Details, Details, Details

So cute!

Daddy is smitten

The boys think she is cute, but thankfully, aren't so impressed that they are constantly hovering over her. They have been good big brothers so far, and good helpers. It's nice they have each other with mom and dad so distracted.

Immediately after delivery. I'm not usually so scantily clad! This hospital was big on skin to skin contact, so...

I could not have been happier at this moment.

I purposely put the pictures first, so that anybody uninterested in the details could just see pictures and happily scoot on their way. For those not easily scared off, I invite you to continue.

I had my regular doctor's appointment on Wednesday morning at 10:00 (4/21). The doctor wasn't going to check me, again! but with a little whining the medical assistant convinced her to, and when I asked her to be "rough" about it so that we could get things moving, she offered to strip my membranes. I had never had this done before, and now recognize that this manuever could also double as incentive to launch oneself right off the exam table. After she was done, I was on my way with the understanding that if I were ready to go into labor anyway, this could help set things in motion.

I got home and started cleaning. Really cleaning. Scrub brushes, disinfectant, dusting, the whole bit. Thankfully, for my house the nesting instincts set in early, and remained until delivery. After Will got home from school, Josh had promised to take him on a bike ride to the dirt hills. We went and did that as a family, and as a result of being out, kind of missed dinner. We promised the boys a trip to McDonald's for dinner, and I was sitting on the couch waiting for Josh to get ready, and when I stood up to get ready myself at 7:30pm and noticed-WET! Huh?! My water didn't break with my boys, and I was pretty sure that I hadn't peed, but who knows, right? Thankfully, it wasn't a huge gush, and didn't cause much mess anywhere but on me. We called Darcy and Zach...thank you, thank you, thank you! who graciously watched our boys the whole time we were in the hospital, and called the doctor, who told me to head to the hospital.

Isaac was incredibly distraught as we moved around getting everything ready. My heart was breaking at seeing my little boy so upset by my having to go and disrupt everything by bringing a new person into our lives, until I listened more carefully to his cries which were less to the effect of you're ruining my life, and more like, "I want to go to McDonald's!" Oh, well, in that case. No problem. We took them to McDonald's, then to Darcy's, then got Josh some food at Jimmy John's. Now, with everyone fed (except me of course) and things conveniently taken care of, we could go and have a baby.

We got to the hospital at 9:30pm. My doctor offered to let me wander the halls of the hospital to get labor going strong, but with my current fluid situation this seemed less than appealing, and I'm pretty sure that housekeeping would not have appreciated the snail trail I would have left behind. Option 2: pitocin and an epidural--deal! My contractions did kick in on their own pretty quickly, and by the time the epidural was placed, even before the pit drip was started I was contracting every 2-3 minutes. With epidural in place at about 11:00pm, the nurse was trying to get me all settled in for a long night. I told her it wouldn't be that long, but she must have thought that was wishful thinking. I was a 3 at 11:00. Around midnight I told her that I was feeling pressure. She checked and I was a 5, but with baby's head "right there". By 12:15 I was complete. Ready to push.

Josie was born at 12:42am (4/22). I actually had to push a little for this one, although, many other mom's have said that 20 minutes of pushing isn't really pushing. It felt long after the boys, who were just a few pushes.

She is perfect. Beautiful. I knew I would be more emotional with her than I was with the boys following the miscarriage, and by virtue of having waited longer in between babies so I was less overwhelmed and just more excited, and I have been. I am so blessed. She is curled up peacefully sleeping on my lap as I type this. Daddy is taking a nap up in the bed, and the boys are downstairs playing cars. My house is still ultra clean ;) and all is right in our world. Blessed.