The longest night of our lives.

Ok so last night was officially the longest night of our lives. Saturday night Mandy started having contractions and by 4:30 in the morning they were only 9 minutes apart. Being the good pastor I am, I went to church on sunday and Mandy's family stayed with her. She had one request on sunday afternoon. Chicken fried steak from Furrs. By the time we got home from Furrs, around 3:45, we were at 5 minutes apart for an hour so we called the doc and he said come on to the hospital. We got there and she was only dilated to a 3 so they talked about sending us home. However the babies heartbeat was fluctuating so they decided to admit us. They moved us up to labor and delivery and around 6:30 the babies heartbeat dropped from 145 to 50. It was so freaking scary. They threw Mandy on her side and gave her oxygen but wouldnt tell us what was going on. After a lil while the doctor came in and told us that there was no amniotic fluid in the sac but her water never broke. This ticked us off because last week our doc was out of town so we went to another doc and Mandy asked about it because she was noticing fluid leaking out and the doc was like "don't worry you will be fine" and then we get to the hospital and our doctor was like "why havnt you already been here to the hospital" It scared us bad. He told us that there was a significant chance we were going to have to do a c section but he wanted to let nature take its course. Mandy got her epidural (an experience that she wont soon forget and she will have to tell you all about later). Then it was waiting time. Around 11 pm we were all sitting in the room and the nurses come racing in telling everyone to get out because the heartbeat had dropped. Doc came in and said we are going to do a c-section right then. So after all the prep that goes into a c section and getting Mandy prepared, at 11:53 pm on Sunday Night I got to hold my daughter for the first time. It was so awesome. Her name is Annalise Caroline Cawley and she was 6 lbs 7 ounces of nothing but pure cuteness. I already love her so much. Mandy is doing fine but didnt get to hold her for the first time til almost 3 this morning and then we got about 3 hours sleep. Today has been resting and relaxing and loving the baby and trying to get this whole breastfeeding thing down. (i never knew that would be hard to do) We are expected to go home Wednesday to begin our life as 3 not 2. WOW!!

One of the great things about all this is how evident God was throughout the whole process. Our doc is a real strong believer and he was out of town all week and only got in Sat night. Sunday when we got there, they couldnt fine our prenatal records so the doctor went to the office and personally handdelivered them (tell me another doctor that would do that on a sunday afternoon). The crazy thing is was he got here literally 5 minutes before the first heart rate scare. Talk about God's timing. He was here to check on her immediately. Then all the nurses were comforting us and give us support all night. When the last heart rate drop happened, the doc was on his way back in and was only a 1/4 of a mile away so he was here in less than 5 minutes to make the call of the night. And then before he started the c section on Mandy he stopped and prayed over the baby and Mandy. It brings tears to my eyes just talking about it. God is so good. This morning he came by and said everything was good. The pediatrician we have picked doesn't have rights at this hospital so they assigned us one. So he comes by this morning and the first thing he starts talking about is going on a mission trip to Ethiopa w/o even knowing where we stand spiritually. It was so cool.

Its always said that the Holy Spirit will lead us into contact with the right people and this is definitely the case. God really showed and this is such a testament to his love and devotion to us. To hold this little ball of God's creation and know that he made her inside Mandy is just amazing. Simply amazing. Its wicked awesome yo.