As most of you have undoubtedly figured out by now, our sweet, sweet Lily Anne has arrived! She took us mostly by surprise, arriving a few weeks before her due date, but we are so so thankful that she is healthy in every way, shape, and form. She passed every test thrown at her with flying colors – I guess she just wanted to enter in this world with a fanfare! And that she did, just 5 hours before my own birthday! Definitely nothing less than memorable.

I won’t go into the whole story (though I’m happy to share for any that want to hear!), but I woke up at 5am on Friday, June 23rd with what I firmly believed were Braxton Hicks. After all, she wasn’t due for another month, and I thought the contractions were irregular. So I told Nick, came downstairs, ate some toast, drank some water, and folded the rest of the baby clothes I had just washed the night before, waiting for the contractions to go away… but they didn’t. So I took a bath, which helped, but didn’t make them disappear. Eventually I went back to bed, only to completely surprise Nick – apparently I had played off the fact that I was having contractions so well that it hadn’t even phased him, so he shot awake as soon as he saw how uncomfortable I was. After much contemplation, a few calls to my mom, and the use of my phone’s stopwatch, we headed to the hospital around 11am. I don’t think either of us expected to be holding our daughter just 8 hours later, but we hardly had time to think at that point and we’re still trying to catch up to the fact that she’s already here!

Now there’s two ways we could look at this. For one thing, we were completely caught off guard. We never expected her to come this early – our house is still under remodeling, the car seat hadn’t been installed, the birth plan hadn’t been printed out, and the hospital bag hadn’t been packed. We were totally unprepared in that respect.

Or you could look at all the ways God had His hand on this.

The day before she was born, my friend, Kayla, and I went through every item in the baby room, ripping off tags and packaging and throwing all the baby clothes, blankets, etc. in a pile to be washed. After she left, I washed the crib. I even put together the Rock ‘N Play I had received as a shower gift. Not only that, but I placed the final order for everything I needed to be totally ready for our baby girl.

I remember thinking as I was wiping down the crib that night, all satisfied with how much I had accomplished that day, “Okay, she can come whenever she wants to.” I guess I really didn’t expect her to come literally the next day, but do I take it back? No way. I am so in love with our little Lily and being a mother to such a precious baby girl!

It’s kind of funny how you plan things so well, prepare yourself for every situation, only to realize later on that God was up in heaven laughing at you. But His timing was more timely than our own, and though it isn’t what we planned or expected, we are so thankful for the ways God has blessed us through the entire process!

Thank you all for the love and support you have shown us – from all the congratulations to the generous meals. We couldn’t be more grateful for the people we have in our lives! I cannot wait for each and every one of you to meet our little Lily Anne!

With Love,

Nick, Leah, and Lily ♥