Ella Carolyn O'brien

As of 1:10 AM, Saturday, March 29th Ella Carolyn O'brien arrived into the world. For those of you who don't know, Ella is the granddaughter of my Aunt Carolyn who passed away this month from cancer. Ella, her namesake, is 7 pounds 9 ounces and 18 1/2 inches long. She has the most beautiful red hair you have ever seen. Her arrival was dramatic to say the least... Courtney, my cousin, called on Friday evening around 9pm to let my mother know that she was having minor contractions and to just be ready for a call. Carolyn's last wish for mom was that she be with Courtney during her labor and she was not going to miss it if at all possible. We all went to bed, or tried, with the hopes for a call to go at any time during the night. At 1:15 AM (5 minutes after her arrival) mom got a call to get to the hospital that Courtney had given birth on her bathroom floor! Courtney got out of bed that morning having what she called minor contractions that were timing about 5 minutes apart, so she decided she would just go ahead to the hospital. After taking a bath, putting on her makeup, getting her bags and still not feeling very much pain with her contractions, she decided to go to the restroom before leaving. Once she began to leave, her husband Cory called Uncle Bob to come over and watch her son while they left, and while on the phone with him, Courtney looked over to tell Cory that Ella was coming!! He looked at her and told her that NO She wasn't and that they would go ahead to the hospital. No sooner did those words come out of his mouth, than Ella's head was crowning! Cory helped Courtney to the floor and within a minute Ella Carolyn O'brien was here! Ella's cord was wrapped around her neck multiple times, but once Cory unwrapped her and tapped on her chest a few times, she began to breathe. I know it was God's perfect will the way it all happened. If she hadn't come as fast as she did, it could have ended very differently with her cord around her neck. The midwife told Courtney that she was having SILENT LABOR, which Suzanne is going to have to explain to me so that I can grasp this whole concept. We arrived only minutes after they did to Gwinett Medical Center. Once I saw the two goofballs, who I call Gomer and Goober, that brought her in the ambulance, I knew that Courtney was probably ready to scream. The poor girl had to tell them that she still had to deliver her afterbirth, which she did by herself because the goofballs didn't know what a placenta was, they thought she was having another baby! I thought you moms would get quite a hoot out of that! Anyway, she is a perfect, healthy, beautiful baby girl and her mother is doing GREAT in spite of everything. Plus, she has the best guardian angel in the whole world, Mae Mae!!