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.