Happy 12th Birthday, Shantel!

I apologize for the quality of some of these photos, as I had to take pictures of them and then enhance them {the scanner scans in TIF format and I don't have the program on this computer to change formats}.

Twelve years ago at 4:49 pm I had a beautiful 8 lb 10 oz baby girl. I must admit that at the time, I was still holding out for a boy! Ya see, Shantel and Cody are almost 17 months apart and I thought since they are so close, that it would be nice to have two boys. But as someone told me, "she melted your heart, pretty quickly," I'm glad I had my little girl!
Shantel was suppose to be the New Years baby but in true Keiser fashion, she showed up LATE! {not as late as her brother, but we'll save that story for Aug!} Had I talked to the Dr. a bit more, she just may have been the new years baby .... turns out that he would have just started me, had I come in! As it was, I came in on the 2nd for my appointment and was sent on over to the hospital to be induced. They took me off the PIT for the night and started it back up in the morning {after some woman had the audacity to go into labor and deliver right when I was supposed to be induced! Sheesh! :) and she was a screamer! I swear I wanted to go next door and slap her!} It was this experience that made me come to realize that, for me, epidurals really don't work and aren't worth it, especially if you HAVE to wait til you're at a 4 to get one! Ya see, Once I reach a 5, it's all over! I literally go from 5 to 10 in SECONDS! I sat up to get the epidural and then asked if I could push. They laughed at me. When I laid back down, it was time to push. My sister and husband were in the room helping. {not the sister pictured below, she was helping to tend Cody in the halls.} After a few mins of pushing, I finally had relief! She was born face up rather than face down, so it was a might bit painful ... but worth it!

Cody was So excited to get a baby sister that he was very mad when he had to go home with out her! He could have cared less if I came home, he just didn't want to leave her behind!Shantel's blessing {as it says on the page.Some pictures of her near a year old.

So happy birthday sis!