Sweet Macy Jean

Macy Jean Perkins made her debut on June 29th at 6:38 p.m. - exactly 8 minutes upon arriving at the hospital. Yes, you read that correctly...8 minutes. I tend to have long drawn-out labors, but once active labor kicked, I progressed quickly...very quickly. Contractions started at 4 a.m., and stayed fairly consistent and even somewhat intense for the first 3 hours; however, they started to let up mid-morning, and I was somewhat discouraged, thinking that it was only false labor. They started to pick back up again around lunchtime, but didn't seem to be quite as intense as they were earlier that morning, so I didn't want to get my hopes up that I was experiencing the real deal. By about 1:30, the contractions were more frequent and painful. On a pain scale of 1-10, I was probably a 7 by 3 p.m. By 4:00, I told Dave that he didn't need to rush home from work, but not to stay late either, as it seemed like things were starting to progress more quickly.

He left the office a little after 5, arrived home around 5:30, and by that point, my contractions were about 4 1/2 minutes apart, and my pain level was pushing 10. At 6 p.m. I had a really strong contraction, and once it was over, I felt the urge to push. Feeling a tad panicked at that point, I told Dave it was time to make our way to the hospital.

We left the house at 6:05, and my contractions were practically one on top of the other by that point. The 25 minute drive to the hospital felt like an eternity, and I had Dave call my midwife on the way to let her know we were making our way there. She was at home at the time, so I didn't think she'd make it to the hospital for me to deliver, but she did. When she heard my breathing and moaning in the background, she asked, "Is that Courtney?" Dave said yes, and she said, "You need to get her here...now."

We pulled up to the hospital at 6:30, went through the emergency entrance, and there were nurses waiting for me. They had me climb into a bed, and wheeled me up to the labor & delivery room. I literally had time to slip on a gown...they didn't even take time to give me an IV. My midwife said, "Ok, we're going to break your water and push." I think I pushed 3 or 4 times, and Macy was born :) The only thing that kept me from delivering Macy prior to arriving at the hospital, was the fact that my water had not broken. I most definitely would not have been able to keep her in had that been the case!

She has been a sweetheart from the very beginning. A lot of people told us that the third baby is a much smoother transition; however, we didn't want to get our hopes up, because the temperment of Will and Graham were very, very challenging. We knew Will would do great with his little sister, but we weren't sure how Graham would respond, as he's more of a mama's boy. I am so thankful that both of them have done so well with the adjustment to having Macy around - they are so sweet with her. Graham hasn't seemed jealous or threatened by her at all, and I'm just amazed. I have to believe it's an answer to our many prayers, so we're praising the Lord for a smooth transition thus far.

It was a huge help to have Dave home for the first week, and we also have Kiran here with us to help me out during the days, which has been incredibly helpful...especially with all the doctors appointments that fall within the first 2 weeks of delivery.

We head up north to Park Rapids, MN (9 hours north of here) tomorrow, and will be there for a week with Dave's family. We return next Saturday, and then my parents arrive in Omaha the following day to be with us for a week. Having all of these things to look forward to has been a wonderful distraction for the boys, and also fun for us to have things going on :)

On a side note, we found out that one of the children's workers at church came down with the chicken pox this week, so it's possibly that Will and Graham were exposed to it :( Please pray that neither of them come down with chicken pox! It makes me nervous to think that Macy could be exposed to it through one of them at such a young age. Hopefully that won't be something I'll be reporting in the coming days ;-)

Will & Graham made this sign for their little sister...there's no doubt that she is loved by her brothers :)