On Monday I went in to my appointment and my body had made some significant progress towards getting ready for baby to arrive. My doctor seemed to think labor was imminent and suggested we stick close to town if at all possible. He said we could schedule an induction for later in the week if I hadn't had the baby by then, but seemed to think it would be very soon.
He checked the schedule and they had openings on Wednesday and Thursday. Wednesday was Kenzie's birthday...a day we'd been trying to avoid from the beginning so we chose Thursday. They seemed surprised since it was Thanksgiving, but if we'd been induced Wednesday we would have been there Thursday anyway so I went ahead and scheduled it.
Aunt Nina and family were arriving from New Mexico at the same time I was to there so I headed Noni and Papa's after the appointment. I felt like I could go in to labor at any minute...and ended up feeling like that for the next few days. We stayed the night and I honestly thought I'd be waking up to broken water at any point, but nothing happened.
The next day we celebrated Sammy's birthday and went to the trampoline place. The girls had a blast! I'll put pictures up of that later. Again I thought it could be any minute, but again nothing. T came in after work that night and we had dinner, presents, and cake. By the time bedtime rolled around I was feeling fine so we let the girls stay the night and headed home. We had a fairly good night's sleep in our own bed and the next morning I tidied up a little and made sure we were ready to bring baby home. We took everything we needed and headed back to Noni's.
They all sweetly accommodated us and we had our big Thanksgiving meal that evening. We had to be at the hospital at 7:30AM so to get as much sleep as possible, and not wake anyone up too early we decided to stay in a hotel near the hospital.
Again, we got a decent night's sleep and ate a little bit at the continental breakfast before checking in to the hospital. The check in process always seems to take a while. By the time we'd answered all the questions and got settled in we'd already been there for hours. My doctor finally came in at 10:30 and broke my water to get things going. I walked in circles around our room for several hours waiting. The contractions would come and go, get steady, and then get irregular again.
We had a great nurse and she reminded me so much of my friend L! She kept us laughing and gave us just the right amount of space and attention. It was kind of funny but every time she would decide something and say it out loud it would happen. She said, okay, these contractions are going to get regular at 1:30 or we're going to have to ask about getting you on some Pitocin. Sure enough they regulated. They weren't strong, but they were regular. Later she said, ok we are going to get your epidural ordered because these contractions are going to kick in to gear. And they did. At 4:30 she said, ok we have to have this baby by 7 because that's when I get off!
I think it was around 6:15/30 when my doctor came to check me and said I was fully dilated! They backed off the epidural so I would be able to feel the pushing and then we tried a couple practice pushes with the nurse. Baby was still up high in the birth canal so we tried a couple different positions to labor down, and after that when I tried pushing she said, "Stop!" Baby was ready to come sailing out! They got the doctor and other nurses in the room quickly, thankfully, as it was all I could do not to push her out, and she came out into doctor's hands with one final push. She was born at 6:55PM.
They laid her on my chest and we did skin to skin while everything was cleaned up. She had her first nursing session and didn't do too bad. I think she was probably the easiest birth of all of them! It was a lot like Boo's since they were the only ones who were induced, but because I got her epidural right away I wasn't in the extreme pain I was with Boo. I am so thankful that everything went smoothly!!! It must have been all the prayers being offered on our behalf! I know there were many.
After about an hour they took her to get weighed and measured. Daddy got some pictures of her.
She had a loud cry right from the beginning, and was not happy about being fussed with!
I'd been praying since the beginning for another dark haired baby like Boo, and boy was that answered with a yes! Look at that dark hair! And so much! I think this is the most hair of any of them...certainly the longest.
But she also has a lot of facial features of the others!
Footprints.
She got all wrapped up and Daddy was able to hold her for the first time.
Such a cute little face!
Next Daddy went to get her sisters so they could come meet her. Pictures from that up next!
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