Sophia Danielle

TA DA! Announcing the birth of Sophia Danielle Minnich on Dec. 19th, 7lbs, 11oz. and 20 inches long. And...she has hair! Kudos to you moms who were blogging thier birth stories the day or night of. I have not that willpower :) Plus, I'm cranky cuase I think I had the video camera on the wrong format and I'm not sure that the other pictures (more immediate to birth) will be usable. Darn! But for now these two taken the next morning will have to do. Now for the moment everyone has been waiting for...the birth story! It was a cold and snowy morning...heh, heh. I woke up Friday morning after having some mild contractions through the night (nothing this determined sleeper couldn't doze through. I got up and showered and had no contractions while showering. However when I got out and blow dried my hair I had a very strong contraction that seemed to last a long time. And then another, and quickly followed by another and so on. I called Daniel who was already at work and told him that I thought I was probably in true labor and that I would call the doctor at 8:00 to see if they wanted to keep my regular appointment or just have me go straight to the hospital (Sacred Heart). Then I started timing. 2-5 minutes apart?! I called Daniel back within 20 min and told him to come home. I called the doctor at Sacred Heart who politely but firmly suggesting not trying to make the drive into spokane. By the time Daniel got home, they were two min apart and I decided to at least go to Newport to get checked before attempting the drive. As we walked in the door I just knew that I wasn't going anywhere and I was really okay with that. The nurse welcomed us into the birthing unit, did a quick check and told me I was a 5! Epidural anyone? So we got the epidural in and it settled on one side. It was the strangestthing to have a perfect mid-line of pain and normal contactions on one side and nothing on the other! But all in all it was enough to take the edge off and I zoomed to an eight in about an hour and a half. When all was ready we pushed for about 40 min (all pretty relaxed) and out she came! This birth has been such a joy compared to my first experience and we are counting the many blessings of Christmas. May you all know the joy of the Lord this holiday season and the miracle of His glorious birth!