I got a call yesterday afternoon.

“Hi.  This is your sister.  (As if I wouldn’t know her voice.)  I’m in the hospital.”

“You are?  Is it time?”

“They’ve just given me the meds to induce.”

“Ohhh.  Okay.  Well, call me when you go into labor.  I don’t want to hang out up there for 2 days like last time.  Not that I’m not excited…but…”

I’m busy.  I have a lot going on in my life.  I’m going to school full time.  I’m working full time.  I have other things to do and don’t have a lot of time to hang around waiting for a baby to decide to come.

Ugh.  This makes me sound heartless.  I’m not.  No one gets more excited about the babies than I do.  That’s why I’m usually called first.  Everyone knows how much I love my nieces and nephews.

A little later:

“Hey.  Your sister told me to call you.  We’re getting close, we think.  She’s 7 cm and 90% effaced.”

“What does that mean?  Is she going to have it soon?”

“I’d get here as soon as you can.”

“Can I wait until after work?  Do you think there is time?”

“Oh, yeah…that’s only 25 minutes.  Just get here quick.”

I got to the hospital and Lyllyn was already there.  She had arrived less than 5 minutes after my brother-in-law called me.  I missed the birth.

Darn it.

It seems that everyone missed the birth except my sister (of course), my brother-in-law, and my mom.

My sister had this baby fast compared to her son.  He took 2 days to get around to coming into the world.

I got there, though, and was so overwhelmed.  Another beautiful girl to come into this world.  She’s so soft.  She’s so little.  She has a healthy set of lungs.  She has kissable little lips.  She has a ton of hair.  She has perfect little hands that gripped my finger and beautiful little fingernails.

We have another girl.  I can’t begin to tell you how excited I am.

I love the babies.

As I was getting ready to leave, my sister said to me, “You have another baby without having to go through the labor.”

I smiled.  It’s a joke.  I tell her that her son is also mine because I was there during all of the labor and helped deliver him.  He’s partly mine.

“Yes,” I said.  “I have another baby.”

And she’s beautiful.