June Lenore

It's funny - I thought being pregnant the third time around would give me a pretty good handle on how this whole birth thing would go down.  Of course, I was I wrong.  As always God reminded me that I am not in control and no matter how much I plan, He is the ultimate planner.  Despite the many surprises we had along the way though, the only emotion we've felt the past few days is blessed and thankful that our little girl is finally a part of our family.

As December 31st, June's due date, approached I started realizing that my body was not progressing like it would be if labor was near.  Both Lucy and Hank were late though, so I wasn't too worried, and my mom went ahead and planned her trip out to Akron for my due date and the 5 days after (assuming we would have a baby at some point during that time and if not could get an induction scheduled).  At my 40 week appointment I still wasn't progressing much and wasn't able to schedule an induction because my body wasn't far enough along. We decided to make an appointment for 3 days later in hopes of getting an induction scheduled while my mom was still in town.

At that appointment (Friday, January 3rd), my body was progressed to 3cm and I was allowed to schedule an induction for the following day, but do to a massive snow storm coming my mom and the kids had to get on the road to avoid the 10 inches of snow that would hit Indianapolis on Sunday.  We decided to go ahead and wait to schedule the induction for Monday, since we missed the opportunity for my mom and the kids to meet June at the hospital and since my body was making progress we hoped she would come on her own prior to my induction appointment.

The weekend was a nice time to spend with just Ben and have a little down time running errands before June came, but I was also really sad not to have a baby in my arms, that my mom had been out for a week to help with the baby and no baby came and that Lucy and Hank wouldn't get to meet June at the hospital.  Being in Akron, I tried to plan for as much help as possible, but since June came so late, I was down to only having help with Lucy and Hank while we were in the hospital (they stayed with the Wehners in Indianapolis while we were at the hospital).  I had a bit of a panic attack about this over the weekend, not being able to imagine taking care of all 3 kids on my own while my own body healed, but I'm trying to take each day at a time and give myself a lot of grace during the next couple crazy months (I guess we'll just have to see how that all turns out)!

Anyway, all that to say, June never ended up coming on her own.  Monday morning arrived and we headed to the hospital, as calm as could be and in no pain at all (quite the different drive to the hospital than I had with Lucy and Hank!) We started pitocin and waited, and waited and waited.  Around 2pm they gave me an epidural and broke my water to help things move along a little faster.  This was an odd process too as I got the epidural before I was in any real pain.  The nurse recommended this because she said once they broke my water the contractions would intensify, so I took their advice, but it was still very odd getting an epidural when I didn't really feel like I needed one.

Around 3:30pm I was progressed to 6cm, which was good, but we still had a ways to go! We kept waiting and wondering when we would get to meet our baby girl.  Finally around 4pm things started moving and fast.  I called the nurse in because I was starting to feel a lot of pressure so I was hoping that I had progressed (and I also thought I should get another dose of the epidural).  The nurse confirmed I was at 9cm so we would call the doctor and the anesthesiologist gave me another dose of medicine.  Despite the extra dose things seemed to kick up again and the pressure and pain became pretty intense.  The nurse confirmed I was at 10cm and ready to push.  At this point the pain was pretty extreme and despite getting yet another dose of the epidural, I was pretty uncomfortable.  Things started moving really fast at that point - a few more nurses and residents came in, one put oxygen on me and said the babies heart rate was down, I was in a lot of pain - breathing and crying through the contractions and we did a practice push... things were happening!  I wasn't too concerned about the oxygen because of all that was going on, but Ben said he saw June's heart rate drop to 90 and got pretty worried.  (Although I believe it came back up shortly after they put the oxygen on me.)

Fortunately, within minutes, the doctor arrived and we were ready to go.  I pushed once and on the next push the doctor told me to back off a little so she could guide June out and then with one final push she was here!

June Lenore - born at 4:52pm, 8lbs 3ozs, 21.5in

Even the third time around, I was still amazed at the miracle of the birthing process.  After 9+ months of growing this little girl, I finally got to meet her.  Although it felt like a long time, it really only took a little over 6 hours of pitocin, and our lives were changed for ever once again.

I was emotionally overwhelmed, excited and relieved to hold our baby girl in my arms.  And physically it felt so good to get that 8lb 3oz girl out of my stomach!  

I also had no tearing! Which after having a 3rd degree tear (and surgery) after Lucy and a 2nd degree tear after Hank, felt pretty AMAZING! Recovery has been much easier this time around.

We love you so much June Lenore! You are the perfect addition to our family - I can't wait to see all you become! But for now, I am enjoying each snuggle I get with you... I know how fast this time truly goes!