Welcome, Lexi Jean!

Our sweet little girl decided NOT to follow either of my plans.  Here's the long (and very detailed) story of her birth.
Thursday morning at 5 a.m., I went to the bathroom.  (I told you it would be detailed).
Got back in bed and at 5:05, I felt a pretty impressive "gush" of water and said, "You've got to be kidding me!"  And then said, "Jeramy, either I just peed all over, or my water just broke!"  He laughed and said nothing.
Then I had another large gush and I said, "Get me a towel or something...NOW!"  That finally got his attention.  Then he saw the water and even he was quite impressed.
(When we had Lindsay, my water broke, but it was a tiny little "trickle" that took the hospital 3 hours to decide if it was indeed my water).
We decided not to panic.  I said I was going to have a shower, we'd wait until the contractions started before we'd go to the hospital.  I think as I was saying those very words, I had my first contraction.
I managed to have a quick shower, get out and get mostly dressed.  Kind of just hung out in a towel in the bathroom and told Jeramy what needed to be done.  (Like, get all the stuff for Blue and Gold out on the porch...find the camera...get every one's toothbrushes")
I texted my dad at 6 "Rise and shine, my water broke, have mom call me."
She called about 2 seconds after that.
I ate a banana.
Jeramy made himself breakfast, took 14 minutes (which was 4 contractions) to eat it, took a 15 minute (4 more contraction) shower and by then I was pretty ticked and feeling each contraction a little more.  I woke the girls up.  Lindsay immediately said, "But tomorrow's my spotlight and mom has to be there."  And started to cry.
No patience for crying kids.
Tried to help the girls pack for grandma's.  Couldn't concentrate.
We finally got up to Grandma's around 7:30.  My Dad was out snow blowing the entire neighborhood and we had to go track him down to give me a blessing.  When he snow blowed his way home, I said, "Dad, I really don't think you want me to stand up.  Can you just stand out there for my blessing?"  I think he was a bit surprised and confused, but was a good sport.  Jeramy and my Dad stood outside the car window to give me my blessing.  Ever done that?

We got to the hospital at 8.  I didn't want to go in with wet pants.  Jer insisted it wasn't that noticeable.  I had to believe him and go in.
I was hooked up and on the epidural waiting list by 8:30.  Contractions were getting pretty intense (for little old me).  I have a TON of respect for you ladies that do it all natural.
Got my epidural at 9.  I soooo hate that part!  Shortly there after, baby #4 started being a "stinker" (as we called her all day).  Her heart rate dropped and didn't go up.  My doctor was brought in quickly.  That was the first "If this happens again, we'll probably just do a c-section" talk of the day.
Internal monitor placed on baby and uterus.
Baby started doing better, I however, did not.  My blood pressure dropped...low.  I ended up spending the next few hours on oxygen.  I hated that and kept taking it off.  Jer kept making me put it back on.
At noon, the 2 ladies that got to the hospital the same time as me both delivered.  That put me in a foul mood.  Especially because I was only at a 7.  Me being in a foul mood must have put the baby in a bad mood, too because her heart dropped again.  More "if this happens again..." talk.

(I have to add this picture here...my nurse got the baby bed all ready at like 11.  It was there, taunting me for 8 more hours.  "Look, this is where your baby will go...if you would hurry up and have it.  This is your 4th, shouldn't they just pop out by now??")

And then the internal monitor just stopped.  There is nothing in the world worse than listening to the "Ping ping ping" of your baby's heart and then having it just stop.  I freaked and pushed the button.  No one came, I sent Jeramy out to find someone while I sat in the silence trying to not freak.
The nurse finally calmly walked in and said, "Her heart wouldn't just stop like that, she must have knocked her monitor off."  Sure enough, the little stinker had done just that.
At 4, I was only at an 8.  Baby did another big drop.  We had "the talk" again.  They started me on pitocin (I had refused it all day for the safety of my uterus).  And we were on a "check every 20 minutes" status.  If baby's heart stayed good for 20 minutes, we'd up the pit again and again.  Why push pitocin, you may be asking?  Well, apparently when you have a contraction, the "strength" is supposed to be between 200 and 300.  Mine never got over 50 and with them being that weak, you can't push a baby out.  They finally got up to 85...once.
At 6 I was finally a 10, but the baby was posterior and really high up.  We once again had the "c-section talk" but my doctor let me keep hanging out because the heart rate was staying fine.
Around 6:45, my doctor laid down the law.  "I am willing to try to get her here vaginally.  IF her heart rate drops ONCE, we're out, if I can't turn her, we're out, ifif contractions aren't strong enough, we're out."
No pressure.
He had me start pushing and everything went really well!  We even small talked about the Blue and Gold I was missing , and that Jeramy took so long getting ready in the morning.  At one point, my doctor left the room for a few minutes.  I later found out it was to check on the surgery team and anesthesiologist waiting in the hall for me.  He was not kidding about being "that close" to having a c-section.  I am so grateful that I didn't know they were all waiting for everything to go wrong out there!
Lexi Jean aka the Stinker, was born at 7:09 p.m. weighing a whopping 6 pounds, 12 ounces and was 19 inches long.  I cried.  I never cry when I have babies.  I was so grateful she was here and healthy!
Grandma had the girls here to meet here by 7:30.
They were pretty fascinated by her.
We all were!

I just have to add how starving I was by this point.  A banana at 6.  almost 15 hours later and no food.  The nurses kept asking if I needed anything and I kept saying, "FOOD!" and they would say, "here's some crackers."  I was so done with crackers.
Finally at almost 10, when the nurse asked how I was, I said, "I went into labor at 5 this morning and haven't eaten, can you PLEASE find me something more than crackers?"  And then she felt bad.  She brought lots of food.
They bathed Lexi in my room while I greedily ate my food and tried to make comments through mouthfuls of glorious sandwich and yogurt and chips and....I tried to act interested in her bath, but couldn't really tear myself away from all that food.  Jeramy taped it all, so I don't feel quite so guilty about it.
Jeramy left shortly after that to take the girls home.
Baby #4 and I stared at each other for a few hours, then I kindly sent her to the nursery so I could sleep.

Can I just point out the Lord's hand in this day?
I was so not ready to have a baby.  When I had been at the doctor on Tuesday, he had ever so sweetly let me know that I was not going to be having a baby for a few weeks.  I was fine with that.
There I was 2 days later having a baby.
I then found out that my doctor was going to be out of town Friday - Monday.
No one wants to deliver my VBAC kids, and I can guarantee that had I gone into labor Friday, the first time the baby's heartbeat had gone down, the doctor on call would have done a c-section.
For me, my c-section was the most horrific thing ever.  Having it and recovering from it.  I can't even imagine going through it again.  Every time they would leave the room after having "the c-section talk" I would just stare at Jeramy and be very afraid of trying to take care of 4 kids and our home AND myself with stitches across my stomach.

I am so grateful for my doctor.  I am grateful he remained calm and kept me on a "need to know basis" with the situation and its severity.  Even after, while he was "fixing things up" down there.   I asked how it was and he said, "Not bad at all!"  After he left, my nurse let me really know and then...I didn't really want to know.  He's an amazing man who I totally respect and I'm so grateful he delivered all of my girls!
We are so grateful to have Lexi here!  I've been waiting to post this because I wanted more pictures.  Jeramy has been "fixing" our computer, which means I now don't know how to work it.  I can't find my pictures.  I'll do another post with pics later this week.