Mary Kendrick is HERE! (...and she has been for over a month...whoops!)

As if anyone who reads this blog doesn't already know, we had a GIRL!

(...a month ago...) 

Mary Kendrick Acker was born midmorning on April 5, one day after her due date.  I am finally getting a minute to sit down to write her little "entrance story" so I don't forget it and so those of you who don't know the silly little details can be in-the-know -- because I'm sure you've been checking on the regular. ;)

So here's the story with pictures that fit in the timeline of events:

When I went in for my 36-week checkup, I was 3cm dilated and 50% effaced already, so my doc excitedly exclaimed, "You won't be pregnant much longer!"  So I went ahead and let the parental troops know it could be any day.  A week went by, and I had my 37-week checkup: 3cm and 75% effaced.  Getting closer!  It really could be any day now!  

Another week went by, and I headed to my 38-week checkup: 3cm and 90% effaced.  Basically the baby would slide right out if my water broke at this point, but I still had not had a single contraction nor was the baby super low yet.  But any day now, he/she is going to be here!  A few days passed, and I finally had some contractions, real contractions.  So I called the troops once again and told my parents to go ahead and pack their bags and come on.  They arrived on a Saturday, and a few days later (when I still had not had the baby) I had my 39-week checkup: 3cm and 90%.  WHAT IN THE WORLD.

 

So the doctor and I had a conversation about induction, as I had tested positive for Group-B Strep and they didn't want a big ole baby to be delivered at home or on the side of the highway by accident.  So induction was scheduled for April 5 at 6am, and we began praying hard that the baby would come before then on his/her own.

I'd never been 39 weeks pregnant before; Susannah came at 37 weeks, and John came the day before 39 weeks.  The Lord used that last week of pregnancy to show me, "THIS is why so many women hate the 3rd trimester."  I could literally feel the baby's feet in my ribcage (kicking, mind you) and head in my hip joint.  My back was killing me 90% of the day, and I couldn't do anything without breathing like I'd just run a marathon.  So this induction scenario was sounding more and more appealing if I reached April 5 and Baby still wasn't here.
40-week checkup on April 4: 3cm and fully effaced.  Laughable, really.  So I said, "Seeya tomorrow!" to the doctor and headed home to pray for labor and pack the car.

Since this was my first 40-weeks experience, I took a self-timer selfie, and I'm only slightly ashamed of that.

After going to bed that night around 10, contractions woke me up at 12:30.  They were about 15 minutes apart, and after a few rounds, I got up to walk some, and (of course) they went away.  So I sadly went back to bed.  A little later at 3am, contractions woke me up once again and were 10 minutes apart but this time did not go away.  I woke Pete up at 4, and we were en route to the hospital at 4:30am with consistent and intense contractions 7 minutes apart: I was in natural labor, y'all!!  Can I get a hallelujah?!  

So we got to the hospital nice and early, which means I was the first one to claim an epidural nice and early!  Wahoo!  The antibiotics for the Group-B Strep started, I got my epidural an hour or so later, and we were smoooooth sailing until my doctor finished a C-section and came in to break my water.  After the waters flowed freely, he said, "Alright, we'll have this baby in an hour or two!" and left to take care of other business.  About 15 minutes after he left, our baby decided it was time to make an entrance, so back he came; and in 1 push, Mary Kendrick was here, a whopping 9lbs even and 21 1/2 inches long!

 

I can honestly say I am living my dreams right now.  Every new season of adulthood has brought the same emotion of undeserved blessing and favor from the Lord (each new season's more intense than the last), and I find myself often stepping back and asking, "How did I get here?  I've wanted this life for as long as I can remember, but how did it actually happen?"  God has been gracious to me and Pete, and I don't know if my heart has ever felt so thankful.  

"Now to Him who is able to do immeasurably more than we could ask or imagine, to Him be the glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, for ever and ever!" -Eph. 3:20-21