and baby makes five

We welcomed Lily Mae Atherley to our family on Thursday, July 29th, 2010.

We had a set induction date-very nice to have a 'no later than' date. Jed and I arrived at the hospital at approximately 7:45 am. We underwent the rigors of admission, anxious to get the ball rolling.

We found that I had tested positive for GBS (a very common normal flora strep). Our eagerness to get through the day quickly was shoved out the door. They like you to have antibiotics on board for at least 4 hours before delivery. Thus, our Pitocin drip ran pretty slow, my arm burned from Penicillin, and my contractions were practically nothing for 4 hours.

My wonderful doctor called the nurse and said he was going to come break my water between 12:00 and 12:30 (it turned out to be more like 1:00). They also turned my Pitocin up.

We were again eager, knowing that we were getting closer.
Jed went to lunch after the changes.
When he returned I was having MEGA contractions and back pain. But, I kept denying an epidural. Until about 4 contractions later.
The anesthesiologist was busy in another room, but we were next on the list.
We had some serious focus sessions during that time. I kind of wished I had asked for the epidural a little bit earlier.
We finally got the epidural around2:30.

The nurse waited to check our progression until my pain went down and was reassured that I was tolerating the medications. She also gave me more penicillin-booo!!!
By the time she got to checking me, I was feeling a little more pressure. In my mind I thought, there is no way I should be fully dilated. But, it felt that way.
Sure enough, fully dilated. We were ready to have that baby and it had only been 2 hours?

My doctor arrived about 10 minutes later.
After only about 5 minutes of pushing, Lily arrived at 3:41 p.m.

She was 8 lbs 6 oz and 21 inches long. She has a very tiny head, like her momma 33.5 cm.

She is a very mellow baby. Doesn't cry much at all. Her cry is very quiet (thank goodness our prayers were answered-not a Chase repeater). She already has picked a schedule and it works perfectly with mommies. She has cute brown hair and darling round cheeks. She has beautiful hands and feet with long nail-beds like daddies.

Big brother and big sister are so excited for the baby. They were both eager to hold Lily.
Bayli was sad to leave when it was time for their visit to end. My heart broke when she had huge alligator tears rolling down her cheeks. It would have been nice if SHE could have stayed a little longer.

On the other hand, mom and dad were eager to see a rambunctious Chase leave. I think he pressed the nurse call button about 50 times, took mom for many a wonderful ride in the hospital bed, slammed all of the cabinet doors while playing hide and seek, screamed out the window at the cars below, wouldn't let anyone else hold the baby ("no, my baby!"), and was just down right LOUD.

We are so happy to have our little Lily,
...how sweet the lily grows.