HERE COMES BABY

On the Sunday after the wedding, I got a text from Ashley after church saying that her contractions were 10 minutes apart. I was excited, but was still able to get it together enough to have my traditional Sunday nap. When I woke up I talked to my frantic father who was worried because Ashley wasn't already at the hospital. I had to tell him to calm down, but being his daughter I started to get worked up too. What if this baby was born on the highway? Yikes. 

Well we had plans to head to the Sallays for the blessing of new baby Oliver. I was pretty sure we could make it over there before the baby came so we did. After the blessing, I left Brent and Stella there to have dinner and I headed to the hospital. 

It was so quiet. Ashley was the only one having a baby there that night. Mom, Dad, Ava and I headed to the cafeteria first thing to have something to eat while Ash got her epidural. We were trying to keep Ava as occupied as possible while we ate--she was pretty excited. As we ate, Mom announced that Grandma and Nonalee were there and suddenly the ice machine we were sitting by started spitting out ice all by itself. Sending us a message, I think at least, that they really were there. 

Of course Dad might have been overreacting (I know, not like him at all) when he called me frantically earlier in the day, because we had to sit and wait several hours for baby to come. It didn't feel too bad though, except maybe for Miss Ava who had to keep herself busy by gliding and spinning on the doctor stools, going out to ice cream with me, creating videos, and making us laugh by putting on rubber gloves while in the bathroom. 

When it was finally time to push, we were all pretty thrilled for the big moment. I honestly couldn't keep my eyes off that baby as he started coming out. I was super emotional. It was strange because with Ava's birth (as I was also there) I didn't get all that emotional. It could have been my fear about doing the birth thing so soon myself, or perhaps it was that years later I have a better understanding of how rare babies are, or perhaps this is just one special baby to me. I don't know, all I know is that I freaking loved that kid the moment he came out. It was a special spiritual moment for us all, and I know we won't forget the happy feelings any time soon.