A pregnant belly at t-16 hours.

So, it was no secret to anyone that we have been pregnant with our first child, and the due date right around the corner. What was a secret, however, was that all day Friday Julie was in labor. This didn’t stop her from enjoying the Vacation Bible School finale, and picnic.

Julie, off in her own thoughts, while watching the kids run around at the VBS picnic.

Deep thought about the night ahead, while helping Julie count contractions.

After some hot dogs, and hanging out with good friends, we made our way back by the house (to set things in order before heading out Rex.)

The usual tests & checks put us in labor, looking well on our way to having a baby before we knew it.

We walked the halls to speed things along, and came back to good news, everything as right on track and we were headed towards a regular delivery sometime Saturday morning.

Sitting in triage, we watched monitors and waited.

My nametag prior to our official admission.

Starting at midnight, we walked the halls for an hour. Attempting to keep the process going.

The IV is started.

The handiwork of Mary, our first nurse. Who made the first eight ours of our stay, quite hospitable.

Unfortunately this is approximately where the calm portion of our evening ended, and twelve long hours of heavy labor began. I don’t have any cool photos to share from the vast majority of our evening, but one epidural (which ran out), two additional painkiller failures, half numb legs, one backwards baby, and many many hours later… The order was give, and off to the O.R. we went.

This whole evening was one of the longest I can recall, even longer than my own hospital visit, a couple years ago. But the twenty minutes of sitting in the Husband’s suit-up room, were the longest moments of my life. There were several scares prior to this moment in the evening, but the idea of my wife on the operating table, was without a doubt, the scariest thing I’ve faced in my life.

The first photo of our beautiful baby girl.

But then, in what was only a matter of minutes, the doctors showed me this amazing little creature.  I can’t really put into words how cool she is, or how dumbfounded and in love we both are… but I have a handful of snapshots here that say more than I could with all the words in my vocabulary.

Her mom says she has my feet.

8 lbs 3 oz, 22 inches long.

First look at the world around her.

Finally here. Happy, but not nearly as happy as we are.

I hope everyone who reads this enjoys seeing these photos as much as I’ve enjoyed sharing them. We’ve taken many, many more, and hopefully, after heading back home sometime tomorrow, I’ll have the opportunity to share more thoughts, and moments from our new family. God Bless you all, your prayers were much appreciated, and we look forward to introducing you to our daughter whenever we next meet.