Birth Story part 2

Yesterday I posted part 1 of Third baby's birth story, and now I get to write about the exciting part where I finally meet the little lady. Warning: this is the birthing details that I want to remember, but if you don't like that sort of thing then just stop reading now. So, I was at the hospital laboring, and the Officer had gone into his awesome support coach mode (this time he didn't need to tell me to find another gear ;). I had done Bug's delivery with no epidural, and I was hoping to do that again, because I thought the physical recovery was so much easier than Belle's. When we first got to the hospital the pain still wasn't too bad, and having the Officer just massage my back during contractions was enough to get me through them. There were still little breaks between the pain where I could watch some of the World Cup (fortunately it was only the 3rd place match) and talk to my MIL and SIL who had met us at the hospital. At that point I was just trying to offer up each contraction for others who are suffering, which helped me, but after an hour or so things got really painful, and I remember thinking "this is exactly what purgatory will be like". I got in the shower and the Officer used the shower head to spray my back, which helped the pain. Then things suddenly got intense, and I was doing the embarrassing screaming/moaning thing that the Officer later lovingly referred to as my "Hulk Smash" yell.

Worth every second of pain

After a few of these extremely painful contractions I told the Officer that I felt like I needed to poop, which during labor would be code for "I need to push". So the Officer told me we should go back to the hospital bed. The Doctor said that I was complete and ready to push anytime, but I informed her that "I didn't want to" (who actually "wants" to do anything involved with giving birth?!?!). I thought the hospital bed looked like a form of torture (I never want to sit at all when in labor), and the idea of sitting in the bed and pushing made me want to cry. I told the nurse I didn't want to get in the bed (I imagine I sounded like a bratty 13-year-old girl with all of my "I don't wannas"). She was so amazing and said it was okay if I didn't get in the bed and made it seem like no big deal at all (she must not have realized that I was about to start pushing whether anyone was ready or not). Then I very loudly informed everyone that I needed to poop (again, code for I'm about to push), and everyone realized I was about to push the baby out in the middle of the floor. The nurse threw down some blankets, the Officer helped hold me, and the Doctor caught the baby, as I just squatted down and delivered the baby. Well, there were a few more "Hulk Smash" screams involved and three incredibly painful pushes, and I think I yelled something like "Just get the baby out!!!!!!!!!", but then there in the middle of the floor my beautiful baby arrived at 6:18pm. The Officer got to announce that we were blessed with yet another little girl, and I was surprised. not. at. all.

I love finally holding a new baby

I got to snuggle my sweet little baby (now I was completely fine with chilling in the hospital bed). Then as they took her away to clean her up, I was shocked to see little rolls on her arms. The nurse said "wow that's a big looking baby", which surprised me since she does this for a living, and then she announced that our daughter was 9 lbs 12 oz. What?!?! Belle was only 7 lbs 11 oz after being 10 days late and Bug was 6 lbs 15 oz, so I thought I only had nice little reasonably-sized babies. She barely fit in newborn diapers, but that girl was absolutely perfect. I just sat there holding her for an hour telling her over and over again how much I love her.

the big baby girl =)

My sweet Third baby came out very late and very big, but her labor and delivery went smoothly and for that I'm grateful. So far she has been an easy baby, who loves to eat, sleep, and smile at her big sisters. Just like every sweet soul that God has entrusted me with so far, I can't imagine my life without her.

With my three beautiful girls