Introducing Payton Jae Mortenson!

Okay, so I finally have a minute to sit at the computer and share the story of Payton joining our family. Thanks Amanda for getting the initial information on the blog for us!! Here goes:

On Wednesday, April 29, 2009, I was scheduled to be induced and luckily when we called in at 5am, they actually had a bed available...so off we went to the hospital at 6:45 that morning. Here I am just before heading to the hospital. I was soooooo ready to have this baby!!

By 7:30am, I was hooked up to the pitocin, the doctor on call then broke my water at 8:20 and my contractions quickly became uncomfortable so by 9:30am, I had my epidural and then life was great! Kevin studied while I read magazines, talked on the phone or tried to get some rest. We were actually pleasantly surprised at about 1:30 when the nurse said I was already dilated to 8cm since I'd only been 4cm at the previous check. So they quickly got things ready and called my doctor. And at 2:22pm, after about 4 pushes, Payton joined our family.

Here is my fabulous doctor, Dr. Graves, and the wonderful delivery nurse we had, Mary Ann.

Since things went so well and I was feeling pretty good, Kevin went home at dinner time to get Alexa so she could meet her new baby sister.

She was so excited that she really didn't care about seeing me first thing, she just wanted to know where "Taypon" was.

And she loved her right off!

Here is Daddy with his girls!

I couldn't resist getting her dressed in something cute the next day! (Sorry about her giving the bird to the camera...apparently she has some pent up aggression!!) :-)

Me just being camera happy while Kevin was off taking 3 finals the morning after!!

My mom brought Alexa back the next morning to spend some time with mommy and her new baby sister.

On Friday, we came home from the hospital. Our little family of 3 is now a family of 4! We are so grateful that Payton is here and that she's healthy and strong.

It's crazy how small she is compared to her big sister!