I'm officially a MOM!

Our little girl finally made her debut! Sydney Noelle Lyons was born Monday, December 22nd at 7:14 a.m. She weighed 6 lbs and 11 oz and was 19.5 inches long.
I am still amazed by the entire pregnancy and birth and I must say that having a child is truly a miracle! A definite gift from God!
Short version of the story:
I started having contractions Sunday evening around 8:00. I didn't think anything of them. They were mild and were about 15 minutes apart. Felt like minor cramps. I called my college roommate Sophia (who is a nurse), and she said to wait until the contractions were 5 minutes apart for 1 hour before going to the hospital. I thought that would be sometime Monday morning because I know the first stage of labor usually takes a while. Plus, I had been to the doctor on the previous Thursday and was not dilated at all. So I thought this would be a slow process. Well, by 11:00 the contractions were coming closer together and were definitely starting to get stronger. I tried to go to sleep and was hoping to wake up later on in the morning when they were closer together. Then we could go to the hospital. Sleep was not an option. By 12:30 a.m. I was in a lot of pain and I told Ricky to start timing the contractions. They were 3 minutes apart!
I decided we should go to the hospital just to get checked out. I figured the worst they would do is send us home. We got there around 1:45 a.m. and come to find out, I was not dilated at all. I'm sure the nurse thought I was a wimp because my contractions couldn't have been that bad if I wasn't dilated. She said she would monitor me for a little while. She came back 45 minutes later and told me she would give me something for the pain and she was about to say "go home and come back a little later". But before she said that I told her that I was starting to feel fluid leaking. (sorry for the details) She checked me again and said "oh my gosh, you are 3 cm dilated, you aren't going anywhere". That was music to my ears!
We were moved to a labor and delivery room and they took blood, hooked up my IV, and gave me some pain medicine. That didn't help at all, just made me a little loopy. After another hour, I was 6 cm dilated. By the time the anesthetist came by to give me the epidural, I was at 7 cm. She told me I was going to have this baby in the next 2-3 hours so they recommended just a temporary spinal block instead of an epidural. Basically it just numbs you for a short period of time. That worked for me! By 6:30 a.m. I was pushing and Sydney was born at 7:14 a.m. She did not waste any time making her way into the world! Which was fine with me!
Ricky and I are thrilled to be parents and can't believe she is finally at home with us. We are all doing well and will definitely enjoy this Christmas!

I'm ready for this baby girl to arrive!

Here is a picture of me at 39 weeks and 4 days. I am anxiously awaiting the arrival of our baby. I'm definitely feeling run down and tired (as you can tell in the picture). I had a doctor's appointment on Thursday and she said I was still not dilating, but continuing to thin out. Since my due date is Tuesday, she asked me to come in on Monday for another check. She seems to think our baby will be a few days late, meaning sometime between Christmas and New Year's. So all we can do is wait...

Getting ready for baby

I just have to share this picture with you...

The past few weeks I have spent a lot of time in the nursery - arranging clothes, organizing the closet, sorting through gifts, etc. Ricky has done his fair share of work too - he painted the nursery and installed the shelves in the closet, hung the artwork, and put together the crib. Two weeks ago I washed all of the newborn baby clothes, sheets, blankets, burp cloths, towels, washcloths, etc. I wanted everything clean so when we brought her home I didn't have to worry about anything. Well, Ricky helped me fold some of the clothes and that's where this picture came from. He was having way too much fun with the socks! We both couldn't believe how tiny they are!

No Baby Yet!

38 Weeks
Well, I had a checkup yesterday and our little baby girl is not ready to enter the world yet. Things are progressing, but I'm not dilating yet. I was really hoping the full moon tonight might influence her to arrive early, but I don't think that's going to be the case. She might be a Christmas baby after all!
I have decided to stop worrying about it and enjoy the last 2 weeks of pregnancy. And the quiet! Because I know our lives are about to be turned upside down!
We got our Christmas tree and put up all of our decorations last weekend. I finished my Christmas shopping yesterday, thank goodness. I had to shop in short intervals because my legs and feet get really tired. It's funny to see everyone at the mall staring at me. You would think they had never seen a pregnant woman before. :)
I will post a picture tonight or tomorrow. My belly hasn't changed much from 2 weeks ago. I don't think it has gotten any bigger. Maybe just a little lower...