Welcoming Home my New Baby cousin

Seeing my Beautiful New Cousin!! You can just see how proud she is!

My sister in law just delivered a sweet baby girl weighing in at 6 lbs. 10 oz. I'm very surprised to say that my little girl is very intrigued with her and really likes to check her out and touch her.
Sometimes when kids are so young they don't show any interest in a new baby and other times it is quite the opposite. I was delightfully surprised to see the way she is so interested, I think it's awesome!
It was really intriguing to observe her social skills with the baby as well. She started by just touching the baby soft and slow on her blanket. Next she decided to put a few stickers on the babies green swaddle blanket. (It's always good to bring a gift when you are meeting someone for the first time, right?) Then she gave her a few kisses. When it came to holding the baby in her arms she had no interest and got very nervous. It was really cute to watch.

It's your birthday baby!

I've been storing the memories of the birthing process in my head but I'm afraid I may forget the little details...so 2 years later I've decided it's truly time to put thoughts into words to preserve the greatest memories ever. About a week before I had my little girl I went into "Super Nesting Mode" and was making sure that everything, and I do mean everything, was in it's place. Even my sister noticed when she came over one day and I was putting together the bassinet. She said, "Uh oh, looks like baby will be here soon.
That night I ate a bean burrito for dinner and climbed into bed at 10:45 p.m. and fell quickly to sleep. Daddy was laying next to me watching a movie. Around 11 I abruptly sat up and had the worst pains ever.
Of course he had no idea what was going on and just looked at me like what is going on with you?
I tried every position possible to get comfortable but with no luck. I just kept saying, "Owww, this hurts, I can't do this, I don't want to feel like this anymore." Of course being my support team he tried to get my head out of the negative and keep things positive. I felt as if I were trying to run from the pain and asked him for everything under the sun and the pain just kept persisting. I would literally say within the course of a few seconds, "Move me to the chair, to the bed, no....to the birthing ball, back to the bed." I truly think I was driving him crazy. He kept trying to ask me if I was having a contraction but with no previous experience I really didn't know. The odd thing was that I didn't have "regular contractions." The pain was persistent and didn't let up. There was no way to time things because I never had any down time in between to take a breather.
He stayed up with me most of the night and even called the doctor around 3 in the morning. They told him the contractions weren't consistent enough to come to the hospital. I guess by that time I had worn him out because he fell asleep and was out like a light. He didn't even hear me the rest of the night trying to work through all the pain I was in. The good thing is that being by myself I was able to figure out a way to calm myself down and breath slowly and deeply. At one point early in the morning he woke up and put on a compilation of slow R&B, classical, and smooth jazz. I am a huge believer in music and the ability to calm after this experience. Things were still painful but I was managing everything well. With no sleep on my end, lots of tears and red puffy eyes, I called my doctor first thing in the morning since it was now Monday and the office was open.
I talked to the nurse there and she was saying to just wait it out at home but I insisted in coming in because I wanted to know what was going on. It took a lot of convincing but they told me to come in, THANK GOD! Once I got there she hooked me up to the machine that measures contractions and "Wa-la! what do you know....loud and strong!" Baby was ready to come visit. So the nurse told me she wanted the doctor to see me....my real doctor was on vacation so I was seen by the other doctor on staff. She checked me out and said I was dilated to a three, she could feel the babies head, and I was able to go to the hospital if I wanted. She also said the process could be awhile so if I wanted to go home I was fine to do that too. I decided to go home and shower and try to relax. I was home for about 2 hrs before I just couldn't take it anymore and said it was time to head to the hospital. I also didn't want to get stuck in 5:00 traffic for obvious reasons.
So we called ahead to labor and delivery and let them know we were on our way. It felt like we were checking in at some fancy hotel, or ordering a pizza like it was nonchalant. Once we got there they hooked me up to the monitor, had me put on the "hospital attire" and set me up with and an i.v. One for the pain meds and one for hydration. Let me tell you.....whatever they gave me in the iv for pain became my best friend. (I've never been drunk or high but I would assume it's a bit like this stuff because I just felt like I was in heaven. Then it became the waiting game. I had daddy call everyone who was going to be there. My mom, sister, and sister in law came to be apart of my "Team." It was a long night and once again there was no sleep in sight. Every time I would fall asleep the automatic blood pressure monitor would make this loud noise and squeeze my arm. I kept asking the nurse to check my progress every time she came in, I was excited to meet her and I wanted to be able to sleep.
It was about 5 p.m. and my doctor came to the hospital to check on me before she went home for the night. At that point she wanted to break my water to speed things up. That part seems like it would hurt but really it didn't feel like much at all. Almost instantly the contraction pain went from a million to a trillion and at that point I asked for the epidural. It had been about 18 hrs since it all started and I was so tired and in need of some relief. It was totally out of character for me but I wasn't at all scared for the epidural...I had endured so much pain at that point that some long needle put into my spine didn't seem like anything at all. The anesthesiologist did a great job and gave me the exact amount to make me feel no pain but be able to feel everything from the waist down still. There are so many stories about not being able to feel your legs and that sounds kinda scary so I was happy about this. Around 4:30 a.m. I had to ask for more medicine in my iv because the epidural was beginning to ware off and it gave me flash backs of the painful contractions. Ahhh, no more!
About 5 am Tuesday morning I was checked by the nurse and she told me I was fully dilated and effaced so it was time to start pushing. She also made a call to the doctor. We were pushing for about a 1/2 hour when the nurse said, "I hope the doctor makes it because it looks like you are going to have this baby soon." I asked her where the doctor was and she told me taking a shower and on her way in. Luckily the doctor made it and she delivered my precious baby girl at 6:10 am. I was also able to watch everything happening with a mirror right there, which gave me the extra strength and endurance to get through it. There was absolutely no pain but the pressure was so great that it almost made me think it was pain. That was a very weird feeling. It was the most amazing and beautiful experience. There is nothing like becoming a mother in that instance. She didn't cry right away but once she did it was so amazing. It was funny too, because right when she came out everyone was saying how beautiful she was and I was crying so much I don't think I actually saw her until a minute later. Pure joy and bliss! Thank you for my healthy, sweet, precious baby.