Welcome to the family!...Brooklyn Claire Pope arrives...

This is Barry, filling in for Kassi on the blog (temporarily)...

So August 16th was a great day, it started for Kassi at about 3am when she began to have some intermittent contractions. She quietly waded through them downstairs, while the rest of us slept.

When we all woke up at about 7:30am she had eaten breakfast, packed her things, and taken a nice long warm shower, and was just all pretty as could be (I almost thought she was going some where else). She still wasn't quite ready to go to the hospital, so we went downstairs, and the boys and I had breakfast, and did our normal Saturday morning routine (which included some nature shows on Nat-Geo). There was a children's talent show planned at the church and I was going to take the boys, when Kassi called her OBGYN's office to get some advice. She still wasn't ready to go, so the boys and I went up to the church just to play around with their cousins on the basketball court. By then it was about 10:45am

At about 11:15am, Kassi called me to tell me that the contractions were becoming more frequent and regular, but she would time 2 more sets and let me know.

At 11:20am, she called and told me to get home, pronto.

So I swapped cars with my brother Jeremy (the boys were staying with him) and high-tailed it home. As I walked up to the porch there was a "pass along" card left from the missionaries of our church on the door (Kassi had told me that she was in the middle of a contraction so she didn't answer it when they had knocked). As we grabbed our stuff and left, we ran into one of the new missionaries. He tried to strike up a conversation with us not knowing we were already members, after we had told him we were on our way to the hospital to have a baby. We politely told him that we had to go, and jumped in the car to go to Tampa General Hospital.

As we pulled out of the neighborhood I asked "Did you get the camera?". Kassi and I had been kidding around with each other all morning and cracking jokes, but she got the most serious look on her face and said "No! Turn Around!"...So we did, and I sprinted inside to get the camera (good thing we did or we wouldn't have any pictures for you!) . As we pulled away the second time, we noticed the missionaries' car had been stalled and they needed a jump. So we slowed down just enough to tell them that we would call someone to help them, then slammed on the gas to get on our merry way once more.

We got to the hospital at around noon, and we were put in the triage area immediately. Kassi was doing great at bearing the pains she had, she would breathe well and just let me know when to stop trying to make her laugh.

At about 1pm, it was official she was in "labor" and was being admitted to the hospital's L&D area. Kassi said she wanted to walk (it was just around the corner) so we did. By the time we got in the delivery room, she had begun to transition. Kassi wanted an epidural, but things began advancing so rapidly that it looked like it didn't matter what she wanted, things were just going to happen. and That's when things got interesting...

At about 1:15pm, the Dr. did another exam, and her water broke, and then there were more contractions, and my hand started to hurt, and more contractions, and "wow, honey can I take my ring off before you squeeze my hand again", and then "I can't do this anymore...I need DRUGS!" and "I'll see if the anesthesiologist can get her in time, and "GET THIS BABY OUT OF ME!" and "try to focus on breathing" and "honey you're doing great" and "honey, I need to ice my hand" and "OH MY GOSH....PLEASE MAKE IT STOP!" and "focus on pushing" and "keep pushing, and breathing, and pushing" and "I see her head!" and "keep pushing, we're almost there" and...

Well at about 1:30pm, she (Brooklyn Claire Pope) finally came out, and it was just great.

She weighs 8 pounds 1.8 ounces, and is 20.5 inches, and she has the fullest, thickest head of dark (really dark) wavy, hair. Take a look...

She's beautiful (Just like her mom).

Mom is doing fine, and so is Brooklyn.
Dad is plum tuckered out.
Braden and Lincoln are excited (but really they're always excited about something).

We are one lucky family, blessed with this wonderful addition to our clan.

And even though we've had other additions to our family before, it just feels different this time for this daddy and his little angel of a little girl.

It sure is great being a daddy...again. There really is nothing like it.

Here's some other pictures for you to enjoy. Let us know what you think, and thanks for letting us share this special event with you.