Amelia Rose is here!

My baby girl has arrived and thank goodness she didn't wait a moment longer...

Many of you know its been a rough pregnancy for me... worries of prematurity, loads of contractions since early in the second trimester, lots of pain these last couple weeks. We've had 6 ultrasounds, 2 of which proved we were having our third daughter. The last of which guesstimated the baby's weight at 7lb 4oz (which would have put her around 9 pounds today based on the assumed rate of growth of a half pound a week). So, when my water broke at 4:24 this morning, I was beyond thrilled. She was finally on her way, and on her own!!

So, we waited for my mother-in-law to come watch the big sisters and made it to the hospital around 6am. Due to my contractions coming just 2 minutes apart, we had to bypass breakfast for Russ. I'm so glad we did, because we got checked in to L&D triage and the nurse checked me... I was already 6 1/2 centimeters dilated and barely able to stand through the contractions. At 8am, I had enough fluid pumped into me to get my epidural, but was warned that my platelets were low...which carries more risk for the epidural. Great. In the midst of a very painful contraction, I said, "Screw the risks. Give it to me." THANK GOODNESS I did.

For the next hour, I relaxed... feeling definite amounts of pressure. The nurse (Cheryl, you ROCK! And btw, she also helped with Lexi's labor!!!) wanted my epidural to work as much as possible. She checked me at 9 and I was complete! Time to push!!! So, we went to work...and work I did! (Anyone remember the meaning of the name Amelia?!) The mood would shift from joking (Dr. Cannon is awesome and he and Cheryl did so much to help me out emotionally AND physically) to serious and back... at 9:45, the NICU team was called in, 3 nurses jumped onto my bed, and the mood definitely turned serious. Cheryl had pissed me off enough to get me pushing to avoid a c-section, but Amelia's arm was stuck behind my pubic bone and the cord was wrapped around her neck. So, Dr. Cannon had to basically break Amelia's arm, pull her head out and hand her off to the neonatologist (whose dad was Abbi's neonatologist!) at 10:00 am on the nose.

I got to kiss Amelia before Russ held her, and then she left for the nursery. News of her weight has quickly made the rounds of the maternity ward... my "little" lady weighed in at 10 pounds, 2 ounces. She's 21 inches long. And she is HUGE. Already bullying the other kids around. lol!

Actually, we're waiting on news about her arm. Xrays show that the right humerus is definitely broken, but we're waiting on a pediatric orthopedist from Childrens' Memorial in Chicago to decide how we're going to proceed... and once we make that decision, we'll know when she can join us in our room.

Here are some pictures that Russ took of her, and one that our NICU nurse Ruth took for us as a family. The girls will come to meet baby sister once she leaves the NICU. And then we'll have a billion more pictures!!!!!!