Thanksgiving with our new family of 6

Thanksgiving morning with a new baby

My mom's house....

lots of football, food, aunts, uncles, and cousins

We celebrated with Ike's fam on Friday.

We watched the razorback game (fun first half;) and enjoyed the lovely food and company.

More thankful than EVER this year.

Thank you, God, for health, family, friends, food, baby Jane Lauren, and our many other blessings.

Miss Jane Lauren's Arrival

We went on a family walk Thursday afternoon, hoping to stir up some contractions.

We decided I was having enough to head in to L and D. Which meant Annette needed a date to the annual Sugar Plum Ball which she'd been so anicipating

. Enter Isaac's best man and our neighbor, Ray. 

Huge thanks, uncle ray.

We go to hospital, I'm at 5 cm, so they admit me, WOOO HOOO! 

Beware!

Birth Story here. Feel free to skip this part.

They ask me if I'm ready for an epidural, and I decide I'd like to wait. And I ended up deciding not to have one at all. Which was a shock to Ike, and a bit of a surprise to even me. I'd always wanted to be able to compare labor with an epidural to labor without an epidural. Figured this was my chance :)

They broke my water (this did not feel good) and gave me pitocin ab 3:30 am when my natural contractions weren't picking up. 

I was at a 6.5 when they checked me around 7am. The pain was still manageable, so I decided I'd go for no epidural. My other 3 deliveries I'd had an epidural right off the bat. But I'd felt some pain even then. With Annette I had really strong pain at the end, right before pushing. With Charlie, I had to have an epidural put in twice. And then it was turned off at the end bc I wasn't able to push well enough. So, I felt a lot of the pushing part. And with Set, I ended up having to get a Spinal after the epidural didn't work. SOO, I was ready to try going without it. 

At about 9:00am, I started feeling LOTS and LOTS of pain. A 10 on the pain scale.

 By 9:30, I said Give Me The Epidural.

They checked me first, and I was at 9 cm. So, I sucked it up for another couple of painful contractions. And then a few minutes later, I pushed my baby girl out. Most pain ever for like 30 minutes. But, I still thought it was a better experience than a less-than-effective epidural. 

I loved being able to get up to walk around, not having a needle in my back, and not having a catheter and all that glorious stuff. 

Plus, I have experienced something very special. 

She had a true knot in her cord. Which is pretty rare. Plus the cord was wrapped around her neck twice. Doctor Wendel said we were very blessed she was here. How TRUE.

7.3 ounces. 20 inches long. Bruises on face from a super fast transition stage. And the sweetest head of hair.

I love these pics I took of her way up close. Not bc they're pretty to anyone else maybe, but bc I so appreciate the newness and handiwork I see in every single detail of her little being.

 We headed home on Saturday morning, arriving home just in time for the razorback game:)

 My mom and dad brought kids home. They were so fun to watch as they met her for the first time.
Set seemed most excited, which surprised us. Kept saying "baby!" "Mine!"

We've had some major precious moments. And are definitely in survival mode, where I expect we will be for quite a while. Thankfully, we have lots of helpful friends and family.