penelope's birth story

Looking back on it, I wish that I would have updated my blog more (or at all) while I was pregnant with Penny. I worked up until the week before she was born and was generally exhausted and/or crabby by the time I got the older two kids in bed. This was the last picture I took while pregnant, I believe it was around 36-37 weeks. We made it to 38 weeks, 4 days.  

this shirt is actually a dress

I had regular contractions off and on for about 2-3 weeks before she was born.  November was busy for us, Laica turned six and we celebrated at Jumpmania.  Caden had his first test in his martial arts class and received his orange belt. (He has since tested again and he is currently a yellow belt.)

Caden's first test was the night of November 19, and I was having contractions and extremely uncomfortable the entire time.  I had been having contractions for so long and we had already made a trip to labor and delivery in which we were sent home, so I did not think much of how I was feeling that night.  Come to find out, I was in active labor. 

I woke up to use the bathroom around 2 a.m. and as soon as I stepped into the bathroom, my water broke.  It was not a huge amount of liquid, and I wanted to be sure before I woke Cody, so I puttered around the house for about 45 minutes.  

When I was positive that I was leaking fluid, I woke Cody and told him that my water had broken.  His response?  "Ok.  I'm going to go back to sleep for a couple of hours."  :) I woke him out of a deep sleep and found it so funny that this was his initial reaction.  

I called the hospital and they told us to come in.  We called the kids' grandma to come over, and I made their lunches for school.  We woke them up and told them we were leaving. Due to the false alarm a couple of weeks earlier, we had the car packed and ready to go.

We arrived at the hospital around 3:30, and were in a birthing room by about 4:45.  Our nurses were both wonderful.  They called Dr. Stanczyk to let him know what was going on.  He told them he was going to work out and do a procedure at the surgery center and that he would be by around 8:30 to check our progress.

Right before the doctor arrived, I advised the nurse that I was feeling some pressure with my contractions (I had an epidural).  When the doctor checked my progress, he looked at me and said, "We can push!"  The next several minutes were a whirlwind of nurses and techs setting up equipment.  

With my first push, Dr. Stanczyk told us that the baby would have a lot of hair.  Cody looked and confirmed this.  Two more pushes and Penelople Rose Lane came into the world at 8:43 a.m.  My first words when they placed her on me were, "She's so big!"  She weighed 7 pounds, 15 ounces and was 19.5 inches long. 

She was fussy from the start and wanted to nurse every ten minutes.  At one point in the hospital, I had slept only 30 minutes in 30 hours.  I was exhausted.  We were able to get a nap the next morning for about an hour and a half, and that was the most amazing sleep I have ever had.  

We stayed two nights in the hospital and got home before noon on Sunday.  The kids got home from their dad's a little later that day and we settled in as a family of five.  We are all over the moon in love with Penelope.  She has many nicknames already.  We usually call her Penny, and my nickname for her is "Penny Pants."

Caden and Laica love her, and Caden is especially sweet with her.  He is the best big brother and I have been so proud of how great the kids have handled the addition of a baby to our family.  

I have so much more to write, but in true Penny fashion, she just woke up after a too-short nap and is being a grouchy pants.  More to come soon...