Our little girl has arrived!

Ella Grace was born Friday February 25th at 7:21pm weighing 6lbs 1 oz in the midst of a snowstorm!!! She was one week early. I had my 39 week appointment and was in the doctors office when they told me I was dialated to a 4 with contractions close together (though I could not feel them), and that I had better go to the hospital. I was so nervous as this took me by suprise! My dad drove me to the hospital because James was at work at the time. I called James to tell him the news. He was so excited and such a trooper! The roads were terrible by the time he got off work and he had to shovel his way to our apartment to get us what we needed for our hospital stay. He finally made it to the hospital around 12:30pm. I was admitted into the hospital around 11:30, my MD broke my water around 2pm and then the looong wait (or what seemed like forever). Mom and dad had arrived in the afternoon and were a great support to us. As time went on my contractions grew stronger, though tolerable ,and I was able to get up and walk around to progress my labor throughout the afternoon. At 5pm I was getting tired and the contractions were begining to get real hard despite our efforts to focus on breathing techniques. The nurse asked if I was ready for an epidural or other pain medication. I decided for the epidural which was administrered around 6pm. My doctor checked me at 6:40pm and said "You're at a 9 1/2...Let's have his baby!" James and I looked at one another and were so excited. I pushed for about 45 minutes and our little bundle of joy had finally arrived. We were overjoyed with emotion and are so grateful to be parents of such a sweet little girl. The doctors were wonderful and we truely feel blessed at this time in our lives.