A Birth Story...

...Continued

Sophia Colette Nourse

After 45 minutes of cleaning me up, we were ready to introduce our beautiful little girl to the family waiting down the hall. Jared roused Grandma Becky, Auntie Anna, and Papa Nourse from their sound sleep, and proclaimed "It's a girl!" They all came in with smiles and tears flowing in abundance. Grandma Becky was the first one to hold little Sophie, followed by Aunt Anna. Unfortunately Papa Nourse had a very bad cold, and was only able to look on in love. Phone calls were made that spurred Grandpa Jim and Uncle Nathan to come rushing to the hospital. After about an hour of oodling and cooing at the baby, the family went home to get some sleep, with promises to return in the morning.

Around 5AM, Erin and Richard arrived to get their peek at our little one. Erin stayed with Sophia and me while Jared, Richard and Nathan ran to McDonald's for some long-awaited nourishment (Jared and I had not eaten since 2PM, and even then we split a grilled cheese so it wasn't much). While the boys were gone, the nurse came in to do Sophia's footprints! She was so good and held very still. We quickly realized that she has daddy's long toes!

Everyone left by 6AM, and it was time to get some rest. After about an hour of sleep, various nurses came in to assess mother and baby, and make sure we were both recovering okay. The pediatrician checked Sophia and said she was doing great! She did mention that she heard a small heart murmur, but that was pretty normal in newborns and that she would check it again the next day. The rest of that day (Thursday) was filled with guests, gifts, assessments, eating, smiling and sleeping. It was surreal, yet wonderful. How could this amazing, beautiful little baby be ours?