Big Deal!

I've witnessed a lot in the past 24 hours. I watched a baby being born, held her when she was just minutes old, and I even saw a placenta (which they don't show you on A Baby Story!).

Mike and Reyna were nice enough to invite me along for the birth of their fourth baby. We went in last night and they induced her around 10 p.m. After some scary moments when they thought she might have to be born by c-section, she stuck it out and was born at 7:19 this morning. She's 7 pounds, 9 ounces and absolutely beautiful. She didn't even have that squished-face thing going on. And I was the third non-medical person to hold her.

I still haven't slept, and am pretty much delirious at this point, so I'm not even going to attempt to describe what it was like watching her go from a blip-blip-blip on the monitor to a live human being in just a moment. It's crazy to even think that I watched another human being start. I saw her first breath, heard her cry for the first time, and watched her make her first mischief - getting the black footprint ink all over herself and the baby nurse from kicking and squirming on the table.

Welcome to the world, Cadence Katherine (I am so calling you Catie Kate forever!)! Thank you for coming out the natural way. And thank your mommy and daddy for letting me tag along and be a part of your birth day. I hope you've stopped crying by now...