Gwen Olivia is here!

 Gwen Olivia arrived in a hurry on September 29th at 

12:30 pm.  She weighed in at  8 pounds 6 ounces and measured 21 inches!  Love her chubby cheeks! We are thrilled to have her in our family.  She is named after my Grandma Thornton's youngest sister, Gwen, and Matt's Great-Grandmother, Olivia.

I've been wanting to write this post since I got home from the hospital before I forgot the details about what happened that beautiful Wednesday morning... It's now been 2 weeks!  It's a long story....

The day before Gwen was born I went to the zoo with my mom and the kids.  I was melting... it was SO hot!  I hadn't really felt "done" up until that point.  I decided to move my doctors appointment up a couple of days and get things moving.  I ended up waking up that night (or very early in the morning) and wasn't feeling great.  I was having contractions, but they felt different than I remembered so I didn't give it too much thought.  I was able to go back to sleep for a few more hours.  When I woke up I started timing things and they were about 9 minutes apart.  My mom took Jack and Sophie while I went to my doctors appointment at 10:30.  I was about a 3.5 and 80% effaced.  My doctor said if the baby dropped I'd be about a 5.  He told me I could be admitted to the hospital, but he'd have to break my water or I could go labor at home.  Since I had already decided to go unmedicated and wanted my water to break on its own I decided to go home.  Well, I went to my mom's house since I didn't think I should be alone (good thing I did).  As I was driving home my contractions were getting stronger.  Once I got to my mom's house I sat on one of her chairs and couldn't move.  I kept thinking I should get up and walk around to keep things moving, but I could not get up because of how strong my contractions were and how close they were starting to be... about 5 minutes apart.  About noon I stood up and decided it was time to go to the hospital.  My mom called Matt and told him I was heading to the hospital and  my sister Sjaanie drove me there (3900 South was so slow and so bumpy!)  I called my doula and she said she'd meet us there.  I was so scared I'd get to the hospital and only be a 6 or so.  Once we got to the hospital we dropped the car off at the valet and headed in.  The receptionist asked me if I wanted a wheelchair and I told her no, I wanted to keep things going.  By the time we got back to the check-in desk (at 12:15) my contractions were about 2-3 minutes apart and were really painful.  I don't remember much except for repeatedly asking for my doctor and telling everyone how bad I had to pee.  They got me into a wheelchair at this point and we headed back to the delivery room.  Matt and my doula showed up at about 12:20.  My doctor (who they couldn't find since he was at lunch) showed up at 12:26 and had to break my water since it never broke on its own (haha) and cute little Gwen was born at 12:30! When they told me it was a girl I didn't believe it!  It was a whirlwind delivery, but I'd take it any day over hours and hours of laboring and pushing.  My doctor told me he thought he'd see me back there that night, but not in the next hour. My only regret is not getting a picture with my doctor, doula (who was awesome even though she was only there for 10 minutes of my delivery!) and sister Sjaanie who ended up getting to be there!  It was so nice to not have to be hooked up to anything, I felt really good and was able to walk after delivery and shower right after getting to my room.  Awesome!

When I called Jack and told him he had a new baby sister he said, "I just don't believe it"!

Sophie said, "The baby popped out of your tummy"!

They were both really excited and it was fun to have them meet Gwen.  To celebrate Gwen's "birth-day" they brought her a little present, some cupcakes and we sang happy birthday, it was really sweet!

 first family photo!

 we had the most beautiful view of Mt. Olympus in our room.

 darling "coming home outfit" from Jo!

 so tiny in the carseat.

Welcome Home Little Gwenie Girl (as Jack likes to call her)!