Our Year in Pictures: Back in Action

I'm sitting here in the hospital room while my baby girl sleeps peacefully next to me. The boys are home with daddy getting everything ready to bring our newest addition back with us this afternoon. I thought I would take what may be my last few moments of peace to catch up on a few things. I want to try to start the blog up again now that we are done with the bedrest high risk pregnancy drama. Lucas, if you are reading this, you are my inspiration to do this! I know you miss these guys terribly and I don't want you to feel like you are missing out on too much xoxo.

Now on to the birth story : )
Last Thursday I went in for my normal OB appointment. I hadn't been seen in two weeks and I was anxious on what progress (if any) I had made. At that point I was 36 weeks and 5 days pregnant, 5 days more pregnant than I ever was with Chase. I wasn't surprised when I turned out to be 4 to 5 cm dilated. The doctor considered admitting me for induction right then because I have super quick labors and baby girl was hanging out super low. In the end we decided to schedule an appointment for Monday afternoon since I would officially be full term by then. It was pretty much given that I would be induced at that point.

So for the next several days all I did was worry about labor and what would happen. Instead of relaxing like most normal people would do we continued with our busy routine and even painted our hallway. We made sure everything was ready for the big event. Monday morning came and I can tell you that the stress level in the house was HIGH! I was freaking out about labor and the pain and all of the fun (not fun) stuff that comes with it. Going through it twice before somehow made the anticipation worse. I knew exactly what I was in for and I was not looking forward to it. I was super excited to finally meet this little lady though. After all the issues the last couple of months I couldn't believe she was almost here.

After my scheduled appointment on Monday, Spetember 26 I was sent down to maternity to be admitted for induction. I was already about 6 cm dilated and contracting every once and awhile. At about 2:30pm the doctor broke my water and we were off and running. With a little help of some pitocin the contractions started immediately. I was really considering getting the pain medication but Michael and my mother talked me out of it. I delivered twice before without the help of anything and I knew in the end I would be happy if I could do it again. At 5pm I was wondering the wisdom of my decision (and silenty cursing Michael) but I was fully dialted and ready to push. Grayson Isebell joined the world at 5:05pm on September 26, 2011 weighing 7 lbs even and at 19.5 inches long. She is absolutely perfect with a ton of jet black hair and the most perfect little face I have ever seen. It was officially love at first sight.

So far everything has been wonderful. I feel great and am looking forward to going home in a few hours. The boys love her and our biggest surprise was how interested Chasey was in her. He wants to look at her and touch her and kiss her. I think we are going to have some protective older brothers on our hands.

We of course have a ton of pictures and keeping with tradition I think we have managed to get a shot of each of her visitors holding her. I obviously had to relinquish the camera to Michael during delivery and I haven't gone through too many of those pictures yet. Here are some shots I took of Grayson yesterday. The sleeping shots are from yesterday morning and the awake shots are from the afternoon. She seems most alert during the evening and night : /