Lucy Fern's Story

It all started 40 weeks ago.... Ok so maybe that part of the story doesn't need to be told but the story of Lucy Fern's birth is a must! As you all know I have been miserably pregnant for at least two weeks and on the 16th I had a doctor's appointment. She informed me that I was 5 cm dilated and 70% effaced (way too far to be sent home in my opinion) and that she had no idea why I was not in labor yet. Unfortunately the hospital is pretty picky about induction prior to 41 weeks but she gave me instructions to come in on Friday the 18th and be induced (or at least call and see if they had room for me). Eric and I went home discouraged but with an end date in mind of the 18th so I had some confidence that I could do this! Well, it turned out that we didn't need to wait until Friday because my labor started around 7:30 pm while I was at my church group having some soup. Eric and I calmly went home and got the kids in bed because I didn't want to disappoint them if I got sent home from the hospital. By the time the kids were down it was 8:30 and my contractions were about 4-6 minutes apart and lasting about 2 minutes each. Strong enough in my opinion but I didn't want to go to the hospital and then get sent home so I called the triage at the Pavilion and they said come on in.

Eric insisted on taking one last picture of me prego before the baby was born so here it is, taken in our garage with me having contractions all over the place. (I was not super thrilled with him if you can't tell)

Off we went to the hospital putting a call into Penny and my mom on the way to let them know that we thought this was it. Once we got to triage a very nice nurse named Mary Ann checked me out and said that she thought I was probably 5 and a half but she could make me a 6 if I needed to be and once I told her I was group B strep positive that cemented it. I was a 6 and in for the long haul. (Thank you God!) Did all the necessary yuck in triage and finally got a room. Once settled in we hooked me up with the epidual (which was wonderful even though I do have a huge bruise on my back) and got ready to wait it out. Since I have that strep thing they will not break my water, it either had to do it on it's own or wait until 4 hours had passed so we can get all the anti-biotics in so everyone can be safe.

My water was finally broke at 2:15 and then we just had to wait for my body to take over and do the rest. Right around 4:00 I started feeling super sick (a good sign during labor) and found out I was almost 10. Doctor came in and had me trial push at 4:23 and at 4:30 Miss Lucy Fern was born. I have a really cool picture of her coming out that my mom took, it is even tasteful but I still thought possibly too graphic for this blog.

Miss Lucy Fern was 9 pounds 2 ounces and 20.5 inches long. Wonderfully big and healthy!

Right as Lucy came out the doctor said "Here she is!" but I still had to ask "Is it really a girl?" Hey, the kid was stubborn what can I say!

Eric holding his little princess. He is really cute with her but he is still trying to figure out what to call her since "buddy" just doesn't sound right. I think he has settled on "sweetie" but we will have to see how that turns out, who knows this little girl might just be a "buddy" just like her brothers!

I will post tomorrow about the boys' reactions. They were typical of their personalities but still cute.