I love how for the last 9 months I had this countdown to our awesome due date… 1-11-11. I loved saying it everytime someone would ask and when I thought to myself, wouldn’t it be fun if she actually came on this date. I knew there was a 3% chance that she would arrive on the date and low and behold she was a part of the 97% that do not come on their due date. On December 11th we shot Catherine & Dave’s beautiful wedding and they were so much fun to photograph. Not only were they such a beautiful couple but they were so understanding in letting me leave the reception early to put my feet up, rest and let Coty finish out the evening. At this point I was 35 weeks and 4 days so not quite full term yet. In fact we had our 36 week appointment set for the following Wednesday to have the big talk about birth plans, when to call the doctor, when to go to the hospital… all the stuff that would have been nice to know on December 12th.

So Sunday came and early morning I started feeling funny, having some cramps here and there. I finally picked up my “what to expect when you’re expecting” book and judging from my symptoms I had had it said I was going to go into labor within 24 hours. At that moment Coty was at the grocery and I sat up on the couch and looked at the travel system sitting in the living room and laughed out loud. I remember thinking, this book is trying to freak me out. What I didn’t know was that the book was correct and God was not playing a dirty trick on me. That evening I called my midwife and she said to come on into the hospital, I might just be dehydrated and there was no need to bring my stuff. We decided to bring the stuff with us and as I penciled the time of my contractions down on a purple post it I began to wonder if I was really labor. We dropped our crazy dogs off at my mom’s house around 2 in the morning and by 3 I was checked into the labor and delivery 100% effaced and 4 centimeters dilated. The words I’ll never forget the nurse say “You’re going to have a baby today”. Not gonna lie, I had a moment when Coty stepped out of the room to call the family. I began to realize I was having a baby, the moment I had been counting down for was finally here, the moment that would change my life forever was now. As we got settled into our room and I got the nifty epidural I then emailed our bride for that weekend Christy. I didn’t want her to get on facebook and see I was in labor and begin to freak out, because if it was me, I’d freak out. Thankfully she’s a photographers dream for a bride in this situation, understanding and so sweet about it all.

Around 7 it was time to start pushing so thats what I did, for an hour I pushed. With not much progress my midwife suggested I take a nap. Not sure how many get to take a nap but I did and it helped a little. Then again at 8 something I began to push again for another hour with not as much progress as they liked so they called in the big doctor. Coty loved how when things got serious a flood of nurses came in with the Doctor. He also found it amusing how the nurses and midwife have to get themselves ready on their own, but Dr. Isabelle lifts his arms and the nurses put on his scrubs for him, so funny. So within 15 minutes of him being there our daughter made her arrival, finally.

At 9:44 am Molly Annrenee came into this world. She weighed 5 pounds 11 ounces and was 18 1/2 inches long. She had a full head of gorgeous brown hair like her mom and she has her daddy’s eyes.

Photo taken by my brother Brett Anderson

Molly with her cousin Kinsley, you may remember her blog post back in May. They are 7 months apart and best friends already.

This was taken actually on her due date 1.11.11

Ironically the day she was born it snowed like crazy and then again on her due date, she’s like our little snowflake. So thankful that even though she was 4 weeks early she is as healthy as they come and God is just so good. You’ll definitely see more of her on the blog, its fun to have a little model in the home, our dogs are a little jealous.