Welcome Baby

Our little Pumpkin officially joined Team Gabel on Friday morning - the best birthday present her momma could have ever hoped for! Official stats: 7 pounds, 20.75 inches.

For those interested in the birth story, the whole thing happened very quickly. I went into labor around 5 a.m., although at the time I wasn't sure if it was labor or not. Around 7:30 I woke up Chris, and a little after 8 talked to my doctor's office. They said to come in and they'd check me to see if I was in labor and save us a trip to the hospital in case I wasn't. By the time we left the house I was having contractions about 6 minutes apart. When we got to the doctor's about 45 minutes later (we stopped to drop off Scoop) they were right on top of each other and I was dilated 7-8 centimeters. They wheeled me across the street to the hospital. We checked in just before 10 a.m. and our sweet little Pumpkin was born before 10:30. She had some fluid in her lungs and tummy and they sent her to the NICU. She was on oxygen for a little bit, but improved very quickly. They kept her there for 24 hours. The hardest part for me was not being able to see her for five hours, but Chris was able to go see her right away and took my mom over when she got there.

By the time I got to go see her, she had been off of oxygen, and we were able to hold her. It was the best feeling in the world.
Chris was amazing throughout the whole process. He was a great coach, keeping me focused and breathing the whole drive to the hospital and up until Pumpkin was born.

The one comment we've heard the most since she's been born is "Look at all that hair!"

Here is Miss Pumpkin on the ride home from the hospital.

And here she is today after she got washed up. So fresh and so clean!

We are just so blessed and so happy and so thankful to have this beautiful little girl.