Welcome Julianne Faith!

As I mentioned in yesterday's post, the doctor offered for us to come in this morning, break my water, and have a baby!  We jumped at the chance, even with the snow storm in the forecast.  Ma-maw came down last night so she could stay with Dallas and Reba while Daddy and Momma went to the hospital.

Just as the weatherman predicted it rained first and then turned to snow after midnight.  Schools were canceled, so we were going to let kiddos sleep in, but they had other plans!  They woke up just a few minutes before we were going to leave, so I got one more picture with them and Baby in my belly.

As Doug and I were driving to the hospital, we were glad we made the choice to induce labor and not have to make an emergency trip with the poor road conditions should I have gone into spontaneous labor.  We also talked about how it was the perfect day to sit in a hospital room and watch the snow fall!

Around 7:30 a.m. the doctor broke my water and labor started.  After an hour or so, the contractions really had not picked up, so my doctor decided to start Pitocin.  That did the trick!  A little before 1 o'clock, I had dilated to 6 cm, and the contractions were very strong, so I decided to get an epidural.  It was roughly 1:30 p.m. when the anesthesiologist finished, and unlike the epidural I received when Reba was born, it helped ease the pain right away!  Between 1:45 and 1:50 p.m., my nurse was explaining that she was going to call my doctor with an update, and she was going to suggest Dr. Alvey come up in an hour or so to check on me.  Just then, Dr. Alvey walked in (her office to see patients is on the second floor of the women's hospital and labor and delivery is on the third floor).  She mentioned to the nurse that she would like to check my progress, and low and behold, I was fully dilated and ready to push!

At 2:14 p.m., we welcomed our new baby girl in the world!

Meet Julianne Faith Bergman

She weighed in at 7 lb 12 oz and was 21 inches long.  She was the quietest newborn ever!  We couldn't hardly get a single cry out of her; she had her eyes wide open, taking everything in around her.

Excuse my red eyes, but there might have been a few tears of joy!

Daddy watching over the nurse getting Julianne's measurements

Proud Daddy and his newest little girl

Gotta have a bow on little girls! (her eyes are wet looking for an ointment the nurse applied)

When we called to let Ma-maw know we had a surprise, the kiddos were just getting up from naps.  Dallas told us that he did not want us to tell if he got a brother or sister, he wanted to wait until he got to the hospital.  Ma-maw then braved the weather (and the worsening road conditions) and brought Dallas and Reba to the hospital.

Our family of five! (side note: I was so excited that the kiddos were able to come to the hospital and meet their new sister; you might remember, Dallas was not allowed at the hospital when Reba was born)

Even though Dallas was convinced he was getting a brother, he quickly fell in love with his new sister.

My little mother hen couldn't get her hands on Julianne fast enough

Because today was St. Nick's Day, someone had donated Christmas stockings filled with goodies for all the babies born today.  Dallas and Reba were more than willing to check out the goodies.

They were then more interested in the stocking while Little Julianne got a few more vital checks from the nurse

Daddy and Ma-maw then took the kiddos to get some supper, while Momma got the chance to get cleaned up and Julianne got her first bath.  She then got to hang out under the warming lights until her body temp got back up to normal.

Shortly after, the group returned and we were all moved the postpartum room.  The kiddos each held Julianne again, and then Ma-maw decided they better start the trek back to the house, and Momma needed to get some sleep!

Until next time...