Now we welcome...

It was a typical Tuesday afternoon. Typical in the sense that it was my due date. Here I am 40 weeks pregnant, ready to burst and this baby girl is still inside me. My last doctor appointment was at 2:10pm and we were going to be discussing induction options. The end was in sight!

We go in, sit in the exam room and patiently wait for the doctor to arrive. He walks in, checks me out, strips my membranes and gets a page that a patient is ready to deliver her baby. Dang it all. Guess no induction talk. He says the office will call letting me know what day I can be induced. So here we are, figuring we will get induced the next day. One more night, I can handle that. An hour later, the nurse calls with the worst news possible. And by worst news, I mean I wanted to shoot her in the foot as she was letting me know the first opening for an induction was Friday, May 24. Mind you my due date was May 14. There is no way in anything I was going to waddle for 10 more days, sleep uncomfortably for 10 more days, have heartburn for 10 more days, be miserable for 10 more days. I wanted this baby out!

With my first pregnancy, when the doctor stripped my membranes I went into labor within 2 hours. That was the only hope I was holding onto. Luckily Nonno had Elsie so Jeff and I decided we needed to go walk and hopefully that would put me into labor. It had already been 2 hours and there was no sign of labor. We walked for 90 minutes which got my contractions going and coming every 2 to 3 minutes. I was feeling hopeful. But then we went to dinner and they stopped. So we went and hung out at grandma Boo's and Nonnos hoping something would happen. Luckily around 8:30 my contractions were getting stronger, but only 3 minutes apart. We decided to head to the hospital around 9:15 as we didn't want to go all the way home in case something did start.

By the time we got to the hospital and admitted to triage, it was 10 pm and I was only at a 4. I left the dr appt at a 3. This was not boding well for me getting this baby out. The nurse said they wanted to watch me for an hour to see if I was progressing before they admitted me. So I sat and watched Family Feud while Jeff read a book (he brought entertainment, I forgot mine) until 11. Luckily at 11 I was dilated to  a 4 and a half so they decided to admit me, but it was going to be awhile according to the nurse.

At this time I was starting to feel painful contractions so when the the epidural nurse walked in I was very happy to see her! She said we would be able to put the epidural in as soon as I got to my room. Sign me up! I love the epidural! I am so not one of those strong ladies that wants to feel all the pain of childbirth. I will take the drugs! I got to my room at midnight, epidural went in shortly after and I was on the road to having this new addition! I slept on and off for the next hour and a half until my water broke. And by water breaking, I more so mean gushing like a firehose. It was definitely a weird sensation to have so much water just hit the back of my leg. The nurse came in and said "looks like you'll be delivering this baby here soon." I was having contractions right on top of each other and I was now dilated to a 7. Sure enough an hour later the doctor walks in and we are ready to get this show started. I push through 2 contractions and we welcome our newest family member!

Makenzie Nicole was born May 15, 2013 @ 3:03am.

Thank you Grandma Boo for taking Kenzie's first photos! I will add more once I get all the ones grandma took.