Rebecca came this month! It was agonizing every day waiting til she came finally on the 25th. I had picked out her date to come (the 17th), and I actually went into labor on the 17th but she didn't end up coming! I waited agonizingly day by day until the 25th before she came. It ended up being a blessing, though, because Grammy was hospitalized January 1st, and started doing well enough to talk about releasing her to a rehab center after a few weeks. I was able to visit her and spend some time with her, even though she was asleep and weak for most of it. Long story short, she took a downward turn around the 23 and by the 24th we knew she would be dying that day. She was unconscious and we all went to her hospital room to be with her. I really really wanted the baby to come the day she died, but it was 10 p.m. when we left the hospital and I knew it wasn't possible to still have the baby that night. Grammy waited til1 12:30 a.m. to pass away on the 25th. I did everything I could to have the baby come, and she finally did at 5 p.m. Lamoni had gone into work about 1 p.m. to go to a meeting and told me to let him know if it felt like the baby was coming. I was supposed to teach violin lessons starting at 3:30 p.m. and I didn't end up canceling til 3:10 because I didn't want to get my hopes up that I was actually in labor. At 3:30 p.m. Lamoni came home (he almost didn't!) and I was in active labor. I didn't want to go to the birth center too soon, though, and I didn't think I was very close. In my head there were hours left. Luckily he called Joy to come over, and by the time we were driving to the birth center I was in so much pain (in hindsight I was in transition). Rebecca came 10 minutes after we arrived! One contraction on the bed, a couple in the water (which was only half way full since there wasn't time to fill it), and a couple pushing and then I was holding her at 4:57 p.m. I was in shock holding her since it happened so fast. I couldn't believe it! We named her Rebecca Jean. She was supposed to be Rebecca Aubrey, but Jean was Grammy's birth name so we changed it. Grammy was Jean when she was adopted, and then her adopted parents named her Diane Jean.
She took awhile to take her first breath. You can see how purple she was on the right. This is before they took her from me to give her air. As soon as they pulled her off of me it was enough of a startle for her to breathe. They said that can happen when the baby comes really quickly.
She weighed 8 pounds - same as Liam. I so badly wanted a 7 lb baby, just so she'd stay in that newborn squishy stage a little longer. I did end up getting my wish in a way, because she ended up losing weight down to 7 lbs 4 oz.
The boys came after a couple hours to see her. Joy brought them as she always does.
There's something so special about that freshly born newborn face. It changes even by the next day!
It's hard to believe any baby could be more loved or coddled than Rebecca. I don't think she was set down for more than a few seconds for the first few weeks of her life. She has a perfectly shaped head because she rarely laid down on the back of it!
Charity brought me the obligatory breakfast burrito, orange juice and cinnamon roll from Frontier. That is seriously my favorite part about having a baby (besides the baby of course).
My mom came to the birth center as well
The nurse waited to do the baby check til the boys were there. We were the 4th baby born in a 24 hour period, so they had the full staff there.
I also had a scare where I was having seizure-like convulsions (they happened a few times) and my pulse went from 50 to 110 so we had all the midwives and nurses in working on me. So we got to see the staff who helped with the older boys' births too! Actually, the midwife who delivered Rebecca was the intern midwife at Peter's birth.
Lamoni got Rebecca dressed to go home as he always does with the babies. We stayed at the birth center for about 5 hours after she was born. Joy was at our house with the boys, and we let them stay up til we came home so they could greet Rebecca.
In the carseat all ready to go home!
