Piper Lorelai Martin

What a great day. Holly and I left fore the hospital at 6:30am for her induction. She was 4 cm dilated and 100% effaced. Dr. Smith broke her water at 7:45am and began a drip of Oxytocin an hour later. As Holly skimmed over the cafeteria menu she told him she'd be ordering off of it for lunch. The doctor, not wanting to get her hopes up, told her it would be more like the dinner menu. As a precaution, Holly ordered up the epidural cocktail at 9:50am. Shortly thereafter she said she felt like she needed to push. The doctor rushed in and 3 long pushes later Piper was born at 10:21am. It seems that the epidural only helped with the contractions as Holly said she felt everything else. She was a champ through the whole ordeal and is doing great. Piper weighs in at a Martin record of 7 pounds 6 ounces. She amazed us all with the large amount of hair on her head. I instantly questioned whether she was mine as this is another first. Quickly retracting the notion she could be anyone elses, we all marvelled by how quiet she was. Holly's mother, Linda, was there through the whole thing and has a way of calming Holly as well as helping out that is truly unmatched. She was given the honors of cutting the umbilical cord. We were also blessed to have our friend Linda Brewster who is an amazing photographer. She has documented some wonderful times in our family's lives and came to the hospital to record the event. We'll have more from her when those shots are made available.

Later Linda brought Alyssa and Reese to meet their new sister. Alyssa was so gentle and sweet. This was the exact opposite of how she was when Reese was born. Another surprise was Reese's reaction. She climbed over Holly and kissed Piper over and over again. It was unbelievable and cute. She then got a turn at holding Piper and would lean over and kiss her. Upon taking Piper out of her hands though, Reese would get all upset and cry as she held her arms out for us to return the baby to her.

A big surprise came later on in the day when a knock at the door was followed by my father from Texas who I had talked to several hours before. He had been in Dekalb, Iowa on business and decided to drive over. His ploy was to ask for the address of the hospital should anyone he knew wanted to send flowers. Dad got an opportunity to attend a Trunk or Treat at the church with Alyssa and Reese this evening and Alyssa graciously offered her bed to him so that she could take mom's spot in my bed.

So without further a due, here are some pictures and video of the new one.