Violet's story

Ok, so this has taken me far to long to post, but here is the story of how our little one arrived.

At my last appointment Dr. Rosenblum said that because I was a week overdue (wait a minute... I thought I was due on the 23rd? Nope, the 16th is correct. NOT knowing this probably saved me from removing this baby myself.) and that she could induce me on Monday if I like. WOULD I!? As some of you know, I had been dilated to a 4 for about the last two painfully long weeks of the pregnancy with contractions every 1-12 minutes (she was teasing me). Brind and I already had gone to the hospital twice that week, hopeful that they would just take pity on me and keep me there... once for false/back labor and once for mastitis that the doctors agreed they had never before seen in a woman who had not delivered yet. Awesome.

Sunday night I couldn't sleep... I was way too excited...I was going to have a baby the next day! So I spent the night sterilizing all hard surfaces in the house and washing every article of clothing short of striping a sleeping Brind of his pj's. We arrived at the hospital at 6:30 am to be induced. I was so ready. After some boring paper work, monitoring Violet, and hooking me up to an IV, and recording my contractions that were about 3 minutes apart. Dr. Rosenblum came in to break my water at 8 am. There was some mec in the fluid, bummer. After my water was broken the contractions started coming a minute apart and well... hurt. I went from a 4 to a 10 in less than two hours and it was decided that I probably would not be needing any pitocin. I started shaking so violently that I thought I was going to vibrate out of the bed. And then my angel came! Dr. Hess gave me the most delightful epidural. I could feel NOTHING! I kept asking Brind to "Please straighten my legs." because I couldn't move them myself. I guess he got tired of telling me "Baby, they are straight..." that he started just lifting them and setting them back down to humor me.

At 1:30ish my doctor came back to try a practice push she said that she was going to turn down my epidural drip so I could feel what was going on... I asked if we could just try without touching my drip. She was so surprised that I was able to push without feeling anything that she apparently wanted to test just how little I was feeling... so she started slapping my thighs and doing who knows what else and asking if I could feel it. "Uhm, nope." Brind's mouth was slightly ajar as his eyes darted from the doctor trying to get a reaction out of me and my completely oblivious (content) face. So, although she was surprised that I could push without feeling, we moved on with pushing during the contractions. And because I couldn't tell when they were, Brind had to count down and tell me when to push. Gosh, I love him. In a matter of what felt like minutes Brind said he could see her hair... I probably asked what color it was ten times. And at 2:43... she arrived! Because she was breathing... uh, 'squeaky' they took her immediately and Burt didn't get a chance to cut the cord. I think I was more disappointed than he was. We had a perfect baby girl and I had a 100% pain free delivery. We are so spoiled. As I was getting stitched up, Brind got to check on our sweet girl. She barely cried at all, she is so mellow.

We are so proud of her and of course we think she is just the prettiest baby ever. And such a good sleeper! (HOORAY!) I spend a lot of time awake at night just watching her sleep... making sure she is breathing because she sleeps so well. She loves to snuggle with Burt, listen to The Fray, and sleep in her boppy. When my mom first saw her she said, "Oh, she is Julia's twin... but Brind colored!" She is a yummy shade of pinky peach with dark brown hair. And it looks like her eyes are going to stay gray-blue. Brind is excited to tell everyone that she has my same feet, right down to my tucked-under pinky toes.

We are absolutely blessed to have this perfect little spirit in our lives. A lyric from a song runs through my head a lot lately... "When I lay down at night I thank the Lord above, for giving me everything I ever could dream of." Its so true. We love Violet so so much and we are sure to thank Heavenly Father for sending her to us. Thanks for all the love, prayers, help and sweet messages!

Brind, Julia & Violet