Mary Grace

Oh, what a week! It started out with me wondering if I was ever going to have this baby! I had an appointment for my 40 week visit with my midwife on Monday. I basically begged the midwife to give me some sort of answer as to when she would be born. Of course, she couldn't do that. She did help me with some natural ways to induce labor and gave me some herb drops to take. She said that they would make me cramp, but that within 36-48 hours I would probably go into labor. That was good enough for me.
I started having some mild cramping on the way home from the visit. That was around 2:00 p.m. and by 5:30 the cramping was getting worse. With Trey, my water broke first and they sent me to the hospital and had to give me Pitocin to make me start having contractions, because after about 4 hours I still wasn't feeling anything. (Looking back I don't agree with them doing that. Wish I would have been more educated at the time, but that's another story...) So, I wasn't really sure what to expect with Mary Grace. The cramping wasn't really regular, but it was surely painful.
So, by about 7:30 when I couldn't lay down without having some major cramps, I reluctantly called the midwife, thinking that I was just wasting her time because it was just the cramping that she talked about. I just was so paranoid about having the baby at home! So, we talked a little and she told me to wait a little longer and see if they got to be a little more regular. By 10:15 when I was having them every six minutes I called her and she told me to go ahead and come in and they would check and see. So we piled all of our stuff in the car and got Trey in. Our sweet friends Joe and Sarah Daley met us at the hospital to take Trey.
They put me in a room and hooked up the monitor to make sure Mary Grace was alright. After about 20 minutes, the midwife told me I was 6 cm. That was sweet music to my ears. It was about 5 hours after being at the hospital last time that I was even 4 cm. So basically we got to the hospital at 11:15ish and she was born at 2:46 a.m. What a totally different and magnificent experience compared to my labor with Trey. I had such a wonderful experience with my midwife. I would suggest that to anyone!

Well, the story doesn't end there. The story wouldn't be good if we didn't add a little drama in it, right? Well, we planned on leaving the hospital on Wednesday. That morning our friends called us and told us that it was 45 degrees in our house and apparently the heat wasn't working. Robby called around (praise the Lord we have a home warranty) and someone came to look at it, fixed it, it went out again that night, they came back and fixed it again, and it went out again last night. We aren't sure whats going on, but someone is coming back tomorrow. We spent the first night out of the hospital in a hotel. Yes, a hotel. So not the ideal place to be taking a newborn. My sweet dad is here and bought us two space heaters for the house, and my aunt and uncle had gotten us a kerosene heater a few years ago for Christmas, so we've been surviving by living on one side of the house and having all of our little heaters running. I've been sleeping in the recliner, and Trey and Robby have taken over our bed. For some reason (though not surprising) Trey has been sleeping terribly, and the only place he'll sleep through the night has been our bed. I don't know if its just because he's been so thrown off by having to have been away from us and then with the heat mess. (Obviously he needs to get away with out us more often!) I can't wait to have the heat fixed so that I can get that booger back in his bed!

Alright, enough is enough. Enjoy some sweet pictures!