Surprise!

My sister's official due date was August 29th but towards the end of July she began having high blood pressure and really bad swelling.  Dr. Keith kept a check on her and she worked her last day of work on Friday 8/3 with the intentions of relaxing for the next 4 weeks.  Harper had other plans! The very next Monday, Lindsay developed an intense headache and her bp got really high in the 150's/90's so after her regular checkup, Dr. Keith sent her to be admitted to the hospital. After closely monitoring her and doing some bloodwork, they released her that evening with plans for her to return for monitoring Thursday morning.  On Thursday morning, Lindsay's bp was back up and she was already dilated to 4cm (with very minimal pain!) so Dr. Keith told her they were having a baby that day!  Harper Rae Bright entered this world that day, 8/9/12 at 11:05pm weighing 7lbs 5oz and 21" long.  She is beautiful and has a head FULL of brown hair.  She also shares her birthday with mine and Jamie's 9th anniversary.  Pretty neat, huh?  Of course, I was there at the hospital the entire day and spent most of the time with Lindsay and Derrick in the room (with the exception of the pushing/delivery part).  We are all in love with our newest little family member and think she's absolutely perfect! Lindsay continued to have blood pressure problems even after delivery and Harper developed jaundice so they spent an extra 2 days in the hospital but we are happy (as I know they are) that they are finally home. 

Since Harper was born so late in the evening, Jamie and the boys didn't stay at the hospital for her delivery. In fact, none of us actually got to meet her that night! After she was born, Lindsay and Derrick spent some time with her, then she was whisked off to the nursery where they kept her for several hours.  However, we all were able to go back to the hospital Friday morning to meet her.  Noah was SO excited and Collier was indifferent.  He did show a tad bit of jealousy when I held her but he's been fine since.  He's starting to show her a little more attention, rubbed her head for a little while last night and even gave her a few sweet kisses on the head. He talks about "Ah-pa" all the time while we are at home.  However, I look forward to these 3 cousins having lots of fun together, getting into a ton of mischief and being the best of friends... just like Lindsay and I were with 3 of our cousins that we were closest in age too!