Clarissa's dramatic entry

I thought I was a pro at having babies. Well, this third time totally rocked my world.

I'd been having contractions off and on for a week---we're talking contractions where I time them and they're 3-5 minutes apart for an hour or two. So I kept wondering if PJ should stay home from work or whether we should go to the hospital.....

Then I figured this baby would never come until my water broke.

I was right.

At 4am Tuesday morning, my water broke. Based on the length of my previous two labors, I figured we had about 8 hours before she'd be born. Plenty of time to gather my belongings, have someone come over and watch the other kids, get my epidural, play some Yahtzee, etc.

We checked into the hospital at 5:15 am. By this time my contractions were every few minutes and hard enough that I had to stop in my tracks and concentrate on breathing for 10-12 seconds. Lucky for me I told the staff right away that I wanted an epidural, so they could make the preparations like hanging the IV, getting the anesthesiologist to come up to the floor from the OR, etc.

These contractions were KILLING me at this point. I mean, I went from a 4 to a 7 in about 30 minutes. Then the nurses were discussing whether they needed another blood sample for a CBC count, and why wasn't the anesthesiologist there yet, and I was a little freaked out that I wouldn't get any pain relief.

Hallelujah the anesthesiologist arrived and started working on the epidural. At this point I'm in transition labor with contractions one on top of the other, trying not to move so that she can get the needle in the right place in my spine. Very dramatic. The urge to push was literally overwhelming and I couldn't stop it.

PJ was out in the hall (because he wasn't allowed to be with me while they put in the epidural for some weird reason) and could hear me yelling (which I very rarely do when I'm in pain) and he saw the OB resident---the girl on the left---run down the hall and throw off her jacket to catch me in time.

The moment the catheter was in, they laid me down, gave me a quick bolus of medicine in the epidural, and told me to start pushing. I asked for my husband, and he came back in just in time. Luckily, the medicine started working in a few minutes and I was able to actually deliver the baby with some pain relief.

Total time from water breaking to baby birth: 3 hours 15 minutes. Wow.

She weighed 9 lbs 8 oz and was 20.5 inches long. Big baby.

Name: Clarissa Marie Woolston

Thank you to the wonderful nurses and doctors who were at my bedside. Apparently there were like 8 people there at one point (counting doctors, nurses, residents, baby doctors and nurses, etc.) but I had no idea.

I will say that the craziest part about this whole ordeal is that while I'm having

FIERCE contractions, this nurse keeps asking questions like if I have a birth plan and if I've been a victim of abuse, and whether I brought a wallet with credit cards. I let PJ answer the questions, but even so I muttered a rather loud "SHUT UP" under my breath. SO not the right time.

PJ and I were treated to a nice dinner at the hospital that night, complete with sparkling cider. It was a sweet gesture by the hospital and we enjoyed some time together.

We actually didn't spend hardly any time with Clara because she had some troubles maintaining blood sugar, due to her size. She was in the NICU for two days, during which time they gave her an IV and supplemented her with formula and checked her sugar levels every couple of hours. I visited whenever I wanted and brought whatever colostrum I could pump to give her as well.

It was so funny to see her in the NICU because she was literally 3x as big as most of the babies there. The staff had to keep asking pediatrics if they could borrow shirts for her because theirs were too small.

We came home Thursday afternoon. PJ and the older kids made this adorable sign for us. I must mention here how grateful I am for all the friends who helped out during this time, taking care of our children, now bringing us meals, etc. It is amazing what wonderful friends we have.

Here are just a couple of pictures I've taken of her since we got home. I think she looks a bit like Avery, but I can't tell yet. She has massive cheeks and a triple chin, at least. But she's turning into a wonderful nurser and so far a good sleeper, so I can't complain.

Here are two sweet sisters. I'm so grateful for all three of my children. I am truly truly blessed.