She’s here, she’s here! Mackenzie Mae Coats was welcomed into the world and our hearts (awwww!) on Wednesday, October 8, 2008 at 9:45 pm. She weighed 7 pounds, 13 ounces and was 19 1/2″ long. She’s a gorgeous little girl with HAIR! 
My water broke Tuesday night at about 1 am and once Sin came over to stay with Will until Dad & Frania could make it out from Galena, we were off to the hospital. Contractions were steady and non painful… at first. Throughout the day, the frequency and pain increased until about 5:45 pm when they were about 4-5 minutes apart and almost to the point of needing pain medication. The nurse did some checking and I was 3-4 cm dialated and about 80% effaced. After the check, the contractions went to about 2-3 minutes apart and were much more intense. I received a small dose of painkillers to “take the edge off.” Apparently there’s a solid reason why I don’t do drugs – the things make me loopy!! Mom (who arrived on an earlier flight at 3 pm) & Brandon were laughing at me and my ears seemed to be stuffed with cotton!
The doctor arrived around 8 pm and checked me again. No progress had been made in the last couple hours so my choices were as such:
1) I could continue to labor and see what happens, but since my water had broken many hours before, each hour increased my and the baby’s risk of infection.
2) I could receive pitocin, the hormone utilized to induce/progress labor. The risk in this was that as a previous c-section mom, it increased the chance of uterine rupture.
3) I could have a c-section.
After debate and a little bit of tears, we chose option 3. I was very hopeful to experience labor that I never got to do with Will (he was breech so I never had contractions or anything beyond a little back labor), but always knew that the chances of me having a 2nd c-section were strong.
The c-section went well. It turns out that my lower uterine wall was very thin increasing the chance I would have ruptured even more. So in retrospect, we definitely made the right decision.
Will came to the hospital to meet his new little sister and he didn’t real seem impressed. I don’t think he realized that she would eventually be coming home with her! He hasn’t shown any signs of jealousy yet though which is wonderful. Maybe it won’t be so bad after all!
Mackenzie has been a wonderful little girl. She slept the majority of her first 48 hours in the world and last night was her first night at home. We had a little trouble getting her to sleep in the crib, but Mimi has the magic touch and we got a 4-5 hour sleep that she’s just waking up from now.
We’re so excited to finally welcome our little girl and begin our lives as a family of four. We welcome any and all visitors and want to thank everyone for all the well wishes and love sent our way!!
There are a ton of pictures on our Flickr site at http://www.flickr.com/photos/coatsfamily/sets/72157607929271358/. Hope you all are doing well! XOXOXO
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