Piper's Entrance Into the World!

It was inevitable that I was overcooked and ready to have this baby. The last few weeks of pregnancy are absolutely draining for me, physically and mentally. I start getting really tired of being stared at or being giving the line, "You sure you're not having twins?..." At about 37 weeks I went into my OB's office and pretty much demanded a date for induction or starting some natural inducing. The doctor set a "striping" date for the following week, on the 5th. Now, every pregnancy, I've had to be induced or stripped. Being as how Freddy was a 13 lb. baby (not a joke... 13 lbs), and me being a very little person, I've always been way too scared to wait the whole 40 weeks. And rightly so. Up to this point, all of my kids were 2 weeks early. My boys were both 7lbs. and Brooklyn was 8. (Imagine had I gone the full term. An easy 9 or 10 pound baby!)
Anyway, a friend of mine saw how miserable I was and said to call her mom up who was massage therapist. She insisted I go see her as soon as I could and guaranteed she could get my labor going. I didn't think much of it, but as soon as Freddy found out, he said to give her a call. (He was was just as ready as I was to have this baby.)
I made an appointment the next day and went into her office about 10:30am. She insisted I bring my hospital bag and have Freddy on speed dial. I was skeptical and didn't think, really, that much would come from it. But I was getting a relaxing massage, and that was all I really cared about, being as uncomfortable as I was. She worked on me for a good hour and a half and even massaged my stomach trying to position the baby face down. (I delivered both Brooklyn and Knox face up causing me to push for about 2 hours both times. It made my recovery that much harder.) When she finished, I felt the same, thanked her, paid her and headed back home. I even stopped for lunch and some grocery shopping on the way back.
At about 2:30pm, I was lying on the couch when I had my first real painful contraction. I was having Braxton Hicks a ton at this point so I assumed that's all it was. But it started happening every 5 minutes on the dot getting worse every time. I was trying to brush it off thinking it couldn't happen this fast. Mind you, again, I've never gone into labor on my own without being induced. I'm not sure if I was more shocked that I was possibly in labor or that massage had actually worked! I decided to take a shower to get all of the massage oils off when my contractions were getting to be about 3 minutes apart... then 2! "Freddy! We gotta go!" I yelled while getting dressed.
We dropped the kids off with family then headed to Irvine. "Hey babe, you're never gonna hear this from me again, but you drive as fast as you need to to get there..." I figured he'd dig on that since we knew the cops would probably let us off under the circumstances. :) Plus I was in pain, and ready for drugs already.
By the time we got the hospital, contractions were 2 minutes apart and I was 5 centimeters and 100% effaced! Amazing!
Now, I usually have a very low blood count while pregnant and if my count is too low, I can't get an epidural. They came and took my blood to see if I was a go, but it took a good hour to get results back. I was in active labor, something I've never really experienced before since all of my labors took so long with my others and my contractions were much more spread apart. I turned into that woman in the movies who screams, "Drugs! Get me drugs now!! I mean like NOW!!" They gave me little doses of things to take the edge off, but holy cow!
They finally gave the ok to give me an epidural, and I'd never been so happy to get a needle stuck in my back in all my life!! It took a while to get both sides numb, but about a half hour into it, I was resting so much more comfortably. Halle-frickin'-lujah...
By 9:15, it was time to push. Again, everything was all happening so fast I couldn't believe it! The nurses had me start pushing until one of the said, "OK! OK! Stop pushing!! We need to wait for the doctor!" The doctor rushed in asking if she had time to put gloves on and the nurses said, "Uhhh, yeah, but quick!!" (This was the same doctor who delivered Knox and had remembered all of the drama from his pneumothorax, resuscitation and whatnot. She was happy to see all was going much better than last time...) But my third push, she was out. Piper was born January 2 at 9:19. She was a healthy 7lbs. 13oz and 20in. Almost identical to Brooklyn. Again, 2 weeks early. I can't imagine how big she would have been had I waited the full term. And just like Brooklyn, I couldn't (and still can't) see who she resembles! But she is beautiful and healthy and is the sweetest little baby. We named her Piper since it's a family name on Freddy's dad's side. We gave her Shae as a middle name, just because that's always been a name I've loved.
The labor as a whole was a mere 7 hours and 3 pushes; the most awesome labor and delivery of any of my children to date. We are so blessed that she is healthy, happy and in our arms (and out of my belly!) Welcome to our family, Piper Shae Kuhn! You've picked one wacky family, but we think you'll have fun with us...

Holy almost 8  pounds!

Aren't I a vision?...

Nana a Papa's first visit.

Meeting their new sissy.

Brooklyn happy to know there's another girl around.

4 kids. What have I done... :)