Birth of Ellie

The waiting was awful. I've never been so anxious about a baby's birth in my life. My brother and sister-in-law called yesterday (Sunday, November 21) in the afternoon to tell us that Valerie was in labor, and that they were getting ready to leave for the birthing center pretty soon.

I just about squealed on the phone, "Ohmigosh, are you serious?"

Valerie and Andrew laughed, "That was a GREAT reaction!"

Later in the afternoon, I had the opportunity to talk to them via conference call with my mom, dad, Gram E., and my little brother, Jonathan.

Every so often, Andrew would send a mass text message on the status of the labor. I was sure the baby would be born in the wee hours of the morning. Things seemed to have been moving so fast. But alas, when I awoke, no news. For twelve hours the only message I had was that labor was hard, Valerie was exhausted, and that the baby had not turned. I prayed and tried not to worry. If you know me, the trying-not-to-worry part was less than successful.

Finally, Andrew texted that all were doing well and that they were all exhausted. But still no other information. We had to read between the lines that the baby had been born. Ugh, men! I am partially joking about the gender stereotype, but that was just frustrating. We knew they had been through a lot, but we were sitting on the edge of our chairs emotionally with a text that provided no relief of our worries: "Please do not worry. All three are healthy. Valerie and I have not slept and are extremely exhausted and on bedrest. We are happy to call and share the news after some rest. Thanks. We love you all."

*sigh* At the time, it was good to know they were okay but really hard to hear so little. It was so awful to be 1,100 miles away from family through things like this. Andrew finally called at 6:15 pm to tell me that the baby had been born at 9 am, a beautiful, red-haired, baby girl named Ellie.