Rebecca Marie Hall

Here she is! 20 inches and 8 pounds, 5 ounces of pure joy!!!

She is finally here!!! After extending my due date and making me go more than a week over that, my doctor finally decided to induce me and let us have our baby girl! We set up the appointment for 6am on Saturday, November 7th. The day before Steven suddenly got really sick, so my sister Alison came up to stay with him so he could be home and have some sense of normalcy. He and Adam were up most of Friday night, so Alison went with me to the hospital for the first few hours of labor, and then she and Adam swapped once things started to really move. Holy cow, it was so fast! They put me on pitocin at 8am, broke my water at 10:30, and then she was born at 2:25. I had hoped to go through labor without an epidural, and I was doing pretty well until a little before 1:00. My contractions were getting so close together, and the pain was incredible. I will say, I was doing really well at staying relaxed and getting through it, but I got so discouraged when the nurse checked me and I had dilated less than a centimeter in over an hour--I was slowing down. So, at just smaller than 6 cm I decided to have an epidural. No more than ten minutes after the anesthesiologist had finished, I began to feel the most intense I-have-to-go-to-the-bathroom pain, ever. The problem was, even though I tried and tried (sorry, tmi), I could not go or release the pressure. The nurse checked me and I was almost dilated to 9 cm. Yes, I went from 6 to 9 within about 45 minutes. The nurse just kept telling me to resist the urge to push, since the doctor wouldn't be there for 5 more minutes. Well, once he came, I pushed for two contractions, and then I got to meet the most beautiful baby girl. They put her on my tummy right away. She was so wide-eyed and alert. She even reached up her had to touch my face. It was amazing. Adam and I were so overcome with excitement and love for this precious little angel.Side note: Looking back, I almost wish I had known that the pain was only going to last for one more hour, because I probably would have gone ahead without the epidural. But then I think about how I felt everything happening but was barely numb enough to not feel the actual pain of it all, and I am so grateful that I did get one.



























Both sets of Grandparents were able to come to the hospital to meet Rebecca. We realized that she is the first grandchild that the Halls have been able to see in the hospital. My mom is staying with us now, and we are really loving having her here. She is the best organizer, and she has magically transformed my dungeon of a kitchen into a clean, open, wonderful room that I am really looking forward to using.














We have been absolutely loving having Rebecca join our family. Since he was sick, Steven wasn't able to go to the hospital to see us, so we had quite the homecoming. I walked in first so that I could have a moment with my baby that I hadn't seen for over 2 days. It was so wonderful to see him again. Then we brought in Rebecca and he was sooooo excited. He kept saying "Gaga" (baby) and pointing at her, stroking her back, and patting her head. He has always loved babies, but it was very clear that this one was different because she was his. Every time he sees her he starts patting her head and doing the hugest smiles I think I have ever seen him make. He loves to give her her pacifier, and he is constantly wanting to be by her. I love seeing them together and how much they love each other.