After nine long months we happily welcomed our darling Scout Elizabeth into our family on Monday, July 31st at 8:38am.
Leading up to Scout's birth I experienced a lot of braxton hicks and a lot of cramping. This all started about a month before my due date. Compared to my other pregnancies, this felt promising! My sister got in town the Sunday before my due date with her son Spencer. We spent the week relaxing, doing a bit of shopping, swimming and preparing for baby to arrive. On Friday night (my due date), I spent most of the night awake with irregular, somewhat painful (but still manageable) contractions. I was sure that something was starting. But, on Saturday morning they had stopped. Jamie's husband Mark and their daughter Taylor got into town Friday night. So on Saturday, we made some plans for the day. We decided to hit up the outlet mall in Gaffney, SC. They had been wanting to go and it's only about an hour away. We headed out there in the afternoon and spent a few hours walking around the mall shopping. I was glad we were able to squeeze in some shopping before baby arrived because I had been wanting to take Elliott back-to-school shopping for some clothes and we were able to get her some stuff at the outlets. While we were walking around at the outlets, my contractions started back up. They continued to come irregularly throughout the rest of the day and through the night. I was able to get some sleep that night, but still woke several times. On Sunday morning my contractions had stopped again. I was feeling so frustrated at this point! I was sure that all these contractions had to be doing something but they were just so all over the place! On Sunday evening, we ate dinner and played games and that's when the contractions really started getting serious. By early Sunday night, I had to stop and focus during the contractions. I couldn't talk through them anymore at this point.
Sunday night, I was left completely sleepless. My contractions were between 8-12 minutes apart most the night. I tried to sleep between them but couldn't. It felt best to be on all fours so I spent most my time in that position on my bed. Josh got what rest he could, but I know he hardly slept too. Around 4am I decided to finish packing up my bag. When I got out of bed to pack, the contractions got more intense and much closer together. They got to be about 6-8 minutes apart when I was in bed and 2-3 minutes apart when I was walking around. I called the midwife around 5:30am and explained how I was feeling. She asked if I felt like it was time to come in and I told her I thought it was. So, Josh showered, we packed up and headed to the hospital.
We got to the hospital at about 6:30am and checked into triage. The midwife came and checked to see where I was at. I was dilated 8cm! This was such exciting news for us. Josh and I high fived. I felt like I had labored a ton with Piper at home and was so frustrated to find that I was only dilated 2.5 cm when we went to the hospital. An 8 was exactly what I had wanted! They kept teasing me and saying that I was the happiest 8cm they had ever seen. I put on my robe and we headed to labor and delivery. My room was amazing! It was the biggest hospital room I'd ever been in. It had a huge tub, lots of space and a big, walk in bathroom with a tiled shower and everything! I wish we could have stayed there for our whole stay!
I had tested positive for Group B strep with this pregnancy (I didn't have it with my previous two pregnancies) so I had to start a dose of antibiotics as soon as we got there. They put in an IV and the antibiotic took about 10 minutes to get in. As soon as that was done, they took out the IV, and I got in the tub that they had prepared. They dimmed the lights, Josh put on some music and then things got serious. I was so excited to labor in the tub! It was something I had been looking forward to all pregnancy. I will admit, it felt wonderful sitting in a warm tub while dealing with contractions. But, my water hadn't broken at this point and after just a couple contractions, I started feeling pushy. The midwife could tell that there was a lot more pressure just based off my sounds and would reach and check me as I started pushing. She informed me that with each push the water was in the way and that it might be more work but that I could get her out. Either my water would break in pushing or she would be born in her bag of waters. But knowing that my water was in the way was hindering me mentally. I informed the midwife that I was also holding back with my pushing because I felt like I needed to...well, poop. Let's just be frank. Haha. She said that it didn't matter if I did but some women feel more comfortable pushing on the toilet when they feel that way. So, we moved to the bathroom and I did a few pushes on the toilet. After a few contractions I started getting panicky and shaky. The midwife asked if it was because I felt like she wasn't coming and I was frustrated or if it was because she was coming and it was painful. I told her it was because I felt like she wasn't coming. She very kindly asked if I was interested in her breaking my water and I happily said yes!
From the bathroom, we moved to the bed where the midwife broke my water. She warned me that things would go fast after that and she was right. After all that work, breaking my water was just the last little bit between me and our baby. It was just a few contractions after breaking the water and she was here. As her head emerged I was able to look down, grab her and bring her up to my chest. She was so tiny and absolutely beautiful. I immediately told Josh that she was tiny and I could tell she was smaller than our other two babies. He looked at me teary eyed and said something like, "you're crazy, she's huge! I can't believe you just pushed her out of you." I loved that moment. Once I had delivered the placenta and it had stopped pulsing, Josh cut the cord. While he cut it, blood sprayed and might have splattered on my face. Haha. It was straight out of a horror film. Also, this was my first pregnancy that I didn't tear! I was so excited about that! (And it made my recovery so much easier!)
The hospital I delivered at was amazing. They laid Scout with us, put on a diaper and then left us alone for over 2 hours. I breastfed Scout, we FaceTimed with my sister and the girls so they could see her and then we just enjoyed some time with our sweet, new baby. After a couple hours, the nurses came in and got us ready to move to our mother and baby room. At this hospital, they're passionate about baby and mom staying together so the baby actually never leaves your room! I loved this. We got into our room, they bathed her in the sink, weighed and measured her and I got to be there for all of it. With our other girls, Josh went to the nursery with them for those things. I was thankful to be there for everything. Scout weighed in at 7lbs 2oz (I was right, our smallest baby) and was 19.5 inches long (tied for our longest baby with Elliott).
Scout was mellow from the minute she was born. Her personality reminded us a lot of Piper as a baby. She didn't cry for the first 12 hours or so of life. She was just content. Since my antibiotics weren't in my system for at least 4 hours before she was born, we had to stay at the hospital for 48 hours after her birth to keep an eye on her and make sure she didn't have any symptoms of contracting Group B. Since she was born Monday morning, we had to stay until Wednesday morning. It was a long stay but it wasn't terrible.
My sister came and visited us with her kids and our girls after lunch time on Monday. Piper immediately asked to hold her and was so excited about everything! She wanted to see every body part and asked a million questions. Elliott reacted similarly to when Piper was born. She was only slightly interested and didn't care as much about holding her. But they both love her a lot, which is obvious. On Monday evening, a photographer from our ward came to the hospital and took some pictures for us. I wanted the girls there for the pictures so my sister brought them back that night. Kelsey did an incredible job and got some fantastic photos of our growing family! And, of course, a ton of our darling Scout. Scout did pretty well on Monday night. She slept in 3 hour increments, ate and went back to sleep each time fairly easy.
On Tuesday, my sister came again with the girls. They stayed for a few hours and ate lunch with us. After they left, Josh ran home to shower and grab some games for us. We played a couple games that night and watched a couple episodes of The Office. Jenn came that night as well to see Scout and brought Jane with her too. We sat and talked with her for over an hour. It was so nice to have visitors. Scout didn't do quite as well the second night. She was up a bunch during the night crying. She wanted to just nurse and nurse. Around 3am, my milk came in which I think was exactly what she needed. She ate a big meal and then slept until 7am. Phew!
On Wednesday, we spent the morning with pediatricians, the midwife and the nurses getting all checked over before we could be discharged. We finally got out of there around 11am! It felt awesome finally getting to head home.
We were greeted at home with balloons, flowers and a sweet note on the window from the girls. It was a wonderful arrival and we are so, so very happy to be home!
Scout is thriving and we are just so relieved to have her here safe and healthy!
