Welcome to the World!

As most of you have heard, we had our little bundle of joy. We named her Emily Grace Lewis and she is the light of our world!

We went into the hospital on Wednesday at 6:30 and I was given some drugs to speed things along. By 11:00 I was given some pitocin and my contractions slowly started. They came to check on me around 1:15 and I was already 5 cm dilated! I was reluctant to get an epidural because of the side affects after the delivery -- I didn't like the idea of being numb from the waist down and not being able to walk on my own. But by 3:00 I was in too much pain to wait and went ahead with it! I was 10 cm by 3:45 and then started pushing shortly after. I only had to push for an hour and then Emily was born at 4:44 PM on Wednesday, May 17th. It was only 5 hours from the start of the contractions to the delivery and to my surprise it was remarkably not difficult. I'm sure the epidural was a big help in that!

The recovery is going as well as can be expected. Emily is adjusting really well to life and is feeding all the time! I'm pretty sore but am getting better with every day.

I can't believe how happy Nelson and I are. We never knew how much we could love someone until we had Emily -- it's amazing! She is so wonderful! For example, I was telling Nelson last night during one of her late-night feedings how exhausted I was. Everytime she cries out for food or diaper changings and we see her beautiful little face, we totally forget about how tired we are or what we're doing at 2:30 AM. It's unbelievable!

Here are some pictures of her with us and with my parents. You should see my parents too -- they are so happy and giddy! It's like Christmas for them, they are so happy! :)

We'll keep posting more pictures as the days go by. Thank you all for your prayers & support through the whole pregnancy and delivery. We could not have done it without you -- we love you all!