Lucy Katelyn has arrived!

 Our little girl arrived on June 26, 2014 at 12:42am.

 She was 7 lbs. 7 oz. and 21 " long.

 So proud and relieved to have my sweet baby girl in my arms. The hospital played 'twinkle twinkle

little star', as I was wheeled down the hallway, to my room. The same was done for Quinn and Jack, it was such a special memory of Lucy's birth (along with her two brothers as well!)

 Proud grandma!

 And grandpa!

 My favorite photo of the day! Proud daddy and two big brothers!

 Another set of very proud grandparents!

 Aunt Mandy!

A proud mommy, with THREE kiddos!

 

Gosh, I realize I have endured an entire nine month pregnancy, and now have a sweet and healthy (almost) four month old daughter, since I last updated on here! 

 Just a tad busier in our home as you can imagine!

 

It's fun to take a moment and look back at Lucy's birth, so I can jot some of it down here and hopefully remember the sweet details as the years roll on....

 

On Wednesday, June 25th (Lucy's due date), I can honestly look back and acknowledge that I had some kind of  'mother's intuition' going on! I had the sense to just stay home and spend the day with my boys. We went to the library (I remember waddling in, as I felt like Lucy's was about to fall out!) We got home, and I had this sense of urgency to fold and put the boy's laundry away, and that, although I was pretty tired, I needed to prepare a healthy supper. Something told me I would need the energy later! Ha! I did! 

 

It was an absolutely gorgeous day, so after supper, Steve took the boys fishing off the dock. I settled in on the couch, needing the break!  I remember when the boys came back, Quinn mentioned something about how I was probably going to have the baby soon. Steve and I tucked the boys in,

and then Steve went out for a night run.

 

I settled in with a book, and it started to dawn on me that I was having pretty distinct contractions coming on quickly. It was so exciting, because I've never labored at home before, even though it was my third birth.  I started timing my contractions at 10:15pm, and from that point on, they were never more than 15 minutes apart. When Steve got home and finished up a shower and post run snack, I told him my contractions were anywhere from 4-11 minutes apart. Like I mentioned, both of my boys were induced, so Steve and I never had the need to make the decision of when to go to the hospital. We certainly didn't want to go in on a false alarm, so I called the nurse hotline to see if I needed to head in. After waiting on hold for awhile, the nurse eventually confirmed

 that we should start making our way over to the hospital.

 

 Around 11:30, we made the smart decision to call Steve's folks, so they could come over and watch the boys. Luckily, they only live ten minutes away, because at this point, I was already starting to experience some intense contractions. I remember I was sitting in the car, waiting for Jan and Stan to arrive and it was only 11:47pm (I'd only been in labor for about an hour and a half, yet I had this feeling that we NEEDED to get moving quick!)  It only took us about 20 minutes to get to the hospital, we were checked in at 12:22am, and they wheeled me up to labor and delivery, about to put me in triage, when I told them I needed to push. That got the nurses attention! I was checked immediately and at a nine. The doctor on call arrived quickly and broke my water, and informed us that after one more contraction, I would be ready to push. It was seriously a hurricane because of how quickly every happened. They didn't have time to even put an IV line in! Aye. After a few intense minutes of pushing with no pain management, Lucy arrived at 12:42am!  She has such an exciting birth story, and she only arrived 42 minutes after her due date! Wow! (Both my boys were 14 and 10 days late respectfully, and had to be induced.) I prayed that the Lord would bless our family with a little girl, and provide us with an exciting birth story and those prayers were answered!