New Arrival

Last Saturday night, the contractions that I'd been having off and on during the previous two days (and waking up with just about on the hour Thursday and Friday night) got to the point where we could time them and they were 10 minutes apart. The midwifes I saw for this pregnancy had told me to go to the hospital when my contractions were that close so that I could be monitored because of having had a previous c-section. So at about 3am, we were in the hospital and I was preparing myself for a really long stay in that delivery room. However, at at 4:45, the nurses sent us back home saying that everything looked fine, but the contractions weren't getting any closer and it could still be a few days. My contractions continued irregularly all through Sunday, sometimes being 20 minutes apart, sometimes giving me a break for up to an hour. Sunday night was a repeat of Saturday night, with no sleep for me and little sleep for Dan as my contractions were 6-8 minutes apart from about 11:30pm-4:30am. Dan went to work on Monday, fully expecting me to call within a few hours and tell him it was time to come home. But the contractions held off until supper time and started being 10 minutes apart again at about 4:45pm. They got closer throughout the evening and by midnight, we were back in the hospital again, with the contractions coming every 4-8 minutes. (Thankfully, Mom and Dad Loucks had driven down on Saturday night when I went to the hospital and had stayed through Sunday and Monday, so we were able to leave the house and not disturb the boys at all or have to call anyone else to come over and stay with them.) I was experiencing a lot of back labor and found it most comfortable to be sitting at a slight incline on the bed, but my contractions were a lot further apart when I was in that position. They came every 4-5 minutes when I was up... but I couldn't stand the back pain when I wasn't sitting down. So at 2:30am, I was given an epidural and from 3:30-7:30am, I was able to get the longest stretch of uninterupted sleep that I'd had since Wednesday evening. It was just what I needed to get through the next 11 hours. It was so exciting realizing that we were going to know whether we had a boy or girl after all this time of waiting. The nurses thought that I would progress quickly once it was morning, but our little one took her time. Cora Adelle arrived at 2:38pm, weighing 7 lbs. 9.3 oz. and measuring 20 1/2 inches long.
At around 4pm, Dan's parents arrived at the hospital with Aiden and Seth, who were also very excited to meet their new sister (but were truthfully more excited about the presents that were for Cora and the ones that were for them).
Mom gave Cora a present that she had made - the first quilt that Mom has ever sewed! It's beautiful!
Aiden and Seth were able to watch the nurse check Cora out when she was a few hours old and also watch her get her first bath in the nursery before I was moved to my room in the maternity ward.
We are so thankful to God for the birth of our daughter, Cora Adelle. What a precious gift from Him!