So, my third child has arrived. We named her Lillian Charlotte, but we are calling her Lily for short. She was born at 1:47 a.m. Sunday, July 8. She weighed 7 lbs 11 oz and was 21 and 1/2 inches long. She has blue eyes and dark hair.

The labor and delivery were pretty harrowing. It all started when I went to the doctor on Friday afternoon (July 6) for a routine non-stress test (this involves reclining on an exam table for about a half hour while hooked up to a monitor that measures uterine contractions and the baby's heartbeat). The doctor didn't like what she saw -- a few decelerations of the heartrate -- and told me to go next door to the hospital as she wanted to start induction immediately, I was sort of freaked, to say the least -- hadn't planned on anything happening until Tuesday, July 10, when my induction was originally scheduled (I didn't even have a bag packed!). We had to scramble to find someone to care for Clarissa and Ethan (ages 5 and 4) over the weekend.

So I went to L&D. They started trying to induce me on Friday afternoon with cervidil (a gel that's supposed to soften and dilate the cervix), because I was only 1 cm dilated and not effaced at all. I didn't get any sleep all night because I was hooked up to so much stuff, including a blood pressure cuff that went off every half hour. They started Pitocin Saturday morning. By Saturday evening it still hadn't "taken" and I hadn't progressed at all. The baby's heartbeat kept dropping so I had the specter of emergency C-section hanging over my head the entire time. It was mega-stressful, and my mood was really low because I was having the kind of birth I didn't want -- one filled with medical interventions. There didn't seem to be anything I could do to prevent this, though. I hadn't anticipated this problem with the baby's heartbeat.

I didn't go into active labor until about 7 p.m. Saturday, when the doctor stopped the Pitocin then restarted it with a new dosage, and she was able to break my bag of waters. Contractions then came on hard and heavy. Got the epidural two hours later. Had to stay in bed the whole time, on oxygen, two separate IVs (one in each arm), internal and external monitors, Foley catheter, etc., lying on my right side because of the heartbeat decelerations. At one point baby's heartbeat dropped so much they had to call the resident to give me an "amniotic infusion" to float the cord a little, because they suspected a cord issue. Then of course the problem was that baby's heartrate went down with each contraction, and that was scary too. The moment when I was finally complete and able to push was such relief, I can't even tell you. The epidural only took on one side but I didn't care -- I pushed her out in about 15 minutes. Turns out she had a HUGE knot in her cord and the cord was wrapped around her neck twice -- that was what was causing the heartrate to drop. The doctor said she'd never seen a cord that long.

They put her on my chest and didn't tell me what she was -- I turned her over myself to see, and was really surprised. "Oh, you're a girl!" Her face was a bit purple from having the cord around her neck, but she pinked up quickly and started crying. I was so happy to see her, and so relieved that we had both made it safely through the birth. I got to hold her for a while, then they took her to the nursery for observation for a few hours (they had to see how her blood sugars were, because of my diabetes). I was transferred to a room -- had to share a room the first night, because the hospital was so crowded, and that sucked because the other people would not turn off their lights or TV so I couldn't get any rest. Later Sunday I did get my own room and that was nice and peaceful.

The earliest I was allowed to go home was Monday night, and I jumped at the opportunity, because I was tired of being in the hospital and I missed Clarissa and Ethan. We got home around 9 p.m. Monday and it seems like I still haven't slept, even though Lily so far is not a difficult baby. She eats and sleeps a lot and isn't very fussy. She kind of has her days and nights mixed up, though, but that's typical for a newborn. We took her for her first doctor appointment this week and she is healthy although a bit jaundiced. My milk came in and my boobs are now Dolly Parton-esque. Lily is a good eater so far and latches on like a champ.

Drop me a PM if you'd like a link to some photos. They are mostly of the labor and birth, although there's nothing bloody or gory. Thanks for reading!