Announcement....

 So guess what . . . I had the baby!!  I went into labor on Thursday, July 28th at 3:30 am.  The contractions were too heavy for me to sleep, but didn't really hurt. So I labored until the contractions were really, really heavy, and at noon I went to the hospital.  I was only dilated to a three, so they made me wait until I was a four to give me anything to curb the pain.

I always heard that labor was awful, but it was worse than I ever imagined.  Wow.  The good news is, at 3:00 pm they gave me my epidural and the pain ceased that instant.  (It normally takes about 15 minutes to kick in, but the anesthesiologist felt bad for me and gave me something extra to make it work fast).  The epidural was the most wonderful thing EVER - for a moment I think I loved the anesthesiologist more than I loved Sam!   Anyway, the rest of the labor was wonderful.  I felt a slight pressure when I had contractions, but never hurt.  The worst part about pushing was having to hold my breath!  Anyway, the baby was born at 7:02 pm.  She weighed 7 lbs. 2 oz. and was 19 1/2 inches long.   We named her Seara Kaye Ricks.

 I got advice to doll up for pictures, and remembered seeing others looking to exhausted right after their babies were born, so while I was at home waiting for my contractions to be heavier, I took a shower, did my makeup, and fixed my hair all cute.  The pictures didn't turn out half bad!