Our second and newest little girl finally made her appearance Wednesday in the early morning. I wanted to finally write down her birth story and share some pictures.
Here I am after we got checked in waiting to get hooked up to moniter Clara's heart rate and my contractions. I tried smiling for the camera but I was very uncomfortable, as you can see.
Right after little Clara was born, screaming the whole time. (I'm shushing her, trying to calm her down.)
Here she is, much smaller than our other two.
Proud daddy!
Sleeping peacefully.
Family shot.
The one thing that kept Dylan busy the whole time, playing with his new motorcycle toy in the window.
Kaylin was very interested in helping and adores her new little sis!
Now for the story:
As most of you know, Clara was overdue and we were just waiting for some sign that she was on her way, but there just didn't seem to be any. I was nervous because we were supposed to deliver up in Roseville, about 45 minutes north of us and given my fast delivery with Dylan, I thought there was a good chance that Clara would come quick too and that we wouldn't even make it to the hospital. With all of this to consider we decided to stay with my parents who are only about 20 minutes away from the hospital. We felt better being closer and the kids loved staying at their grandparents but we were hoping that we wouldn't be staying too long and that Clara would make her arrival soon.
We moved in Sunday night, the 26th and by Tuesday, with nothing really happening I was beginning to wonder if she was ever going to come out! I had a doctor's appointment Tuesday afternoon and after my exam (the doctor stripped my membranes in hopes of getting labor started) I felt some mild contractions starting. I wasn't getting too excited though because I'd been having braxton hicks off and on for several days. By Tuesday evening the contractions were starting to get a bit more painful and somewhat more regular so I thought that labor could maybe be only a few days off, if not maybe the next day. I warned my parents and Tim that Wednesday could be the day and while putting the kids to bed I told Kaylin that mommy and daddy might be going to the hospital soon to have the baby.
By nighttime I realized that things were going to happen sooner and that most likely we'd have another middle of the night delivery, just like with Dylan. I tried going to bed but couldn't relax with the contractions, which were about every ten minutes. So I went out to watch some tv to take my mind off the contractions. When things started to intensify I started timing the contractions and by 12:30 they were about 7 minutes apart. I waited about half an hour and decided by 1:00 that I should start getting things ready to go. I got dressed, and i'll be honest, put some makeup on (gotta look good for the all the pictures). I woke Tim up and told my parents that we were heading off to the hospital. We got to the hospital in only about ten minutes (I told Tim to speed things up when I started feeling pressure already). We got checked in, started monitering and got checked to see how dilated I was. (I was a 4 so they told me I was staying.) The contractions were getting pretty strong and close together and I knew I wanted to avoid an epidural but was hoping I would get some IV meds like I had with Dylan, to take the edge off the pain. We finally moved into the labor and delivery room where I was required to lay down so that the nurse could get my iv's started. I really didn't like this because that makes the contractions that much harder to bear and I really wanted to get up and move around a bit. After what was probably a half an hour or so of some pretty painful contractions (I was pretty much screaming through them) the midwife came in to check my progress again. We were all a bit surprised when she checked and I was already a 9 and so she asked if I wanted her to break the water and have the baby. I enthusiastically said yes and so she went ahead and broke the water. She told me that when I felt ready to push to let her know and as she was walking away to get her gown on I yelled, "I need to push!" (Tim later told me that made him laugh because I sounded so desperate.) I pushed with the next contraction and a moment later they were telling me that she was out! I was a bit in disbelief but so glad I was done and that she was out. She was born at 3:10 am, just about three hours after my labor really started going at around midnight.
The nurses put Clara on my chest right away, which was a wonderful experience, even though she was screaming the whole time. I tried to see if she wanted to nurse and she latched right away. We got to hold her awhile before doing a lot of the procedures and I finally asked if they could weigh her because I was so curious after all the months of doctor's appointments and being told that she was growth restricted. She weighed in at 7 pounds and 1 ounce and was 19 inches long, so definitely smaller than Kaylin and Dylan but still healthy. We were so relieved and thankful that everything turned out well and that Clara was healthy. So thanks to everyone who prayed for us and our baby girl!
I will update later on how we're all doing as a now family of five because this post has taken too long to write already!
