Autumn's Arrival to the New World

Finally, our baby girl had arrived to our new world. Her name is Autumn Victoria Shaffer and was born on Nov 23rd, 2007 around 2:04am. She weighs 8 lbs. and 1 oz. with the length of 20 3/4 inches.
AnnaMaria had several contractions on the night before Thanksgiving and all day on thanksgiving. We were glad that we had thanksgiving at our house with both our parents along with her brother Brian. We were all sittting on the couch watching a movie and around 8:30 pm AnnaMaria turned her head to me and said my water broke. I flipped my turbo button (ack can you say Panic ). Running up and down the stairs to get clothes on and grab her bag while Anna's Dad videotaped me running like madness! We arrived at St. Mary Hospital in Knoxville, TN around 9:15pm.
I'm gonna let Anna tell her story because my head was up in the air during the whole incident. But I can say one thing the birth of Autumn was the most amazing moment of my life and I could never stop smiling even in my sleep still have the smile.


(Anna's Version)
The experience of a lifetime that I would gladly do over. It all started at 12:30am Thanksgiving morning, lying in bed and getting cramps/contractions. I turned to Chris half asleep and ask the time. A few mins later it happens again. By the third time Chris was like why are you asking for the time so much? I said contractons he was like oh ok. Nothing to freak over because I'd been having false contractions for months. These kept going on for hours and I knew something was up. I started trying to time them but that's hard when your half asleep. Yes that's right I was still sleeping through them when I could. Come 3am Chris and I were talking/joking, saying C-"Just let me have my turkey." A- "Just let me have my sweet potatoes" heh. We had planned to go over Chris' dad's house for dinner but had to call and be like that's not going to happen. So all throughout the day I was waiting for the 5 min in between the contractions to call the dr. All day they had been running between 7-13 mins. Chris just kept giving me looks like so? I had to keep saying no. Halfway through the day I was thinking that this is proboly another kind of false contractions. After dinner the family sat down to watch some movies. I was thinking about calling my nurse line to see what they could tell me then all of a sudden I had no doubts. I felt a contraction build then burst. My head was lying in Chris' lap so I just turned and looked up and said my water broke (calmly). It was like a blur from there to everyone. Chris got up so fast it felt like he pushed me off the couch heh. It felt like I was the only one not freaking out. I remember saying "chill, nothing can happen without me." Well I changed my clothes and we left for the hospital. I never did get to the 5 mins to call the dr. heh After we got to the hospital and got set up it was all a waiting game. The nurse had asked me if I was getting an epidural and I was like umm yeah! By the time it was ready to push we missed the thanksgiving deadline. Oh darn! Earlier the dr. had mentioned that for 1st time mothers it was normal that they pushed for 2-3 hrs. I was like nah that's not going to happen. So the time came to push at 1:40am. After 2 sets of pushing the dr. was like okkk , that 2-3 hrs of pushing is not going to happen. I told her that I was going for a 2:00 baby. I was so close! It was an amazing and awe inspiring moment. At first I couldn't believe I did that, I still think that sometimes. My baby, I have a baby! Definitly a dream come true. One of the best moments for me is seeing Chris hold Autumn. I've been waiting for that moment ever since I found out I was pregnant. My family, my life, my loves. I'll love them forever.

(Sorry I goofed on the pictures the are not aligned upright so you ll have to turn your monitor or laptop sideway to see some of the pics ) :S