Molly

Our beautiful baby girl is here! Here are the details of when she was born:

On Saturday, April 9, before I went to bed, I felt really itchy. So far during this pregnancy, I have somehow escaped cholestasis, but I kept worrying it would show up last minute. After talking with Sean about it, I decided to head to the hospital the next morning (Sunday) for a blood test to see if cholestasis was causing the itching. The on-call doctor wanted me to do an NST as well as my usual blood test (bile acids). The NST went great and they drew my blood and I figured I'd be headed home shortly. In fact, I told Sean I was hoping to make it home in time to hurry and get ready and join them at church. When the nurse drew my blood I noticed she had two vials instead of the usual one. I asked her why there were two and she said the doctor had decided to do an extra test (a CBC) just to cover all bases. She said he kept going back and forth and decided to do it in the end. The nurse told me that while my bile acids test would take a day for the results to come back, the CBC would be done shortly and as soon as the results came back I would be able to head home.

Well, about 10 minutes later the nurse came back in the room and said, "You're not going home today" and told me the doctor was going to induce me right away.

What?!

She explained that the results of the CBC came back and showed my platelets as getting very low. So low, that if they got any lower I could not have an epidural. The doctor felt that it was best to induce labor regardless of the bile acids results (which came back the next day as normal!) She told me they wanted to move me over to labor and delivery right away and they were ready to get going. I think I sort of went into shock for a minute trying to process what she said. I was so unprepared! I had literally showed up to the hospital wearing my pajamas, with nothing other than my wallet and cell phone. And of course my cell phone battery died as I was sitting there, leaving me stranded until a nurse let me borrow her charger so I could call Sean and my family to try and get things arranged. I had no bag packed, nothing! My poor parents had just driven home from Utah the night before and had to turn around and head back. Luckily, my sister and brother-in-law could take our kids at moments notice for the day so Sean could head in to the hospital. 

Once we got over the initial shock, we were both so excited to meet our baby girl that day. I was relieved I wouldn't have to play mind games about cholestasis anymore and grateful I would still be able to get an epidural. The doctor came in and broke my water around 1pm. The epidural worked great (even though he had to place the needle twice), and I had steady contractions for a few hours. I went from a 4 to a 7 in a couple hours and then a 7 to a 10 in a matter of minutes.

Epidural working it's magic, and feeling good :)

Our beautiful girl was born at 5:03pm! I'll spare the details and just say it was an easy delivery :) We named her Molly Leigh Ricks and she was 6 lbs 12 oz and 19" and born at exactly 38 weeks. We couldn't believe how small she was in relation to our other kids! We truly loved her instantly. Even though she was small, she had such great cheeks!

First bath

My parents brought the boys over to meet her that evening. They were all so excited and sweet to her. Jackson and Bode both wanted to hold her right away. Bode had hoped for a little sister all along and it was really cute watching him with her.

I don't think Davis had much of a clue as to what was going on. He was more interested in playing games on Sean's phone!

After her bath

Nothing is better than skin to skin with a new baby.

I took a ton of pictures in the hospital!

Her cheeks are just my favorite!

I truly enjoyed my time at the hospital. I stayed 2 days and I am glad I did. It gave me quiet time with Molly where I could just sit and hold her and enjoy our time together. I felt like it was just the right amount of time before heading home. 

My awesome mom who took care of our kids all week, fed us, shopped for us, and cleaned our house!

Our family of six!

Cousin Hayley who is happy to have another girl in the family

Getting ready to head home!

She came home on a beautiful spring day. Our pink tulips were in bloom and our magnolia tree was in full bloom with its big, pink flowers. It was so pretty and it felt like it was a welcome home just for Molly! 

We are loving having this sweet baby girl in our family and are so happy she is here safe and sound. She is so sweet and has been a dream so far. Welcome to the world, baby girl!