Reese Marie

Right after she was born
Welcoming her to the world
The first family picture, Lily LOVES her little sister.
Our beautiful girl
On Dec. 30th, 2010, starting around 10:15 AM or so, I started having mild contractions about every 5 minutes. I started to get excited, considering I was over a week overdue. I called the midwife letting her know what was happening and she told me to drink some tea that would relax my body and let my uterus do what it needed. I drank the tea and soon after my contractions slowed WAY down. I got really bummed. I was sure that today was the day. Well soon after they stopped, they started right back up again and not only were they at 5 min again, but they were starting to get stronger. Around 3 PM we called the midwife again because the contractions were getting much much stronger, and fast. We quickly finished blowing up the birthing tub and Grandma took Lily out to do their own thing during the delivery. The midwife soon arrived and she started rubbing my feet with some essential oils to keep the process up. By this point, I was definitely in transition and the contractions were HARD. As soon as she finished with my feet, I got my suit on and got ready to get into the tub. By this point I was feeling some strong urges to push but the midwife wanted to check my cervix first to make sure I was where I needed to be. Well, she couldn't even feel my cervix because the water was bulging so badly. She asked me if I wanted her to break the water or just let it happen the way it was. She said it would take some pressure off so I told her to break the water. As soon as she broke the water, HOLY MOLY! Talk about pain to push that baby out. So my midwife showed me how to push effectively, and I started the strenuous process of pushing. Poor Todd, I think I scratched his back pretty bad because I WOULD NOT let go of him. Within about 4 or 5 good pushes, her head was out. At this point I had been on my knees and once her head was out she had me sit back so the rest of the baby could come easily. I sat back and felt down and felt her head before the rest of her came out. It was SO cool! One more contraction and she was completely out and in the water. I picked her up myself and got to hold her instantly. Her cord was super short so I couldn't pull her up very far. At this point we still didn't know if it was a boy or girl but I was the one to check and was happy when I saw the girl. I would have been happy either way really. It was such a special, spiritual, painful yet fulfilling experience. It was perfect, she is perfect and we are so happy to welcome our beautiful daughter to our family.
She weighed in at 8 lbs 14 oz and 19.5 in long. She was one inch longer than Lily and almost 3 lbs bigger... just so you know!