Mia Claire Cruzan

We welcomed our newest member of the family last week, our little surprise baby, Mia Claire Cruzan.

She has been such a good baby since her arrival last Wednesday.  In honor of her one week birthday tomorrow I thought I would share her birth story!

All of our kids abandoned the 40 week pregnancy plan and have all arrived around 37 weeks. Levi waited the longest, at 37 weeks and 4 days. Since 35 weeks I started preparing the hospital bag and getting things sorted for little Mia's arrival. At my 36 weeks doctor appointment I brought up that I was having mild contractions so he went ahead and checked to see what my cervix was doing. Sure enough I was 3 cm dilated. Dr. Robinson didn't think I would make it through the weekend so I came into the office three more times that week but there was no change.

On Saturday I reached 37 weeks and my next appointment was on May 15th (Monday). Surely, I was more dilated.  There was some change but I was still 3 cm. Feeling a bit discouraged we scheduled our next appointment for Friday.

On Tuesday around 2:00 pm I was walking around the office and started to feel contractions. Nothing that hurt but enough to make me pay attention. I felt a couple more so I decided to start timing them. They were around 5-7 minutes apart so everyone in the office convinced me to leave and head to the hospital.

I called my doctor and he instructed us to come to the office so they could put me on the fetal monitor. We had to do some juggling because we needed someone to pick Levi up from daycare and the girls were home sick so we had to drop them off too! It was pretty hectic for a moment and all the while the contractions are still 5-7 minutes apart.

3:45: We finally get to the doctor's office and the monitor shows I am having contractions. He checks for dilation and I'm 5 cm! He says "It's a good day to head to the hospital!" Wow, it's time!

5:00: We get settled in to our Labor and Delivery room. I get that wonderful thing called the epidural and we wait.

6:00: We start Pitocin to get the party rolling along

7:00-10:00: The nurses come in and out because the baby keeps falling off the monitor and her heart rate keeps dipping. It worries me but they assure me everything is fine and it's just the position I'm laying in so we try a few different positions. I never had to do this with any of my other kiddos so it was interesting because my legs were completely numb so these positions felt so weird.

Around 11:00 the doctor comes to check on me again and things are getting close!

We have reached midnight and it looks like May 17th will be her birthday!!

The doctor checks me one final time and alerts us the baby is on the way!

I am able to feel when my contractions are happening so I know when to push. It took only about 10 minutes for Mia to arrive! She is perfect!!

Mia Claire is born May 17, 2017 at 12:21 am weighing 7 lbs. 8 oz and is 19.5 inches long. She has a full head of hair and we immediately fall in love with her chubby cheeks!

Ava and Lily were able to meet their sister while I was at the hospital. They have been so excited to meet her and have been fighting non-stop since we have been home on who can hold her.

I was worried about Levi because he is so attached to momma, but he loves the baby. He calls her his baby and gives her so many kisses a day!

Mia has been such a good baby. She rarely cries and she's nursing like a champ. So far we have been adjusting to new routines. I am anxious to move into our new home in a couple of weeks and getting settled before school starts for the girls.

I have to extend a big thanks to my mother-in-law, Patty, for helping with Randy (our dog) and with the girls. My sister was awesome too. She took care of Levi while we were in the hospital. I'm so lucky to have such great support. Noah has been super dad. We have been figuring out this new dynamic together and I couldn't ask for a better partner.

We are so in love with baby Mia. Thanks to everyone for all the sweet comments!