And eight is enough, lol! In fact, it's just right.

She's here! Little Miss Serene came out all safe and sound with no complications at all. Except for jaundice (and time on a bilibed to lower her bilirubin count - see picture with Serene on a glowing blue bed). And a long labor. Oh, and the emergency C-section, complete with loopy mom. And Serene's mom's spinal headache for days which had said mom flat on her back as much as possible or holding her head onto her neck when she did have to stand or sit. (And yes, that same mom finally went and got a blood patch -- ah, relief!!)

So even though this was my third pregnancy, it held a lot of firsts for me at the end and only at the end. I think someone who knew this would also be my LAST pregnancy didn't want me to miss out on a whole lot of fun that is possible with child birth. =) At east now I can really relate to people who have more problems than I normally did! And I can say that if anyone ever gets a spinal headache, GET THE BLOOD PATCH ASAP. I opted to wait since the anethesiologist said that 90% of people get better on their own within four days. Yeah, didn't happen! Whereas the cure was almost instantaneous. Just my little input here, fyi. =)

Of course, with all that the two best firsts here were definitely Serene's arrival . . . and the fact that I came home 13 pounds lighter with only 13 left to lose before I'm back to pre-pregnancy weight! Yay! I'm actually so excited to be within reasonable distance of my target weight that I honestly have to keep reminding myself I'm forbidden from exercising for the next six weeks (even weight lifting would strain the abs). While I have honestly NO pain from my C-section (just a slight tenderness), I really don't want to push my luck, lol!

And just FYI, yes, the kids have LOVED being able to hold and cuddle Serene since she was released from the bilibed. =) And I love those first pictures of Serene since I was so out of everything at the time, but they still show the results of Steve's helping give Serene her first bath -- even picking out the bow to put in her hair. Ahhh!