"Celebrate".....

That was my angel card that I picked on Tuesday morning and that is exactly what we were doing by 12:14pm on Wednesday afternoon.

I woke up a couple times on Tuesday night/Wednesday morning to some contractions. Nothing consistent, but just strong enough for me to wake up. At 2:20am they started coming every 5 minutes for about a minute at a time. I woke Paul up an hour later, "Honey, I think I am in labor". He gave me a high five. We laid in bed for another half hour before we decided it was for real, we rolled out of bed, showered, made some breakfast and a cup of coffee....just in case it was going to be a long night. We got to the hospital about 5am where they hooked me up to a monitor to check my contractions, check the babe's heart rate and give me an exam (who wouldn't love that at 5 in the morning?) I was dilated at 2 and my contractions had slowed. The nurse sent us to walk the halls for an hour to see if I might progress. Let me tell you, the hospital is an eerie place at 5:30 in the morning.

Back in the birthing center by 6:30am and I had jumped up to a 3. They admitted us and the next 5 1/2 hours are already a blur. We walked some more and my contractions started getting a little stronger. Paul gave me another high five.

With the advice of the doctor, we broke my water at 8:30am with what looked like a crocheting needle in hopes that it would keep me progressing....and that it did. By 10am I started laboring quite a bit harder and breathing VERY heavily. By 11:55am, I had had enough and was ready to push this kiddo out. And nineteen minutes later, at 12:14pm, Sahalie Rae was born. And she is beautiful.