Well, she finally made it!!

The back story and birth story (back story first):

My mom had come out weeks ahead of Gretchen's birthday since we really didn't know when she was coming. My mom (aka Grandma Kimmy) came out at the end of April and helped us get Gretchen's room and house ready for her arrival. We hadn't done a thing other than pile all her stuff in the extra bedroom. We had fun with her and Grandma Jo finding fun furniture, going out to eat, playing, painting the room and generally waiting around. This is us below at The Parlor restaurant on Camelback.

Then finally on May 13th (Thursday evening) around 7:45pm I was watching an episode of Fringe - it was a really good one - in the living room while Sean and Patrick were playing in our bedroom, I noticed something. Those darn Braxton Hicks contractions. But wait, there was something different. They were coming regularly. I downloaded an iphone app to track the contractions. Hmm, 20 of them in a row. Ok, maybe this is happening?

We all went to bed thinking that it might happen but we weren't worrying too much about it at the time. By midnight, I was still wide awake. I mean WIDE AWAKE. I decided to call the overnight doc and hospital and see if it might be a good idea to come in. They all said yes and by that time, I was starting to hurt and OMG what are we doing with Patrick? Ok, I know we should have thought about the middle of the night labor but I didn't. I called my mom who was staying at Grandma Jo's and said "what do we do?" She said, "I don't know." Oh great.

Well, I begged her to get over to our house fast fast fast to stay over with Patrick while he slept and Sean and I would go to the hospital, just in case. Ha!

I had forgotten how much that contractions hurt.

I was really wishing by this time that we'd gotten there earlier. We calmly and quicky drove to Scottsdale Healthcare Shea and checked in around 1:30am. They initially thought that they'd tell us to walk around (only dialated to 1) but after seeing that I was contracting regularly (and painfully) anyway and the baby's heart rate was a little funny...they let us stay in the room. We watched some Cosby Show and started asking for the anestesiologist.

We got to the labor and delivery room around 3 and I had dialated to 5 or 6 and I finally got the needle. I told the guy how Patrick's drugs didn't work all that well and maybe he wanted to make sure this one worked or something but I ended up with absolutely no pain and a wet noodle left leg.

Then we waited. We turned on the movie Earth and listened and half watched animals from all over the world. It was calming but never let us get any sleep.

Things were progressing well and we thought that something would happen around 6 or 7am but it didn't.

Dr. Snell came in around 7:30 and started having me lay in and around some exercise balls of various shapes to help turn Gretchen. She wasn't exactly at dead center. An hour of funny positions and the nurses laughing a little with me. We quit trying and so did my contractions. Darn. A little pitocin later and it was time to push. She straightened out just fine during the pushing.

With all the heavy drugs being pumped into my body I was so pain free that itfelt like I was sitting on my couch at home and having a friend look over and say "ok, time to push." Just like someone coming into the room while you're reading this and saying "ok, are you ready." Uh, what...like, now? I didn't have that urge to push really but Iwas sure going to try.

I guess I did OK because I made it through 9 or 10 pushes over 3 contractions and we finally had our 9lb 5 oz little girl!! 21.25" long and she came right at 9:15 in the morning on Friday May 14th.

Just as I gave that last push and Gretchen was placed on my tummy and started to cry, Patrick Grandma Kimmy and Grandma Jo walked into the room. Perfect timing!!

They couldn't quite fit into the room since we had lots of extra nurses from the NICU there just in case Gretchen injested any of the meconium she'd pooped while inside my tummy. She didn't. :)

Others who came to meet her that weekend at the hospital were Uncle Keenan and Papa from San Diego, Nana Cyndy from Flagstaff and Uncle Connor from Tucson. Aunt Katy, Uncle Todd and cousins Ryan and Emily drove over from the West side of town. Finally, our friends Beth and Chris came over to give her a great big hello.

While our hospital had great amenities (like in room manicures and room service style dining) I was lucky to get meals from my favorite places. Nana Cyndy brought Wildflower Bread sandwiches for the Woods family for lunch and Papa Dada and the uncles brought a feast from the Whole Foods prepared food department. Delish!

Nursing was a cinch. Yay!

Walking wasn't so much. My dead leg took a while to come back to life but mainly I was sore from pushing out a great big baby! Because I wasn't a great walker, the nurses didn't let me take out my catheter for several hours. I was on a mission to pee into their little bucket "hat" as fast and as much as I could so I could get that "thing" out. I was a champ and downed all the water and juice that I could and we were on our way home the next morning.

Papa, Grandma Kimmy and Keenan came to help get us home that morning. Keenan drove my car with Sean, Gretchen and me - he'd chosen Jamiroquai as the soundtrack. Papa and Gma Kimmy took Patrick to grab us some food (mainly I wanted my turkey and avocado sandwich on sourdough that I'd been craving my whole pregnancy) and meet us at home. Ah, we were glad to be home!

I set up my nursing "spot" on the far side of the dark brown leather couch - just like I'd done when Patrick came home. Here's an old picture of just that - from July 7th 2007:

I look just like that too...same glasses, same water jug, just a new kid. :)

And I've been there ever since.

Ha, just kidding.

But not really.

We were really lucky to have Grandma Kimmy stay another week and a half to keep us fed and from living in filth. So, I was able to stay in my spot and stare at Gretchen all day.

Since Grandma Kimmy has gone, we've tended to have meals together in and around the "spot" so that I could nurse in comfort and the rest of us be close. It's been a month and we're still eating in the living room a lot but not for every meal. Only when nursing time is happening right at our mealtime. :) I'm sure we'll return to normal sometime in the next few months. More pictures and stories to come.