Now that we are sitting here at the hospital, enjoying our little girl, I have some time to reflect on the fast chain of events that led us to this point.

As I said in my post yesterday, my water broke early yesterday morning at 2:30. I had gotten up to go to the bathroom and Tim asked me if I wanted to turn up the speed on the ceiling fan. I did and as I was getting back into bed, he was complaining that the pizza we had for dinner was killing him. I laid down and said, "Well, this baby is killing me!" I had barely got that sentence out of my mouth when I felt this strange little popping feeling and a gush of water. I ran to the bathroom, telling Tim that I thought my water had just broken. I was so shocked, Tim and I just sat around for about an hour trying to figure out if that really was my water that broke. I laid down again and had another gush of water. Then I started having contractions at about 3:30 a.m., so I figured we better go on to the hospital.

When we got to the hospital I was 3 centimeters dilated at 4:30 a.m. I progressed to 4 centimeters at 5:30 a.m. and then stayed there until about 11:00 a.m., and at that point I was 5-6 centimeters. They supplemented my labor with pitocin and at that point the contractions started coming every 1.5 to 2 minutes and then I needed the epidural!! It wasn't bad at all (plus I was having a really hard contraction while the doctor was inserting the needle, so I wasn't really even thinking about my back.)

At 11:45 a.m. I started feeling like I needed to have a bowel movement. One of my best friends, Rachel, (who has 2 kids) said that probably meant I was ready to push. I didn't believe her because I was just checked 45 minutes earlier and was only 5-6 centimeters and the nurse said it would probably be another four to six hours. Rachel went to get a nurse just in case, and the nurse checked me and said, "I think I know why you are feeling a lot of pressure, you are ready to push!" It was so fast!

I pushed for about 1 and 1/2 hours (definitely the longest/shortest hour and a half of my life.) I was so completely exhausted by the end, but Tim was so wonderful. There was no way I could have made it through without his great coaching and a wonderful nurse who gave excellent directions on how to push effectively. Dr. May (who was also fantastic) wound up having to help me a little with an episiotomy (which was pretty rough because my epidural had worn off a little, but they did give me some local anesthesia.) He let me hold her skin-to-skin immediately after her birth, which was so awesome.

She is so beautiful that I can just stare at her forever. It is so strange to see her outside of my body. I never knew I could love her more than I already did, but I think I love her more and more every single time I see her again. I feel so incredibly fortunate that things went well and that she is healthy and I'm feeling good. Sore, but good.

Laurel KathLynn Bailey was born Thursday, January 29, 2009 at 1:16 p.m. She weighed 7 pounds 1 ounce and was 19.25 inches long.

Mommy, daddy and baby are all doing well. Thank you so much to everyone for their prayers and well wishes

Well, my water broke this morning at 2:30 a.m. Tim and I headed to Specialty Hospital at 4:30 a.m. I was check at 5:30 a.m. and was 4 centimeters. Things are going pretty well. Hopefully we'll have a baby here soon!!

So I guess it is time for daddy to post once more before his pride and joy is welcomed with loving arms.

It has been a pretty quiet few weeks. The only change I have experienced is overwhelming anxiousness. I sometimes get nervous and sick to my stomach, but overall I feel that is just something that is expected.

Two days ago we received the chance to evaluate as Ben and Whitney’s family saw their new bundle of joy for the first time. It became a little more real to me that it is time for our family to feel that joy. There are some things going on with both sides of our family right now, so I feel like this is something we all need to replenish some happiness.

Sarah is doing really well! She has been a trooper and has shown toughness at times. I know she is going through a lot and emotions are running high, but she keeps her composure. As far as the “roundness”, as one guy put it, she is “as big as a barrel”.

I am sure you will receive text messages from me, if you are on the list. I already have a text saved that says, “It's BABY Time!” saved and ready to be sent at any moment.

My friend Whitney (see The Evely Family blog on the left) had her baby boy Monday, January 26th at 7:36 p.m. Aidyn was 21 inches long and weighed in at 7 pounds. Tim and I got to see him briefly Monday night as the nurse held him up in front of the window of the nursery. Today we went over and got to spend quite a bit of time visiting with Ben, Whitney and Aidyn.

