We’re so excited that you’re here, Graelyn! You’ve been dragging your feet though. Your parents went to the hospital at about 5:30 or so this morning to get you induced. After twelve hours of pushing and trying everything they could to get you out, including forceps, they finally decided you weren’t going to delay it any longer and brought you on out. At this moment you are 22.5 inches and 8.5 pounds. Big baby! Your dad has a big head, so when he called to tell us the news this evening the first thing Amanda asked was if you had a big head. Apparently you do not have your father’s head. He also said you look like your mother, which is good for you.
We can’t wait to meet you. Amanda kept telling me to text your dad to see how things were going, but I knew he’d let us know when he was ready to. And having relatively fresh memories of what the hours between starting labor and birthing a child are like, I didn’t want to be a bother anyway.
Milly’s looking forward to meeting you too, at least as much as a three and a half month old baby can look forward to such a thing.
As couples, your parents and Amanda and I have always had major life events pretty close together. Your dad and I are the same age, though he’s a few months younger. Amanda and your mom are the same age, though Amanda’s older. We got married a little before your parents (before we all knew each other) and we had our baby three months before they had you. They did beat us at buying a house though.
Your parents have always been such good friends to us, and we were really sad when they moved away from Wilmington. We met at a small group connection for church and out of the four couples, we hung out the most. We’d go to free concerts at Mayfaire now and then and we went camping on Carolina Beach a few times. Your dad and I have spent weekends fishing on Portsmouth Island. They still come down to Wilmington to visit with us now and then, and Amanda and I are even more excited about that going forward.
We were so glad to hear you were going to be a girl so that you and Milly could grow up getting together now and then, playing with dolls or painting toenails or whatever it is girls do. Granted, you won’t see each other often, but we look forward to you guys being good friends regardless. Heck, you guys have the same middle name, so you’ve already got something in common!
Once again, welcome to the world, Graelyn Jane Lambeth! We can’t wait to meet you.
Zach Dotsey