Sarah Jean Ricks

The newest member of Team Ricks was born in April. Weighing in at 8 lb. 6 oz., she seemed to be following after James. But I think she was just retaining water because she weighed 7 10 the next day, so she really was much more like her sisters.

Warning: Birth Story follows

Sarah's entrance into the world was awesome. (here comes the birth story) I wasn't even admitted to the hospital because I was "only" a 5. So we were hanging out in the triage room that has a small bathroom attatched. Two and a half hours later I still hadn't progressed, (I should have been more insistent that I was in good labor and would have the baby in less than 24 hours) and they said I could go to my house or my grandma's house in Alpine (10 minutes away). I said no because I went to the hospital because when I had a contraction I had to concentrate really hard and I was getting irritable --good signs of labor. So then we were walking around and I just wanted to cry because I was so tired, the contractions were getting intense and I was having one every time we passed the nurse's station. I just wanted to get in a tub or shower. I wanted to lie down, so we went back into the triage room and I lay on one side for one contraction, then the other side for another. Then Jarom forced me to get up so they could check me again. I was so afraid of being disappointed but I hoped I was at least a 7 by then, but it had only been 45 minutes since they had checked me. I wanted to urinate before they checked me, just to make it more comfortable. While going I realized I felt like pushing and looked down to see her head, still in the amniotic sac. I called for Jarom, who stuck his head out the door and very calmly said, "Excuse me, Erica (our nurse midwife) could you help us with something for a minute?" Jarom got to cut her chord with a scalpel. He also chose the birth time as 9:47 since no one had looked at the clock. I had gone from thinking that I had 2 more hours of labor and thinking it was going to be the worst to 1 minute later holding my precious baby. Also, I've never had a baby at a 5 1/2 before, with Lizzy I was an 8 and the nurse got to catch her, but a 5 is a personal best! Because she came so fast I bled more than they liked and the shot I got of pitocin hurt the very worst of anything ever. I was yelling and screaming for that part! Hahahaha! OK, I'm done. I do have to admit that while I was walking the halls in what turns out to be transition I thought to myself "why do I tell people that natural is best?" But I can tell you why. Because I walked from the bathroom to the bed seconds after giving birth and didn't have to get an iv or anything.

End Birth Story

Pictures in the hospital (she does look chubby at birth)

About a week or 10 days old.

For a long time she was baby OOWAH or "the pink baby" to James because he has his own doll "blue Sarah", which he carries around a bit, and kicks, and throws, etc.  She is very loved by all her family and we just look at her and say, "she is ridiculously cute".  We hope you agree.