Lorelai Grace is here!

So at 36 weeks and 5 days little Lorelai Grace decided it was time to arrive. It has definitely been a whirlwind for us the last few days. I had a doctor appointment on Tuesday and was already dilated to 3cm and my water was ready to break. I was told by my doctor that I would be having a baby by the weekend, and my sister and I just looked at each other. Then the count down was on! Katie and I went shopping to pick up all of the last minute things that I would need for the baby and for the hospital. By the time I got home Tuesday I was so exhausted I was unable to pack my bag or anything. So Wednesday evening comes around and the first thing I did when I got home was to pack my bag and the baby's bag. James got his stuff packed and we just figured we could leave everything by the front door for the big day. Little did we know that little Lorelai was just about ready. Thursday I was at work and decided to take a walk to our other office to pick up some things and to grab some lunch. On my way over all of a sudden I felt a strange warm gush. I made it to a bathroom and once I figured out that I had not peed my pants I figured I better get my things and head to Hutzel. This also meant that I had missed my opportunity to get any lunch and would have to wait until the baby arrived to eat. Good thing I had some oatmeal in the morning! Walking back to my office was a sight. Between my nerves and the feeling that everyone was going to think I peed my pants it was enough to get my blood pressure going. I made it to my office, collected my things and was on my way to the Labor Reception Center. When I got there I was first in line for a room but man they were busy. After I got into my LRC room I got settled in and the waiting game began. I found out at my Tuesday appointment that I was Group B Strep positive and that I would need antibiotics before the baby came. That means I would have to have an IV for sure. YUCK! It took two nurses and three attempts to get my IV started. Sometimes I wish that all hospitals would have an IV team like at Children's does. I finally got my IV and multiple bruises and was being moved to my delivery room. Once I was settled and everyone arrived the true waiting game started.

I sat and sat and just kept feeling like I had peed my pants! I must have made the trip to the bathroom 100 times! My water had broke around 12:45p and it was going on 9pm and nothing more had happened. I was having contractions but not feeling them and I wasn't progressing. This would mean that the pitocin would have to start. I was dreading that, but in the end it really was not so bad. My nurse started me on a very low dose around 11pm and we waited some more. An hour went by and a higher dose was given, and still nothing. This continued for a few hours with nothing. We were thinking that we would have a baby by 2 or 3 in the morning but that time came and went with nothing. Finally at about 4am I felt a strange kick in the butt that made me jump. A few minutes later I was having painful contractions. I got up to go to the bathroom and had more contractions. They hurt so bad that I started to cry. I wanted to have a non-medicated delivery but at that point I was ready for something, and that was after only a few contractions. My nurse came in with a resident and they checked me and I was dilated to 8cm. My nurse was wonderful and told me that I was so close to delivery that I would be able to make it without and meds. After a few more contractions they checked me again and I was at 10cm and ready to go. My doc came in just after I was checked and we were ready to roll. Then the real fun began!

Pushing is HARD!!!! My doc was great, James was super amazing and my mom and sister were so helpful. I just remember pushing and saying I was so tired. James helped me through all of my contractions and mom and Katie kept encouraging me to push. After about 1 hour of hard labor and another 20 minutes of pushing little Lorelai made it into this world at 5:21am Friday January 14th. She weighed 6 pounds 11oz and was 18 1/2 inches long. She is perfect! The docs checked her and cleaned her up and my mom and sister stayed with her while James stayed with me. I never realized that the after delivery part would take so long. My doc cleaned me all up and had to give me some stitches and it seemed to take forever. After what seemed like forever I was finally able to hold Lorelai. What an amazing thing!

I don't know how anyone can go through child birth and not be changed. God has truly given us a miracle and we are so grateful for her. She is starting to get better at breastfeeding and she is sleeping all the time. She likes for us to snuggle with her and she does not like to sleep on her back. We are slowly getting to know each other and I can't wait for the next snuggle session.

We are truly Blessed beyond reason and we thank everyone who has been praying for our little miracle!

THANK YOU!!!!!

James, Amanda and Lorelai Grace.