And then there were four!

Well, I was right. We ended up going to the hospital on Saturday night around 9 when my contractions were between 3 & 5 minutes apart. Of course, when we got to the hospital they slowed down and we almost had to go home again. They gave us an hour to wait and see - I prayed the whole time for them to speed up or for my water to break so we wouldn't have to leave and come back again. They sped up.

I can't remember what time exactly (the night gets blurred plus the time change threw me off), but I think around 3 am I got an epidural. It ended up only working fully on one side, but it was enough to get me through - I preferred to leave it rather than have them take it out and do it over. That is my least favorite part of the whole ordeal. At about 6:30 I started getting really uncomfortable and they called the doctor. She came and around 7:30 I started to feel like I needed to push. I was all mentally prepared for the next couple of hours to be really hard work - it took an hour and 45 minutes with Luke and he was stuck for a good amount of that time - so when the doctor told me to stop after the first little push I was surprised and asked why. She told me the head was already out and to look down! One more sort-of-big push and that was it. I looked at Alec a little confused and started laughing. It was 7:44 am.

Here is the first picture ever taken of Erin Maile Waterhouse:

Maile is a Hawaiian name, since Alec is from Hawaii. It doesn't really have a special meaning, we just liked it. It is a flower and is the kind of lei Alec wore at our wedding. It is pronounced "MY-lee."

Already posing:

All her stats were good and I got to nurse her right away.

This is Dr. Lonser, my OB, and the nurse who helped deliver Erin. The nurse was not with me during the night and had only been on since 7 am. At 9 she told me that she had delivered 4 babies already that morning! Busy day.


Erin was 7 lbs. 4 oz. (actually 3.8, but they round it) - the exact weight the sonogram tech told me on Tuesday at Dr. Kramer's office - and 20 inches long. Same length as Luke minus a pound and 6 ounces!


The best part about a little baby and hardly any pushing is that the recovery is much easier! My legs were numb for almost the whole day, but I'm feeling a lot better than I did after Luke.


Speaking of Luke, here he is meeting Erin. He wasn't really sure what to think, just that he was really glad to see mommy. He didn't want to touch her and only finally just did this morning.


Here is Alec on Sunday after church and picking up Luke:




Two pictures this morning. Compare these with the next picture of Luke at the same age. Creepy, huh? Even her disposition is similar, which I am SO thankful for. So far, she is very easy-going.




Even Meisje is interested.


And one last one of Luke. He's been a really good boy, despite missing his nap yesterday and still adjusting to the time change. I don't recommend having a baby on the spring time change day, especially if you have other kids. It's kind of a pain.


Erin ended up having to have a sonogram yesterday because of a "sacral dimple." It's a little depression at the base of her spine and sometimes this can be an indication of problems with the spinal cord. The ultrasound department was very backed up and we had to wait for a long time. All the nurses commented on how well-behaved Luke was. He really was VERY good, sitting at the table in my room and coloring for nearly an hour. The sonogram results came back fine, but then we had to wait for someone to come with the wheelchair to come take me downstairs. We got home around 5 pm.