Delivery day

Lucy came 11 days early and we were pretty surprised.  The night I went into labor, I had no idea earlier that day of what was to come.  Throughout the last few months I had been getting braxton hicks contractions constantly and my doctor said those could potentially move my labor along faster than normal, I guess she was right!  I started getting stronger contractions at around 9:30pm on Thursday, December 29th and started timing them.  By around 1am I was pretty sure we were going into labor and my contractions were about 5-7 minutes apart.  I called my parents and woke them up and told them what was happening, and then Richard showered and packed and we headed to the hospital around 2:30am.

Once we got to the hospital, I was only 2.5cm dilated and they monitored the baby and my contractions for an hour or so.  We were ready to hear we were being sent home but when they checked me an hour later, I was already at 5cm so they started getting everything ready for us to check into a room and for me to get an epidural (which I was really ready for at this point!)  When we finally answered a million questions and were settled into a room around 6am, I got my epidural at 7cm and started feeling better.  

Things just progressed from here.  They broke my water and I started pushing around 8:30am and Lucy arrived at 9:16am.  She was so beautiful and the whole experience was life changing.  The moment they placed her on me I was in love and Richard and I feel so blessed and thankful to have a healthy, beautiful and precious baby girl.  

We stayed at the hospital for two nights, which was much needed.  It was actually kind of fun being there for New Years Eve.  We could hear people celebrating when they delivered before midnight :)  Here are some pictures from our stay.

Brand new baby girl

6lbs 6oz

Grandma and grandpa Doe were there :)

Family of 3!

Lucy's first bath.  She likes them a little more now.

So beautiful

Her cute little footprints

Sarah and Brandon came to visit

Leaving the hospital