Please join us in Welcoming...

Our Lily Faith! Lily entered the world at seven pounds and 14 ounces-our biggest baby so far- and 20 and a half inches. She was born at 5:20 PM after about nine hours of labor.

It all started out on my Friday afternoon doctors appointment. Erik and I had been prepared to have to wait another week to have "the baby", but after doing an ultrasound and doing a quick check, the doctor decided she wanted to deliver the baby either on Monday or Tuesday. Since I have Gestational Diabetes, I am followed closely throughout pregnancy to make sure my babies don't get too big. We opted for Monday, because honestly I was so tired of being pregnant. In fact I'm not even sure I looked at Erik to make sure he was ok with having the baby on Monday!

Saturday and Sunday were spent trying to get things done like laundry and cleaning house. However, we also really wanted to savor every second of the last couple of days as a family of four. As the time came to head to the hospital for the induction, we realized it really didn't matter if the house was spotless before the baby arrived, and we just enjoyed hanging out with Jack and Anna. Dropping the kids off at Erik's parents was really tough on us, since they are so young and neither of them understood that after that they would have a new brother or sister.

Things got better once we got to the hospital because previously we had heard that children were not allowed to visit the newborns and their Mommies, however once we actually made it to registration it turned out to not be a rule that was actually enforced. That night they started some medicine on me, and then the next morning around six my sweet nurse came in and said Erik and I could walk around and that I could take a shower to see if I could get labor started more naturally. Happily I woke up my sleeping husband and informed him we were going for a walk. And walk we did! Unfortunately, it didn't do much, so around 8:30 our nurse began the pitocin. Almost immediately I started feeling contractions, and then a little later when our doctor came in and broke my water I really started feeling things! Whenever they checked me though I still wasn't progressing as fast as I had hoped. Basically I was dilating a centimeter every 2 hours. I knew I was going to be getting an epidural, but I had hoped to wait until the last possible minute in hopes that there would be no chance it would wear off. My nurse and husband kept encouraging me to get the epidural soon, since it was my third child and the odds of it wearing off were extremely unlikely(though that is what happened with Anna!) They also told me it wouldn't slow things down anymore. But I tend to be on the stubborn side at times and decided to wait just a little longer. After the nurse left our room, Erik sat beside me and gave me a hug. He told me he really wanted me to get the epidural, because he hated seeing me in pain. I was still hesitant, but I have to admit I was touched by his sweetness. About two hours later the anesthesiologist came in our room, without even being paged, and asked if I was ready. I was, and within fifteen minutes I was feeling wonderful!

Everyone was so sweet and encouraging throughout the entire labor process, even more so than with Jack and Anna. When the anesthesiologist heard what a difficult labor I had with Anna, he made a point to come in and check on me several times throughout the labor. Our labor and delivery nurse was amazing, she was so excited to see what we were going to have! And of course Erik was phenomenal as my coach. Anything I needed, including pillows being adjusted I got. Finally around five o'clock our nurse came in just to do a blood sugar check, and I started feeling a lot of pressure. At first no one thought it was that big of a deal, but after the first contraction I felt severe pressure with our nurse realized this was it. Thankfully my awesome doctor was across the hall so she ran and got her. In the meantime I was panicking because the pressure was so intense I was sure I was going to deliver Lily before anyone got back to our room. Once everyone got back to our room our nurse and doctor were joking about how the nurse had just told my doctor she was going to get the baby out herself because she was so excited to see what we were going to have. I really wasn't in a joking mood and kept thinking how can they be talking about this when I'm about to deliver?!

After about three pushes the baby's head was out, one push later our little girl was placed on top of my belly. We didn't even hear what we had at first, or maybe I didn't hear what I had, because I was just so relieved labor was over. After a minute or so Erik cut the cord, and I finally asked what we had. To my surprise it was a baby girl! I had pretty much thought we were having another boy, I was so happy to have another precious daughter! After they cleaned Lily up they brought her over to try nursing for the first time. She was a little indignant at being born still, but after a few minutes she latched on, and has been a natural ever since. While all this was going on Erik was calling everyone exclaiming we'd had a little girl, and the nurses were bringing me food and some soda to help me feel better after 24 hours of no eating.

Within an hour and a half my inlaws had brought over Jack and Anna to meet their new sister. Jack was very cautious and worried about mommy being hooked up to all the medical machines. Anna reached for me right away and sat on my bed the whole time contentedly playing with my straw. Both kids have done exceptionally well with having a new baby in the house. In fact I think Erik and I are the ones who are having a difficult time trying to figure out how to balance three kids two and under. We don't want anyone to feel left out!

I am so thankful that my sweet Lily has joined our family. She has a very laid back temperment, basically she only cries when she's hungry or needs her diaper changed. I'm still trying to wrap my head around the fact that not only are we a family of five, but I also have daughters! We feel so blessed to have our little Lily here.