November 16

Ruby Jean Cox is here! She was born November 11 at 5:43 p.m. She was 7 lbs. 13 oz and 20 1/2 inches long. We went in to the hospital at 10:00 a.m. for my scheduled induction. It's so organized when it's scheduled, versus going into labor on my own. They checked me in and put me on the monitors and IV. They gave me antibiotics because I wasn't Group B strep positive this time, but I have been in the past. My doctor, Tammy Kelly, the same as with Seth, wanted me to have two doses of antibiotics before she would break my water, so that wasn't going to be until 7:30 at night. They never worried about that before, but I guess it's different when it's scheduled. So Bob and I just hung out and watched TV for most of the afternoon. Around 4:00 the contractions started getting harder and I asked for an epidural. I was at 4 cm when I came in and at 4:00 I was at 5 cm. The nurse said it should take 20 minutes for the anesthesiologist to get there, but he took 90 minutes. And in those 90 minutes I went from a 5 to 10 cm and being able to feel her head. The last half hour was so painful. My water broke on it's own right after they got the epidural in. Then the doctor ran in and I pushed twice and she was here. I didn't tear or anything. And she was healthy and beautiful.

I stayed at the hospital until Saturday morning. It was nice to have two nights there this time. I needed a little extra time to get prepared for coming home to five kids. When I went from 3 to 4 kids, I hardly noticed the difference. It probably helped to have the bigger gap between Aaron and Seth. But I definitely notice the difference already in going from 4 to 5 kids. It just feels like there are so many little people around here!

The kids all stayed with the Deans on Thursday and the older ones stayed the night even because they were so excited to have a sleep over. Then Bob brought them to meet Ruby on Friday morning. They were all so excited, especially Seth. Then Bob got a babysitter for the afternoon on Friday and Bob came to the hospital to spend time with us. And Kata watched the kids again on Saturday morning when Bob came to get us. Kata helped me so much with the kids this weekend, she's such a great friend.

We had a nice peaceful Saturday afternoon until Danny started throwing up that night. He was sick all night so Bob spent that night with Danny and I stayed up with Ruby. And Aaron's allergies were acting up so he was coughing all over the place. And Seth's nose started running on Sunday. So Bob went to church because he had to conduct Sacrament meeting and I stayed home with all the kids. Danny was better by Sunday night, but Seth's cold got bad and Bob was up with him most of Sunday night. Today Seth is starting to feel better. Luckily Ruby doesn't show any signs of sickness. I can tell that this winter is going to be a lot of fun. I need to stock up on hand sanitizer and paper towels.

Seth has had a bit of a hard time adjusting to Ruby so far. He loves her and is so excited when he sees her, but I haven't been able to pick him up and carry him much because I'm so weak still. And now that he's sick I have to keep him away from Ruby so much. Hopefully he'll get healthy soon and things will normalize a little for him.

My mom will get here Sunday night and then Dad, Dustin, Kristal, Casey and Kami will all come for Thanksgiving and for Ruby's blessing on Sunday.