Sarah is Here!!

Can you believe it? Our little Sarah Elizabeth "is born" (in the words of her big brother). We are over the moon with such joy and unbelievable gladness with her arrival!

So...to make a long story long..... :)

We had an induction scheduled for yesterday, Wednesday the 17th. On Monday the doctor's office called Rachel and told her that Dr. Schroeder had been called in to testify in a court case in Conroe on Wednesday morning at 10:20, so we'd have to push the induction to Thursday. We were all pretty bummed with the delay, but in the back of our minds we were wondering if Rachel would go into labor on her own before the induction. She had been having pretty painful though inconsistent contractions for quite a while. Then over the weekend Sarah had dropped and she had quite a bit of nausea, which can be a sign that labor is imminent. Then, on Monday night, her contractions finally regulated, but weren't painful. Rachel went to sleep that night and at about 5 am the contractions had gotten painful enough to wake her up. She timed them for 2 hours and at 7 called me and said "I think we might have a baby today!" I was SO excited. I took a quick shower, dropped Jack off at my friend Tammy's house so she could take him to school for me, and headed to the apartment. Jason met us at Rachel's with donuts for them (he had been at work when she called). After Rachel ate her kolache she and I got in the car and went to the hospital. Jason waited with the girls until Andrew was up and showered and Michele came to the apartment to babysit for them. Then they joined us at the hospital.

By the time we got to the hospital she was already 5-6 cm dilated. It went SO quick! The doctor broke her water at about 10:45 and she got her epidural shortly after. Then the doctor came in again to check her at about 1:35. She took one look and said "I'm going to put on my scrubs." Two pushes later and Sarah was here!

In the delivery room for her birth were Andrew, Jason and I. Here we are when she was about 7 cm. She's still looking pretty cute isn't she??

Here comes Sarah, after just two pushes! Tiny little peanut.

Jason and I held the scissors and cut the cord together.

She cried and cried and cried! She didn't stop until I held her hand and whispered into her ear when she was on the warmer later.

Footprints! Good sized feet for such a small little thing.

Holding Jason's hand. If you look at the side of this page you can see a very similar picture of Jack. In these two pictures you can see just how alike Sarah and Jack look. The similarities are striking! She looks just like her two older brothers. She has Ryan's nose. :)

Our doctor, Barbara Schroeder. Such a sweet woman! She said delivering Sarah was one of the highlights of her career.

First time being held by Aunt Rachel (well, on the outside anyway.) :)

Uncle Andrew.

Sarah was 18.75" and 5 lbs 13 oz. The smallest baby either of the family has seen in quite a while. She's what Rose at church calls a "sweet petite."

Jack meeting Sarah for the first time at about 5 that evening. He is loving being a big brother. This morning (our first morning home) he crawled up next to her and fed her her bottle and told her he loved her. Such a sweet boy! Haha and he kept introducing himself to her this morning. "My name's Jack. I'm three years old." Too funny!

My sweet kiddos.

Meeting Paw Paw

and Nana

Hanging out with the girls in Rachel's room once everyone went home. Grandma and Sarah.

The next morning in the hospital. SO tiny!!

In her carseat once we got her home yesterday at about 4.

Our little love bugs!

There is no doubt that God orchestrated every part of Sarah's existence, and we feel so very blessed that he chose us to be her Mommy and Daddy! Our kids are the best part of our lives and we couldn't be more grateful for them!

Little Sarah so far is such a happy baby. (I told Jason I wonder if this is the calm before the storm. Haha.) She never fusses, she eats and sleeps and is just SO content. Jack was completely the opposite-quite a fussy little dude. We almost don't know what to do with ourselves with such a content little one!!

Rachel is feeling really well. She's sore at the site of the epidural and other injections, but other than that is feeling probably the best she has in 9 months! We couldn't have asked for the delivery to go more seamless than it did. And we have such wonderful family and friends who were help at a moment's notice with the kids and after the delivery. Also, our church has been sweet enough to provide meals for both families for the week. We have an abundance of things to be thankful for this holiday season!