Sidney's arrival

The girls decided I needed to paint my toes blue and pink since we didn't know the sex of the baby!

The day finally came. It seemed like eternity, just those last weeks of waiting. They are so hard..the waiting. I think my dad said it best of all, "I guess God is giving you an extra lesson on patience..since He knows you are going to need it with all those little kids!" Thanks Dad, but so true. I don't think I was the picture of patience waiting on my 4th and final (sad) baby to be born.
The unknown..I think that's another reason it is so hard to wait. Most moms don't know when it's going to happen or how and that is scary. Will we 'know' when it's time, what if the baby is born on the side of the road, what if our water breaks in the grocery store, what if we think it's time and we go to the hospital and then we are wrong and get sent home! All of those are just a few of the crazy and extreme thoughts that run through our heads in the end. And I personally think it's why God makes us moms so uncomfortable in the end, so we are prepared to do anything to get that baby out!!

Monday, morning of February 18, finally came..I was 40 weeks and 1 day pregnant. Over a week more pregnant than I had ever been before. I was ready to go. At this point I had tried everything to get labor going. I was walking miles a day around our block, running bits and pieces too. I mowed the yard, scrubbed the floors and toilets, bounced on a yoga ball, took Evening Primrose Oil..most everything shy of castor oil..nothing was working as fast as I was wanting. I mean I could feel contractions and other things were going on down there, but nothing I could rush to the hospital for. And the problem was I didn't know how much longer that would go on. My mom was already here and had been here for almost 2 weeks at this point. I knew she couldn't stay forever and I desperately needed her here. My dad at this point had come on Valentine's Day, so he was here waiting as well. This baby needed to come!!

Emmaline had school off this day so my parents decided to take them to the zoo. I knew they would love it and were having fun! Daniel picked out these slippers for me to wear in the hospital..a surprise for me and how fitting that they had a rose on the toe!
I talked Daniel into coming to my appointment with me..He knows Dr. Hunter through the hospital so I thought he could help discuss our options! At 10 am, after my morning walk, I went to the dr. I had finally lost a few pounds (something that I have done at the end of all my pregnancies and for me is a sign of labor), my blood pressure was normal for me 106/68 and all seemed fine. The nurse listened to the heartbeat at 145 and got me hooked up to the monitors so they could see my contractions and such. I was contracting every 2-3 minutes but nothing painful. Dr. Hunter came in finally, found I was 3 cm and 60% effaced. I told her there had been some blood and she asked if we were ready to be sent to the hospital! She stripped my membranes and told us she would see us in a few hours!

It was one of those things-just-got-real, bittersweet moments. The last day I would be pregnant, forever. We wouldn't be a family of 5 anymore..Hayes wouldn't be the baby anymore. We were excited but nervous. We eventually got to the hospital around 12:15. It took a while to get checked in and settled, but they had a room reserved for us! The nurse was really nice and I finally got hooked up to my IV and pitocin at 2p.m. At this point we were kindof bored. There wasn't much going on and so we ended up watching tons of episodes of Cake Boss. I was so hungry at this point.
Eventually, my contractions got pretty intense and so close together, so I told the nurse I was ready for my epidural, which would take about 45 minutes for the dr. to get there to administer. Of course, it ended up taking over an hour for her to come and by the time it happened I was in pain. So relieved and thankful the epidural works for me without any complications! I got the epidural at 6:45. The nurse finally checked me at this point, I was 5 cm. Bummed out a bit, but she thought it wouldn't be long. At least my pain was under control!
My dr. finally came to check me out and break my water. She said I immediately went from a 5 to a 6 and decided to wait around til it was time to push. About an hour later I was feeling pressure, so they checked and I was 10 cm and fully effaced! We did some practice pushes and it was time to get serious. All the nurses were excited about the surprise of a boy or girl! We were too. At this point I think I felt it was a boy..and we had finally decided on names for both. This was the hardest part and I think it made it hard afterwards for me too. I couldn't quite get it through my head that we had a girl...anyways, back to pushing.
Dr. Hunter could tell I was struggling a little with pushing. I could feel well enough, probably the most I felt in any labor, but it was taking more work. She decided we would do the tug of war with a towel. She would pull and so would I during a contraction..it works the right muscles without having to concentrate on where to push.
At 8:14 p.m. on February 18, 2013 our little (big) girl was born. "It's a girl" was said and lots of squeals and excitement. I think I was in shock and a bit winded from all the pushing. But, I was elated to have a girl to dress and love and I knew that Georgia would be so excited! All was great with me and baby girl.
Her apgar was 8-9 and she was beautifully pink and very alert! She immediately reminded me of Georgia! The dr. had guessed her weight at 7.8 lbs but she was actually 8.12 pounds and 20 3/4 inches. Her head was 14 cm. I love her head of hair, a light brown and you can see blonde in there too!
Daniel and I had decided on the name Sidney Rose. She nursed pretty soon after and we just enjoyed having her with us! She didn't cry much but just looked around sweetly. It's such a surreal experience..getting to look into those blue eyes for the 1st time, to feel those hiccups outside of your belly, to see how their eyes dart around when they hear your voice, to count their tiny toes and fingers and to watch their bodies curl into a ball in the exact same way they were in curled in your belly.
I think that is the same moment I realized how empty my stomach felt and all my organs that were squished from baby where still squished up and it would take a while for them to move back to normal.
I felt really good but was hungry! Daniel got us a late dinner of Taco Bell and we settled in for the night. The hospital leaves the baby in room with the parents, so we had her all night. She pretty much stayed in bed with me. They took her for a bath and a few other things, always bringing her back saying, "she is a hungry little thing"! We spent our 24 hours after her birth in the hospital with her eating and pooping! She pooped constantly too!
After some special visitors, flowers, plants, a cookie cake and being interrupted a million times throughout the day and night, we were so ready to go home. The hospital was really nice, but we wanted to go home! They allowed us to leave after Sidney's 24 hour period.
Our first night home was uneventful for the most part and Sidney has been cuddling her way into our family since!

Thank God for such a healthy baby girl, an uneventful labor and delivery and grandparents who are willing to care 100% for our older babies! I still find it hard to believe we are a family of 6 and we have 3 girls and 1 boy! We truly are so blessed!!