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The delivery story

It was midnight. I'd had contractions all day but it seemed any time I changed up what I was doing (going from standing to sitting or sitting to standing) there was a drawn out pause in contractions. None of them were strong enough to cause me any pain. And now it seemed like they were coming to a stop all together. I showered and then sat in the dark and cried for a while. Brendon begged me to come to bed and eventually I gave in.

It didn't make sense. I've never had labor start and stop like that before. I'd been at 3 cm during my appointment earlier in the day and after stripping my membranes Dr. Holmes told me he felt like with 80% certainty I'd have a baby that day or the next. The next was approaching and there was still no baby.

Around 2 a.m. I woke up to contractions again. They were still light and I lay there a while trying to decide "Do I sleep through this or do I get up and concentrate on it?" I decided to get up. I went downstairs and sat on the couch, watching TV and counting contractions. Jose came down around 3 a.m. No baby yet. I told him to go to bed.

Around 4 a.m. my contractions weren't any more consistent but they were getting stronger. I weighed my options. I could keep sitting there and driving myself crazy and wait until I was in serious pain, or I could wake up Brendon now and hope that by the time I got to the hospital I had progressed enough for them to let me stay. I woke Brendon up. I waited while he showered and Barb drove over. There was no rush.

As we went to leave Brendon kissed Kaybree and Eisley goodbye and woke them up. They both ran after us crying. We gave them big hugs and told them the next time we saw them we'd have a baby.

We got the hospital around 5 a.m. and sat in triage for an hour. We watched Arthur. Apparently it's the only thing on at 5 a.m. on basic channels. I'm sure we must have looked a little strange to anyone who came in the room--two adults watching Arthur, but oh well!

Eventually we were moved into a labor and delivery room and I got the sweet relief of an epidural. My mom showed up around 8 a.m. Dr. Holmes stopped by at 9. I was at 7 cm. He tried to decide if it was time to break my water or not. He decided not and left.

I was given a sweet, older nurse named Lesley. She came in every hour or so and checked me and told me to let her know if my water broke. It didn't. So we sat. And sat. And sat. They had to give me pitocin to keep labor progressing. We all decided we had made a mistake not eating earlier. Noon came and went. I was getting grumpy. Finally Lesley checked me again and kept her finger on Aspen's head during a contraction and finally my water broke. She called Dr. Holmes.

He arrived around 1 p.m. and suited up for delivery. I pushed three times and without much straining, she arrived at 1:20! Aspen Rene, 8 pounds 14 ounces, 22 inches long. You were a big baby, little girl.

Dr. Holmes said you had the umbilical chord wrapped around your neck once, which may explain why labor kept starting and stopping.

Surprisingly my recovery has been amazing. It's been two weeks and I am feeling great! My stitches don't hurt, my stomach is almost completely gone. I'm only a couple pounds away from my pre-baby weight. And you, my dear, are perfect. Perfect shaped head. Perfect little cheeks. Perfect fingers and toes. You look a lot like Kaybree but taller and with more hair. You've got a full head of hair--but not as much on top like Eisley had.

You're not sleeping great yet, and it may be because even though I'm producing enough milk it's not fatty enough. But you are eating great and staying awake for longer period of time during the day, which is fun to see.

Kaybree is OBSESSED. She wants to hold you ALL the time! For the first few days she wanted to change every diaper too but she's gotten over that now that you're pooping more regularly. Eisley wants to hold you for about 15 minutes at a time or until you start crying. Jose has held you three times, for about a minute each time. At least he has stopped referring to you as "the thing."

Welcome to the world, baby girl! We love you!

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