Happy Birthday Leah!

Well, the day finally arrived! On December 31st, 2009 at 3:41am Leah Elizabeth Andrews entered the world! She was 6 lbs. 7 oz. and 19 inches long. She has dark brown hair that actually extends down her neck- hopefully that long hair will not fall out like they say happens with many babies.

The early labor actually started almost exactly 24 hours before she was born- in the early hours of December 30th. It wasn’t very painful in the beginning and so I was surprised when I called the doctor that afternoon and was advised to head to the hospital. Even though my contractions weren’t very painful, and only around 6 minutes apart, they wanted me to go since it had been happening for about 12 hours. So Josh and I dropped Bailey off at the boarding place and headed to the hospital, which is only about a 7 minute drive from our house.

We arrived at the hospital around 2:45 that afternoon and right about that time the contractions began to get very painful. I could barely walk and was told that I was having what they called “back labor”. It was excruciating! We stayed in the Birthing Center triage unit for a few hours but I hadn’t made any progress so they advised us to go home and try to stay comfortable until the contractions got closer or when my water broke. Well, we went home and within 5 minutes of walking in the door my water broke! So, we got back in the car and drove back to the hospital and arrived around 6:30pm.

It wasn’t long until I got the blessing of an epidural and then I was able to relax and rest. The rest of the night was a blur. I remember not feeling any pain (it was a “prefect epidural”, as they called it) but I also remember it being VERY exhausting! Between sets of pushing I would almost fall asleep! Toward the end howvere, I developed a very high fever which had the doctors and nurses concerned but soon enough it was over and there was Leah! It was amazing to finally see her- it felt like we had been waiting so long!

Josh was absolutely wonderful the whole time. Not only was he supportive and loving of course, but he was actually a great “coach”. He really took charge, and despite having great doctors and nurses, I really felt more confident and safe with him taking the lead- I couldn’t have done it without him.


Our stay at the hospital was very pleasant. All the nurses were very kind and helpful and it was nice to be able to relax and recover for a few days in such a supportive environment- not to mention having room service available was pretty great too! I would love to have that now! Anyone want to mail us a casserole?? lol

For now we have posted pictures on Facebook. We hope you enjoy all of the pictures and I will continue to post more as I find time when I’m not trying to sleep! Please be patient with us too as we try to return all the phone calls- if you have a baby you know how crazy this time is right now. We truly appreciate all the calls and messages and we can’t wait to chat with everyone! We love you all and can’t wait to see you when we come to Florida in May- Leah is looking forward to meeting everyone!