Stella is here!!

Baby Stella arrived on her due date August 1st (just barely)!  We are so obsessed with her and loving having a new squishy baby in the house :-)

Born August 1st at 11:49pm, 6 lbs 15 oz, and 19 inches long


Here are the cliff-notes (ok so I guessed on the actual minutes for the sake of drama...but the timing is fairly accurate):
9:00: first real contraction
9:30: decided this better be real because I was writhing in pain and packed up my toiletries
10:30: emerged from my cave (room) declared I needed to go to the hospital immediately
10:50: arrived at hospital - YES my husband drove the speed limit.  I was in so much pain that I couldn't actually verbalize how much pain I was in...he had no idea how bad it was.
11:00: made it from the parking spot to the exit of the parking garage which was maybe 50 feet, including an elevator since I couldn't handle the one flight of stairs. 
11:01: hospital worker took pity and brought me a wheelchair
11:05: checked into triage and they checked me right away...I was "a good 8-9 centimeters"
11:10: rushed up to a labor and delivery room...nurses were frantic
11:15: first failed attempt to insert IV since I couldn't keep still.  I begged for an epidural and needed an IV to get one.  
11:20: got IV in and Anesthesiologist rushed in to save me
11:25: finally got epidural in and the Anesthesiologist hated me because I couldn't stay still 
11:26: pure bliss...Best.Decision.Ever.
11:35: Ready to start pushing.  The anesthesiologist had to stay and help...they didn't have time to get enough nurses ready
11:40: baby girl is face up and has her cord around her neck...out comes the vacuum assist and the NICU team (didn't phase me, Noah had his cord wrapped too and they send people just in case)
11:49: baby girl makes her dramatic appearance and is absolutely perfect!

It was seriously the most intense and crazy 3 hours of my life.  The nurses told me I was lucky I made it to the hospital, we didn't actually fill out the admittance paperwork until after she was born!  I didn't think I could feel pain that horrible, the contractions hit me like a ton of bricks and were much more painful and intense than my last labor.  Baby girl just wanted to come out face first to meet the world and decided she wanted to do it immediately!

She is pretty amazing and full of surprises.  We weren't expecting a due date baby (had an induction scheduled on August 6th), we weren't expecting a 3 hour labor, and we definitely weren't expecting her weight to start with a "6"!  I can't imagine it any other way and we are 100% obsessed with this little girl!

OK I lied...I can imagine labor other ways.  :-)