I'd like to introduce you to....

....a great story. A story of love, triumph, laughter, tears, and...well, a new life. This was a day that my family will never forget and one that will be treasured forever. This is the story of Blankity Blank Blank. *Editors note: can't reveal the name until the very end, just like my stupid big brother. Yes, he wouldn't tell any of us the name of this baby girl until we met her. So I won't tell you either! Just keep reading...it will be worth it.

9:30am I get a call from my brother saying that Chris' water broke. This was shocking because it was 8 days early, so no one (except for Matthew and Chris probably) was prepared at all. I texted Ashley the good news and waited for the official word to go to the hospital. I wanted to leave immediately, but Matthew said it would be pointless... contractions far apart, no word from the Doc, nothing really to report. Just wait. And wait some more.

I had a hard time focusing at work (do you think any Toyota Service customer cared about my pending uncle-dom?? Nope. They were worried about the stupid recall! Idiots!) I kept texting and wanting to leave but decided to wait and leave around 4PM. I went to lunch and it dawned on me - WE HAVE NO CHAMPAGNE. Quickly I ran into Costco and made an impluse purchase. Dom Perignon it is! I mean come on. When will the 1st grandchild ever be born again?? When will my 1st neice ever be born?

At 7PM still no word from Matthew on what is going on...only things like "We're still waiting to hear from the Doc". Vague. I hate vague. I wanted to hear "Baby will be here 9PM!" Nope. The word from M is have dinner, take your time, it will be a while.

So we eat dinner with Dad and Carrie and head to the waiting room around 9:30PM and are so full of excitement! We want to meet this baby and hold her and be merry....little did we know, this was going to be one long freaking night. We meet my mom and friend Kim and waited. We check emails, play cribbage, read magazines, and wait. For something, anything! Another family comes and meets their new baby before we hear anything! Jealousy sets in.

Finally Matthew comes out and says they are hoping for a 1AM delivery. Sounds good to us, we say. Can't wait! So we wait some more. And get tired. Matthew says "go home, get some rest". We do, and come back at 1:00. But every time I think about how tired and pathetic I feel, I think of Chris. I think of a baby entering the new world and I smile. I realize that my 'troubles' and weariness pale in comparison to Chris. We hear that she starts pushing at 1:47AM. This is great news! The end is near!

2:47...still pushing. We are worried. And tired. 3:15, pushing. 3:45 I am sleeping on a hard floor, Dad is fighting fatigue. We think of Chris and perk up. And almost cry. 90 minutes of pushing?? Can't they do something?

I get a great idea to download some iPhone games at about 4am....this keeps us entertained for about 20 minutes (highlighted by my dad giggling at "Paper Toss", and then cussing it out because he couldn't make the damn paper into the waste basket!). We go back to worrying, because Chris has now hit the 3.5 hour mark of pushing. It seems inhumane to us. Finally, Kim (the birthing coach) comes out and gives us bad news. She has to go into surgery to have a C Section. This is devastating for a myriad of reasons. We thought, Why couldn't they have done this 4 hours ago? Why did she have to go thru all of this pain and frustration when this could have been done a while ago? On the other hand, that means that the end really is in sight. That means the nameless baby is almost here!

Or so we thought. Matthew tells us to go home, you will not be able to see the baby until about 10AM. Surgery, along with recovery, moving rooms and a bit of rest means we all have to keep waiting. But we oblige and leave the hospital, frustrated and sad. But hopefully that everything will go ok. We think of Chris...the pain medication, the effort, the pushing, the tears, the fighting for her daughter's life. It is almost overwhelming and we all dream of the moment when we can meet baby blank. So we head to Ashley and I's apartment to get a few hours of sleep.

And a few it is! We sleep from 6:30 to 8:42, when my dad calls because he can't sleep. Let's get coffee and some food, he says. Ok, we're all awake too. But suddenly I hear my phone do the text thing that it does and read: She's here! 7:55am! 7lb 9oz and beautiful like her mother. We scream and throw our clothes on! Can we come now? No, we have to wait until 11 to meet her.

Naturally, we get to the hospital at 10 hoping to maybe break some rules to see her early. Matthew comes out to meet us. More bad news. Chris is having a terrible time recovering and we have to keep waiting. What is the baby's name, for crying out loud?? You'll have to wait, he says. My dad offers him $300 to tell us, and he declines. IDIOT! I offer to hogtie him and beat it out of him...he declines that as well.

So we wait. And wait. I get some wedding planning done. Carrie and Dad cancel work meetings. Ashley declines sub jobs. We wait. We worry. We can't wait to meet blankity blank blank baby blank blank!!!!!!!

My dad says, "This baby is stubborn, just like her dad!" My mom says, "She is patient, just like her mom". I say, "She will be beautiful. Just like her uncle".

Matthew texts us: move to floor 4, it is time! I look at the clock: 1:17PM. I first got the call 32 hours ago. It has been a long day. We watched as 3 other families met their babies, natural delivery and all. We saw the same guy who fell off his chair in the waiting room and kept snorting meet his twin granddaughters. We saw another grandma in the waiting room come and go and go...and yet we didn't even know my neice's name!!!!!

2:15. Matthew comes to the waiting room. Are you ready, he asks? My dad says, No let me finish my magazine artic-OF COURSE WE ARE READY!!!!!!. So we march back to room 462 begging for the name. We go to 462 forgetting how tired we once were and tired Chris actually is and realize we are going to meet a baby girl who has just entered this world!

We are introduced to a beautiful, calm baby whos voice simply squeaks. She opens her eyes, squeaks again. Matthew can't keep his eyes of her. Neither can we! She is perfect. She has fingernails! She has a head full of beautiful black hair! She is healthy, and we are relieved. Chris is REALLY relived.

We are all smiling and happy and finally, Matthew and Chris say together...Meet Rhodes McKay Casebeer.