Our story part 2

So after Dierdre came back and reported BM was at a "6" we thought we had plenty of time. I figured it could be mid-late morning before Kate made her arrival. So we kept up with the small chat while Dierdre worked on getting us a room. The plan was for us to have a room on the same floor as the birth family. BM would see her first and then they would bring the baby to us. We all felt very comfortable with that plan.
Probably 5 minutes into our small chat, the birth father ran into the waiting room shouting - he's here! Give me a camera. I just froze! Did he just sy, "he's here!" We all heard it. I questioned him and he said, I mean - "she is here!" Whewwww! I had a flash of panic and a closet at home filled with pink clothes! He said - she is perfect - 10 fingers and 9 toes. Did I mention the birth father thinks he is funny? I did, however, count all 10 toes several times just to make sure he was joking. So he took off with the camera and we went and stood just outside the delivery room. We made it in time to hear her first cry! No lung issues whatsoever - our girl can scream! She had a brief incident with the cord so it took a while to get her to cry but I think she was just waiting for us to hear her. The nurses stopped by and let us see her before taking her to get cleaned up. She stole my heart from the very first time I saw her. I know all parents say this but she is absolutely beautiful! The first thing I noticed was her perfect button nose. It was the cutest thing I had ever seen. Here are some early pics:

After the nurse brought her for us to see, the OB that delivered her came out followed by the pediatrician on duty. Both docs said everything looked great - uncomplicated delivery and she looks to be very healthy! I think that was the first time in a LONG time I could actually take a deep breath followed by a HUGE sigh of relief!

Katherine Faith Lacy was born at 3:07am on Sunday, August 27, 2006. She weighed 6lbs 11oz and was 18inches long. Perfect in every single way.

At this point we were still waiting for a room. Now keep in mind this is a small town hospital. They had just 2 delivery rooms and not many more "recovery rooms." It's not like normal hospitals where they are all one in the same. Well, apparently, the storms or something, caused all of these small town girls to go into labor because before we knew it, there was no room at the inn.

The hospital told us we could stay in the waiting room which consisted of the most uncomfortable chairs - no benches or anything - and that was it. Or we could go find a hotel. We stayed until about 5am and then decided we should probably find somewhere to sleep. We promised to come back in a couple of hours. That was so hard to leave - I can't believe we did but I think the relief of everything being ok just led us to the reality of our exhaustion. We had been up for nearly 24 hours at that point and hadn't slept much in the weeks leading up to her birth. So jay and I headed off to find a hotel. When we got to the local Best Western, they were serving breakfast. We were too exahusted to eat even though we had skipped dinner the night before. We had just ordered Knolla's pizza when we got the call but didn't have a chance to even take a bite before heading out. So, hungry, exhausted and elated we feel asleep. I think we slept maybe an hour before waking up - we had to get back to Kate. I missed her already! We indulged in the hotel's breakfast buffet, packed the diaper bag for the first time and headed back to the hospital.

OK, I think this is a good place to stop. More to come.....

OH and BTW Julie, I tried to call you when Kate was born - I think I may have the wrong #. I will e-mail you my number so you can call me. Don't worry about waking me - since that first morning, I don't think I have slept yet!!