It's a Girl

Addie made her debut February 26, 2016 about 5 days early. I was so thankful to have my parents here for when I went into labor. They were originally going to arrive on February 29th because my due date wasn't until March 2nd. I explained to them that both of my other boys came about a week early. I really wanted them here for the birth of Addie so that they could watch the boys for us while we were in the hospital. That was my biggest stress. I wanted to make sure the boys were taken care of. They arrived on the evening of February 21st. We had a few days of good weather so I showed them around town a little bit on Monday and Tuesday. By Tuesday evening we were all wondering when I was going to go into labor. We decided on Wednesday we would plan a trip to Silver falls to go hiking because it was going to be a nice day. We pulled Camo from school and made the trip over to Silver Falls. I just hit 39 weeks and it was probably crazy of me to be doing a strenuous 3 mile hike, but I was anxious to get things moving and hopefully go into labor. It worked, because early Thursday morning I woke up to consistent contractions every 10 minutes. In the morning I told J I had been up all night and that we might be going to the hospital. I decided to send him to work because I was going to wait until they got a little bit closer. Well, they ended up getting farther apart, but were still coming every 20 minutes all day on Thursday. I was exhausted because they were just uncomfortable enough that I wasn't able to sleep all day. Then around 9 p.m. on Thursday I could feel them coming back on every 8-10 minutes. J and I decided to go to bed around 10, but my contractions started to get even closer so I decided to get in the bath to see if they would go away. While I was in the bath they started to get closer and closer. I then noticed they were coming every 4 minutes so I quickly got out of the bath and woke J up to tell him we better head to the hospital. It was about midnight and J was so tired and out of it. I  woke my mom and dad up to tell them we were headed to the hospital. My mom came with us, while my dad stayed back home with the boys. When we got to the hospital I was at a 6. I decided I was far enough along that I wasn't going to do the epidural and just get through the contractions. About 2 hours later she checked me again and I was only 7 1/2 centimeters dilated.  I was discouraged that in 2 hours of hard labor I had only progressed 1 1/2 centimeters. I was exhausted because at this point I hadn't slept in 24 hours. I knew that I would be too exhausted to push so I decided to try out the epidural. I absolutely loved it! I can't believe that with the other two boys I had them without the epidural. It was so nice to be able to sleep until it was time to push. The epidural must have helped me relax because in 30 minutes I jumped all the way up to 9 centimeters. About an hour later it was finally time to push. She was born at 6 in the morning on Friday. It was by far my best labor experience and I think it was because of the epidural. I'm grateful that I have been able to deliver both my boys without an epidural, but I'm also grateful that I was able to have the epidural for this birth. I think if I were to have another baby, I would choose the epidural.

A fun fact is that all of my kids were born on a Friday. Addie weighed in at 8 pounds 3 ounces. She was my biggest baby by 1 ounce. TJ was 8 pounds 2 ounces. We are all in love with her. I was worried that TJ was going to have a hard time, but he absolutely loves her. Everyday he runs into our room asking if Addie is awake or wondering where she is. He loves to help me with her and always gets in her face to kiss her. He is constantly saying,"Oh baby Addie, your so cute, I love your baldy head". He has many different terms of endearment for her and you never know what he's going to call her next. I love the bond they have with one another already! Camo is also a big help. He doesn't seem as interested, but is always there to help if she's crying or I need something. J is just in love with her. I love seeing the love he has for her and it's very apparent. Every day that he comes home from work he wants to immediately hold her. Whenever she is crying, I hand her off to him and he helps her to calm down. Addie and I are so lucky to have these boys in our life!