The Story of Lily

This little girl has been a miracle from the beginning. She has definitely taught us that the Lord does things on His own timeline! Her delivery was no exception. Friday morning, my water broke. Let me preface that by saying that this entire pregnancy I've been hoping I would go into labor on my own. As my due date neared, I was basically resigned to the fact that I would have to be induced. We had planned on taking the weekend for last minute preparations and hoped they would start me on Monday morning.

Here we are dropping the kids off at the Mendenhalls. Grace had just bumped her head. Gabe was already off playing. Behind my smile is nerves. I still didn't know for sure if my water had really broken.



Guess what, it had. Or, as the midwife put it, "Ding ding ding! Let's go have a baby!"


Within 4 hours of being hooked up to the iv, Lily made her entrance into the world. Everything went very smoothly! Highlights: the most painful epidural in history, going from a 3 to a 10 in thirty minutes, a knot in the cord, and the smallest baby we've ever had (I guess that's what happens when she comes 9 days early!).
She weighs the same that I did when I was born, and we share a birth month. I felt an instant connection to this little angel. There are no words for that first moment when she wrapped her fingers around mine.






The kids came to meet her the next morning. I'll post a video soon. Gabe is completely head over heels infatuated with this baby. Grace is in love, too, but is a little sensitive.


Just when we were ready to leave the hospital they told us Lily was jaundiced and needed light therapy. Here she is on her baby tanning bed.

Luckily she only had to do it one night. She also had to have her little tongue clipped today (the frenulum was a little tight), but no pictures of that. She's done being poked and prodded for now and we are just enjoying each minute with her!