I arrived at the hospital at 5:45am before they started Stacey on pitocin at 6am (which ended up being around 6:30am). Dad was catching some last minute sleep before the big day begun and Stacey was just so excited to get things going. With how mom’s first birth progressed with big sister LA I didn’t want to miss the birth of baby Shannon.
The rooms at this hospital are so big but I found it really funny that their room had fake windows in it. Contractions from the pitocin started rolling in about 20 minutes later becoming more and more intense. Stacey really handled them well. Grandma was so great coming in and playing doula, she made great eye contact as well as helping Stacey by counting through the contractions. Around 11:30 Stacy had progressed to 7cm so we all got kicked out while they started the epidural.
We got back into the room about an hour later and had a new visitor come who was very helpful near the end of labor. We fought SO HARD to get Mom some pictures with LA before go time. LA was not liking the camera at that point so I had to add a few of the hugs we finally got because we were all so happy she finally gave her Momma some love.
Shannon got a little fussy in there so we were rocking moms bed to keep her happy. We developed a great rhythm to keep those contractions regular and very quickly Mom was fully dilated. The doctor was finishing up another delivery so we had to wait a while but that was a good thing too because that extra time helped baby come down more so Mom didn’t have to push so much.
The doctor came in about 30 minutes after and it was go time. Everyone got in their places and big sister LA got to watch from a distance as her little sister became earthside. Shannon made her appearance at 3:56pm with only 3 contractions of pushing. After her head and shoulders were delivered Mom got to grab her and pull her up to her chest. It was really cool getting to witness that. I loved grandmas reaction to the whole thing as she stood next to Stacey during the delivery. It was so sweet. After some quick check ups Dad got to bring Shannon back over to mom and he had a smile ear to ear. It was probably one of the biggest smiles I have ever seen.
A few days afterwards I got to join the new family of four back at their beautiful home. I loved all the photos Stacey has around her house, you can tell pictures mean a lot to her. I asked LA if she enjoyed having her little sister home and she playfully told me “uh-uh”. She never strayed more then 5 feet from her little sister and watched me like a hawk. Those big sister protective instincts are already taking over. I was about her age when my littlest sister was born so it was neat getting to relive that experience with her.
Thank you Stacey, Mike, and LA for letting me in on this special time welcoming Shannon. She is so loved by you all and I can’t wait to see her grow. Here are some of my favorite photos!













