In The Hospital With Melissa

Melissa came back from her "bath" complete with a red bow. I guess Lee got to choose the bow color and he opted out of pink. :) And how can you help but kiss a face as cute as Melissa's??

I had been scheduled to be induced on Tuesday, June 14th. We planned that so Lee would be able to be there for sure. Well, Melissa knew something we didn't, because the day after she was born Lee got a call from work telling him they needed him to fly that Tuesday and Wednesday. Lee still had to go fly the day after Melissa was born, but at least he got to be there for her birth!

Another cute picture of Melissa. She was about two hours old when this picture was taken:
Brynne was so excited to come to the hospital and meet Melissa. She dressed up in a nice dress, put on a pretty necklace, and even did her hair complete with barrette for the occasion. This is a picture of the first time Brynne held Melissa, something she continues to do at least once a day. :)
I have three beautiful daughters. I am amazed, however, at how completely different they all look. We are all anxious to see what/who Melissa looks like when she gets a bit older. I think Brynne is the most anxious of all, though. She is hoping Melissa has blue eyes, red hair, lots of freckles, or any other physical feature that Brynne alone has in our family.
I still can't get used to the idea that we are a family of five. Here's a picture of all five of us when Melissa was about 12 hours old.
This was really supposed to be the last picture in this post, but blogger did what it wanted with the order of pics. This picture of Melissa was taken just before we left the hospital. I got this outfit for Ashley when she had Elise, never knowing I would inherit the dress for my own daughter 10 months later! I love how it looks like Melissa is just kicking back and hanging out. :)
And here is Morgan with Melissa. Morgan said, "I feel like we went to the store and bought a doll that is programmed to make noises." She pretty much summed up how I feel too -- it just doesn't seem real. Waking up throughout the night to feed a baby seems real enough, but here we are almost three weeks later and I'm finally starting to feel like this dream is actually reality.
We love you Melissa! We are so glad you are a part of our family!!

Melissa's Birth

She's here! (Okay, so she's been here for two weeks; but we're going to pretend I was able to post pictures right away...)

Melissa Lee Roberts

6/9/2011

12:30 am

7 lbs 1 oz

19 inches

Melissa's Birth Story:

I had been having contractions for several weeks, but they had been really strong for a couple days. While we were in Provo for an appointment, we (Lee, Morgan and I) decided to stop by the hospital. I wanted to make sure my preregistration was complete, and I wanted to find out where we were supposed to go if we ended up going to the hospital in the middle of the night. I decided I might as well have the nurses see if I was progressing at all with the constant contractions. They monitored me for an hour and decided I was progressing, but really slowly. They decided to have me stay for one more hour again and then check. This time, however, I was able to walk around. Almost immediately my contractions got stronger still, so I wasn't surprised when they rechecked and decided I was definitely in labor. They hooked up an I.V. to give me pitocin and speed things up, so I decided I might as well try and epidural while they were at it. At first I hated the epidural and how it made me feel, but in the end it made for a party (more below). It took about two hours for me to dilate to a 5, but then things really got going. The nurse came in to check me about an hour later and was surprised to find Melissa ready to enter the world. When the doctor came in a short while later, Melissa was already crowning. Half a push later, we got to meet her!

Melissa wanted to make absolutely sure she didn't get switched in the hospital, so she was born with a dark birth mark on the side of her face (see picture above). A few days later, one of her middle fingers started looking blotchy red. I'm thinking it's a port-wine stain. So now she has two things that make her distinctly Melissa. :)

About that part I referred to above: I had invited all the girls in my family to come to Melissa's birth if they wanted. None of my sisters had ever attended a birth other than their own kids, and I think it's an experience everyone should be able to witness. The miracle of birth is an amazing thing! My mom wasn't able to come, but my three sisters were all there. My best friend, Denise, was also there with Lee and I. Denise came to play games with me and be there for the whole labor. Everyone else arrived about 1 1/2 hours before Melissa was born. (Lee had left to take Morgan home and to play basketball -- yes, I gave him permission.) As soon as we were all together, the party naturally started. Life is always a party when all us sisters get together, but I think it was an extra good time given that it was nearly midnight. I think the last part of my labor went so fast because I was laughing to hard! When the doctor came in, he even had a few good quips to add. I found myself wondering if I was seriously in labor? But then, Melissa was ready to come. Immediately the atmosphere in the room changed to one of excitement and reverent amazement.

This picture was taken about 30 minutes after Melissa was born: (Ashley, Lindsey, me and Melissa, Lee, Alyson, Denise)

Alyson and Lindsey headed back to Layton pretty quickly after the birth, so we weren't able to get a picture with them holding Melissa that night. We did get pics of Melissa with Aunt Ashley and Denise, though. I love this picture of Ashley and Melissa because it looks like Melissa is looking at Ashley. I have a very similar picture of me holding Ashley's baby girl, Elise, not long after she was born; and Elise is looking at me.

Denise has been at the birth of all three of my girls. I have been to three of Denise's four births. (Unfortunately, I was too far away when Shayla was born.) Denise took great care of me during my "labor". She played Phase 10 dice with me until everyone else arrived, kept me switching sides so my epidural would work evenly, and even slipped me a Starburst when the mean (not really) nurse told me I could only have ice chips. :)

I was so excited to finally meet Melissa. She is a special girl who was sent specifically to our family. I'm glad so many friends and family could be at her birth to witness her arrival into the world. I am blessed to be her mother.