Grand Arrival

She is here! Our daughter, Katie Claire, has come to us finally!

On Easter Sunday evening, Nancy stripped my membranes and gave the order for a castor oil shake. Yum...2 oz castor oil, 2 raw eggs, few scoops of ice cream and milk :P I think I shall never have Espresso Mocha ice cream again. Throughout the night, contractions came long and hard. However, about 6:30 am on April 5, contractions stopped completely. Nancy got things started again at about 8:30 am and contractions started at 10am. Labor was slow, but intensified quite a bit after Nancy broke my water. Nancy had another midwife assisting with the birth. They were very aggressive in getting her out. Baby Katie was in no hurry to come, but she needed to. At the hospital, doctors would have let Mama just labor on for another day (or two), and then decide on C-section. But no option here, thank God! At only 8 cm dialation, they pulled the cervix over Katie's head and 15 min later, Baby Katie wriggled, or rather, torpedoed, into Daddy's arms, onto Mama's chest at 4:14 p.m. At 8 lbs, 20z and 20 inches long, Katie was bigger than expected. Thankfully, she had a round head, and there was no tearing! For a little detail, the entire placenta came out, but in pieces. It was old, and the midwives were amazed that it held out and Katie was very healthy. Just shows the amazing God we serve! Thank you for everyone's prayers; there were no complications and everything went super smooth.

My husband was the best coach and we are so glad labor is over. Now we are resting and working on the whole breastfeeding adventure. I am getting lots of helping hands from friends and family. We are abundantly blessed and are in awe of God's little miracle to us, Katie Claire!