She is here!!

What a fun week it has been for us!! I'll post the big long story at the end, and let you enjoy the pictures if that's all you have time for. :)

I don't remember when Heidi took this one....but it was one of the times when I was being monitored :)

Can't believe it's over! Here we are waiting for the stats and good stuff on the little lady :) Routine nursery visit. This first picture is Lillie, the one underneath it is Steven. Do you think they look alike?

Hanging out with mom

Love the hair :)

Our first family photo. Don't mind the fact that both Darrell and I are exhausted from a fun morning :)

One of my most favorite pictures. It captures what I have seen the last two days around here. Darrell is in love with this little one for sure!

Steven was instantly taken by Baby Lillie. I love this boy so much!

At the hospital a few hours before coming home. So much fun!

Monday and Tuesday Darrell became more and more anxious being at work, because he wanted to meet his daughter! With each passing day, the anxiety I was feeling was just knowing what was to come, but not knowing when. Tuesday night/Wednesday morning, I was having a really hard time sleeping, so I went to the front room to sleep. When I woke up about 3:30 a.m., little lady was completely in my ribs and giving me a lot of pain. But at the same time, I had the thought go through my mind, "Am I having contractions?" So, I got up, and went back to bed, and noted contractions about 8 minutes apart, 12 minutes apart, and 6 minutes apart, but they were small, so I got a bit more sleep. About 4:30, they started becoming closer, so I jumped up to get moving, since I knew in order to try to achieve a natural birth, I wanted gravity helping me. At about 4:45, my contractions started to be about 4 minutes apart, and become consistent, and started to get somewhat harder. So, I took a bath and started to get ready hopefully for a trip to the hospital that day. Darrell woke up around 5:30, and it didn't click to him why I would be getting ready for the day cause he simply said "That was an early bath." I had to stop myself from laughing cause I could tell he was half asleep, and I simply said "They're 4 minutes apart right now." Once it clicked in his mind, he got kind of excited. I turned on the news to keep myself distracted while I sat on an exercise ball and walked around the house to see if the contractions would intensify or get closer together. They started to, so I got a hold of my sister around 6 to let her know she was finally needed, and worked on getting a hold of my doula, Heidi. Once I talked to Heidi, she recommended we probably start getting ready to go, cause it sounded like I really was in labor. Steven woke up at 7, which I was excited about, cause i was able to see him before we left as well. Once Sheri got here, and we got things squared away, we headed for the hospital around 8. When we got to the hospital, they hooked me up to the monitors and checked me, and I was at a 4 1/2 and the baby was really low. The nurse said I would have to be monitored for an hour, and if I didn't progress, I would go home. I was hoping I would progress, because I was really afraid of my water breaking in the car if we had to go home. Then, the doctor on call told me because I was past a 4, I would get to stay either way. Thanks doc! Once I got admitted, I was at a 5 1/2 and they were surprised my water hadn't broken, because the baby kept kicking and moving so much that the monitors would not stay on my stomache. I only had to be on the monitor about 5-10 minutes out of every hour, then was able to walk around, labor in the water, and sit on an exercise ball for a while. Darrell and Heidi would also do these incredible massage and pressure point techniques that helped ease my contractions and really helped the morning to fly by. When I was starting to lose my motivation, I heard the cry of another newborn in one of the rooms near us, and it made me smile and just keep going! When I got to about a 6-7, my water still hadn't broken, but my contractions were starting to get more intense. I knew having them break my water would make things go really fast and become super intense, but I told them to go ahead, so that I could get this show on the road, cause I was starting to get tired. The doctor came at about 12:35, and broke my water, which definitely made everything speed up and intensify, but we were in this for the long haul! The last half hour before I got to a 10 is still kind of a blur to me, but looking back, and seeing the support I had, it was a fast half hour. When I got ready to push, the doctor made it over to the hospital from the clinic, and my mom made it in time for all the big and exciting stuff. I remember when I was pushing the doctor talked about all the hair he could see, and something about being able to do a ponytail with her hair. That also made me very excited. I only had to push for 15-20 minutes, which was definitely a big difference compared to my 3 hours of pushing with Steven. At 1:29 p.m. Lillie Ruth Cropper made it into this world, and I immediately was overjoyed to be able to have her in my arms and see her. I was so shocked at how tiny she was, because really, I didn't remember Steven ever being that small. It was so neat to be able to talk to her while Darrell cut the cord and listen to all the nurses talk about just how cute she was. So...there in jist is my labor story :) I got everything on my wish list. -Under 20 hours of labor - I'll definitely take the 10 I got! - -No Epidural - Pretty intense, but having a doula and a super supportive husband, nurses and doctor made it something that I was able to achieve - -She came on her own! - Five days after her due date, just like Steven- -Something I forgot to mention earlier, She had a smaller head than Steven. His head made pushing rough- -Lillie's hair is an added bonus. I was hoping for at least a little bit, and she has plenty beautiful locks :) - Lillie weighed in at 7 lbs, 4 oz, and she is 19 inches long. I feel like she is just a compact little ball of cuteness, and she has been so much fun to have here at home! Steven loves her, Darrell basically is "over the moon" for her, and I love having her here and looking at the miracle of life every day! And for name's sake...Lillie was my Great Grandmother, and I've always wanted to name a little girl that since I was about 14. Ruth was Darrell's grandmother, and we've always loved the name and wanted to use it for a little girl. We actually had originally planned on naming two seperate daughters Lillie and Ruth, but I had felt so so strongly about both names this pregnancy, that we decided upon combining them.