June Elizabeth, Welcome to the World!

The birth story:

My OB appt was at 11:30am. I was sure that after the 5+ hours of contractions the previous night that I would have made some additional progress from the 3-4cm I was dilated the week before. Well, I was correct! I was 6cm dilated, my bag of water was bulging, so the OB decided that it was time to have a baby!

I went home, met Andy, said goodbye to Lincoln and my mom, and we were off! We arrived at the hospital around 1pm, and were in our labor & delivery room about 30min later. We got settled in, and they hooked me up to my IV at 2pm, and started my first round of antibiotics (for GBS+) at 2:20pm. About 3:30pm a doctor came by and broke my water, He said "Lots of clear fluid! Very nice." Around the same time the nurse started the pitocin to get my contractions really going. An hour later we started the second and final round of antibiotics.

Throughout this time they kept asking me if I wanted an epidural. I kept declining because the contractions weren't really hurting yet and I was curious to see how far I could go without pain meds. Well, that question was quickly answered, and I requested the epi around 4:45pm. I was checked at this time and was 7-8cm dilated. Due to shift changes and paperwork, it didn't arrive until 5:45! I thought I was going to die!! Luckily, it took very quickly and pretty evenly. I was comfortable enough to even rest a bit (not actually fall asleep, but close my eyes and relax).

Around 6:30 I started to feel a hot spot in my right butt cheek with each contraction. I had Andy give me a epi boost, but it didn't do anything. As the contractions kept coming, I started to feel some searing pain down low as well. I told the nurse, and I said that I thought this might be the "needing to push" feeling. I never got that feeling with Lincoln, until he was crowning because of the epidural, so I wasn't sure how it felt earlier on in the process. She checked me right as my doctor walked in. I was 10cm and ready to go!

Baby June's head was very very low already. I gave a practice push, and she said that they needed to set up for delivery. So I waited through a few more contractions as they broke the bed down and put out the sterile sheets. At around 6:50pm it was time to push for real! I pushed through one set of 3, and they decided that they needed to get the baby's nurses in and ready. I pushed through another set and she was just about crowning. I gave one more push and the doctor gave me a very small episiotomy to keep me from tearing in the northward direction (she said that those kinds of tears are very painful). Then I gave just a tiny push and out she came. After her arms were free the doctor had me reach down and pull her out the rest of the way. It was pretty cool!

She was born at 7:02pm on St. Patrick's Day, March 17, 2010. She is just a little thing, weighing in at 6lbs 8.5oz (exactly 1lb less than Lincoln's birth weight), and 18.5" long. Her APGARs were 8 and 9. Initially, there was quite a bit of concern that she had an imperfect bowel (where the anus is not attached to the large intestines), but after her poops started coming out on day 2, those fears were alieviated! Thank god!! She also initially failed the hearing test in one ear. But after re-testing the next day, she passed.

Now here we are starting on Day #3 of little June's life, all together at home. Things are just great right now! Lincoln has shown a lot more interest and curiosity about his baby sister than I expected. I am looking forward to see where this new adventure takes us! :)

Here she is, with her dark hair!