Our baby girl is finally here! She was born Saturday, June 30, 2007 at 5:24 pm. Weighing in at 8 pounds, 15 ounces and 20 1/4 inches long, she is absolutely perfect! The labor was quick and much easier than I anticipated. I went to the doctor on Friday at 3:20, and he stripped my membranes (again) and stretched me to 3 cm from 1 cm and 75 % effaced. That evening I began having contractions and ended up with 6 hours of false labor, ending around 3 am. The next morning I woke up feeling crampy, but not expecting much after the disappointment from the night before. At noon, I had a very strong contraction, went to the bathroom, and lost my mucous plug (ewww)! By 2, they were 5 minutes apart and we decided to get started towards the hospital. The boys had to be dressed and dropped off at Tammy's house and the bags needed to go into the car, and we were finally on our way! We arrived at the hospital around 3 pm, but didn't get checked in right away. After two middle of the night hospital arrivals with the boys, I didn't call ahead again this time, and the hospital "wasn't expecting me." After a nasty nurse finally believed I was in labor and got me a room, my contractions were coming almost constantly and were quite strong. Dr. Wiles came in and broke my water, my epidural went in, and in 45 minutes I went from 4 cm to 10 cm and ready to push! I pushed ONE TIME, and next thing I knew, the baby was out!
We came home the next night, and were so glad to sleep in our own bed! The boys have done SOOOO well with their new baby sister. They have been gentle, and calm, and given LOTS of kisses. They like to hold her (especially Jackson) and tell her that they love her. They've even been bringing her toys to share. Livi had a great night last night, and slept from 9 pm until 2 am when I startled awake and worried because she had not eaten for 5 hours! I think my milk had just come in, though and she was stuffed! I ended up waking her up again at 4 and 6:30, and then she woke up on her own at about 8:30. All in all, recovery, experience and all have been so much easier than the first two. We actually went for a long walk around the neighborhood today, and I cooked dinner and everything! I can't believe how good I feel! I guess it just gets easier each time! But then, maybe I should knock on wood....
