The storm that put me in labor...

Friday afternoon about 4:30, the tornado sirens went off. I went outside and looked around, and the sky didn't even look threatening. I rolled up the windows in the car, then the sirens went off again. So I gathered the kids and went into the basement and checked the news online to figure out what was coming. The news was talking about crazy winds and hail that was knocking trees over and heading for downtown. As we listened, the sky got suddenly very dark and the power went out. We heard massive pounding as marble-sized hail slammed our house. Looking outside we saw trees being blown almost over with violent winds (the windspeed was 90-100 mph.) Then heavy rain came and started flooding the whole back sidewalk area, almost up to our back door. And almost as soon as it came, it was gone. We went outside with the rest of the neighbors, and couldn't believe the damage. Huge trees were knocked over all around, leaves and branches covered the buildings, cars, and ground, and there were piles of large hail balls all over.
About the time the storm blew in, I started to feel a lot of pressure and crampiness, and began having contractions. As we spent the evening surveying damage and walking around our townhouse community, the contractions stayed consistent. I figured the storm had started my labor and I would have the baby sometime that night. We even took the kids to our friends house so we wouldn't have to get them up in the middle of the night. Well, the next morning (Saturday,) the contractions stalled around 11 am. (I didn't have any more until they kicked into high gear that night, early Sunday morning when they came hard and fast!)
We are still without power. (73+ hours.) I am glad I have been at the hospital, but am worried about coming home with a new baby without any access to our appliances! We have been very blessed to have access to a friend's generator a couple of times to plug our refrigerator in to cool down again. The weather has been cool since the storm, but is getting hot now. I am grateful that no one was hurt. It is just a harsh realization how much we depend on electricity for everything!

Neighbors gather to watch the 50 ft. tall pine tree cut apart to get it out of our friends' porch!
Flooding and branches in our backyard.
The pine tree at the park that was completely uprooted.
Lexie shows us some of the hail. The pieces are still this big after the torrent of rain that melted it down to this size.
Trees across the street were snapped at the base like toothpicks.