Harper's Birth Story

I'm writing this mostly so I remember the details of this day, but also for anyone who cares to read it.

I was scheduled to be induced on Saturday, January 7th 2012 (39 weeks and 2 days) at 4am.  I called the hospital as instructed at 3am to see if they had a bed available for me.  They did not and told me to call back at 7am.  I was bummed but tried to go back to sleep.  I called back at 7am and they still did not have room for me.  At this point I'm fighting back tears.  I was just so anxious to get things started and meet my baby.  They told me they'd call when they had room.  I didn't have to wait too long because they called at 8:45am.

 Once we got to the hospital at 9:45am we were checked in and my amazing nurse Staci got me all settled into my room.  This happened to be the very same room that Delaney was born in.  I thought that was pretty special.  I was almost 3cm dilated and almost completely effaced at that point.  They started me on a low dose of pitocin around 11am and my doctor broke my water at noon.  I got my epidural around 12:30-12:45 and they made me all comfy with this giant "peanut ball" between my legs to help me dilate faster.  The next time I was checked I was 7cm.  Everything after that just happened so fast.  I was complete and pushing.  With about 4 or 5 pushes Harper was born!  

I got to help pull her out and put her up on my chest.  Such a peaceful entry into this world.  She did not cry right away and I thought nothing of it.  She was pink and trying to open her eyes.  My family later told me they were concerned that she wasn't crying.  The nurse just rubbed her back a little and she let out a huge cry.  Such a special time to hold and admire my baby.  And just because she loves me so much she pooped all over me on the way out.  Awesome!

My doctor noticed that she had a huge figure-eight knot in her cord.  He said he's never seen that kind of knot before.  She must have done it pretty early in my pregnancy when she was tiny.  I'm so thankful that the knot was loose and did not affect the blood and oxygen flow to Harper.  I hate to think of what could have happened.

Harper got all cleaned up and weighed after I held her for a while.  She weighed 7lbs and 12oz and was 20.5 inches long.  EXACTLY the same as Delaney.  She looks a lot like Delaney did when she was a newborn too.

This is the first time that Daddy got to hold Harper.  She has very long, narrow feet with long toes just like her Daddy.  And so far her hair is brown.  We'll see if it falls out and comes in blonde like her big sister's did.

Here's Harper back in Mommy's arms.  She's so amazing and my entire labor from start to finish was roughly 3-4 hours.  One of the best days of my life.  Welcome to our family Harper!