Petra, the birth mother of Annastacia, the baby we will be adopting, went into labor last week. Her water broke early in the morning, and she went to the hospital. They checked her and sent her home with instructions to return after dinner if labor hadn't started yet. Petra called us to let us know she was returning to the hospital later that evening.

Crystal had agreed to be one of Petra's birth coaches and had been attending lamaze classes with Petra, so I dropped her off at the hospital. Petra had a few contractions through the night, so the nursing staff started administering drugs to speed things along. I joined the ladies at the hospital the next morning just as the nurses were starting a Pitocin drip. Over the next few hours, the contractions grew more and more intense. I got kicked out of the room when things got really serious. A couple of hours later, my niece came to the waiting room to announce that I had a baby girl!

Crystal documented the labor and delivery process, and I took pictures of the new baby after her arrival. The captions on the pictures tell the story in more detail.

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