Our sweet baby Rome finally decided to make his debut to our family this week and we have been in heaven soaking up every minute with him. I wanted to make sure I documented his birth story before I forget all the details.

I had been having contractions off and on the past couple weeks and kept telling my mom that she better come out as soon as she could because I think this baby could come at anytime, so she moved up her flight a couple days to the soonest day she could come and I was hoping I lasted that long. At my doctors appointment on Friday March 9th my doctor checked me and I was only dilated a little bit but my cervix was really soft and we talked about an induction date because I was technically full term and with this being my third baby she felt like my body was ready and so was this baby. We decided I would come in Tuesday if the baby didn't come on his own before then, but I was really hoping to go into labor on my own. The whole weekend I didn't feel very good and couldn't sleep because I was cramping up all night, but still no baby. So I woke up Monday morning and picked my mom up from the airport then we went out to eat at a fun breakfast spot and stocked up my house with groceries. We planned on going out for dinner that night to celebrate one last night before the baby came, but he knew his Nana had arrived and was ready to come join the party. At 1:30pm that afternoon I started having contractions. They caught me by surprise because I knew these were labor contractions and they meant this guy was coming. At first they were 15 min apart and then they moved to 10 minutes. Two hours later they were 5 minutes apart and feeling consistently strong. I told Adam to grab his things for the hospital and that we needed to leave soon. We checked into the hospital by 6:30 pm and started the process to be admitted. The nurses had to monitor me before my doctor could get there and check me. Finally I was admitted into my labor and delivery room and I was getting exhausted from these consistant contractions that were getting stronger and stronger. Luckily my nurse reminded that I could get an epidural at anytime and I'm so glad she suggested it because I was just trying to get my body to progress further and it was a slow process so I was waiting, but by the time the anesthesiologist got there at 1:30am I was in a lot of pain and so grateful to have some medication to help my body relax from a long 12 hours of labor.

After I was able to breath easier through these contractions with some medication, they started me on pitocin to help speed things up and at 3:00am my water broke. At this point I had finally reached a 5 and then things went really fast. Within the next two hours I progressed quickly to a 10 and felt ready to push. The nurse quickly called my doctor to come in and I was hoping she made it in time before this baby was going to come out. The nurses got the room all prepped for delivery and as soon as my doctor walked in I began pushing. Even though it was another long labor, it was my easiest delivery out of all my kids because there weren't complications and it felt like I pushed about three big times and he was out. I will never forget when the doctor told me to look down and see my baby and there he was coming out. They laid him on top of me and I just cried happy tears because we were finally meeting this beautiful baby boy we have dreamed about for months - and there he was healthy and perfect. He looked just like Liam with all of his dark hair and the squiggles in it that are a sign it's going to be curly, but he also looked so much like Capri in his face. We soaked up that first golden hour with our baby before they moved us into the mothers wing of the hospital for recovery. Adam and I were so exhausted by this time and couldn't wait to get some rest. Since it was about 8 am at this point and the kids were still asleep at home, my mom waited to bring them over after they had breakfast and gotten ready.

When Capri and Liam walked through the door of our room with balloons in hand for the baby, they were so excited to see their new baby brother. They were being extra cautious and trying to talk softly around him which was so sweet. Capri looked at him and said "Oh I can't believe we get to keep him! He's so cute". They both wanted to hold him and couldn't get over all of his little tiny details. And as nice as it was to have some alone time at the hospital, I couldn't wait to get home and be in our own place with the kids close by and start our lives as a family of five. We are so grateful to have this new little piece of heaven in our home.