Welcome, Maria Thérèse!

We welcomed our newest family member right on her due date - October 19, 2010.  She weighed in at 7 lbs 7oz and 20 inches long and was born at 1:48am.  Here's a little run-down of the labor and delivery:

I spent that previous evening on a shopping high at Jewel :).  Thanks to a good friend, I found a way to get a ridiculous amount of food for prices that you wouldn't believe if I told you!  So after my second trip to Jewel that evening, I decided to head to bed as my dear husband was still up working on homework.

Well, my time in bed was short-lived (lasted, oh, 20 minutes).  I got up because I was having gas pains (read: contractions).  Thanks to the progesterone injections I had been taking during the pregnancy, gas pains were quite common, and I assumed this night would not be different from the rest.  But then they persisted.  They wouldn't go away.  And I began feeling some intense pressure.  The. Baby. Was. Coming.

We put our plan into action: called some friends who offered to take Thomas (we literally drive by their house on the way to the hospital), called the on-call OB to tell her we were coming, called Drake's mom who would coordinate caring for Thomas, and called my parents to let them know we were on our way to the hospital.

As we found ourselves about 5 minutes from the hospital, I was starting to think this little lady was going to be born in the car.  Honestly.  The contractions were so close together, so intense, and I needed the baby OUT.  As Drake pulled up to the ER, someone came out with a wheelchair for me.  "How far along are you?" "40 weeks." "Do you feel like you need to push?" "Y.E.S."

I was brought into an ER room where there were what felt like at least half a dozen people plus Drake and I in a room made to comfortably fit two people.  They're all obviously in a panic as they could see the head was very far down, and I was complete plus three!  After moaning many times "I neeeeeeeed to push!" they saw that even though I was in some intense pain, I was able, by the grace of God, to control it.  They got me up to a delivery room asap.  


And within about 10 minutes of our arrival into the room, Maria Thérèse was born.  I gave three solid pushes for a total of five minutes.  We had arrived at the hospital at 1:25am, and she was born at 1:48am.  These Steed children sure do know how to get down to business!  I was in labor with Thomas for about an hour with a 30 minute delivery.  The OB suggested that Drake be ready to deliver Baby #3 when the time comes :).

Holding her in my arms right after delivery was surreal - that wasn't our experience with Thomas because he was whisked away to the NICU right after he was born.  It was several hours before we saw him.  So spending those very first minutes of life outside the womb with Maria was a beautiful relief. 

Moments after her birth

 Cozy!

Proud Daddy

Loving. Baby. Hairbows.

Lots of Daddy lovin'

Little angel.

Thank you for all of your prayers. well-wishes, and support on our behalf.  The transition to two is proving to be a beautiful and exhausting adventure. We're so blessed, and God is so good!