Well, we didn’t actually have Audrey on the side of 405, but it was close.  Karissa woke up on the 18^th, two days past her due date, with contractions that would not allow her to sleep.  This of course is the day after her 30^th birthday where we stayed up way too late with our dear friends.  Karissa and I went to bed hoping that everyone would sleep in, but of course little Kyler was up and ready to go by his usual 7am.  One way or another she was entering a long day without much reserve.

When we didn’t show up for church the rumor mill was out in full force so the text messages started coming fast and furious but we had nothing to report.  The kids all woke up from their naps and it was back to letting mom rest by getting the kids outside.  We played with the neighbor kids, and filled out the evening with more scooters, bikes, and bubbles.  On a side note, we live next to some of the best neighbors.  Their three boys (6, 12, and 14) love to play with our kids and seem to actually enjoy it!  I would continue to check in with Karissa throughout the evening but although the contractions were growing in their intensity, they were still not rapid enough to warrant a call to the midwife. 

A few hours later the kids were put to bed and Karissa and I knew that it was going to be that night sometime so we decided to pass the time with a movie.  At about 10:30pm the contractions really started kicking in hard and fast so we called the midwife.  She told us to meet her in an hour so we began to get things ready.  We woke up Rylee, put her in the car (she was so groggy she couldn’t do it herself) and headed down the freeway to the midwife. 

This is where things got interesting.  Between Karissa adjusting the temperature in the van from full bore AC to heat and back about 20 times, her squeezing my hand until I thought it might fall off, and the very specific driving remarks coming from her it was one of the more interesting drives of my life.  However, at one point I looked over and thought, this would not be good if we did not make it in time.

We finally made it to the birth center around 11:50 pm.  We got Karissa into a beautiful room with lit candles and a pre-drawn tub.  She immediately got into the tub and just about three minutes later we met Audrey Rose at 12:02AM on May 19^th.  It made for a long day but we could not have asked for a greater gift from God.  Audrey was in great shape, completely beautiful, and the most perfect little head.

Three hours later we were heading North on 405 praising God for this gift and that the freeway was not the location of the birth now knowing just how close it was.

-Chris