Meet Ruby Grace King

Finally!  I was officially admitted after about 5 hours of observation.

Benji put her very first diaper on

So sweet that she clutched his hand right away.

I love that she is just minutes old and seems to be looking intently at her daddy.

Mary and I used to play with baby dolls--it is surreal that here we are 20 years later.  We're still besties and now have our own children--the ones we used to dream about together.  She got to come for Ruby's birth and it was so special to have her there.

I just want to squeeze her--so sweet.

First bath.

 Dixie is one proud, excited, happy and loving big sister!

 First time with Grammy--I like how their expressions match. :)

 Dixie loves holding her and holding her hands.  Here she is just watching a show.

Benji gave us these beautiful flowers!

 Such a cute squinchy face.

 Meeting Great Grammy

 Meeting cousin Ashleigh

 Carson is a sweet, loving, gentle, concerned and proud big brother.

 Her feet are so tiny and adorable.

Ruby Grace King was born on November 20, 2013 at 4:29 PM.  She weighed in at 7 pounds 8 ounces and was 19 inches long.  She has a good amount of brown hair on her cute little head.  

The Labor Story:  On Nov. 19th I had a feeling she was coming soon.  So, I wanted to make sure last minute prep was taken care of.  I spent the morning doing laundry, scrubbing the kitchen floor (on hands and knees), and cleaning up the rest of the kitchen.  Then I loaded up the kids and our bags for the hospital (just in case).  We went to hang out at Grammy's and Grandad's house to pass the day.  That evening my parents took us out to dinner.  We got home around bedtime and put the kiddos in bed.
Then around 10:15 PM I started having what I thought were real contractions--they felt like the ones with Carson and Dixie.  They came about 5 minutes apart for about 2 hours.  After the 2 hour mark Benji urged me to call my midwife or go to the hospital since our first two labors have gone swiftly and I needed to get 2 doses of antibiotics in me before her birth.
By this time it was about 12:15 AM.  I called my mom to come up and stay with the kids.  By the time she arrived the contractions had all of a sudden spread out to 10 minutes apart.  We were sooo bummed.  But since my mom was there and we were all set to go we just decided to go get checked at the hospital.  Afterall, the worst they could say is to go home and wait.  And I was curious if I had progressed at all.  So, off we went.  We got to LDS hospital and explained the situation.  I'm sure the nurses were thinking we'd be sent home soon, but they were super nice.
Our nurse was so sweet and was really pulling for us.  She monitored me for about 5 hours.  In the end I had started at a 2 and was then a 3+ and 60-70% effaced.  So, in short I was progressing, just very very slowly.  The on-call midwife said I could decide if I wanted to stay or go home to labor.  I wanted to stay because I had been up all night long, was exhausted and didn't think it would be great to labor at home with the kids.  So, around 6:00 AM I was officially admitted and started antibiotics.
I started walking around the halls trying to get labor going faster.  It just wasn't.  That afternoon I was only dilated between 4-5 cm.  So, around 2:00 PM we decided to try some pitocin to kick it into a higher gear.  It definitely worked.  By 4:00 PM I had dilated to 8 cm!  It wasn't very fun getting to that point though.
My friend, Mary, arrived around 3:45 PM and at 4:00 PM my midwife broke my water.  Oh the pain!  After that it was rough and I started to feel Ruby as she was being pushed down into the birth canal.  I thought I might die.  I started to feel pressure and when they checked I was 100% effaced so they encouraged me to push.  My midwife was great at telling me I could get through it.  But, in that moment I was kind of in a different place mentally.  I remember begging someone to help me. :)  I pushed for about 10 minutes--even though it seemed longer. haha  Our baby girl made her debut at 4:29 PM!  It was wonderful to have her here finally, and a relief to know she is healthy.
 They placed her right on my chest and I loved holding her for those first few minutes.  What is funny, is at 20 weeks when we had a 3D ultrasound we both thought it reminded us of Carson.  Now that she is here, she definitely reminds us of Carson.

 Ruby

Carson

Her name:  It took us a few hours to decide on her name.  In the end it just fit.  We both knew it was right.  Ruby is her great-great grandma on Benji's side.  Grace is her great-great grandma on my side.  We loved the flow of those two names together as well.

She has been a great baby so far.  She's good at nursing, she sleeps well and is generally happy unless she is hungry or tired.  She is as cute as they come and I honestly can't get enough of her.  I have truly enjoyed just being able to stay home and spend all my time with the kids.  As for Carson and Dixie, they LOVE her.  They both are very gentle and are always patting her head, holding her hands, giving her kisses and telling her they love her.  I often catch Dixie singing to her and Carson trying to get her to look at him.  It's so great to see them love this sweet new little baby.
Throughout the pregnancy I loved a baby I had never met, but often wondered how I could ever love her as much as I love Carson and Dixie.  Then, Ruby arrived and instantly I loved her just as much.  In fact, she filled a missing piece in our family that we didn't even know was missing.  She is an angel sent from God and we are grateful we get her in our growing family!