Throwback Thursday - God's Gift

Happy Valentine's Day!

In honor of Throwback Thursday, I just wanted to share some goodies about the best day of my whole entire life! April 29, 2009 was the day we met our Valentine that would forever steal our hearts - Sophie Olivia Easterday.

Sophie weighed in at a lean and mean 9 lbs, 1 oz., and 21 inches....and she was 2 weeks early. She was a HUGE baby and her mama was not too far behind. I gained what would probably add up to a small village of people. I really should not have been allowed in public for fear that I might explode! On the morning of my deliver, the number that popped up on the scale was one I never thought I would see. I could have qualified for the Biggest Loser with this number! Truly though, I LOVED every single second of being pregnant, even though I had a few weeks of morning sickness. To feel her moving all around and watch this amazing creation from God evolving, there are no words! The swoosh swoosh sound of heart beat at the checkups is still one of my fav top 5 sounds ever!

When we went to the doc for one of my last check ups they were concerned bc I was not dilating, she was moving up instead of down, and my blood pressure was really high. "Jeff and Nicole - looks like you are having a baby tomorrow at 8am, via c-section (due to hear size and my bp)." Umm - excuse me, come again?! So thats it? As though I was placing an order for a pizza and you were telling me the delivery time? Hmm - pizza, maybe we can stop and get one of those on the way to the hospital tomorrow morning. Of course due to my OCD nature and pure excitment everything was of course prepared but mentally - we thought we still had 2 weeks! Oh well, here we go!

I wish someone would have told me how they strip you down, completely bare, on the table while preparing everything. A heads up would have been nice on that one. As I lay there, completely naked and lets be honest - at this point not really caring so much, I notice that my drug doc has a playboy bunny tattoo on his arm. Hmmm - does anyone else find the irony in this moment?! At the same time, Jeff was right outside the room in his surgery gear waiting to come in. I had this visual of him pacing nervously outside the door and ringing his hands together in anticipation. However, he later informed me that he was sliding back and forth in the hallway with the shoe cover scrubs he had on. Apparently, he could get really good momentum due to the clean floor and slick scrub shoe covers.

And this is when I feel in love with him all over again while falling deeper in love with my girl. Check out those thighs!!! Daddy looks pretty proud huh? As Jeff walked over to see Sophie for the first time and watched them clean her off, he looked over at me and said - "She looks just like my dad!" Huh?! Classic right - gotta love it!

Our first family picture together and something I will cherish forever!

She is without a doubt our best gift from God and the most perfect thing we have ever done. Not that we are biased or anything! :)

Happy Valentine's Day!!! xoxo