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Monday, February 18, 2008

Our little princess...








The title pretty much says it all. Today we welcomed Gracie Lynn into the world. She was born today (18 Feb) at 8:13 am, weighed 7 lbs 12 oz and is 20.5 inches long.

And now the rest of the story (a short tale by Eric). When we woke up yesterday, Destiny said she felt like she was leaking something so we called the hospital and they told us to come in and get checked out. After a few hours, the doctor said her water did not break and she was barely 1 cm dilated, so it would probably be a little while before the baby would come. She was having a few contractions, but nothing consistent or painful so we went back home.

Fast forward to today...We woke up around 5:54 am and Dest was having some pretty good contractions around 10-15 min apart. This lasted for about an hour and she started getting them around every 5 to 6 minutes and they looked pretty painful. I called the hospital to see if I should take her in but they wanted to talk to Dest first. In between shrieks of agony, they decided she should wait about an hour or so until the contractions got to about 3 minutes apart. Now to provide a mental picture, here is Dest on all fours in the living rooms screaming every contraction...so...our ever playful son thinks this is a game and says, "Mommy...you a lion?" Thankfully, she didn't hear him, but I thought it was pretty funny. I don't know what happened after that, but as soon as she hung up she sort of skipped the 4 and 3 minute contractions and was now having them every 2 minutes. I realize this is a family blog, so her "edited" dialog went a little like, "Get me to the f@#&ing hospital now, I'm not waiting an hour!!!"

We already planned for Ethan to go hang out with his buddy Ty, so Carmen was already at the house to pick him up while we went to the hospital. I proceed to go about 80 mph (in a 45 mph zone) because Dest is looking like something fierce is about to happen. Since the hospital is on base, we had to try and hurry through the gate and speed our way to the hospital. I dropped Dest off at the front door and park the car. As soon as I get to the door, she says her water broke and she feels like she has to push. I grabbed the first damn wheelchair I could find and we ran upstairs to labor and delivery. As soon as we bust through the doors she is yelling, "my water broke" and since we were there the day before and she wasn't dilated they were like okay...go to the room and we'll get you checked out. Again, more profanities fly and she says she is going to start pushing now. This hurries the process a little and they get her in the room ASAP.

We got in the room around 8:00 and we are ripping Dest's clothes off to try to get her in the gown. One nurse finally checks her out and says she is at 8 cm. Dest then starts yelling for the anesthesiologist because she wants her epidural. The doctor then walks in about 1 minute later and pretty much said no happy juice for you because you are ready to rock. I looked down and yup, there is the top of the baby's head. Of course, Dest starts cursing the world and tries to squeeze any drugs she can from the docs, but to no avail. The bed and the room weren't really set up for birth yet, but time was of the essence so the doctor jumped up on the bed and said start pushing. Of course, Destiny is still looking for her drugs, but the nurse said the baby should be out in around 5 minutes or so. After Dest made her promise that the baby would be out soon, she started pushing. Lo and behold, Gracie pops out on the next push. So, from the time we arrived at the hospital to baby in hand was around 13 minutes...thats what I call efficiency. Everything with the baby was fine and Dest is doing great. I'm so proud of her and amazed at how well she did without any pain meds. She is a true superstar!

Sorry for the long post, but I found the story to be quite interesting. More pictures, videos, poems and sonnets to follow once baby and mom rest a little.

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