Jojo & Jeremy... plus one!

Do you remember my big announcement at Easter? The one where we found out the the Hill/Couvillion family would be expanding? Click here to read about how Jojo and Jeremy announced that they were expecting a baby!

Back then we knew that the baby was due on November 5th-- which is also the date of the LSU/Alabama game. This caused a lot of worry among the men in the family. Obviously, baby comes first... but Baby Watch 2011 meant possibly missing the game of the year!

I wasn't worried, however, because every single one of my friends (moms and non-moms) told me that the first baby is always late. It was tossed around so confidently that I had almost taken it to be fact.

So you can imagine my surprise when I read a text from Jojo at 8:30am on Friday (October 28th) that had been sent at 3:30am that morning, "Having contractions... in too much pain for this to be a false alarm". What?! I immediatly began to text her back as Chris called his dad... during which time Jeremy beeped in. This was no practice drill... Jojo was going to have her baby and she was having it today!

I'm not proud to admit... I kind of panicked. I grabbed a bag and started throwing clothes into it. Then I ran into one room, only to turn around and run into another. I kept lamenting to Chris, "why didn't I pack a bag for this?!" I was like a panicked new father who forgets the directions to the hospital while his wife is in labor!

All the news from Baton Rouge was that this baby was coming fast... so we were hurrying to cancel our weekend and get out of town!

We finally made it around 2pm and joined the party in the waiting room. When it was all said and done there were sixteen people waiting to meet the little pecan!

What started out as a quick labor... turned into a 22 hour process! Chris and I thought we might not even make it to see our niece or nephew being born, but we got there with 6 hours to spare! But if there's any group to make a party out of a hospital waiting room... it's this group.

Between the adrenaline of getting there, the excitement of a baby and the anticipation of his/her arrival... we were getting a little loopy...

(Chris with a bro-stache...)

(Me with a bro-stache...)

(Justin with his mo-stache...)

Around 7pm the doctors told Jojo that a C-section was going to be the quickest and safest way for her to bring the baby into the world. So we expected an announcement at any moment.

But the announcement didn't come fast...

Finally at 7:37pm PD sat up and made a proclamation:

The Kingdom has expanded! PD used his grandfather abilities to "just know" that the baby was born. Unfortunately, grandfather abilities aren't always accurate... so we waited some more...

A little after 8pm we got a call... 8lb, 4oz... baby and mom are doing well.

A little after 9pm, the nurse came and got us (all sixteen of us!) we were finally going to meet the little one! At this point we all guessed boy or girl... and the consensus was overwhelmingly BOY.

We walked through the door and crammed into the room... to find a happy Jojo and a very proud Jeremy holding their baby  (in a gender neutral blanket and cap):

It's a...

See those socks?

GIRL!!!

The grandparents each took a turn holding their granddaughter:

And Papa PD was able to hold his very first grandbaby (with more to come... Laura is due in January!!)

Jojo was radiating joy...

Here's Chris congratulating his little sister:

And the whole gang together for a group shot:

And, since I can't seem to get enough... some more precious photos from the weekend:

Welcome to the family, Maria Cecile Couvillion! Get ready for a lifetime of fun and adventures with us!!