kennedy elizabeth.

Greetings from our hospital room! Although I am completely exhausted, we are trying to stay up until 11 PM, when we can take Kennedy to the nursery for the night and get an uninterrupted night's sleep. Only a few minutes to go...I think I can make it.

Our sweet, little daughter finally arrived this afternoon! As with most inductions, nothing went as planned. We were scheduled at 5:30 AM, didn't really get started until around 8, and then didn't really get going with labor until around 10. I got an epidural, which failed to work on the right side of my body, so I endured about two hours of intense, pitocin-driven contractions while I gripped onto the bed railings for dear life with tears streaming down my face. By the time the anesthesiologist got back to my room to check things out, I was 9 centimeters dilated and almost ready to push. (For the record: That's two labors where I opted for the epidural only to end up delivering without pain relief. Epidurals must not agree with my body!) Pushing was a very different experience than with Bennet - instead of three hours, I pushed for about 10 minutes and she was out! I cannot say enough about our experience at Harbor. My midwife, the nursing staff, the facility - all a million times better than GBMC. It was all a very pleasant surprise.

After about 5 hours of labor, Kennedy Elizabeth arrived at 3:24 PM, and weighed 8 pounds 5 ounces! We were shocked that she was bigger than Bennet was when he was born. I would never have guessed that she was such a big baby!

Bennet got to come to the hospital to meet her about an hour after she was born. He climbed up on my lap and I introduced him to his baby sister. He looked absolutely terrified for a few moments, but then he started talking about her and calling her by name and worrying when she would cry! He watched the nurse give her a bath and stayed around her constantly, like a good big brother! I was so proud of how well he handled everything! I can't wait for us all to be home together as a family.

My delivery and the hours after have gone so well that it looks like we'll get to come home tomorrow evening. Kennedy is doing great - taking a bottle like a pro, pooping through tons of diapers, and sleeping soundly in these evening hours. She is much quieter than Bennet was at this point. I feel 200 times better than I did at this point when I had Bennet. The nurses keep coming in to see if I need pain medicine, or if they can get me anything, and they look at me like I'm a crazy person when I am all smiles and telling them I don't need anything.

God is good, and He took good care of us today! Thanks, everyone, for your prayers and well wishes throughout the day. We can't wait for all of our friends and family to meet the new little one!