Welcome to the World, Little Lanie!

Delanie Joy Arlene Autry entered our lives at 7:55pm on Friday, May 15th. We are so excited and so blessed to hold our little bundle of joy in our arms after so much anticipation! A lot of excitement has occurred since my last blog entry! I went to my doctor's appointment Friday morning and was very quickly given the bad news - I had failed my 24 hour protein test . . . again. I was very disappointed, of course, but I had also prepared myself for this outcome so I was able to process it quickly. My doctor told me that she would call ahead to the Novi Providence hospital so that I could go over directly and be admitted to be induced. I called Kevin at work and headed over to Subway to grab a sandwich beforehand (I knew that once in the hospital I would be banned from all food - ridiculous). At 12:30pm we headed up to the Labor and Delivery. Once registered and settled in, the doctor-on-call came to consult me on the plan of action. They wanted to start me on Pitocin right away, but I wanted to try induction by having my water broken first. At 2pm my water was broken and we waited for the contractions to begin. We waited . . . and waited . . . and waited . . .
. . . I knew it could take over 24 hours for the contractions to begin and the thought was a bit overwhelming to consider . . . Kevin and I decided to let Pitocin do it's thing. They hooked me up and began the drip at 3:30pm. Contractions were still slow in coming on, but boy-oh-boy when they started, they REALLY got hard fast! My mom came over around 4:30pm and the contractions were just starting to become uncomfortable. At 5:30pm Kevin and my Mom went down to the cafeteria for dinner since the contractions were picking up quickly and we were afraid it might be their only opportunity to eat. I could talk through the contractions when they left for dinner, but by the time they returned (no more than 45 minutes later) I was doing my very best to simply bear through them - talking wasn't even a possibility at that point.
Within 45 minutes I started to feel the urge to push so the nurses called the doctor right away. Around 7:10pm I was ready to start pushing and 45 minutes later, Delanie Joy Arlene was born! What a miracle! What an experience! What a relief!!!
She weighed in at 7lbs 11oz (our biggest baby yet - and trust me, I felt EVERY ounce) and was 20 1/2 inches long (our longest baby, too). She was alert and ready to meet the world right away.
Our family was all waiting in the family lounge and came in very shortly thereafter to see their new sister, grand daughter and great grand daughter. It was an exciting place, to say the least! Elijah, Ethan and Kaden rushed in, searching for their much anticipated new sibling - it was so heartwarming to see their unabashed excitement. Much pomp and ceremony was placed on each brother having his moment of one-on-one time, then the grandparents each had their moment. Lanie was absolutely showered in hugs, kisses and affection.
It wasn't the birth experience that I had been imagining, but we are blessed to have Lanie here safe and sound none-the-less. Thank the Lord for her safe and quick delivery. Now we look forward to our new life as a family of six!