Miss E's birth day!

We were so happy to welcome Miss E into our family on March 24th! Although her due date was not until the 31st, the doctors thought it would be a good idea to induce me a week early since I tend to have big babies. On the 23rd, I went in for an appt where I found I was still dilated to 5 cm (I had been this far dilated for a whole week!) and the midwife scheduled me to come in the following morning at 6:30 am! The rest of that day was filled with getting ready, finishing laundry, writing out meal plan/schedule for the week, etc. That night around 10pm we picked up Mr. J's mom and dad at the airport. They flew down from Montana for the week and we were so glad to have them. I will do a post about their visit soon.

The next morning, after my last straight 6 hours of sleep for a while, I woke up at 5 am to call the labor and delivery floor to make sure they weren't too full. Then I took a shower and ate a huge breakfast. I was soo starving all day/night when I was in labor with Miss M, that I wanted to make sure that didn't happen again. I arrived at 6:30 and began the admit process. Since the hospital is only 2 minutes away, I told Mr. J to come around 8:30 so he could have breakfast with the kids. After Mr. J got there, the on call doctor came in to assess me and decide the plan. It just so happens that family practice doctors were on call on Tuesdays, so my doctor was someone I worked with quite often in my job as a nurse in the clinic. Thankfully, the doctor for that day was a female doctor that I really liked, so it wasn't as weird as it would have been if it was one of the males I worked with. We decided since I was so far dilated to have her break my water and see if that would start labor. After she did that and we waited for about an hour, no painful contractions were starting, so we decided to start the Pitocin in my IV. My first painful contraction came a little after 9:30. I breathed through my contractions without requesting an epidural at the beginning. I have had an epidural with the other 3. My theory always was that I don't go medication free when I go to the dentist, so why should I when I am in labor? It worked fine for the first one, excellent for the second baby but with the third one, Mr. T, I don't remember getting any pain relief from it because by the time it was in, it was time for me to push. Also, I always had low back pain afterwards from where the needle went in at. So I was contemplating going without one (something I never thought I would do!). After about an hour of painful contractions and annoying daytime tv, the doctor checked again and I was dilated to an 8. Shortly after that, my body was telling me it was time to push this baby out (because of the previous epidurals, I hadn't felt that urge much before)! And after one push, she entered this world!! It was amazing how fast everything went. She was beautiful and big! 9 lb 7 ounces and 21 1/2 inches long. Shortly after she was born, she nursed for the first time and did awesome! I felt great after I had her. I could get up and walk around, it was fabulous. I also was so glad she was born at 11:00 am because I had started to get hungry and so they were able to bring me a real lunch tray. Even though it was hosptial food, it tasted so good!

Mr. J and I feel so blessed to welcome another sweet baby into our family. We can't wait to share more pictures and stories of her as she grows. Thank you all for your prayers!! Stay tuned for more posts about Miss E's arrival!