She's here! Hooray!

Mary and I would like to welcome little baby Abigail Kathryn Riggall to the family! She was born this morning, November 8th, at 11:11, weighing in at 7 lbs, 4 oz and 20 inches long. She is a cute little thing and is perfectly healthy. Mary is just fine, albeit tired and sore. She is recovering well and filled with joy.

Mary felt her first contraction at 5:00 am this morning; by 6:00 she was showered and I was up cooking a gourmet breakfast. By 7:30 Mary, Jaron and I were packed and in the car heading to the hospital. As we pulled into a parking spot at the emergency room, Mary's water broke and she rushed into the hospital while I collected Jaron and her bags and ran in to meet her. When I got inside, they had already taken her up to triage so by the time I found her, she was on a bed being poked and pampered and prepped by the nurses.

I was there just a few minutes before I went back out to the parking lot to give Jaron and his belongings to Geniene (Mary's sister), who had just arrived to take Jaron home with her. Back in the room with Mary, we breathed through contractions for about an hour or so until she was given an epidural. The epidural - those things are amazing - relaxed Mary quite a bit and both of us were able to get in a snooze.

Since Mary wasn't progressing quickly enough, they added some pitocin and an hour or so later Mary had the urge to push! They checked her and she was fully dialated so the doctor was called, Mary pushed for about 5 minutes (3-4 pushes) and baby Abigail was born!!

We are very thankful to our Lord for his goodness to us in this. Our Lord has blessed us immensely with this baby girl and are honored to have her as part of our family.

Thank you for those who covered us in their prayers. Pictures will be posted shortly.

-Jeremy