Welcome, Dhylan Natalie Howell!!

She has ARRIVED! Dhylan Natalie Howell was born on Saturday, August 9, 2008 at 3:35 a.m.. She weighed 5 pounds 10 ounces, and 19 1/2 inches long. Our BIGGEST baby yet!!

This was the position she held for the longest time after she was born! Pretty sure she favors this because it is the position she had in the womb!

It was an eventful day before she decided to let us know it was time.
The chain of events started with the decision to self induce on the special day of 8-8-08. We had planned this day as "IT" if I didn't have her sooner.

So sure enough it came and at 11:00 a.m. Dustin and Lisa hit the road from Utah. Natalie came earlier in the week when we had a false alarm and mom stayed in town instead of heading back to Utah. At 11:45 a.m. I drank the poison...Castor Oil. We then proceeded to do heavy activities to try and bring on the pain. We walked around the block several times, walked the mall, then walmart, though I did have contractions it was more of a tease than actual labor pains. NOTHING was working!

At walmart we ran into an old class mate and she suggested the medicine ball. I had never heard of this before and apparently if you BOUNCE for a while it will induce labor. So of course I went straight home and began bouncing! I bounced my first session for about an hour, during this session I ate fresh pineapple and did other home remedies to help move labor along. After this hour I did have contractions but not too crazy of ones.

Then after 40 min. we began session number two. I bounced for another hour and then stopped to time the contractions. Again, contractions but not close or long. Third session began! This time for another 45 min. I was having contractions sometimes 6-10 min. apart but only lasting about 20 seconds. It was 10:30 p.m. so we gave up, went to bed to try and get some sleep.
At 11:15 p.m. I was having very strong contractions and they were lasting a minute to two minutes long! I decided to get out of bed and pack a few more things, hoping this was it but with doubt in my mind. By 11:30 I thought I should call Bradys' mom just in case, she would have to drive from Pocatello so she needed a heads up. I told her I would call in an hour if it continued and she could hit the road.
Lo and behold, I had to call her back about a half an hour later to tell her to hit the road!
We rounded up the crew from the house, called a sitter for the girls, and headed to the hospital at about 12:45.
We got to hospital just after 1:00 and began the check-in process. When first checked I was a dilated to a 3. I was having really bad contractions and kept telling the nurse how fast my labor progresses so she would get the anaesthesiologist. She didn't take my concerns serious and continued to ask me question after question.

Finally, around 2:30 I got my epidural and felt some relief. Then like a hurricane the contractions came back. I told the nurse she requested more drugs. A half and hour later the relief came and the doctor was on his way. However he was delivering another baby first. So even though I kept telling the nurse the baby was crowning she said she would check as soon as the dr. was almost done. So at about 3:25 she checked and sure enough the baby was right there. I was dilated to a ten but my water had still not broken.
The doctor came in a couple min. later and broke my water and said "PUSH" immediately after. On my first push her head was out! Then he said, "SLOW DOWN!" I gave one more attempt to push and the baby, cord, and placenta were out. The dr. said he had never seen that before!

I still can't believe how fast it went. Four hours of labor, two and a half hours at the hospital, and two pushes we had our baby Dhylan.

Here is a picture of Natalie the moment she found out we were naming her after her auntie! We have kept it a secret for months, no one in my family knew. Right after she was born Brady said over the commotion, "Nicole, what is her name?" I hollered back, " Dhylan Natalie Howell!" I could hear Natalie say, "No sir!" The tears and smile said it all. I couldn't be more proud to name her after such a great sister!

Her big sisters are madly in love with her and can't get enough. Though they might be a little sensitive for the time being, Kendahl and Payton are the proudest sisters around!

Dhylan is doing great. We came on Sunday and are trying to get settled. Brady and I are so pleased and feel very blessed to have three healthy little girls. My heart is so full and I feel like the luckiest person to be a mom. It is the best job and gift I could ever have!