Ducky3 Has Arrived!

We are excited to tell you that our sweet baby girl has arrived. Olivia Grace joined our family officially at 5:41 a.m. on March 22. She is doing well but was taken to the NICU to be monitored for rapid breathing. I will update as I find out more.

Here's a bit of the delivery story. Albert's dad came in on Wednesday to stay with the boys and me while Albert went to a wedding in Houston. The wedding was at noon on Saturday the 21st. At about 4:00 pm I started having contractions varying from 3-5 minutes a part. They were not painful, but since I am a VBAC, I didn't want to take any chances. Also, I've been sick since Friday afternoon and have been a bit dehydrated. So, I called Albert around 4:20 to give him a heads up. I didn't think it was active labor, but I wanted him to have an idea of what was going on. He left Houston around 5:30 and my dear friend took me to the hospital at 6:00. Like I said, I didn't think I was in labor and I was hoping some fluids would stop the contractions, so I wasn't too worried. She and I sat in triage for a couple of hours, I was given two bags of fluids and my cervix did not change much, so they send me home. I think I got home around 9:30 or 10. My father-in-law had the boys in bed and I laid down right away. I just wanted to rest! I'm not sure if I ever actually fell asleep, I felt each contraction and they were close enough that I could not drift off in between. Albert got home at 12:30 and had trouble falling a sleep. So when I had one contraction that was very painful, he was up and putting his jeans on. I told him that the contractions had not stopped and were much more painful and we were in the car within 20 minutes. I think we got to the hospital around 2:00 a.m. My body was shaking I was in so much pain. Running a fever, back labor and exhaustion are not a good mix for labor! We got checked in and they poked me 5 times before they could get the IV in. I was dilated to a 5. We sat in Triage for a while before being wheeled to my room. Back labor is not my friend! I knew I needed the epidural for us to survive the delivery. I received my epidural at 4:00 a.m. The doctor broke my water at 4:40 a.m. and Olivia was born at 5:41. She stayed in our room for about two hours before they took her to the NICU. I don't have any great pictures yet, but here's a little snapshot of our morning.