Happy Birthday Baby Violet!

Our newest family member has arrived!

Violet Mae Starling was born early in the morning at 12:55am. She was a little, bitty one at 6lb 2oz, and 20 inches.

For those of you who are interested, here are all the details. :)

On Thursday the 17th I awoke to some signs that labor could start soon. (Besides the fact that it was almost a full moon and there was a huge storm coming in that is)Jim stayed home from school and my mom drove over from Modesto. I wasn't having steady contractions, so we waited anxiously for my doctor's appointment that afternoon so he could tell us what was really going on. (When I was pregnant with Reese I showed up to my last doctor's appointment at 7cm already and didn't realize it). I was hoping that I had made some progress like last time, but alas, I was only 3cm. I had been at a 2 for the last couple weeks so this was not a big change.

Slightly bummed that I wasn't really in labor yet (I know, by the third baby I should know what labor feels like...) we drove to Target and bought important things like newborn onesies (suddenly I felt like I didn't have enough) and magazines for my hospital stay (I was still hoping that things would happen soon!)

We hung out all afternoon at home with my mom and the girls. My neighbor Jill came over with her kids and they all entertained themselves for a little while. My mom made spaghetti for dinner. After dinner I took the girls up for a bath and that's when I started feeling "real" contractions, not just the Braxton Hicks. I was getting pretty uncomfortable in my "sitting on the toilet and bending over to wash the kids" position so my mom came in and finished bath time for me. I went downstairs and sat in my chair so I could concentrate on timing my contractions. They were definitely coming at regular intervals and at about 9:15pm we drove to the hospital.

I was excited, but unsure of how much progress I had made. The hospital here in Monterey is really nice and the nurses were all really great. They had a room all ready for me when I got there. I got set up in my gown and everything and the nurse checked me and I was at a 4. Hmmm, maybe this labor won't be going as quickly as my last two. Not what I was hoping for. So, Jim turned on the tv and we watched Animal Planet. We learned all about Orkas and how they hunt seals together and teach their babies how to zoom up onto the beach to grab poor, baby sealions. It was all very interesting. An hour later I was maybe at a 5. Blech, this is not how I forsaw baby number three entering the world. Let's get a move on! I wondered if this is how it would go all night. After the Orkas came a show on Adventure Fishing and Noodling. Noodling is when you let giant catfish bite your feet so you can catch them with your hands. As my labor intensified I wondered if it would be worse to be in labor or to stick your feet into holes in murky riverbanks so a fish could bite you.

Ok, so during this show my contractions got really strong and hurt a lot. Usually I can just breath through them and close my eyes, but this time I started moaning out loud and it actually kind of helped. It also helped to wake Jim up who had been dozing on the couch. Apparently neither giant catfish nor a wife in labor could deter him from a little snooze. So Jim woke up and held my hand and I had him get the nurse to check me. If I hadn't made any progress with these hard contractions I was thinking I wanted some drugs. I can handle some pain for a little while, but if I was still at a 5 and feeling like this, I didn't know how long I could handle it.

I didn't need to worry about this, however, because in the matter of about 5 minutes Violet was born! Right after she checked me (I was at 8cm) she called my doctor. He wanted to be called when I was at 7cm, but oh well. My next contraction broke my water and I immediately felt like pushing. Jim said to wait because he wasn't about to do this by himself! The nurse ran back in the room and then called for help and a gang of other nurses ran in. I kept telling them that I felt like pushing and I thought they were going to tell me to wait for the doctor. Not like I could wait, but I thought they would tell me not to push yet. Since they didn't say no, I started pushing when I felt like it and out she came! My nurse said she called my doctor at 12:51 and that Violet was born at 12:55. It really was a crazy, intense few minutes!

And that is Violet's birth story. I had been anticipating this moment for weeks, getting more nervous about how much it would hurt, and if I'd make it to the hospital in time, and now all of a sudden it was all over. She was here! What a rush it was.