Hello Sweetie!

So we arrived at the hospital at 7:30 AM on Sept 17th. We got all checked in and my doctor came and broke my water right away and got me hooked up to the Pitocin. It was REALLY frustrating to hear that I was STILL a 2 - but it made me really glad that I was there for the induction. I mean, I've been at a 2 for the last 2 weeks. I guess Ruthie was just too comfy in there!
At around 10:30 or 11 I decided the contractions were just too painful to handle anymore, so we got the epidural hooked up. It was a little better than with Tristan - I could kind of feel my feet and I could tell when I was having a contraction, but I wasn't feeling any pain :) Sadly, I was not quite a 4 after 3 hours, so I was a little worried about how fast things were moving along. After the epidural, they were able to increase the Pitocin. They made me lay down on my side after that, so Neil and I watched some shows on my laptop and I kinda dozed a little.
At about 1:00 or so, the nurse came to check me again. She said "Oh...." which was a little concerning. I was hoping she wouldn't say that I hadn't progressed much. Then she said I was a 9! She notified the doctor and they started getting the room all set up for delivery. At about 1:45 the doc came in and we got ready to push... and waited... and waited... for a contraction. It probably really only took a minute or two, but it sure felt like it took 5 minutes! As soon as it came, I pushed 3 really good pushes (I testify of the benefits of using a mirror) and there she was!

Ruth Kayla Baxter, born at 1:52 on September 17th (the 17th grandchild of Afton!) weighing 8 lbs and 20.5 inches long

She was quite upset when she was born. She cried off and on for about 2 hours, which was different from Ben or Tristan. They were pretty chill once they got wrapped in a warm blanket. She also swallowed a lot of fluid before coming out. They pumped 8 CCs and she was still coughing and crying pretty wetly. By now (she's what, 28 hours old?) it's worked itself out.

She's been a great baby so far. Not too much crying, and some pretty good awake time. She's been frustrated this afternoon/evening because my milk isn't in yet and she's hungry. We ended up having to give her some formula because she wasn't staying latched on. She'd start nursing and then get all mad. We finally gave her about an ounce of formula, and now she's all swaddled up and sleeping away :)