He is so tiny and adorable! While I was holding him he got the hiccups (something that Laurel does at least twice a day). For some reason it was so incredible to be able to hold a brand new baby who was having the hiccups, while still experiencing my little girl having the hiccups in my belly.

Luckily Whitney had a fairly quick delivery with no complications. I hope that I, too, will be that fortunate. I really enjoyed talking with her and getting all the details of her induction, labor and delivery. Although being around all those newborn babies in the maternity ward has me so anxious to meet our little girl. Hopefully it won't be too much longer. I have my next doctor's appointment Thursday, January 29th, so I'm hoping that I've made progress.

As the time for Laurel's arrival gets nearer, my waistline is continuing to expand (along with the rest of me, but we won't talk about that). Since I will be full term (37 weeks) on Monday and could potentially go into labor any time after that, I thought I would post a few more pictures of my tummy.

It is amazing to me how much my belly grew between 32 and 36 weeks. This baby better not stay in there too much longer or I won't be able to stand up straight!

But on a serious note, I'd like to say CONGRATULATIONS to my friend Meg and her husband Nick. She gave birth to their baby boy, Dominick, on Friday, Jan. 23rd! For more information, check out her blog on the left side of the page under "So much to do, so little time." Also, Whitney and Ben will have an induction on Monday, Jan. 26th, and get to meet their little boy, Aidyn. (Their blog is "The Evely Family" on the left.") I'm so excited for both Meg and Whitney and can't wait until my turn!

I came home from work yesterday to discover that our rug had arrived! So here is one more nursery picture of the chair along with the rug! I'll try to post some belly pictures later tonight or tomorrow.

Over the last week, we've gotten so much done on the nursery. I love going in there and looking at everything because this is how it will look with our sweet baby girl in it! We've got a rug that is being delivered and I've got to put a liner on the back of the window shades, but other than that, it is pretty much ready! Here are some pictures (yes, the rocker/glider is still in there, but it is in the one corner of the room that still has some unopened boxes lying on the floor, so I didn't take a picture of it).

And on the arrival front, I had my 36 week appointment on Wed., Jan 21st, and the doctor said I'm measuring 1.5 centimeters. This doesn't necessarily mean that anything is going to happen any time soon, but I think it's exciting that I'm finally at the point where they start to monitor your progress! I'll have my next appointment Thurs., Jan. 29th, and I can't wait to find out if anything has changed.

Saturday night was my last baby shower. It was at my Uncle Tony and Aunt Debbye's house in Greeneville with family from my mom's side. It was really nice; we had yummy appetizers and lots of good fellowship. One of my favorite things was that instead of playing baby shower games, everyone told their favorite baby stories. There were some really good ones (both cute and a little horrifying). I was particularly disturbed by how many members of my family were dropped on their heads as children.

Sunday was pretty snowy so church was cancelled. Tim and I headed to Babies R Us to get some of the last items that we need for Laurel's arrival. Then we went to mom and dad's house to put together the car seat and stroller system they got us. It is so awesome! We've already got the car seat installed in my car. Later, I got a lot of her things put up so that the nursery doesn't look like a storage room anymore. Right now we are just waiting on a dresser and rug to finish the nursery. I've got clothes laid out all over the room to wash, but I can't do that until I get the dresser to put them in. It's driving me crazy! Now that there's less than four weeks to go until my due date, I'm getting so anxious to have everything finished and ready.

On Friday (Jan. 16th) both Tim and I had baby showers at work. My co-worker Teresa and the women that work during Early Voting threw one for me, and Tim's co-workers had a surprise shower for him. Mine was wonderful, with lots of good food and great gifts for Laurel! Most of the offices from the courthouse were able to come, plus most of the election commissioners. Here's a picture of me with my hostesses.

Tim's boss called me about two weeks before his shower to find out if I could come. Unfortunately, it was planned for the same day as mine, so I had to pass, but I promised her that I wouldn't breath a word of it to Tim. Friday morning Tim kept calling me to tell me that there was something suspicious going on at the health department. He had been kicked out of the kitchen, and he knew that something was up because he's usually the one who coordinates parties and lunches at his work. A little while later he told me that he thought they were throwing him a surprise baby shower. I still played dumb and told him to keep me updated. Within an hour he called me back and when I answered the phone he screamed, "You knew!" I admitted that I had known for about a week, which absolutely drove him nuts. He hates not being in on things.

