If you have spoken to me at all in the last nine months, you probably knew that I was very excited to not be pregnant anymore. From the beginning. I don't do pregnancy very well. No, I don't get really sick, just really grouchy and fat and I have a rotten attitude for almost the entire time. Of course I had to stick it out till the end, but thankfully doctors these days will schedule elective inductions at 39 weeks. I was all over that! I did the same with Ian and it went really well so I couldn't see any reason not to do it again this time. My doctor scheduled me for Tuesday, the 13th and Spencer kept trying to convince me that I should wait till the 15th since my mom would be here and we wouldn't have any issues with finding someone to watch the kids. Well, I had to put my foot down and say that I didn't intend to be pregnant a minute longer than I had to be and I made arrangements for friends to watch Madeleine and Ian. (Big thanks to Shelley and Amy for helping out!!)
In California when I had Ian, I went to the hospital at night to start my induction. Here they had me call at 5:00am to make sure there was room for me, and then I went in to get started. Rather than wake the kids to go to our friend's house at that ungodly hour, I got up and drove myself to the hospital. Kind of unceremonious, huh? The nurses could tell I wasn't there to have my first baby since I showed up without an entourage. Spencer let the kids sleep till their normal waking time, dropped them off and made it to the hospital around 9. He hadn't missed much of anything. I had gotten the IV around 7:00 so had been on pitocin for a couple hours, but wasn't progressing superfast. When the contractions were starting to hurt a bit but before I was ready to be confined to the bed by the epidural, they gave me something in the IV for the pain. I can't remember what it was called. I think it started with an 'N.' Anybody know what I'm talking about? That was an interesting experience! My nurse told me I would feel it come on suddenly, like I had drank a margarita too fast. Well, I didn't know what that would feel like, but there was no mistaking it when it happened. It did help with the pain enough that I rested and watched a movie while I waited for my contractions to get worse.
I ended up getting the epidural around 1:00pm, very shortly before my doctor came to break my water. (sidenote: The anesthesiologist put it in my back while I sat on the edge of the bed, which was SO much easier than trying to curl into a ball like I did with my other two kids.) I was dilated to a 5 at this point. She told me she would come back around 5:00pm to see how I was doing, to which I thought, "uh, I hope I need you to come deliver this baby before that!" After she broke my water, my contractions started really doing their job and I progressed quickly. Around 3:30 the nurse checked me and found that I was fully dilated and it was time to call the doctor. I could feel some pressure with each contraction but not very strong so I wasn't sure I was really ready. She suggested we do a test push to see how it went and then if I was ready we would call the doctor to come over. I couldn't feel what happened when I pushed but evidently I was ready and Alayna was ready to be born. So we waited till the doctor came back. Once she got there, I pushed through two contractions and our little angel was born at 4:15pm. I must say, it was pretty heavenly to not feel any of it. With Madeleine, I couldn't feel anything thanks to the epidural, but I also had never had a baby before so I had no idea how to push one out of me and it took over an hour of pushing and a vacuum to get her out. With Ian, my doctor and I didn't want a repeat of how Madeleine's delivery went so she let my epidural wear off before I delivered him. He was born after only a few minutes of pushing too, but it was painful and totally exhausting. This time, I was blissfully numb and I only had to push a few times. It was perfect.
I have to confess that a good part of my joy in giving birth is the fact that I am no longer pregnant. The majority is how wonderful it is to welcome another baby to our family, but I can't deny how happy it makes me to not be pregnant.
My mom is wonderful! Have I ever mentioned that on here before? She is a great mom period, but I am especially thankful that she came out to help us adjust after Alayna was born. She came to help after we had Madeleine and Ian too and each time her help has been invaluable! It was so nice to be able to go take a nap when I needed to and not have to worry about the cooking and cleaning. We have had lots of homemade waffles the past two weeks--Grandma's specialty! I guess I'll have to perfect my waffle making skills. And by "perfect" I mean acquire since I don't know that I have ever made waffles before (you know, real ones, not eggos). 
Looks like Alayna is giving her a bit of a smile, don't you think? Thanks for everything, Mom! We miss you already!
