Welcome to the World Lily Kate!

June 10, 2015 Lily Kate decided to follow in her sister's footsteps and make an early arrival...and this momma is not complaining at all! I was ready! I had a check-up on Tuesday, I was 36w5d. My blood pressure was really high so they sent me home on bed rest. She was still measuring big (42 weeks, actually!) so they scheduled me to come back in 1 week for another ultrasound. That night I was so miserable with cramping and got zero sleep. But I didn't think much of it, I'd been uncomfortable for the past few months! I finally went to sleep around 3:30 and was sleeping great until I woke up to a pop and a gush! My water broke while I was sleeping! It scared me and I jumped up out of bed quicker than most not pregnant women! I woke Jamey up and we both got everything ready. I knew from my experience with MG that I had some time so I went ahead and showered, grabbed everything I wanted with me at the hospital and as soon as my mom got to the house we headed to the hospital. Of course, my doctor had been on call ALL NIGHT and had just left the hospital! My timing is always spectacular! I had contractions all the way there. I was already dilated to a 5 once I got there around 7am, which made me really happy. When I got to the hospital with MG I was only at a 2 and it took forever. I was hoping this meant it would be a little quicker process. And it was. They got me to a room, hooked up my IV and before too long got me my epidural. By 10am I was fully dilated and ready to start pushing. Being that she's my child, Lily Kate refused to pass under my pelvic bone! I felt like I was in GroundHog Day! The exact same thing happened with MG. But thank God for wonderful nurses like the one I had. We pushed and tried different things to get her going. Eventually my epidural wore off and the pain was miserable, but somehow I found the strength. I just kept praying with every push. Every pain and every push reminded me that I was doing something incredible that God had designed my body to handle. At 1:51pm on June 10, 2015, sweet Lily Kate came into the world with a head full of dark hair and healthy lungs! THIS was how it was supposed to be! Jamey got to cut the cord and they handed her straight to me. There is nothing in the world like holding your newborn baby that you just worked so hard to deliver. It's a miracle. She nuzzled up on my chest and got quiet and we just got to lay like that forever. They did take her after about an hour and get her weight and all, but brought her right back to my chest. I got the privilege of skin-to-skin cuddling my baby for a good 2-3 hours that day. And I'll never forget it.

My mom had Molly Grace up there. We asked that she get to come in on her own first. It was just the 4 of us in that little room. I'll never forget MG's face. She was a little unsure about me being in that hospital bed hooked up to IVs and stuff. But she took to her little sister immediately. She didn't want to really touch her just yet, she just looked. A little later she kissed her, crawled up on the bed with me and even held her. Their bond was instant. We ended up staying 2 nights in the hospital. We were going to get to go home after 1, but her biliruben level spiked and we ended up having to stay. I had immediate flashbacks to MG in that NICU, too lethargic to eat. LK was pretty good about still eating, though. I had to wake her, but she would take it. I was breastfeeding until Thursday night when her numbers got so high. She was just too lazy to try to get her to breast feed then take the bottle of formula that we needed to supplement with to get her levels down. I wanted to take my girl home, so we just went to formula. We did get to come home on Friday afternoon. Her level spiked again Saturday (we took her to outpatient lab to get blood drawn) and the neonatologist was really close to wanting to admit her again. But thankfully he gave us until Sunday since she was still eating. Sunday he called and her level had dropped a point. He was pretty certain she had peaked on Saturday and was out of the woods! Yay! We have settled in as a family of four. It just seems so natural. This is the way it's meant to be for us. MG is the best big sister. She's always asking to hold her and feed her. If LK is upset or crying, MG is right there in her face telling her it's ok! It makes my heart want to explode!