Having Hope: Our baby girl has arrived

The arrival of our newest addition was one that was much anticipated as the gender was known only to my husband. Everyday that past, I thought that surely today will be the day. I actually made it to my due date this time around and I found I was not very patiently waiting this little ones arrival. The night of my due date was a full moon and like every other night I thought this is it. I had been having mild contractions since about 20 weeks so that was nothing new. However, this time I had 2 contractions that made me think I was dying and I knew this was really it! So I woke Patrick up who proceeded to ask me what the matter was, then I went downstairs to head to the car and my mother (who was staying with us for the week-thank goodness!) asked me "What hurts?" when I told her I was in labor! not sure why everyone was asking me such stupid questions but nonetheless we headed to the hospital, this was about 12:00 midnight. The hospital was about 40 min away and when we were about 2 min from home I knew we weren't going to make it! So we headed to the local hospital that was 5 min away. I had to go through the ER because I was not familiar with the hospital and the poor gentleman at the desk turned ghost white when he realized what was happening. By the time we got to the elevator he was in a full on trot, probably cause I told him I wouldn't make it too much further. We arrived in L and D and the rest happened so fast. Except the doctor who took his time putting on his gloves to deliver the baby, therefore the nurse proceeded to use her hand to keep the babies head from being delivered until the doctor was ready. Our baby girl was born at 12:25am without any interventions, pain medication, or warning. I just kept saying, "No not again! I don't want to do this again!" referring to not getting an epidural. Lets just say I'm not one to labor gracefully. At one point the nurse grab my arm and sternly told me in a loud voice I needed to get control! However, I had no control over my body and I had no idea how to gain control as it was all happening so fast! The rest of my hospital stay was uneventful and baby girl and I pretty much just hung out and bonded. Since this was my third I was fairly well versed in baby care so the nurses and doctors pretty much left me alone. I was just glad we did not have to deliver on the side of the road, that Patrick was able to be there with me, and that my mom was there to watch the kids cause if we had to take 5 min to get them out of bed or even to take them to a friends home we would not have made it!

Our sweet baby girl who was born 25 min after her due date was a solid 8#2oz and has been such a blessing as she is an eating and sleeping champ! My husband says she is a tiny answer to a very big prayer that we have been praying since we found out we were expecting! After the 1st year with my son and his challenges in the sleeping and eating department, this new little one has been so great! We are smitten with her and I can't get over how big she is!