Baby Emma Sophia Lord - July 27th, 2011

And then it happened. The best thing that has happened this year by far. Baby Emma was born! It was such an amazing experience! About a two weeks before Erica's inducement date, she started having some contractions. At one point they were only 7 minutes apart for a couple of hours. So even though mom wasn't supposed to come out for another two weeks, she decided to fly out and be here just in case. Of course Emma decided to come on her inducement date and not a minute sooner. So for the two weeks mom and I spent time with Erica, tried to help her get ready for the baby and just had fun. And then the big day came ... July 27th. Mom and I were in Provo and decided to drive the morning of. We had just gotten on the road when Erica tells us she is 5 cm dilated and getting her epidural. We both started freaking out thinking she was going to have the baby before we even got there!

Luckily, she was just sitting in her hospital room when we got there, still waiting. She is a silly goose, having decided to put make-up on and do her hair the morning of her delivery. She looked beautiful and really good even though she was going through some pretty massive contractions. She told us she was happier now that she had the drugs, but that morning had been pretty bad.

After a couple of hours, Andrew finally decided he could get away for a moment to get some lunch. Not a minute after he left, the nurse came in to check Erica. And of course, she was fully dilated 10 cm. So the nurse tells Erica to practice pushing. So of course me and mom are (again) freaking out asking if we needed to get Andrew back ASAP. The nurse said that she was going to get the doctor, and that very soon we would have a baby! So Andrew came back, and everyone started getting ready for the delivery.

This is the point where mom said she was going to voluntarily leave, because she couldn't see Erica in pain. So off we went to buy some flowers and do some reading. 2 hours later, Andrew came to get us to see the beautiful baby girl that is my niece.

Emma Sophia Lord - born July 27th, 2011 at 3:30 pm, and was 8 lbs 3 oz, 20 inches long. She came out with a ton of hair, and seemed so small! She is such a good natured baby, and loved to sleep. Mom and I were so excited that we got to see her on her birth-day.

Dad and Grandma were driving from Texas and came to see her the next day. The nurses were so funny - they absolutely loved Emma's hair so they put gel in it to make it curly and put adorable little bows in it.

I am so excited to be an aunt! Emma is such a sweet baby, and Erica and Andrew are going to be such amazing parents. It was also an interesting experience to watch Erica go through. I now have a little better knowledge what its going to be like to have a baby. It was nice for once to let Erica do something first instead of me.

I love seeing Emma and have had a fun time wondering what kind of woman she is going to become. At the hospital, I was holding the beautiful little baby girl and I just kept wondering what she was going to be. A musician, an athlete, a geek, a cheerleader? Is she going to like to ride a bike, or to read a book, or to draw pictures? No one knows who this little girl is going to be. I also became sad when I realized that neither of my grandfathers were here to see this prefect little girl. I expressed my sadness to mom, and how that made me feel sorry for Emma that she will never get to know her great-grandfathers. My mom made an excellent point though. She said that my grandfathers know her better than all of us because they met her before she came to earth. That she got to know my real Grandpa Leifson. That they already knew her spirit. It was a very special experience for me to think about. I am grateful for eternal families and the support and love we can feel both here on earth and beyond the veil.