JOHNSON, Party of Six!: SHE....is Finally Here!

Our sweet "surprise" baby!

DAKOTA RAE JOHNSON

Born Friday, February 15, 2013 at 12:14 pm

Weighing 7 lbs 8 oz. & 20.5" long

She is beautiful, healthy and PERFECT!

This was the first pregnancy that I didn't find out the gender...and boy, was I surprised! We had a guessing game going on and not many of us guessed right!

Papa R - guessed Boy, Grandma Jill - guessed Girl she also guessed the weight within 1 oz., Brooks - guessed Boy, Jeslyn - guessed Boy, Jauncee - guessed Boy, Daddy - guessed Girl, Momma - guessed Boy...I think I knew in the back of my mind it was a girl but convinced myself it was a boy becuase Clay needed a playmate! And we needed to even out the numbers in our household. When the doctor said GIRL...at first I wondered why Heavenly Father wanted us to have another girl, but now I can't possibly think of not having her. Love is an amazing thing---how it can literally grow instantly to fill the need for it. It was that way the moment I saw her. There is no way to describe a mother's love. I wonder if all mother's feel this way about their babies. I am guessing that they do.

We expected baby to come a lot sooner than she did. I think she liked her warm cozy little home. I also think she knew we all wanted to be well when she made her debut. I was 11 days past my due date when Dr. Franson finally made me come in for a scheduled induction. Friday morning, Dirk and I got up early and headed to the hospital ready to become parents again. I was a little nervous, but with Dirk by my side I knew everything would go smooth. By the time I got admitted and hooked up to everything it was 8:00 am before they turned the pit on. Upon admittance I was dialated to a good 3 and 50% effaced. Somewhere between 8 and 9 Dirk asked if he could leave to feed the cows as his father was going to go fishing that morning. I was a little bit hesitant to let him go but they said he had a least an hour and a half. I warned him that he had better hurry! It turned out that he didn't have to feed after all and was back within an hour...I was glad! At 10:00 am Dr. Franson came in and broke my water, shortly after this my contractions were fast and hard. I was now a good 4 and warned them I am going to most likely go fast. I don't think they thought I was serious. Shortly thereafter I was able to get an epidural...it seemed like it took him a whole hour to get it in and going and for some odd reason it only worked on the right side. I was in a lot of pain but was trying to be tough and bear the pain as best as I could. Feeling it only on the left was sure better than feeling it all the way through both sides. Dr. Franson came in to check on things and could tell I was in a lot of pain. He checked me again and couldn't believe that I was ready, with a frantic look he told me not to push and to hold on while he got suited up. Dirk was on the couch in a deep sleep; I had to holler at him to get over here by me or he was going to miss the whole thing. Within minutes Dr. Franson was back and I was ready to push...three pushes later our sweet little girl made her debut. She was perfect and so healthy! The doctor was impresesed with how smooth everything went and how healthy she looked for 11 days overdue. Which probably wasn't the case. I held her on my bare skin while they cleaned her up and took care of things down there. She only cried for a moment and as soon as she was warm she stopped. She has such a distinct cry...so girly and sweet. She was so alert. I couldn't stop staring at her--she has the longest fingers and toes, a double chin, and quite a bit of hair which is cinnamon red and a little curly. Life is an absolute miracle. I feel so blessed to be able to experience the miracle of birth and to fully appreciate my divine gift as a woman.

Once the room was cleared out and cleaned up, we had a couple visitors.

Grandma Johnson

Grandma Jill, who came and it was such a treat to have her with us to help take care of me and the kids. Thank you so much Mom. I really enjoyed having you here.

Our 3 kiddos! Who all are so in love with their sister.

And Jessica Hatch. Which we didn't get a picture of. But I was glad to see her.

The immediate recovery was a bit rough. My blood was clotting so they had to put me back into labor to get the contractions going again to help. I was hooked up to the IV until the next morning, which made it hard to get around and get cleaned up. I managed and looked forward to getting to go home with our new little addition.

The girls couldn't wait either! They wanted to hold her immediatly.

And Clay, he has been such a good big brother.

He loves her to pieces!

I didn't have any signs of swollen or puffy anything this whole entire pregnancy. Who knew you could get it afterwards? Not me!

Look how big my baby boy has gotten! It is hard to believe how much they grow in 2 years. He is like one big giant next to Dakota.

While Grandma Jill was still here we gave Dakota her first bath. The girls couldn't wait and had been asking me if we could since the minute I got home. I think they forgot how much babies dislike their first bath. She didn;t do too bad though. Grandma did a good job of keeping her warm.