Hello's and Goodbyes!

This summer has been one of much change. We welcomed our daughter, Johanna, on June 18th. She was a surprise Father's day gift for Rich coming 5 days earlier than expected. She was 7 lbs and .9oz and 18 3/4 inches long. Total labor time was a wopping 2 hours and 45 minutes. In short, I woke up at 3am with pain and started timing them. Once I realized they were 10 minutes apart and getting more painful, I woke Rich up. His response?.."Don't you want to count them some more?" Sure, why not?!! After two more contractions, I called the doctor who responded, "Sounds like you're early, but we're here, so come on in if you want to." I wanted to, so we called our friend S.V. and she came to wait with Jacob. We arrived at the hospital at 5:07 am, and were put in triage because all the delivery rooms were full. They intended to only keep me in there for an hour at most (he he) and started to prep me. I was given an IV, had my blood pressure checked, and hooked up to a monitor. At 5:15am I was finally checked and told I was 5 cm dialated. As the anathesist was asking if I wanted an epideral (?sp) to which I said
YES, YES, I DO!!, I felt something wet(?) down there, so they checked, and as soon as they lifted the blanket..it was like the Red Sea gushing out. (Rich says the person who checked was doused). At that moment, everything got crazy, the doctor yelling for the table to be taken down, and the birthing cart to be brought in, and yelling at me to not push. (yeah right). A whole 15 minutes of pushing (it seemed A LOT longer) and little Joey was here. Rich promises that with any future children, the first sign of pain and we're heading straight to the hospital. I think he's worried that the next one will be born at home. :)

Joey's a lot fun, and keeps us in laughter with her funny faces. She's extremely strong and loves to hold her head up and be held in a standing position. These are early pictures of her at 10 days old, and then on July 4th with her big brother Jacob. I'll post others of her real soon.

This summer we also said goodbye to many dear friends who moved away. Armstrong, Burke, Crow, Moreau, Moslener, Wolfe and VanDuzer's...we miss you all, and hope you like the blog.