She's Here!!!

Zoey Lynn Beutler was born November 21st at 12:40 p.m. She was 6 lbs. 13 oz. and 18 inches long. I can't get over how tiny she is! We are so grateful everything went well! I was prepping Brian to be prepared at how different she would look from Jackson, only I was the one who was surprised when I first saw her....it was like looking at his twin! There are definitely some dominate traits that keep popping up in our kids, but anyone can see that she belongs to us! Here is our "before" picture (notice the smile...that wouldn't stay there during labor)!

It's amazing how love grows... I worried about dividing it between Brian, Jackson and Zoey... But if anything is getting divided right now, it's only the time to spend with each one. The love is so strongly there for each one individually! Nothing is shared, or taken away, it only grows stronger. We are just adding it to our family one bundle at a time! That must be where the saying "bundle of love" comes from.....

Our new family of four! I still can't believe she is no longer inside of me. Now the test begins of how well I can manage motherhood while doing night duty AND taking care of a toddler while Brian is gone at work. We are so grateful for all the help from family that we have received. We need a few days of catching up on our sleep after coming home from the hospital. I don't know how anyone could get enough sleep there!

Jackson welcomes a sister! He loves her, for now.... he has no idea she is coming home with us! At the hospital all he wanted to do was kiss her and hold her. It was so cute.

Brian gave Zoey a Mohawk at her first bath....he couldn't resist. At least he put a pink bow on her! I'll have to train him in the ways of "girly-ness."

Going home! Everything swallows her up. I was so excited to get her all dressed up in pink. It's fun to have a girl. She is pretty mellow and sleepy for now. Just what we need to get used to all the changes!

For those of you who don't want to hear about the labor and delivery, I'm just warning you now to stop reading here!

Tuesday, I had a Dr. appointment. I was dilated to almost a 4 and about 60% effaced. I had been there for about 3 weeks. He stripped my membranes at that appointment, hoping it would help bring on contractions (it's what worked with Jackson!), which it did, but they were so minor and far between that I didn't get checked into the hospital until Friday morning around 7:30 a.m.

We got checked in and put on the monitor. My Dr. was there, so he tried to break my water, but Zoey's head was so close to the membrane that he couldn't get it to break (Zoey's head was a little scratched up from his efforts, but she's all better now)! My contractions were about 3 to 5 minutes apart, but I was totally comfortable...nothing I couldn't breath through. I even tried to read a book and nap.

By 11:30, the nurse checked me and I had dilated to a 6. At this point she decided to put an internal monitor on Zoey, and in doing so, it created a hole in the bag of water, so by my next contraction, it broke the water for me. The intention was that this would increase the intensity of the contractions and speed things up. I was joking with her before saying, "let's get this thing going!" The contractions came so fast and so strong immediately after the water broke, that I asked for the epidural. The anesthesiologists couldn't make it to my room on time. Within 20 minutes I had gone from a 6 to complete. I was in the most pain I have ever felt in my entire life. I wasn't prepared to handle it. I tried hard to breath through as much as I could, but the contractions were just too close together that I couldn't regain composure and prep myself for the next round. I remember thinking "make it stop, make it stop," a totally different view than I had shared with the nurse so jokingly only 20 minutes before! As the anaesthesiologist walked in, I was telling the nurses I had to push. At this point, nobody knew how quick I had progressed! I couldn't even believe it. He quickly gave me a high and quick acting epidural, but it only worked enough to keep my legs nice and numb after everything was over! My Dr. didn't even get to the hospital in time...oh well! We will know for next time! I'm just glad it was quick, and she was tiny. I'm also glad that everything went as well as it did.