She has arrived!!!

Tirzah Jayne Harris

April 1, 2011

7 lbs. 3 oz.

19 3/4 inches

Here is the story . . .

I really wanted her to be born on my birthday, which was her due date. We had been planning on giving our next girl my middle name and then she just happened to be due on my birthday. This made it even more special because I was born on my aunt Kalle's birthday and we share the same middle name. So when I felt the first contraction (at around 10:00 AM) I thought, oh no not today. I remained in denial for the next few hours and tried to just sit down and not do much so they would stop. Jacob came home for lunch and I told him I was having a few contractions, like 5 in the hour he was home. He left and said to call him if I wanted him to come home. I was hosting book club at my house that night and I was very excited about it and was thinking I could do that and then later we would head to the hospital. With the other kids we never left for the hospital before 10:00 pm and they were born hours after that, so I thought I had a while.

I had planned to do the grocery shopping that day, but was starting to feel like I couldn't do it with all the kids and occasional contractions. I talked Jacob into leaving work an hour early to help me with that. (I think Jacob was in denial as well because I really had to beg to get him to meet us at the store.)

At 5:30 we were home and unloading groceries and I finally decided I better give up book club, because I couldn't carry on a decent conversation without pausing for pain quite often. When I finally called the backup girl to host book club, I think my brain and body said OK then let's have a baby and things started moving along much quicker.

I called our neighbor that was taking the kids to let them know it was probably happening tonight. I still thought it would be hours away. Jacob fixed the kids dinner and I thought about what a funny birthday April Fool's Day would be and if she was born today no one would believe us when we called.

At about 6:30 pm I decided to start packing bags for the kids and myself. A little after 7:00, after a particularly long, painful contraction I said it's time to go!!

We dropped the kids off and were headed to the hospital at 7:35 pm and at 8:40 pm had a baby in our arms!

It was a little surreal how quickly it all went and I spent that whole night telling myself that she was here and it was over. I just couldn't believe it.

Here are the hospital details if you want to know:

The nurse was asking questions about what was going on and how far apart the contractions were (2-3 minutes) and she was very noncommittal about this being the real thing. I was also afraid that after all this time she would check and say I was only halfway there. That is always a big fear of mine. She checked and her eyes got really big. She said the good news was that I was dilated to an 8, but bad news was that I didn't have time for an epidural.

Just a side note-I had contemplated not having an epidural because my back hurts for months after and I always associated that with the epidural. Earlier that afternoon I had decided that was a silly idea and I was totally planning on the epidural. I was pretty disappointed and a little scared about doing it without. My biggest fear was I didn't know how much longer it would be. Going by my experience with the other kids I still had a good 2-3 more hours to labor. I told Jacob I could do about 5 more contractions and then I was done.

I did get a little Staten in an IV. The nurse said it would make me feel like I had, had a couple of shots. I was not sure if she meant like shots in the arms or alcoholic shots. She said the alcoholic shots and I thought I guess we'll see how that feels. Jacob said I did loss all my inhibitions and just started talking (and screaming) letting everyone know what was happening, what I was feeling and what I thought we should be doing. I think it was a combination of the drug and being in the worst pain ever!

Well, it was a matter of minutes not hours. The nurse said to wait and let the doctor get his gloves on, but I was having nothing to do with the waiting and pushed that baby out as fast as I possibly could in one push.

The last pregnant picture.

An hour later-a beautiful baby girl.

Meeting their new sister.