I'm an Aunt!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I know I've been absent all weekend from this here blog but it was for a good reason. My family and I have been at the hospital all weekend awaiting the arrival of Jake and Christy's baby. It's a girl! Her name is Piper Ann and she's the most beautiful thing I've ever seen. My sister-in-law is Wonder Woman. And my brother is a stud. We are all exhausted and elated. For more details, read on. Otherwise, here are some pictures of Piper. More to come...

Look. At. Those cheeks!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Here's more detail on Piper's story, if you're interested. Christy was due on July 3rd. Well, July 3rd came and went. Christy started having some contractions early on last week but nothing major. They got checked out a couple times but it still wasn't time to have a baby. Finally on Thursday afternoon, July 9th, Christy began having strong contractions. Jake took her to the hospital, where her water broke in triage. At that time she was 100% effaced. She was admitted and we all headed up to the hospital.

We camped out in the waiting room and wait we did. We waited and we waited and we waited. We slept on the floor, just waiting for some news. The nurse would come out periodically and give us updates. Let me explain that Christy was determined to have this baby naturally. No epidural, no c-section. It was very important to her. We were all behind her on that.

The nurse would come out and say, "Okay, she's in the bathtub now." Or "She's dilated at a 6 or 7 now." One time she came out and told us that Jake and Christy were in the room dancing. Precious!

Anyhoo, Christy eventually got stuck at a 9. Things were not progressing. She was exhausted and in a lot of pain. It was decided that in order to avoid a c-section she would get a little Pitocin and a light drip of pain meds. The meds were not for Christy's pain but to give her a chance to rest. She slept for a couple hours and then woke up strenthened and ready to push. In all she was in labor about 27 hours and she pushed for 3 hours. In the end her contractions stopped so she ended up pushing by herself and got that baby out all on her own.

Piper Ann was born at 6:40 p.m. on Friday, July 10th. She weighed 8 pounds even. She was a week late. She had a small collapsed place in each lung and was taken to NICU about an hour after she got to spend some time with Mommy and Daddy. She's been in the NICU all weekend but we're hoping she'll get released from baby jail this afternoon or evening sometime.

She's my new most favoritest thing ever!