as i'm writing this, berkley is now 35 hours and 48 minutes old.  we are officially parents.  Court began having slight contractions that felt "different" thursday afternoon (9.24).  I headed home from work about 4 and she was pretty convinced this was the real deal.  So...we got prepared.  as we were getting ready, at about 7:30, the contractions officially became "labor pains" as each one started becoming painful, not just different.  Finally around 8:50, Dr Jarrett gave us the okay to head on in to the hospital (st vincent womens's).

We finally got to the hospital around 10pm and got the initial check up.  When the nurse asked court to rate her pain "on a level from 1-10...10 being the worst pain she can image" she responded, "well....5.  it hurts, but if my arm were cut off, i think i'd be in more pain."  So...obviously at this point she was still thinking rationally.

our next stop was room 208 at 10:35 and that's where berkley would end up being born almost exactly 8 hours later. 

those 8 hours were full of some fun, half working epidurals, laughs, homeless men sleeping in the lobby, rough labor pains and anticipation.

before we knew it, it was 6:01 and Dr J gave us the okay to push.  a mere 31 minutes later, out came the beautiful, gorgeous, gooey and loved berkley grace talley (though at that point, she was just known as baby...court and i both thought berkley right when we saw her, but didnt decide for sure until later.)

by 9, we were up in our post-birth room (348) and getting ready for the next step of life.  Thanks to Mom and Dad Talley...GiGi and Pap Cole...Aunt Cait...Nonny Cline and Colby Rose for spending the whole night with us.

Since then, we've had a lot of loving family and friends stop and give us tons love support (even more love and support from family and friends via facebook).  it's been a blur and we've been doing our best to rest when we can (i know, i know).  we will head home tomorrow morning and begin to fully transition our lives into being mom and dad.

thanks again to everyone for all of your love, prayer and support.  words cannot begin to describe what we are feeling (besides the exhaustion, i could describe that)...but that baby, dad, mom stuff...we can't.  all we know is that we are so extremely blessed to even have the family that we have, let alone be able to bring our own little baby into this world. 

a friend, ryan dowd (of boiledsports.com:), said it VERY well when he wrote us,

"It's great marrying someone you love and really like...but it's even better changing the trajectory of the future with that person.

You guys have done a great thing today- you've made the world brighter. There's so much to worry about in this often-bleak world, but Berkley is a great reminder how much our Savior cares for us. You guys were made for this job."

We love you all (but we love our little girl more:)

brett and court

(ps.  i'm sure we'll start up a web album too, but not sure when or where...we'll be sure to let you know)