Baby Meredith Arrives!

Six days past her due date, baby Meredith arrived on Tuesday, January 20th.

We went to the hospital to be induced on Monday morning. The hours passed by, with only small contractions in response to the Synotocinon. I stayed overnight and they continued to try different methods (with each change in midwife shift, I thought, "We'll definitely have the baby during the next 8 hours!).

After they broke my water, I slowly started having real contractions, and labor began slowly. In fact, labor was right during the presidential inauguration broadcast, which we watched on CNN while Nancy had an epidural. Finally, Meredith was born at 10:33. The birth was miraculous. Dave cut the cord and they gave Meredith to me immediately. As with the birth of each of our children, Dave and I are in awe that this special spirit has been entrusted to us by our Heavenly Father. What an incredible blessing!

We are so thankful to all of our friends who offered help - and especially to our friend Susanne (the mom of Elise's friend Nici), who was there to pick up and take care of the kids with each change in plans, and to our friend and neighbor Krystal who came over to stay with the kids late Tuesday night until Dave got home after midnight! We thought we had everything all planned, but of course it happened differently than we imagined. It was so gratifying to have so much help and kindness shown to our family - and it just doesn't stop!

The kids were so excited to see Meredith. Elise was literally bouncing around on Monday and again on Tuesday, expecting her to come. So, when they finally got to see their new sister on Wednesday afternoon, they were ecstatic.

We chose the name "Meredith Grace" - "Meredith" because it is elegant and classic, and "Grace" after her great, great grandmother, Edith Grace Beckstead Holt.

Meredith and I stayed in the hospital until Sunday morning and had a wonderful stay - there was absolutely no reason to leave! As I had heard, the private Swiss hospitals are like hotels, and this particular one was amazing. The food was great (you ordered your meal each day and had additional options from their a la carte room service menu). The nurses were terrific - so kind and helpful. And, the nights were wonderful - they took care of the baby between feedings so I could sleep (and I got stretches of sleep as long as 5 1/2 hours! between feedings). The first night I woke up and buzzed the nurse because I thought I should be feeding the baby. She came in and said, "She's still sleeping. You can get some more sleep!" So, we both came home well-rested and in good health.

Dave was very busy at home with the kids' normal routine, in addition to hosting Nathan's pirate birthday party at our house (which we had postponed until what we thought would be well after the baby arrived - unfortunately I had to miss it!).

We're home now and enjoying our time together as a family, as well as all the kindness shown to us by friends and neighbors.