Paige's birth

I haven't sent these out yet, but I thought it was cute so I'm posting it here. Can't wait to send it out to family.

I had been having signs that labor was going to happen soon for about two or three days. When I finally went into active---baby is coming now--labor it was Saturday August 2nd around 4pm. Contractions were strong, but they were few and far between (about 15 minutes apart). I wasn't even sure if the contractions would continue because sometimes they would stop for 45 minutes straight! I said a prayer and asked Heavenly Father to help me to know if I was indeed in real labor or not--and right after my prayer I had the strongest, most painful contraction that lastest 2 whole minutes! An answer to prayer I believe! :) So then I said another prayer thanking Heavenly Father for answering my first prayer--I was certain at that point it was the real thing!

We had set up a place for each child to stay while we were away at the hospital and around 7:30pm we gathered the kids, told them that it was time for the baby to come, and they gathered their items together and we drove them to each family's home. Clayton stayed with the Liggetts, Hailey stayed with the Bezzants, and Miles stayed with the Perrys. I was so grateful for these wonderful families! I just love our ward, and I knew the kids were in great places which put my mind at ease.

After dropping everybody off we arrived at the hospital around 8:30pm. I was dilated to a 3 and since my contractions were still only 15 minutes apart the nurse said they would only allow me to stay if I had progressed past a 3 within the hour. So Joey and I walked the halls for an hour. By 9:30 I was at a 4, and boy was I happy because that meant they would give me a room and a baby was on the way! (Interestingly enough, I have ALWAY birthed our babies in the middle of the night! I bet it is nice and a little more convenient to have a baby during the day, we may never know...)

By 11:30 I was in enough pain that I asked for an epidural. The anesthesiologist was the best I have ever had! When the epidural kicked in I watched the monitor as my contractions came and went, ahhhh--no pain! Joey and I were laughing and watching a comedy on TV and we even went to sleep for a while. I woke up around 3am knowing it was time for this baby to come. My water broke at that point and I called the nurse who confirmed that it was definitely time! Dr. Nance was at the hospital within minutes and he asked me to push very gently. After 2 and 1/2 pushes our sweet new baby was born! She was beautiful!! She was 7 pounds 7 ounces and 20 inches long!! She was by far our biggest baby (Miles was 6 lbs. 12 oz, Hailey was 6 lbs. 11 oz, and Clay was 6 lbs. 10oz.) She was also the baby closest to her due date (she was due August 5th) and the only baby that stayed inside of me until 40 weeks gestation. Also, she's our only baby to NOT have jaundice! Yay! (Apparently, being full term helps decrease the risk of jaundice since the baby's liver is more developed. Our other children were 38 weeks, 39 weeks, and 38 weeks gestation so I understand better why they probably had jaundice issues.)

She was so very calm. She cried a little bit, but for the most part was calm. She breastfed for 45 minutes straight after being born. My milk had ALREADY come in BEFORE she was born so she was definitely getting fed!! In fact, when I took her to her 2 week appointment this last Tuesday the doctor was impressed that she had already gained over a pound from birth--she weighed 8 pounds 9 ounces at the appointment and had already grown 1/2 inch!!

Although this little hat may look blue in this picture, it is actually light purple. We also got a handmade blanket. This is Utah, so I am not surprised we went home with handmade gifts of this kind! 

Miles and Hailey are actually very helpful with not only holding her for me when I need it, but also helping out around the house with extra jobs like taking out trash, sweeping after dinner, spraying and wiping the table and counters, helping out with bathroom cleaning, and of course cleaning up clutter. Having older children while having a newborn has been a nice perk I've never experienced before :). Clay loves his sister, and he does throw away her diapers which is great!

So far the last two weeks have been pretty good. She's a good sleeper, (two nights she slept for 5 hours straight!) and I started right away with setting up a routine for her which I think has helped. She's a great eater too and apparently I have tons of milk! I actually feel like taking care of a newborn is 'old hat' at this point and I think I might know what I'm doing this time around :). It is still a lot of extra work, but that just comes with the territory of having a baby. We love her immensely!!

Joey's brother John and his wife Cherece gave us the gift of a photo shoot with our friend Shanna Morris--and here's a little sneak peek. I will post a lot of photos from the photo shoot when I have a tiny bit more time.