Sweet Caroline

I can finally put "The Stoddard 7" on our blog now! Baby Caroline finally entered the world on Wednesday, May 11, 2011. She weighed in at a perfect 7lbs., 8oz. and 19.5 inches. Her delivery was my fastest yet at only 9 hours. That may not sound that great, but after Elle taking 17 hours and Mae taking 12, 9 was seriously awesome. I had the greatest nurse, Myrna, who made it her goal to deliver me on her shift. Caroline came exactly 30 minutes before her shift ended. We couldn't seem to get my epidural quite right, it was way too strong at first, then we turned it off, then back on less, but by the time I started pushing I was feeling way more than I ever felt before. I knew the only way to end the pain was to push as hard as I could through almost every contraction, so she was out in less than 15 minutes. As soon as she was delivered and placed on my chest I just wanted to shout through my tears of joy, "I did it! I got her out! I've sucessfully delivered three VBACs! I have 5 children and I'm done!!!" I've never felt so proud of myself. Then I realized that my legs were still in the stirrups and it probably wasn't the best time for bragging.
Of course, being one of our children, Caroline has jaundice and we almost didn't get to go home the next night because of it, but luckily we escaped the prison, hospital, and got home at 10:30pm. Caroline had had a horrible first night in the hospital, but did great the next two. She's a great eater and total sweetheart. She really only cries when she's getting her diaper changed. We feel like we've hit the jackpot even though it's only been 5 days and I'm sure that could change at any moment. I'm just so grateful to have her here safely. I feel beyond blessed. The "high" is starting to wear off as the sleep deprivation and pain from nursing kick in, but hopefully the new normal will settle in over the next few months.