Friday morning I woke up a little discouraged having not gone into labor yet, wondering if I ever would on my own, and headed to my dr. apt. Much to my surprise, I was dialate to a "good 2" and Dr. was willing to stretch me to see if I would go into labor, and assured me that I would probably go into labor that weekend. Needless to say, the stretching definitely gave me some contractions, and I decided to go through my day and spend as much time "verticle" as I could so hopefully I would go into labor. By 6pm the contractions started to hurt and I would have to concentrate to get through them. But they were all over the place, and not consistent at all. I remembered that happening with Porter so I was pretty sure I wasn't in labor. We watched the kids that night for our babysitting swap (but we did ask that they keep their phones handy) and then watched a movie. By the time the movie was over they were slowing down, so I was a little sad, but didn't think that anything would happen. Eric was a little excited because he wanted to go to sleep. As soon as we got into bed the contractions got harder and were all of a sudden 2 minutes apart. After about 5 contractions within 10 minutes that I couldn't even open my eyes through, I told Eric we needed to go to the hospital. Luckily a friend of ours was willing to come over and be with our kids while they slept. So after he arrived, we headed straight up. We got up to the labor and delivery and everyone was going SO slow (or at least it seemed to me). Granted they did have to wait for my contractions to stop so I could move. Within a couple of minutes I was checked and they said, we need a room ready now for her and moved me over. People were running around like crazy and another nurse was spouting off random questions at Eric. The rest is kind of a blur for me except for the fact that I knew that I couldn't hold off pushing until the dr. got there. Baby popped out in just a few pushes and ..... IT"S A GIRL!!!! I was so excited. Dr. walked in as they were cutting the cord, and he joked with me that I don't mess around when I go into labor. I tried to warn him and Eric warned the nurses. She was born at 12:46am on May 14th. I am so glad that I missed the Friday the 13th by 45 minutes. I loved this experience giving birth. Everything was perfect.
Here she is. Our little Charlotte Ann (I call her Lottie). She was 8 lbs. 8 oz. and 20.5 inches long. She looks like her daddy (which I think is pretty darn cute), and loves her siblings already. I love this little girl. I feel like I have had her for forever, and am so excited to be able to keep her for forever more. It was definitely time for her to come to our family, and she just fits right in.
This man is my hero. I wouldn't have been able to do this without him and he is just smitten with this little girl. It only took me three kids to figure how I needed his help through labor and he went above and beyond the call of duty. I sure do love him.
With her eyes open for really the first time. I was lucky I caught it with our ancient camera.
Adie is so happy to be a big sister....can you tell. She is constantly asking to hold baby Charlotte.
At first Porter didn't want anything to do with her, but now is constantly telling her how pretty she is and how much he loves her. What an amazing big brother he is.
I sure do love my family. And thanks mom for coming out to help us, I couldn't go through the day without you here.
