Trying something new

I am so grateful for families! I guess it makes sense that I would be feeling this way since Rowena was born yesterday. This morning as I have been sitting in the hospital watching 2 of my 3 beautiful girls sleep in front of me I have been browsing the blogs of various friends and family. I am so impressed and inspired to try and keep a better record of our family experiences and what the kids are doing. I feel that this is such a special time in our lives and even though it is super busy I feel it is so important to help us remember the great experiences we are having and how AWESOME our kids are. So.......I'm going to try and follow the example of my super brother in law Dave and take the role of "the blogmaster"

Rowena's Story: Firsthand Account
We were scheduled to come to the hospital to be induced on May 2nd. We arrived at 8:30 pm and thought the labor process was well underway by 10:00 pm. At that point the resident felt she was 3 cm dilated, 60% effaced, and -1 station. Pitocin was started and we were hopeful to have Rowena by morning. Mandy started having strong contractions overnight and an epidural was placed which thankfully this time provided great anesthesia......what would we do without Anesthesiologists? The contractions continued throughout the evening. In the late morning Mandy was checked again and her status had not changed at all. The physician ruptured her membranes to see if that would kick her body into labor. At this time we were again hopeful that maybe by mid afternoon we would have the baby. Throughout the day she was having regular contractions (thanks to the Pitocin) but no change in her pelvic pressure or dilation. Around 3 pm we talked to the OB physician and came up with the plan to try turning off the Pitocin and trying a prostaglandin to get things going. Ellie and Noah came to visit with Grandma, Grandpa, and Jolene and Grandpa and I took the kids down to play in the courtyard and get some food. After a couple of bites Grandma and Jolene came dashing into the cafeteria telling us that Mandy was feeling more pressure and that her contractions had really picked up even with the Pitocin off. It had literally only been like 30 minutes since she had taken the prostaglandin. We came back to the room and soon after Rowena was born. Mandy's a great pusher and only had to push through 4-5 contractions before she came to us. She is so tiny compared to the other kids and we love her little face, fingers, nose, and toes. She has been so calm and rarely makes any noise besides an occasional grunt or whimper. Mandy is doing well other then her body being really tired from the 22 hours of contracting without progressing. We can't wait for Ellie and Noah to come and see her this morning and are SO glad that she is finally here. One more thing to check off our list as we prepare for our move to Cali!!