Here's a picture of the beautiful cake they made for him and a picture of him opening his table-full of presents. For some reason, I can't see him ohhing and ahhing over all of his presents the way I did!

And here's a picture of what happens when men are on their own to buy and wrap presents for another man's baby shower!

Friday night we brought everything home and had so much fun reopening all the gifts to show each other what Laurel had received. We are both very lucky to have such caring and generous co-workers!

Today (Sunday, Jan. 11th) was my baby shower at Love Chapel Church. I'm lucky to have a church family that is extremely generous both with their gifts and with the time they put in to host my shower. It was also my shower for Tim's side of the family. It worked well to combine the two because the church fellowship hall is definitely big enough to hold a lot of people. Here's a picture of myself and my mom April (on the left) and Tim's mom Kathy (on the right). Laurel is so lucky to have such great grandmas!

You can see by both the picture above and the one below, we had a great spread of food!

This is one of the two awesome cakes! It worked really well because it is actually made up of lots of cupcakes so no one has to worry about trying to cut the cake. There was one in chocolate and one in white.

While I loved and appreciated all the gifts I received, this gift from Tim's cousin Jake and his fiancee Misty was hilarious! Tim LOVED the TV show "The A Team" when he was little, so this onesie is definitely appropriate! Of course, one day he'll have try to explain this outfit to Laurel.

As time continues to creep by and I get closer and closer to holding my little girl in my arms, I just can't help but get overwhelmed by a hundred conflicting emotions. I feel extremely fortunate that I've had such an enjoyable pregnancy and to be honest, I'll miss being pregnant and being able to take Laurel with me everywhere I go. But at the same time, I can't wait to get to know her face-to-face.

Another thing I'm really looking forward to is seeing Tim with her. As anyone who knows Tim knows, he is going to be an amazing father. I joke about it, but I honestly think he has more maternal instincts than I do (and a lot more practice with babies and toddlers!) I feel very lucky to have a husband who is so prepared to bring home a new baby.

I feel like overall we are ready for her arrival, but as Tim likes to point out (daily), we still have a lot more to do. We don't have a car seat or stroller. We haven't washed her bedding or any of her clothing. I don't have a hospital bag packed (or even a list of what I need to put in one). I need to finish the artwork I'm doing for her nursery. We've got to get a dresser.

While I know that all of these things need to be done, I believe that emotionally we are ready for her! I love knowing that every single day since I found out I was pregnant, Tim and I have prayed for her at least once a day (that's more than 215 prayers). And that's just from us. It's so wonderful to know that she will arrive into a world where so many people will have loved her and thought about her long before she takes her first breath.

I had my 34 week appointment today. During the four weeks between my 28 week and my 32 week checkup, I gained a whopping 10 pounds...oops. That put me up to a total of 30 pounds already (with eight more weeks to go)! I was really starting to get scared that I was going to wind up gaining 50 or more pounds total, and I was already dreading having to take all that weight off later.

Well, when I got on the scale (with LOTS of trepidation) I could not believe me eyes. I had lost half a pound! Which is completely insane given that I went to at least a dozen Christmas and holiday parties, and despite the nurse practitioner's speech, I didn't really pay much attention to what I ate. Luckily my blood sugar has consistently been very low, so I knew I didn't really have to worry about gestational diabetes and the concerns that go along with that.

On a not-so-exciting note, I've got Carpal Tunnel Syndrome. This is apparently a really common ailment for pregnant women because of the increase in blood and fluid volume. The nurse practitioner I saw today said it should go away "when I finish being pregnant." So for now I'm just going to try wearing a wrist brace to sleep in and see if that helps.

Everything else is going well and overall I'm feeling really good and still have quite a bit of energy. I'll see the doctor again for my 36 week appointment on January 21st and then will start going in every week. I'm really excited that I have three baby showers coming up in the next couple weeks, and then we'll hopefully have everything ready and waiting for Laurel's arrival!