Introducing Ivy Jane Larsen

Ivy Jane was born February 2, 2012 at 2:20pm. She weighed in at 8 lbs. 7 oz. (almost a full pound bigger than either Davis or Emery...I was so surprised she was that big!) and was 21 inches long. I guess she needed to be big to be able to defend herself against her very loving siblings!!

I was scheduled to be induced on my due date, the 3rd of February. On the 1st, however, Steve's Grandma Black passed away. We wanted him to be able to go to the funeral in Utah so we called Dr. Nett to see if we could move it up a day to give us one more day to be settled at home before he left for the funeral. She said that was fine...it was about 3:30pm at this point and I was planning on having another entire day to clean my house and pack the kids and myself for while we were at the hospital. Anyway, I kicked it into high gear and cleaned and packed like a crazy woman the rest of the day. It was super nice to come home from the hospital to a really clean house but my feet hurt so bad that night and were super swollen from my efforts!

If the birthing story is too much information for you just skip ahead...I just wanted to have this written down for me:)

The next morning we headed to the hospital and got started on pitosin (spelling?) around 9:30am. I wanted to make it to a 4 before I got an epidural-I didn't want to be on it for a super long time-by the time I was not okay the nurse checked me and I was only a 3 but I didn't care! By the time they finished giving me the epidural I was a 4 so I guess it worked out okay! So I got the epidural around 11:30am, took a nap and then the nurse came to check me about 1:30pm and I was a 10. I love those epidurals. Seriously...taking a nap while you are in labor?! Nothing better! Dr. Nett had another patient that was already pushing so we hung out for a few minutes while she delivered that baby then we got down to pushing. I had a hard time getting her out due to some scar tissue that did not want to stretch enough so I pushed for about 20 minutes. I had a really great nurse that was a pro pushing coach and had also told me that Dr. Nett would probably let me deliver her myself if I wanted so we asked her and she said sure (first she asked Steve is he wanted to but he didn't want anything to do with that:). So I finally was able to get her head out and Dr. Nett pulled her shoulders through then had me reach down and deliver her the rest of the way. I was able to pull her out and up onto my stomach. It was really the neatest thing. Such a great reward after all that pushing.

We were still unsure about her name. I can't believe what a hard time we had naming this little girl. I had brought up the name Ivy a while back but Steve had vetoed it (and pretty much everything else I suggested!) but towards the end he stopped vetoing-I think he was worried she would never have a name. He even said I could name her whatever I wanted! So I was looking at a baby name list again just a few days before she was born and saw Ivy again. Steve liked it okay but didn't love it I think. I really wanted to name her that but I was still hesitating because I knew he didn't love it...but in the end it was the only name I loved and I think it really fits her. I am happy that is what she ended up with!

Getting weighed and cleaned up




I am swallowing my pride posting these pictures-I think this pregnancy must have been the hardest on me because I look the worst in these of all my kids births!!
Dr. Nett...can I just say that I love her?! I am so grateful to have her as my Dr.

Nurse Jenny and Dr. Nett-we made a good team!

What a sweet new little girl!

Getting her first bath-she was not a fan!

Meeting her sister for the first time. Emery has been really cute about her, but hasn't figured out how to be 'soft' yet. Ivy has had a few wacks on the head among other things. It will get better...right?!
Davis has been so cute about the baby coming. It has been fun for him to be old enough to really understand what is happening and he was so so excited for her to be born. We did have some interesting conversations about how the baby gets out and he did ask me if my tummy was going to break because it was getting so big!



She is so pretty!!


Coming home..bracing ourselves for what is to come with 3 kids:)We are so glad this little girl has joined our family. It is just amazing to me that I can grow a baby and I am so grateful that she was born healthy. I can't wait to see what her personality is like and who she ends up looking like (I think she looks so different from our other kids so I am so curious what she will look like as she gets older). We are so grateful to have her!