she's here...

We want to announce the arrival of our new baby girl, Aurora Sage.

She was born at home on Wednesday, October 15 at 10:15am, and was caught by her proud daddy with some guidance from our midwives. The whole experience was absolutely awesome and we wouldn't have traded it for anything.

Our midwives, Jennifer and Maria were great, and the birth was even better than I ever could have dreamed. I called our midwife Jennifer at 8:00am to let her know that I thought labor was starting - the contractions were not that bad, and I could talk through them so we weren't even sure if this was it - so Jennifer told me to try to relax and make sure I grabbed something to eat and drink. Instead, before I knew it, I had to have Chad call her back and have her come out. She got here only 45 minutes before Aurora made her appearance, and Maria was only here about 10 minutes. No one expected things to go so quickly for a first time mom...least of all me. We had intended to have a water birth, but there wasn't even time to set up the tub.

When Jennifer arrived and had time to check me, I was already dilated to 9 cm. She was as surprised as we were. We didn't have a chance to use anything we learned in childbirth class. Chad was amazing and did great under some pretty crazy conditions. So much for mood lighting or listening to music, or even what I wanted to eat in early labor.

Rory has been a great baby and so far is letting us get a decent amount of sleep at night. Thanks to everyone for their love and support. We look forward to introducing you all to our new baby girl. Chad is the proudest papa I've ever seen, and we both think that Rory is the most beautiful baby (not that we're biased - her Grandma totally agrees)

Aurora is the first baby girl born in the Kirkpatrick family for quite awhile. Chad's dad is the oldest of two boys, Chad's the youngest of five boys, and his brothers have three boys between them. It's caused quite a stir in Wintersville, and Rory can't wait to meet her Grams in November. We can't wait to see the look on her face when she meets her first granddaughter.