.:Happy Birthday Reece:.

Well, it's been awhile since I last updated. So much has happened since then! I thought I better put in Reece's birth story before I forget all the details!

I went in on Wednesday, the 24th, to be induced. During the day, I had been feeling more contractions than usual, but nothing strong or anything. I didn't think much of it. So we go to the hospital that evening to get started with Cervadil. They hooked me up to the monitors and the nurse said that I was having a lot of contractions, and could I feel them? I said yes, but that they weren't too strong. She said that if I kept having them, that I probably wouldn't be able to do the Cervadil because it could bring on labor too quickly and stress out the baby. She said what they would probably do in that case is either send me home and come back in the morning for pitocin, or start me on a low dose pitocin drip that nite. I told her that I wasn't going home! :)

At about nine that nite, the contractions started coming - strong and hard! I couldn't believe that I might actually end up going into labor on my own! The nurse said that we could stay and suggested that we go walk around for an hour and see if we could get things started. I'm still only half a centimeter to a one at this point. So Josh and I go walk around for an hour, and the contractions are coming really hard at about 1-2 minutes apart. After the hour, we went back to our room for me to labor some more. Finally, at about 1:30 or so, I couldn't take the pain anymore and asked for something. I was still only about a one and a half, so they said I couldn't have my epidural until I was a four or a five. They put an iv in and started me on phentanol (spelling??) That pretty much did nothing, and I asked if there was something else they could give me. She said they would probably give me a shot of demarol in my hip. Well, as she went to check on that, she was watching my monitor at the nurses station. She came back in awhile later and said that since my contractions were coming so fast and so hard, they were just going to give me my epidural. I got that at about 3:30 in the morning.

At the point, the only thing to do was wait. Josh and I tried to sleep a little bit. My mom came to the hospital at around seven, and by then I was dilated to a four. We just stayed in there, talking and doing crosswords, and I was complete by noon. My water had still not broken at this point. The nurse said that they were going to let the baby descend a little bit on her own so that the pushing would be easier on both me and the baby. Then the nurse checked me and accidentally broke my water. I don't think it did a whole lot to increase the labor but we started practice pushing at that point.

At 1:15 I started pushing, and at 1:53 our beautiful Reece Noelle was born! She was 7 pounds, 10 ounces and 20 inches long. She has a full head of blonde hair and the cutest rosebud mouth I've ever seen.

I think it is so funny that I went in to be induced, and ended up going into labor on my own. I ended up having her on her due date, and with my own doctor. How often does that happen? :)

We are home now and doing well. Breastfeeding was a real challenge for us the first little while. We went back to the hospital to see the lactation specialist, and I spent a few days in tears over it. But we have finally figured it out and she is doing great now! She is so precious and I'm loving every minute of being a mommy!

We've been lucky to have family around to help with the cooking and the baby while I figure out what I'm doing. Mom and Dani were real lifesavers! Sunday was Josh and I's first day home alone with little Reece. She was being such a fuss pot all day long! She was screaming so hard when we gave her a bath, that she pooped twice in the bath. It was sad to see and hear her so sad. She really doesn't like taking a bath or getting her diaper changed. She has pooped on the changing table already from crying so hard, and peed on me this morning while I was changing her from crying so hard. It's a necessary evil so I guess we'll keep the bodily functions coming!

Other than that, Josh is just so super busy with his two jobs. He hasn't been feeling well at all, and I know that makes things so much more difficult on him. I've said it before, but I'm so thankful that he is so willing to do the two jobs so that I can stay home with Reece. I can't imagine having someone else watch her. I really hope he starts feeling better soon, the poor guy!

Our internet is not working well right now, so I'll have to add some pictures of the sweet babe on later.