If this is wrong I don't want to be right...

I had our baby on Saturday, June 6, 2009.

It was a girl. I was wrong. I still can't believe it. Every diaper change yields a big surprise... it still hasn't sunk in.

She was born one hour and a half hours after my first discernible contraction after my water broke. My water leaked at 3:30 and then flooded at 3:45 and then the contractions started at 4:16pm and went right to every three minutes and about a minute in length. They hurt like hell. We left for the hospital at 4:56pm. Got to the hospital at 5:18pm and she was born at 5:42pm.

When I got the hospital I was 8-9cm dilated. I had thought I was just a wuss - turns out I was going through the super-fast version of labour. I was screaming for drugs. By the time the anesthesiologist got to me for an epidural I was fully dilated and the baby was coming out. I didn't even really push... she just came out.

I can only describe the whole thing as an attack. I was having a busy productive day at home and then suddenly I was attacked by wolves or wild dogs... it was horribly painful.When I was fully dilated it hurt less but it was still just as urgent. Then she was delivered and it all subsided just as suddenly and I felt almost normal again. The recovery was almost immediate. Compared to my earlier labours with the bigger babies and all the interventions this labour was so much easier. That being said, a little pain relief would have been nice. Those contractions hurt like nothing I have ever experienced.

My daughter, Gracie, weighed 6 lb. 14 oz., a full 2 lb. 1.5 oz less than Evan and a pound less than Quinn. Her head was a mere 34cm compared to Evan's 40cm head. She is only 18.5 inches tall. Both boys were 21 inches long. She is very delicate and well-proportioned. I think she is stunningly beautiful. That being said she just did a blow out in her diaper.

I will write more some time about being wrong about her being a girl.... but not today. There is a tiny bottom to clean...