introducing the newest babe

The little stinker is FINALLY here!

born October 22nd 3:34p 

9 pounds 2 ounces 

21.5 inches long

Things are going great. We are getting into the flow of things at home. She is already sleeping so well for us at night. The girls are really enjoying her. The middle babe wasn't too sure about things at first. She even got sent to the principals office & then sent home on Friday because she was misbehaving! We took it easy on her b/c we know it's just because of the changes. It was nice to have the weekend with her. We've made it a point to spend extra time w/ her & let her be a part of everything... burping, changing, holding. I can tell things are already better. The oldest babe is just an ol' pro... she's such a helper & has had a great attitude. 

Thanks to my mother in law... she stayed with the girls last week while we were in the hospital. She took them to school & had the house looking great when we got home. Thanks to my mom for all of her support & help. Thanks to all of my great friends... Ashley for being there during labor & Linda for EVERYTHING... my sweet welcome home, organizing our dinners for the next 2 weeks (BTW, Robin... those enchiladas were wonderful last night. I don't think I've eaten anything that you've cooked that I didn't absolutely LOVE- thank you!) It's a great feeling to have so much help & support from our family & friends. We are truly blessed! 

My hubby has been working hard on the "birth video".  

Please check it out. He did a great job. I love it...

Labor story... 

We planned for a natural labor & delivery from the get go. We were fortunate that everything worked out & we were able to accomplish that goal. Because she was 2 weeks overdue they were talking about having to induce labor. I was admitted into the hospital Tuesday afternoon & given a medication called cervadyl. It's a strip of medication inserted near the cervix & is designed to soften the cervix & throw you into your own labor. It doesn't always work though. Fortunately it did for us... right on time! They scheduled the pitocin to be injected at 6a if the cervadyl didn't work. My contractions started around 4:30a!!! Woo hoo... no Pitocin. Around 10:30a contractions started getting pretty rough. My midwife checked me & said that I was ONLY 4 cm. That was a bit disappointing b/c I thought I was at least around 5 or 6. I had this perfect plan in my head that I'd get in the labor tub & it would relax me, take away the pain & speed labor up. SO, now was the time. They filled the tub & in I went. They turned the jets on & next came the 1st contraction in the tub... how miserable! For those who don't know when you are having a contraction you are pretty much paralyzed... can't say much of anything, can't move too much... you just have to wait it out. The jets were bouncing off my contracted belly & I wanted to scream... "turn off the freakin' jets already"... but I couldn't until it was over. After that contraction the jets went off quickly & the next tub contraction came a few minutes later. My wonderful plan was squashed. They hurt just as bad in the tub as they did before... imagine that. Only being 4 cm & my wonderful tub plan ruined I opted for a pain med called Nubain. Aww.. thank you God for Nubain!  I knew I didn't want an epidural b/c I wanted the freedom to still move around & "experience" the birth. The nubain made me feel kind of drunk at first but it took the edge off of the contractions. It was wonderful. The last hour of labor was definitely the hardest. All I could do was lay in bed on my side... which when I took all of the child birth classes & did all of my reading I remember thinking.. I will definitely NOT be laying down during labor... it looked so uncomfortable, BUT it felt the best at the time. So I just lay there waiting for the next contraction... then I moaned & cried through each contraction. Labor is such a roller coater ride! Everyone in the room got SHHed quite a lot & the beeping IV machine even got a pretty good tongue lashing as I shoved it away from me. The beeping, any noise for that matter, was not working for me, at all. Finally the midwife came to check me & to my relief told me I was 8 cm. Then she burst my bubble pretty quick when she said I had about 1 1/2 hours left. It was then that I declared to everyone in the room... "I quit".  Of course that wasn't an option. God must have heard my cry b/c the very next contraction I yelled.. "I think I need to push." Nadene, my midwife said "well then push"... so push I did. Oh, it felt so good! 5 pushes later & a whole lot of grunting & yelling (I thought for sure I wouldn't be one of those dramatic yelling maniacs you see in the movies... how wrong I was!) FINALLY... she was OUT! I don't think I've ever been more relieved in my life! 

They laid her up on my chest & all the pain & drama was quickly forgotten as I help my new baby girl! 

Her face was pretty bruised up b/c she came out w/ her hand on her face. We saw her in this position in a few of her ultrasounds. She still sleeps in this position some times too. Most of the bruising went away by the next day though.

Everything went great! 

Was natural childbirth easy... heck no! I remember at one point being in the bathroom crying & talking to Jesus... "Lord, take away the pain daggonit. HELP me, for cying out loud!"

Was natural childbirth worth it... Heck yeah! What a great sense of accomplishment! There are other feelings & emotions attached too that I can't quite put into words. 

I'm just so glad she is finally out!

Welcome to the world sweet baby girl!