Welcome, Sophie Claire Harries

What an amazing week it's been. We spent the majority of the weekend having fun with the Nelson's. They fed us and entertained us and took care of our girls so we could get some rest and spend quality time together before the baby arrived.

Bringing a baby into this world is a truly humbling, beautiful experience. It's one of the blessings I am most grateful for. That my body could be used as a vessel to bring a special daughter of God into our family.

Pregnancy finally ended and a new way of life began on Tuesday, March 31st. As you all know, I had had enough of being pregnant, for what seemed like forever, 42 weeks (294 days to be exact). Fiona very kindly took care of our girls the night before, so Bryn and I could have a quiet start to an early day. The nurses were so sweet and gave me time to settle in and feel at home. By 9:30am I was hooked up to a drip, my waters were artificially broken and it was time to turn on the pain killers. I could have kissed that anaestheologist. This was my first epidural and boy, was I in heaven. It was great lying in bed, watching contractions rise and dip on a monitor and be able to relax, laugh, joke around and enjoy the experience. Bryn felt redundant, as he has always played such a hands-on role as my birthing partner during my previous two very natural labours. I gave him a little reprieve this time, so he kept himself entertained by playing news reporter via sms to our family. All until my epidural machine went beep beep beep and conked out on me. Well not really, the 'juice' ran out and I thought they'd just open up a new bag and continue. I was 10 cm by 3pm and the decision was made not to administer anymore epidural as I needed to feel the pain to push apparently, even though I felt I had a good feel for all those pushing muscles. I just think it was because they didn't want to waste a new bag of epidural juice for only 45 minutes of pain. Within no time, all the epidural reserves in my body were depleted and all I wanted was for this baby to come. She was still quite high up in the birth canal, so it took a good 45 minutes to convince her to come. Bryn quickly left his news reporting job to give me his full attention, to be that full on birthing partner. He thought he was off the hook this time! From having felt nothing to feeling major pushing contractions was quite a shock for my system. My temperature was being constantly checked, as it was on the rise. By the time it hit 38.6, I was immediately given antibiotics via the drip. Once Sophie got moving down the birth canal, she slid out quite easily, with a bit, no, a lot of gusto from me. At 16:11, she made her grand entrance with the cutest little cry. We spent some time bonding and oohing and aahing and taking in this most precious experience. All 3.82kg and 50cm of her.

About ten minutes later, the paediatrician introduced herself to us and told us that they needed to keep us at the hospital for a minimum of 3 days, as Sophie needed to be on a course of anitbiotics due to an elevated heart rate during the final moments of labour and my fever. They wanted to administer this medication as a precautionary measure, as it wasn't clear whether the fever from me caused an infection for her or vice versa. We felt so well taken care of by the brilliant medical team at Bronovo hospital in Den Haag. I am grateful for the time we spent in the hospital, as it gave me a chance to recover a bit, sleep a lot and enjoy 24 hour assistance from nurses and doctors. I was able to familiarise myself with mothering a newborn again and gearing up for life at home with 3 children. It worked out perfectly. Once Sophie had received her full 3 day course, we were free to go home. Hooray! The weather couldn't have been more perfect while we were hospital bound. 23 degs, beautiful blue skies and sunshine...at least I got to enjoy watching it all from the window.

Settling back into life at home has been gradual. The girls spent the night with the Reese's and my kraamzorg nurse was here all day. She scrubbed the bathroom and toilets, did the vacuuming, cleaned the kitchen, and did anything I needed her to do basically. Bryn did the grocery shopping and treated me to some yummy lunch. He's been the handyman too, running around the Hague buying light bulbs, a replacement dishwasher and general odds and ends. The girls returned home this afternoon with gorgeous quilts that Natalie and Tanner had made and embroidered for them. They had had a great sleep over and were very excited to return to their baby sister and show her off to their friends. Savannah kept 'accidentally' talking loudly in the hopes Sophie would wake up to play. The gift of sisterhood is something truly special to witness. Bryn and I are so grateful to a loving Heavenly Father for such a beautiful gift.

Here is a play by play in pictures.