A little back story to the slide show. Charlotte was born on Wednesday, June 27 at 2:14 in the afternoon. All along, I had been worried I would not be present at her birth, but by the grace of God (or Gods depending on your view) we were able to arrive in San Diego the night before. Tuesday afternoon I decided to call our birthmother and she told us she had been feeling "funny" all day and was thinking of going to the hospital. James and I decided that was good enough for us, and headed down to SD! It turned out that the drive was a breeze (not always the case driving from LA to SD). It was very surreal. On the one hand, the drive was routine--we listened to the IPOD and talked about work...but on the other hand we knew that we would be making the return trip with a BABY. Holy "bleep". I remember looking up at the moon and thinking, "This is happening. And, it's such a beautiful night. I need to remember how this feels." I asked James if we could finally talk baby names;)
We arrived at 10:00 pm and took our birthmom to the hospital. We were admitted and the waiting really began. All night we got conflicting messages from the nurses and doctor--she was in labor, she was in false labor, they would induce, they decided she would be sent home. I thought I was going to die, but I tried to find my inner patience (ha ha). The following morning after breakfast and a little walk through the halls, our birthmother's labor progressed. After checking her, the doctor told our birthmother very casually that they would break her water, to which I replied, "Excuse me? I don't know if I heard you correctly." To which the doctor replied, "You're going to have a baby." Woo hoo!
Three hours later, Charlotte was born. I was blessed to be there for the delivery, though a bit woozy. I really, really tried not to be! But, woozy or not, I was there. James very patiently waited in the Daddy waiting area, and met Charlotte minutes after her birth. Please enjoy the slide show of our first afternoon with Charlotte. :)