Ready or Not...

I'm typing this with tears in my eyes and a whole days worth of craziness on my mind, so forgive me if I babble a little and if I don't make perfect sense. But to the important stuff...Rylin Marshall is here! All 8lbs 3oz and 21inches! Not that I'm partial or anything, but he's the cutest baby I've ever seen! Rylin is the name T picked for him, which comes from her middle name Riley, and Jordan and I loved it and decided on Marshall for his middle name. We are excited beyond words, but I want to back up and start from the beginning.

Jordan and I met T and her mom for dinner last night at Chili's as we had planned earlier in the week. We had fun talking about some crazy subjects we hadn't explored previously in the last couple of weeks, and eating lots of onion rings and jalapenos(T insisted so that it might induce labor!) After three hours, we finally parted ways and headed home. For whatever reason, Jordan and I could NOT sleep. Earlier in the week, my co workers had a going away/baby shower for us, and yesterday, the sweet girls from church threw us a shower, so I was sorting baby things and writing thank you cards. We finally hit the sack around 2:30am. Little did we know that we weren't the only ones awake! As we were getting ready for church this morning, our home phone rang, and luckily(since we rarely do), I answered it. It was T's mom telling us that she had been admitted and was already dilated to a 3. Our preparations quickly turned to mass ciaos as we ran around the house doing a mixture of tidying and getting dressed. We made it to the hospital around ten, and the wait began. We were immediately taken back to her room, where we stayed with her through some rough contractions until she could finally get her epidural around lunch time. Some of her friends arrived, so because of the limited amount of visitors, we waited in the L&D waiting room. She slowly progressed throughout the day, and we were able to grab something to eat for a late lunch and return. We got to visit with a lot of her friends in the waiting room, and they really went out of their way to make us feel accepted. Her sister was able to drive up from Austin and be there too. Finally, around 8pm they told us that she was ready to deliver. A few of her friends snuck into the hallway to listen outside the door, and came running to the waiting room to announce that they heard crying! Her mom quickly followed to announce his arrival and after T was given a chance to hold him, they let us come back. I really can't begin to describe what it was like because I was in a bit of a nervous haze. Her mom handed him to me as soon as we came in the room and I couldn't believe how big he really was! He squealed and squirmed, but he was still cute! I handed him to Jordan tightly bundled and then it happened...one tear ran down Jordan's face, and the waterworks began for the rest of the women in the room! He quickly handed him back to me. Poor T was in so much pain, and the nurses and Dr.'s were taking FOREVER to give her anything to help. Rylin was squealing in little bursts at this point, so a nurse came and ushered us into a private room so that Jordan and I could hold and rock him. It was a pretty special time, and I am really grateful that the hospital was so accommodating. After a while, they came to take him to the nursery. We followed them so that we could take pictures, and then we went back to check on T. By this time she was thankfully feeling much better(thank God for Morphine), and we got to chat with her for a while before leaving for the night. We arrived home to a hallway full of gifts, because what I didn't mention, was that my family was planning a baby shower for us today! Though I didn't quite make it home for the party, they continued without me! I think my mom probably had a blast standing in and opening gifts. Then my cousin was kind enough to drop it off at our house before we even got home. I really have the best family!

We are still grinning from ear to ear, and we would love to share all our pictures, but for now we will wait to post on the blog. There is still a lot to happen in the next 48 hours, and we are respecting T in that this is her time with her precious baby boy. Although there is so much joy and hope in the continuing relationship of open adoption, there are still some very real losses for T. Please pray that she can enjoy this time with him and that she would be comforted in the days to come.