Well it has been a crazy day!

Last night (Friday 5-25-12) Aubrie started having contractions that were slightly harder than she’d been having for the past month. For those that have been following our story, you know we’ve been expecting our second daughter and were already overdue by a couple days. In fact, a month ago we spent the night in the hospital in which they tried to stop pre-term labor. They did a pretty good job! We spent another night in the hospital 3 weeks ago and they were sure we’d be leaving with our child in our arms then. Nope. It wasn’t time…

And, for 3 weeks she had regular contractions and was walking around at about 5 cm dilated.

Well, last night turned into early morning, and the contractions were getting so painful that we decided to go to the hospital as soon as we could.

We got there just after 2 AM and by 2:54 AM we heard the first cries of baby Anabel May Vance! Aubrie went so fast into hard labor that the doctor on call couldn’t get there in time for the delivery! In fact, though Aubrie was in extreme pain, they didn’t have time to get her meds or an epidural to relieve the pain. she went from 6 cm dilated to 10 in a matter of 3 or 4 minutes and only pushed for 2 minutes before Anabel made her grand entry. This baby was ready to be seen!

She weighed in at 7 lb 8 oz, measured 20 1/4 inches long and has been extremely healthy so far.

We decided to name her Anabel, which means Beautiful Grace of God. Her middle name is May, which was my grandmother’s name and is a part of my wife’s grandmothers name.

Amira came in later this afternoon and was thrilled to see her baby sister. She was all smiles. I think they’re going to make a good pair!

We appreciate your prayers. God has been so good to us and has been with us through it all.

Enjoy some pictures from the day….