Welcome, Lorelai Mary Lipscomb!!!

We are so thrilled that little Lorelai decided to make her arrival into the world.  She is a gorgeous baby.  Very sweet and mild mannered.

The laboring journey began on Tuesday morning.  I was feeling very uncomfortable, upset stomach, and some other unpleasantries that I will save you from.  But, Gabriel and I journeyed into Houston for my baby Luncheon with Grandma Cherlyn and some of her good friends.  On the way home in the car I began having contractions that were 6-8 minutes apart, but of course as soon as I called Brian and my dr. to let them know they stopped.  But, I still didn't really feel like myself the rest of the day.  Wednesday started off much the same way as Tuesday plus a headache so I called Grandma Cherlyn to see if she could come help with Gabriel.  She wonderfully came to the rescue and took him out to Chuck E. Cheese and the Library for some playtime so I could relax and get some much needed rest as I hadn't slept well in about a week. (More like I hadn't slept in a week.)

Wednesday afternoon I was feeling better after getting a little sleep so I told Cherlyn she could head home as I didn't think the baby would be coming that night.  (She had brought her overnight bag.)  Well, low and behold that night at 9:30 p.m. I began having contractions 4-7 min. apart.  Brian called his mom to let her know and to give her the option to come now or be called later if necessary.  She decided to come down...thankfully!!!  The contractions continued and got stronger.  We called the on call nurse for my dr. and she told us to head in to the hospital!  :)  YAY!!!  So we packed our bags (no they weren't packed and it really didn't take that long) and we both took showers.  Cherlyn got here and off we went.

When we got to the hospital around midnight I was dilated 2-3 cm.  and my contractions were now 3-4 minutes apart.  Because my dilation wasn't too far along they wanted to watch me before admitting me to see if I made any progress.  Luckily I was steadily dilating and my contractions weren't fading so I was admitted.  I labored without epidural until about 3 a.m. when my contractions became very uncomfortable and I knew I needed to try to get some sleep.  So, once I got the epidural I attempted to sleep without any luck.  I could still feel that I was having contractions (it just wasn't painful anymore) so the nurse and I watched my Gilmore Girls DVDs while Brian got some rest.  :)

This went on until Thursday morning when Dr. Wilson came in to check me.  She started me on a Pitocin drip to help move things along and went to check on some other patients.  When she came back she broke my water and I went from 4-5 cm. dilated immediately to 7 cm.  She went to check on one more patient, came back in about 5 min. and I was at a 10 and ready to push.  :)  I did one push and she moved so far down that Dr. Wilson said to hold it and she got her gown and hat on.  With one more full push and a little half push Lorelai was born on August 26, 2010 at 9:40 a.m.

She didn't cry right away, but once they suctioned her she did.  They cleaned her off on my chest and then let her lay on me while they did her Apgar tests.  As soon as she was laid on me her crying stopped.  She knew she was with her mommy.  Love that!!!  :)  And there you have it...our little family of three is now a complete family of four.  She weighed in at 6 lbs. 11 oz. and is 19.75 in. tall.

Mommy and Daddy are as proud as can be.  Gabriel is also being a fabulously sweet big brother.  We're so proud of both of our kids, but especially Gabriel for behaving SO well.  :)

Here are a few highlight pictures of the last few days, and then if you click the link below it will take you to all of the pictures from the first 3 days of Lorelai's life.  :)  We look forward to sharing many more.  And bare with me as I try to find the time to update the various things on the blog.  It's taken me 2 days to finish this post alone.

Mommy and Lorelai following delivery.
Daddy and Lorelai following delivery.
The latest addition to the Lipscomb family.
Yeah, I'm not sure why there is a pamphlet in this picture, but ignore that.  She is stunning!

Big Brother, Gabriel, finally notices his little sister and attempts to show her the pink balloon.
Ever the little guy who likes to chill out and watch some TV when he can Gabriel figured out how to turn on the TV, grabbed mommy's giant water jug and relaxed while watching "The Sopranos."  (It was the channel that came on.)  He also pushed the nurses call button.

All cleaned up...isn't she amazingly beautiful?

Gabriel is great with his little sister.  Here he is letting her suck on his finger.   This was after he stopped throwing the toy cars, from the present his little sister got him, around the room.  (He's just learning how FUN it is to throw things even though he's been able to throw for a long time now.)

Lorelai all snuggled into her car seat ready to come home.  :)   Thanks, Kel, for the owl hat.  It is PERFECT!!!!

Lorelai Mary