And now presenting Ruby June Peay . . .

Born: September 10, 2009 at 8:16 a.m.
Weight: 8 lbs 4 oz
Height: 20 1/2 inches

After what I am sure was some careful deliberation, Ruby decided that she did not want share a birthday with the 9/11 terrorist attacks and decided to come a day early. It was about 5:30 a.m., just as Sam was getting ready to leave for school, when I felt the first contraction. For a second I considered telling Sam not to go, but the contraction felt pretty much like all of the Braxton Hicks I had been having so I rolled over and went back to sleep instead. About 6:00 the contractions were too strong for me to stay in bed so I got up and started getting ready. A half hour later they hurt bad enough that I decided to call the hospital and get their opinion as to whether or not they thought the contractions might be real (I still didn't think they were). They suggested I come in so I called a friend to take Ollie and then headed toward the hospital. I had been trying to call Sam during this same time but he was in is car and had his phone on vibrate so he never answered. By now the contractions were practically unbearable. I will admit to doing a bit of yelling while I was in the car by myself. I never reached the point of profanity but I am certain that the people around me must have thought I was suffering from turrets. During the whole drive my only thought was, "I hope they give me an epidural even though I am probably only dialated to a two."

I finally got a hold of Sam and informed him that I was on my way to the hospital. He was just walking into class and had to turn around and jump in his car for the hour drive back home. When I got to the nurses station my first line was "can I please get an epidural." They didn't believe that I was really in labor and slowly walked me back to triage to check. To everyones surpise - including my own - I was dialated to a nine. They immediately wheeled my bed to a delivery room and began poking IV's into me. They managed to get me a spinal tap and just as it began to take effect my doctor told me it was time to push. I pushed with one contraction and out popped Ruby. She came face first, or what is called a face presentation, our doctor just referred to it as "sunny-side up". It means that instead of the crown of her head coming out first, her face was the first thing everyone saw. As a result she looked pretty bruised up, like she had just come off worse in a bad boxing match. But she was perfectly healthy. Sam arrived about 15 minutes after she made her debut. Poor guy.

Becuase of the rush - and the lack of a husband to hold the camera - we don't have any pictures of Ruby fresh from the oven, but here are some moments that we did manage to capture. We are home from the hospital now and are both doing great. We are so excited to have our little "junebug."