Our little one has arrived!

She's finally here! I can honestly say, I am more thankful than ever to have her here. Eric and I are enjoying every precious moment of her life. I have a feeling we are going to quickly become the parents who can't ever stop talking about their kid. :) She's just the best thing ever!

Ok, well, here's the story. I started having contractions in the early morning on Friday, around 1:30 a.m. I slept on and off, as they were spread out about 20-30 minutes. I continued to have them all day Friday, but they were not coming in a consistant pattern and they would stop for several hours. At this point, I found myself a little frustrated and anxious for things to get going! I spent the night trying to pass the time by cleaning and scrapbooking. Around midnight, I decided to try to get some sleep in the hopes that we would be getting up soon with regular contraction. However, I never got to sleep; my contractions started coming regularly almost as soon as I got in bed, and by 3:00 a.m., we were on our way to the hospital with contractions that were about 5 minutes apart. When we arrived, they started going over paperwork and questions and checking to see how far I'd dilated - by then I was almost to 3cm. The nurses told me that they would observe me for an hour and that I'd have to dilate further in order to be admitted. I pretty much begged them not to send me home! As they were going through questions and such, my water broke, so I was admitted immediately (thank goodness!). Over the next 4 hours, I dilated to 5cm, and that's when I received my epideral along with pitocin to keep my contractions going. It set in almost immediately and I didn't feel anything until my contractions got to about 2 minutes apart, and even then it was hardly anything. By 11:45 a.m., I was dilated to 9cm, so they started prepping for delivery! After about 35 minutes of pushing, Cora was born!

Here are the stats: born at 12:39 p.m. on August 6, 2011; weight: 7lbs. 13 oz; length: 20 1/2 inches.

We certainly have collected a million pictures already, but here are a few of the day she was born.

When they gave me the epidural, my blood pressure went way down. I was light-headed and little out of it, so they had put me on oxygen. Exciting, huh? :)

Waiting on Cora!

Here she is! It was LOVE at first sight. She was the most beautiful thing I'd ever seen.

Mommy & Cora's first picture together.

Look at how big I am! 7 lbs, 13 oz

Daddy & Cora's first picture. He's not proud at all!

Is it possible to fall in love that quickly?!

In the nursery being checked over.

Cora's first bath. I think she really liked it. :)

Granny getting to hold Cora for the very first time.

First diaper change! Daddy is a pro at changing diapers!

Cora and Paw Paw together for the first time.