Thanks again Falynn!

A HUGE thank you to Falynn Dial from Falynn Dial Photography who on very short notice drove all the way to IU North for my delivery.  She captured all of these photos for me.  (Don't blame the editing on her. That was all me).  She's a friend of mine and her presence and conversation really helped me relax.  Within an hour of her arriving, my contractions really picked up and she watched me go to crazy labor town.  Falynn, I hope I didn't scare you away from natural childbirth (if you ever have another baby)!  It was actually really fun ;).  

Don't worry, people.  I didn't include anything too revealing or gross.  Oh, and if you want to read my birth story, look here.  

LOVED this ball!  

The package was from my MOPS group.  D'arcy was adament that we bring it so after the baby came we could open it up to see if the baby was a boy or a girl.  The MOPS group knew what we were having, but by that point so would we.  

Here was the yogurt I requested and was going to eat while the nurse was out of the room.  Guess what?  I'm not going to starve myself during labor!  Labor got going before I had a chance, though.  It was waiting for me after she was delivered, and this midwife who just happened to come in with mine fed it to me.  I had never met this lady, but she fed me yogurt and told me she was proud of me and gave me a hug.  It was awesome.  

This girl got me excited when she came to set things up, but the hard work was just starting.  

It's 1:15 and I had just started having contractions that I could feel.  We (me feeling them and Stephen seeing them on the monitor) kept saying excitedly "Ohhhhh, this is a good one.  We'll get somewhere with this one!"  That excitement lasted a brief ten minutes.  Then I started to ask, "Is it too late for an epidural?!  Please, you've got to do SOMETHING."  Baby was born at 2:05 so I didn't suffer too long (according to people watching me).

I'm loving this lip pout.

My mom, Stephen's mom, and D'arcy decided to pray.  I'm so glad that all three of them got to be in the room with me!

Here I am taking a break from all my unnecessary pushing (aka pushing when I wasn't fully dialated).  Stephen is looking at the monitor because the doctor noticed I was having a contraction and wasn't doing anything.  I took a break which was all my body needed.  Penelope was born on the next contraction.

That's D'arcy's little hand cutting the cord!

I LOVE my facial expressions on the ones below.  It really shows the range of emotion that I was experiencing; relief and joy.

I liked my nurse very much.  Looking back at pictures, my craziness might have entertained her.

My present from the MOPS ladies!  We learned it was a girl from this onesie.