Hailey Hope Castro

We are completely in love with our new little girl. Her arrival was a bit different than any of her sisters. Here is a little of her story and some pictures too.

I had more contractions leading up to this labor than ever before. I had a few times when I woke up thinking this was it...only to get up and have the contractions taper off. This past Tuesday night I woke up after about an hour of sleep to a contraction. They proceeded to come every now and then, nothing regular and not unusual. But they did keep me up all night long. In the morning, after a few more hours of irregular but fairly strong contractions, Dave, Kelly and I went to the doctor's office. Before I knew it I was being rolled over to the hospital at almost 7cm. The big change in this story is that I did get an epidural! After going completely natural with all my other 4 labors, my doctor and nurse convinced me to give it a try. I was completely exhausted from being up all night and quite frankly just didn't want to go through transition and then the pushing (my least favorite part). And it really was the Lord that I ended up getting it.

It turned out that Hailey was facing the wrong direction. Instead of face down, she was sunny side up. The doctor told me, I would most likely have to push harder, longer and was more prone to tear. That was all I needed to hear to know that it was God's kindness that lead me to get the meds! On top of that the doctor actually turned the baby while I was pushing and, let's just say, that would have probably sent me through the roof if I hadn't had any pain relief.

I have to say it was a great experience and Dave's opinion is that it was the most peaceful delivery. There are pros and cons both ways of natural vs. meds, but this time I think the pros far outweighed the cons, hands down...just ask my husband!

We had a few names we were debating on, and as usual for us, it was the last minute that we decided. However, I knew if it was a girl I wanted the middle name to be Hope. Since Alivia, we have learned more than ever, what it means to hope in God and His promises. We have grown more in our confident expectation of God's promises and of our eternity with Him.

Here are some pictures from Hailey's birth and meeting her family for the first time...

Labor...

This is the only picture I have of my big belly...I never got around to taking a belly shot in the last few weeks. Thanks to my sister for taking all these pictures.









Meeting her sisters (Thanks to Kristen for these shots)...






















Getting ready to leave the hospital...



Coming home...

Pictures from here on out might, unfortunately might be a little scarce...my camera broke the day we arrived home with Hailey. An extreme disappointment for me. But I'm sure I'll manage to borrow my sister's soon to capture some more memories.