It's time....

Dear Laura,
October 25,2009.
That was the day that you came blazing into our lives. That is the day that all of us will remember for as long as we live. It was...the best day of my life.

That morning at about 7, I was sleeping like a baby in my bed when Mommy walked into my room. She told me that she had been having consistent contractions. As far as I recall, she had been having contractions since the night before, but they weren't very strong or very close together. So I went into her room to sit with her and we timed the contractions. They weren't close together, but then they would space out, then the would be close again...and they weren't extremely painful for her. Mommy said that she didn't know if she should go to the hospital or not....I sat there, looked at her and said, "I think you should go in because I don't know how to deliver a baby!" So we decided to go. Daddy was at work, so Bubba stayed home with Nunu and Brother. We got to the hospital and went up to the labor and delivery floor. The lady at the front desk had Mommy sign some papers while we waited for a room to become available. We were used to the labor and delivery floor because Mommy had been getting non-stress tests done often the last few weeks of her pregnancy with you. The nurse finally took us to a room. Mommy changed and they said she was dialated to a 7! But for some reason me and Mommy thought that the nurse said that Mommy was the same. We thought she meant she was the same as she was at her doctor's appointment which was a 1. So when we realized that she was a 7, we were shocked! My heart dropped. I knew that we would soon find out the things that we had been waiting to find out. 6 months of waiting. I finally was in my comfort zone....and now, I would have to step out because things were about to change. I obviously knew that this time would come, but I guess I hadn't really thought about it alot....I hadn't played it out in my mind or anything(like I usually do). Soon, Grandma and Grandpa showed up at the hospital. It was about 8:30 or 9 a.m. by this time. Bubba was at home with the boys and had no way of getting to the hospital because he had to watch Brother and Nunu. So Aunt Joely and cousin, Corey, headed to the hospital. Uncle Ricky took the day off to go watch Brother and Nunu at home, and Daddy took off of work to head to the hospital. Mommy was so worried because with Brother and Nunu, she went so fast once she hit 7 cm so she thought that she would have to deliver you without Daddy and Bubba there. Brenda, Sierra, Louie, and Sierra's friend, Sam, arrived at the hospital to be there for us. Daddy and Bubba finally arrived and we were so relieved.

While we were visiting with everyone in Mommy's labor room, your heart rate started going down. It scared us because of your heart defect. I was crying. I was so scared because I didn't know what would happen to you. Brenda and Sierra were in the room at the time and they left because we were all upset and crying. And they wanted to leave us alone as a family. Your heart rate kept dropping so they started preparing us all for an emergency c-section. I was so scared, baby. I didn't want anything bad to happen to you or to Mommy. Right when they were getting ready to take Mommy, your heart rate went back up and stayed there. It was a little low, but not as low as it was. They checked Mommy and she was 10 cm dialated and ready to push. Only me, Daddy, Bubba, and Grandma were allowed to stay in the room while she delivered you. We were so sad that Aunt Joely couldn't be in there. We had planned for her to be there the whole pregnancy, but the new hospital rules forced us to change our plans. My heart was beating so fast as they prepared Mommy for delivery. I was so anxious because I didn't know what to expect especially because the NICU doctor told us that you would most likely be born blue and that you wouldn't be crying because of your heart defect. That was such a scary thought. I had so many questions in my head. Did you have Down syndrome? Would you be blue? Would you be crying? Would your have Trisomy 13? 18? Would you have a heart defect? We were told that you would have a heart defect and Down syndrome, but we had been praying the whole pregnancy and we didn't know if God's plans were for you to have both of those things. God is so much bigger than any diagnosis so we were still unsure. Mommy pushed a couple times and out your came.....pink and crying. The reason your heart rate was dropping was because your cord was wrapped around your neck..not because of your heart defect! I remember seeing your face. It was smooshed, but oh so cute. I knew that you had Down syndrome as soon as I saw you, but I didn't care. You were pink. You were crying. You were going to be ok. I was crying tears of joy. I ran over to the table to take pictures. I was in charge of the camera and Bubba was taking video.

You were so beautiful. It was so amazing to see you...the baby that we had cried over, the baby who we had been praying over. You were not what I expected. You were so much better. I just stood there, taking pictures of you. I remember smiling, laughing, and crying at the same time because I was so happy. The nurses probably thought that I was nuts ;)

They cleaned you up and took you over to Mommy so that she could hold you for a few minutes before they whisked you off to do your apgar scores and to make sure that you were ok.

It was so quick. A few minutes was not enough for us. I wasn't even allowed to hold you. I held Nunu and Brother less than an hour after they were born, but I did not know when I would be able to hold you. We spent those few minutes marveling at you. Touching your perfect little creased hands and your perfect little spaced toes. We took some pictures and took in those few minutes. They soon came and took you away. Mommy got cleaned up, and I went to the waiting room to tell everyone that you had arrived. I proudly announced that you were born at 1:30 p.m. and that you were 7 lb.s 8 oz. and 18 in. long. I was so proud! A smile never leaving my face :) I ran into Grandpa and Aunt Joely in the hallway. I told them the stats and then I told them that you were pink and crying. I barely got the words out when me and Aunt Joely broke down with tears of joy. We held eachother in the hallway, crying. God was working a miracle in our lives. Your apgar scores were an 8 at 1 minutes old and a 9 at 5 minutes old. Pretty amazing scores for a heart baby if you ask me! :) They brought you back into the room again for a few more minutes. Aunt Joely, Sierra and Brenda were in there this time so they got to meet you too! After a while, me, Bubba, Corey, Louie, Sierra, Sam, and Brenda went to Baker's to get something to eat. It had been a long day and we hadn't had anything to eat so we were all pretty hungry. We headed back to the hospital and Brenda, Louie, Sierra, and Sam headed back home since they lived almost an hour away. We stayed at the hospital til pretty late. You weren't with us though...you were in the NICU. So we stayed with Mommy while she ate and we all talked and laughed and took pictures. We were all so sad that you weren't with us though. We are all so used to being able to spend alot of time with newborns in our family when they are first born, but with you we couldn't :( We finally left the hospital to go home. We got to tell Nunu and Brother that you were here and I proudly showed them your picture! We put the boys to bed then went to bed ourselves. We knew we would be up early the next morning to have another long day :)

I love you to the moon and back 1,000 times x 10!

Love,
Sissy