She's Here ...

She's here. 

And y'all, to say I am in love is such an understatement. 

I have a daughter. 

It's quite possible I say that to myself about 1,000 times a day. And everytime I say it, I smile. And I am reminded just how blessed I am. Every time I glance at that pink bottle on the counter or see the pink laundry, my heart skips a beat. 

I have a daughter. And she loves me already. And she is my Best Girl. And now - now I know what my Momma meant when she talked about that Mother/Daughter relationship and just how special it really is. 

Khloe Ruth decided to make her entrance last Tuesday, August 5th, at 11:41pm. 

I labored practically all day.

 And we were thrilled she made it here before midnight - our fifth kiddo came on the fifth of the month. Corny? Maybe. But we were excited about it. I won't go into the gooey details of her birth, but just know it took all day for me to dilate to 7cm (by all day I mean we checked into the Triage at 8:00am and it was 10:00pm when I reached 7cm, in which the midwife broke my water) and just an hour and 41 minutes to finish up the laboring and push her out. According to the husband, I pushed maybe three times. As soon as she came out, I couldn't help but shout, "Is she really a girl?" 

It is always a little chaotic at first. She's all purple-y and covered in yuck. As she laid on my chest for those first precious moments, I just stared at her and smiled. Can you tell I've been smiling a whole lot lately? Travis came over to me and together we were captured in that moment, in the realization that Kollin's many prayers for a Baby Sister and the desires, the yearnings in my heart had been heard and answered. 

The husband fell hard. 

She was weighed and measured (7 pounds 3 ounces, 19 inches), she was wrapped up and passed around between Travis, my Mom and our good friend Amber who asked to be in the room for her birth. My Mom left shortly after, Travis walked Amber out to her car and all that was left in the room was me and her. 

My daughter. 

I held her close, skin to skin. My heart was so captured in that moment that I don't even have the words to take you there, to last Tuesday night in that Labor and Delivery room. My mind raced through the years to come - the ponytails, the manicures and pedicures, the slumber parties, the princess movies we will watch together, the girly giggles, the pink. 

It was in that moment I decided her name was going to be Khloe.

Welcome to the world,

Khloe Ruth Nichols.