Tabitha: the perfect baby

Tabitha Hope, the most beautiful baby in the entire world, was born Tuesday morning, December 9, at 8:46 a.m. I went into labor around 7:30 p.m., though I started feeling a little pain around 7 p.m. 7:30 p.m. is when I started timing the contractions, which were only in my back. We left here a little after midnight, and I was in a hospital room by 1 a.m. I was dilated 3-4 when I arrived and was 90 percent effaced. I did end up getting an epidural, which took over 45 minutes and five tries to get.

Labor went a lot more smoothly than I'd ever imagined it would, though. Once I had the epidural, I couldn't feel any pain whatsoever, had no clue when I was having a contraction. It was awesome! After I had the epidural, labor was easy, and I'm apparently a pro at pushing. Tabitha came quicker than they expected she would. The doctor planned on showing up around 8 a.m. to break my water; it broke on its own before then. When he showed up around 8 a.m., it was to be there when her head came out.

Anyway, onto the good stuff. Tabitha is absolutely wonderful, completely perfect. She is more beautiful than I would have imagined. When she's awake, she's very alert, looking at what's going on. She weighed 7 pounds and 7 ounces, and she was 21 inches long. She has a head full of black hair. Her eyes looked green at birth, but now they look like they might start to be turning brown. I'll resize some photos in the near future and post them.

We got to come home today, as they make you stay 48 hours after delivery. Tabitha and I have figured out nursing now and aren't struggling at this point. The pediatrician says she's perfect. Tabitha had lots of visitors: Mom, Dad, Jenny, Clinton, Beth (Jason's mom), Granny, Grand-pro, Aunt Mindy, Miranda, Jackie Stevens, and the church family: Willie, Angie, Bethany, Jerry, and Phyllis. Oh, and Lisa from church was one of the nurses who got to deliver Tabitha, so that was pretty cool! Rusty, her husband, popped in briefly before delivery. Jackie didn't get to visit b/c she was sick. Then the day after Mom, Dad, Jenny, and Clinton visited, Mom, Jenny, and Clinton were all sick w/ the 24 hour bug Jackie, J., and Ben had all had. So far none of us have gotten it, and I'm praying that we don't. I really don't want Tabitha to get sick.

Right now Tabitha is sleeping peacefully. I'm exhausted, have gotten no more than 8 hours of sleep during the past three days. I couldn't sleep well in the hospital. I have to get those photos resized soon and post them. Jenny's already posted some to Facebook. I just couldn't imagine a more beautiful baby or a smoother delivery. All of my fears were for nothing; God answered my many prayers that everything would go fine w/ labor. I mean, I was anxious and freaked out at times, but nothing bad happened at all. It went really quickly, too, especially for her being my first child. No one thought she was going to be born that soon. I think it's b/c they gave me Pitocin, but they said it's pretty much standard that they do that now.

I praise God that everything went so well and that our baby is healthy. I was so worried about everything, and God completely took care of everything. Then, as if to say "I told you so," God had her weigh seven pounds and seven ounces. :)