Welcome, Emily!!!!

My brother's wife Melinda delivered their first baby last night. Way to go, Melinda! You are awesome!! Emily Claire was born at 9:52 PM CST, and she was 8 pounds, 4 1/2 ounces, and 20 3/4 inches long. Dan says she has "long fingers and toes, and long, narrow feet". We all know where she gets those genes--Papa M! Luke has them too. Dan sent a few cute pictures. She likes to have her hand up by her face.

Melinda's water broke at 9:25 yesterday morning, and they started pitocin around that time. We kept getting updates throughout the day--she was 3 cm at 1:00, she was 5 cm by 5:00, and at 7:15 she was 9 cm. She started pushing at 7:45, took a half hour break at one point, and then Emily was born at 9:52, after 1 1/2 hours total of pushing. That's pretty good for a first baby!

It was hard being this far away! I wanted to know what was happening at all times, and I sort of puttered around nervously all day. We did school, but I spent half the time on the computer checking for updates, LOL. I've had some experience with the whole birthing proces, as you may know, LOL, and I feel that giving birth to your first child is about the most physically demanding thing a woman can do. Once you do that, you can do anything! So I am so proud of Melinda--great job!!! And know that it will never be that hard again, although I am sure you are thinking right now that you will NEVER do that again, not even that which got you in this predicament in the first place! : )

So we're all pretty excited here about another little girl in the family. You know, at the start of last year, my parents had 4 male grandchildren. By the middle of this year, they will have those same 4 male grandchildren AND 3 female grandchildren! We're catching up!