Lily Joy Rhine!

 Rachel has always liked her princess slippers, but recently taken a liking to sleeping in them.

So here is the story of Lily's birth: I had my doctor's appointment on Thursday afternoon and was only about 1.5 to 2 cm dilated and didn't really expect much since I hadn't been having any regular contractions. Mom and I went for a walk that evening, but my contractions stopped when I sat down. So, around 12:30 am, I woke up having some contractions and decided to start timing them for a few hours. I decided to pack a bag and then woke Matt up to let him in on that. He was slightly confused and then kind of snapped to it. We dropped off Rachel with my parents and headed to the hospital. I was really hoping they weren't going to send me home and when I found out that I was up to 4 cm, I knew they would keep me. We headed over to labor and delivery around 4:30  and my contractions never really started hurting much. I was still at 4 cm hours later. My doctor broke my water and they started the pitocin rather strongly. It kicked in quickly and the painful contractions were coming strong. I soon wanted no visitors and my epidural immediately. Unfortunately, it took over an hour to come and then another 15 or so minutes to complete it. I couldn't wait for my immediate relief (like I had with Rachel) and was greatly disappointed when it didn't come. Fortunately, I dialated from 7 to 10 in a matter of minutes and my nurse gave me the good news that we could start pushing. We had no time to tell anyone that I had progressed to this point, so no one expected a baby so soon. I pushed for about 15 minutes. This was the only part of the labor and delievery that was mostly pain free because the epidural finally kicked in. Matt got to assist in the delievery and then cut the cord. We have no pictures of the delivery or right afterwards because our camera was in the car still and we hadn't had time to go out and get it between the contractions and quick moving labor. So, all of the pictures are of people who visited holding her. Sorry, I wish we had more. She was born at 11:13 am, 8 lb 2 oz, and 19 inches long. She looks a lot like Rachel with her dark hair, but not as much as Rachel. I am thankful that she was 8 days early and so happy to have her in our family!

 Rachel was very blessed to get many little gifts along with Lily. Thanks to everyone who visited and brought us things. We enjoy sharing Lily with our friends and family.

 

 Rachel taking a random nap  in a weird spot.

 Lily's first bottle. She took it well.