Welcome to the world Maisie Jean

We went in for a scheduled induction on Tuesday, March 4th.  After being induced with Maddi and Brody, I was really hoping to go into labor on my own, but clearly that didn't work out.  While my due date was not until Friday, March 7th, Dr. Walker thought it would be best to just schedule an induction, considering my history with the other two pregnancies and the fact that I was still showing no signs of labor.  Also, with Brock's current position at the hospital (Interim Director of Radiology...more in a future post) it was easier to get it done early in the week and to have it scheduled so he could plan better for work.  Not to mention, I really like Dr. Walker and it was nice to be scheduled on a day that she was on call and know for sure she would deliver.

The night before, I packed Maddi and Brody up and took them down to my parent's house to spend the next couple/few days.  They were such a great help with dropping/picking up from school and activities for those days (as they always are).  With no kids, Brock and I went to the Lemongrass for dinner (something we haven't done in months and figured we wouldn't do for many more months).  It was nice and relaxed, without the hustle and bustle we are used to with the kiddos.

The next morning, we called in at 5 to make sure they were still good with us coming in at 6 and we arrived in Randazzo style, just a bit behind schedule.  By 7, we were up in our room, I was changed and ready for Dr. Walker to start the induction.  She broke my water at 7:30 (more like poked my water, since it was so hard to "break"), immediately followed up with Pitocin.  At this point, I was about 3 cm dilated.  At about 8:15, I finally felt the gush of water and began to feel the pain in my back.  By 9, I got my epidural and at that point was 4 cm dilated.  It was a fairly uneventful few hours after that, until Dr. Walker came in about noon, checked me and asked us if we were ready to push.  We looked at each other in complete surprise.  Since I couldn't feel any of the contractions and because the other two inductions took 2 days (Maddi) and 1 day (Brody), we couldn't believe that within 5 hours, we were ready to welcome this little one to the world.

Of course my mom wanted to be there, but we sent her away to lunch with her sister and brother-in-law (who were all there on the floor below me to visit my grandma who had been admitted the night before!) thinking nothing would happen for quite a few more hours.  The doctor held off until Brock could get a hold of my mom to get back for the birth and find my dad to watch Brody.  Well, none of that worked out quite as planned.  Brody did not want to stay with my dad, so we put him a corner of the room with Maddi (who we decided to keep home from school last minute that morning).  He didn't see anything happen, as he was busy with the IPad, and Maddi wanted to watch the birth, so she saw as much as she wanted to.  And just as I was starting to push, my mom rushed through the door.

I pushed through three contractions (skipping one, as we were all chatting away...that's what happens when you don't feel them!) and she came on the 5th.  Everything happened so fast and then there she was!

Maisie Jean Randazzo

Born at 12:41 p.m. on Tuesday, March 4, 2014

8 pounds 7 ounces

21 inches long