down to a few names. Once we get a name, I will blog about it :)

God has been so good to my family and to myself. Still thinking about the deserving factor but still so very thankful. For those of you who came by, thank you so much for coming out to celebrate with us and to show your support. I love all you so much! And for those of you who prayed for us during this time, thank you, Thank You, THANK YOU!

I hope this blog isn't too crazy and all over the place (I am currently on medication). Thank you for taking time to read it and I can't wait for you all to meet our newest member of the family!!!