Two years ago, around this time in the morning, I woke up with contractions, after being sent home from a failed induction at 1 am in the morning. I thought nothing of it, considering they had started while I was still at the hospital. Throughout the day, they kept getting stronger, and more apparent, but I still just went about my day. Wall*E was coming out on DVD, and we just HAD to get it for Ethan. So we took a trip to Fred Meyer, then we stopped by Allan's parents house to grab some chords for extending the Internet in to our room for the PlayStation 3. Then we made a stop over to visit my mom who had taken time off work since her granddaughter was supposed to have been born by then. The contractions just seemed to get more and more uncomfortable, but it didn't matter, I knew it didn't mean anything. Allan's brother and wife had decided they wanted to bring dinner over for us, and visit, so we prepared for that. Ethan and I sat downstairs in the bonus room, watching Wall*E. I even dozed off to get some rest, which was nice. When I woke up, our guests were there, and the contractions getting slowly harder, but I still pressed on. We decided to watch Wall*E yet again, because Lilly (Ethan's cousin) wanted to see it. I decided that I needed to go sit in the tub with some hot water, thinking it would make me feel better. I decided I'd try to start counting my contractions as well, since they seemed to be making progress. But yet again, as I remembered from when I tried that with Ethan, it's very difficult to do on your own. So for about an hour I sat in there, while Allan and his brother were climbing up in the attic to run the chord from the router to the PS3 in the bedroom. I decided to get out, and go back downstairs to join the rest of the people at the house. Allan and Ryan, after finishing their task, decided they wanted to play some Little Big Planet, and so we watched as they did that. And my contractions just kept getting stronger, and harder, and almost breath taking. Holly started helping me time them, and applying pressure to my back in their most painful moments, because it helped them to feel better. So finally I decided to call the nurses at the maternity line, to explain what was going on, and they asked Allan and I to come in. So we RUSHED to the hospital, and sitting in the car was one of the most painful experiences of that day. We had to go through the ER, so Allan sent me in on my own so he could go park the car, and that was such a task in it's own. They sent me through, without offering a wheelchair or anything. It didn't take Allan long to catch up with me, as my waddling was taking FOREVER. They finally got me in, did their checks, and told me I was already at 9.5 centimeters. They also made a point to tell me if I had waited too much longer, I probably would have had her in the car. From the moment I got there, until the moment she was born, things didn't take long at all. And at 10:45 pm, on that November 18th night, my little Miss was born! So perfect, so precious, and with MORE hair that you could imagine. And every day has been blessed since!

I am so happy that on this day, Miss Madelyn, we can wish you a HAPPY HAPPY Birthday! I hope this day, and this week, has been the best you could have imagined, and that it only gets better from here!

Dad, mom, and Ethan love you VERY much! We wish you the happiest birthday of all!