what a week!!

Shortly after I blogged last Thursday Gary called me from work. He should have been on his way home so I assumed he was calling to tell me he was on his way, but he said to sit down, he had news. Thankfully I was already sitting down and of course about 10 scenarios went through my mind... not a good thing to tell a woman 14 hours before she goes into the hospital to be induced! Turns out we got an offer on our house in Mansfield.

Yup, you read that right! After living here 3 years we finally got our first offer. It wasn't just an offer, it was an offer for what we owe on the house, and it was in CASH!!! Gary flew home with the faxed paperwork which we signed and faxed back as quickly as we could. We were THRILLED!! We don't have to wait for a loan to go through and the amount we have to bring to the table at closing is totally manageable. To say we're thankful would be an understatement! That news alone would have made the month a good one, but God continues to pour out his blessings!

We went into the hospital at 5 AM on Friday. We made great time, even stopping for Gary to get coffee because, lets face it, 4:30 AM is not a high traffic time of day. We got in and they got me settled in my room {No Jen, not the one with blood on the ceiling. For those who may not know, Grace was born in a room with blood on the ceiling and 10 months later her friend Zeke was born in the same room- blood still on the ceiling. I should have snuck into that room to see if it was still there. :) }. I had group B strep and needed antibiotics so they got my IV going (NOT my favorite part!) and that medicine going and the pitocin going. This all happened around 7 AM. The monitors were showing contractions before they started the Pit so I hoped i would be progressed further and looking at a fast labor.

My doctor was scheduled to be there at noon and we wondered if we'd make it that long. Our little girl was not quite ready though and I had progressed very little. After several hours trying to regulate the pit to get my contractions 2-3 minutes apart I had still not progressed. My contractions were either right on top of each other or 3-4 minutes apart I assumed at that point I'd have a very long day, and maybe even night ahead of me. For the zillionth time I wondered if induction had been the right choice.

My doctor called the hospital and asked that all his patients get their epidurals and waters broken so my turn came at 12:30pm. I'd just been checked (no progress- still 2-3) and my contractions had been getting worse so I was trying to figure out when to get the epidural. I knew they'd get worse with the water breaking so I asked for it. I was waiting to get to 5 if I could knowing that the epidural could possibly slow my labor down. With the breaking of my water my contractions went from very painful to excruciating in about 5 minutes. I was shocked!! Paula came and did the epidural just before 1 and it was VERY hard to breathe through those contractions and stay still. I just kept telling myself I could not do this for another 8 hours or more and that I needed to get it and pray for the best. I prayed that my body would progress and if it didn't and I needed a C-Section that God would just work it all out. I sent Gary to get some lunch. The epidural would take 20 or so minutes to fully numb me by that point and then they were going to be back to do my catheter so I told him go ahead- that someone would be back if I needed something and I had my call button. It would be hours so he needed to eat but to be back in a half hour to sit with me.

He left about 1:15, a nurse cam to check me and do a cath at 1:30 and I was complete. They started to ready me to push!!! I was in shock. I actually asked her what "complete" meant figuring I MUST have heard her wrong!! At that point people flooded the room, Gary was paged and showed up and I think I was pretty much in shock. My nurse got me set up and asked me to do a practice push "to see how you do" and about a third of the way through my push she made me STOP and I knew she was coming. Then MORE people came into the room including my doctor who basically ran into the coat thing they were holding for him and came over to me. A push later they unwrapped her chord, and two more pushes later she was born!

At 1:56 pm, Friday October 23, 2009 we welcomed Esther Joy Bush into our family. She is beautiful.

Several hours later she weighed in at 7lbs (and a quarter of an ounce) and 19 and a half inches long.

Now, home a week later I can honestly say it's been a whirlwind. Our little angel is perfect but she's not so keen on eating. :) She prefers to drag out the time between feedings which stresses mommy out. They want her to be eating every 2-3 hours and we're lucky if we can get her to eat in 4. I'm trying to look at it as extra sleep right now and be thankful, but it's hard. You can't force a baby to eat. All signs point to her getting enough so we'll see how much weight she's re-gained this coming Wednesday. This past Wednesday was her first Pediatrician appointment. She weighed in at 6 lbs 8 oz which is only a half pound weight loss overall which she said was good. Another praise is that her bilirubin numbers were good enough in the hospital that she did NOT have jaundice (The other two did) and did not have to have any repeat blood tests done!!

Having Gary home this week has been nothing short of wonderful. I"m so in love with that man!! He's just amazing and the best dad in the world. I can't thank him enough for taking this time to be with us and be such a support.

The kids love her. They want to know where she is all the time and are quick to alert us if she's crying and offer suggestions on how to make her stop. Neither of them has said a single thing about her crying at night (though I know it disturbs their sleep because they are both napping every day and clearly need it). They love to watch her and kiss her and love to help out bringing things to mommy or helping daddy. They have also been playing together wonderfully the entire week. I"m so glad they have each other. This first week, in that way, was easier than my first week with Grace when Tyler was lonely for someone to play with.

God is so amazing.