birth and babies and crazy, oh my

YOU GUYS. hello! man, it has been a loooong time since I've been here. perhaps it's because we've been vacationing all over Europe and eating luxurious foods and shopping for upscale, lovely clothes.

OR maybe it's because I gave birth to our 3rd child in 3 years and life has been out.of.control. okay, not completely out of control, but nutty crazy definitely. our little baby girl decided to come early, much to my SHOCK as I am typically overdue and my gigantic babies take hours and hours to be born. this little one was quite different. labor technically started Tuesday night when I had contractions for about 4 hours. nothing intense, but consistent. I started freaking out, kinda. I had not even packed a bag! or gotten a pedicure. or showered. these things are vital when about to give birth, people. I slept a little bit that night. all day Wednesday jake was on "my baby might be coming" duty all day at work and texting me every hour or so to see what was up. I felt so yucky all day. I was still having contractions, but they weren't super consistent and my whole body was just sore and exhausted and I still didn't feel mentally ready for labor to be upon me. I decided I needed to get mentally, emotionally and physically in the groove because I could just tell ready or not our baby wanted out. jake got home from work and I watched saved by the bell on Netflix
that night trying to stay relaxed. I slept from midnight on Wednesday night until 4 am when I woke up because of a big contraction. I waited one hour and they were every 4-5 minutes apart and getting pretty painful. I called our sisters in law who were on finley and audrey duty. they came around 5:30 Thursday morning and we headed to the hospital. once we got there I could barely stand through the contractions and I was 5 cm dialated. this was great news for one who usually gets bad news when being "checked". haha! I got an epidural around 8:30 and it was smooooth sailing from there. it was the most chill birth experience. just jake and I sitting in our room, hanging out, sleeping off and on. by 12:30 I was 10 cm and ready to push. all the people came in and I pushed for about 30 minutes and little baby was born at 1:18 pm. it was wonderful. the baby came out and no one had announced if it was a boy or girl so I asked "what is it?!" and jake and the doctor said at the same time, "IT'S A GIRL!" at which I sat up and yelled, "WHAT!?! A GIRL!?" I was shocked because I was convinced it was a boy in there. it was so fun being completely surprised like that. little Bailey Gray Greer was 8 pounds 5 ounces, which felt tiny compared to our 9 pounders. I am so thankful for the way bailey came and the whole experience. she was just ready to be out here with us I guess!

I've had help here with me since she was born. hallelujah! jake's sister, jenny, my dear friend, was here for 2 weeks after. and my mom and sister, liz, were here last week. so much love and service these lovely people have given me. jake's mom is coming this week and then my other sister, Katie will be here at the end of the month. SO.... I am blessed. and it's a good thing because i'm not sure I would have/will make it without the extra hands. little bailey girl is not exactly an "easy" baby so far. she slept terribly the first 3 weeks and she screams, SCREAMS almost everytime we get in the car. so that's fun. finley and audrey are mostly adjusting well. they both have more meltdowns than normal and things that wouldn't always bother them are the end of the world right now. but hey, for me too, I guess :) 3 in 3 years is not for the faint of heart. there's many tears and often a lack of patience. each day we get a little more used to it. and eventually, this will all be a faint memory as we block out these majorly sleep deprived early days. God's grace i'm sure.

anyway, we are a new family of 5 and some days are better than others. thanks for stopping by. i'm sure I will have many nightmare-ish posts about being alone with 3 babes in no time.

love, love.

mer