Claire Elizabeth

We are absolutely thrilled to announce that Claire has FINALLY made her arrival! She didn't make her way into the world with out a fight though, she had to make one last ditch effort to let us know she did not want to come out!

Here are all the details of her arrival....

Short Version: I was induced Sunday night, and after 2.5 hrs of pushing, we decided we needed a c-section if little miss was ever going to come out. :) She was born at 5:38 Monday night.

LOOOOONG version: (really, really long, but a lot of you have asked....)

At my appointment last Wednesday, the doctor and I decided it was time to evict our little lady. :) We knew she was going to be big, and I was getting really uncomfortable, so it was time. Since I was still not dilated at all, they told me to call on Sunday and we would go in to things started. After getting a little bit of run around, they called at 9:00 pm, told us to bring our bags and head on over. I was admitted and they started a medication to help me dilate. I didn't get much sleep on Sunday night, between the anticipation and being checked on all the time, I spent most of the night doing some reading (which I know is something I won't have much time for in the next couple months!). At 7 am on Monday, they started me on Pitocin, and by about 8:30 I had my epidural and was passed out. :) I knew I was going to need my energy, and made Bud deal with anyone that walked in the room. The epidural made me sick, so they gave me some kind of medicine to help that and that helped me get some really good sleep over the next few hours. By 1:15, I was 9.5 cm dilated! The took the next hour to get things ready, and at 2:26 (Bud remembers) I started to push. And I pushed, and I pushed, and I pushed. This kid just did not want to come out. Her head was not going to come through, and after over 2 hrs, I finally looked at the nurse and asked if she was going to come out....her answer was what I knew it would be but not what I was wanting to hear, she didn't think she would be coming on her own....it was time to talk about a c-section. At this point, they had turned my epidural down to half strength to try and help me with the pushing, so not only was I exhausted, I was hurting pretty badly. I continued to push while we got everything figured out, hoping to give it one last ditch effort. I ended up pushing over 2.5 hours. I was really disappointed it had come to this, and had a complete emotional breakdown with Bud, my nurse and 3 doctors in the room. Not the highlight of my day. :) They all felt awful, and were very reassuring, telling me I had done everything I could, she was just a big girl and wasn't going to come the way we wanted her to. After that, everything is kind of blur--they moved really fast to get me to the OR and get this over with. Before I knew it, Claire was out and we were listening to her cry. She was perfect from the beginning, so Bud was able to leave with her while she got cleaned up. It took them a while to get me put back together--I asked a couple times if I was okay, and they assured me I was fine, I had just had a really big baby and it was going to take them a little longer than normal! When I was finally wheeled to the recovery room, I was shaking so badly from a combination of being freezing and all the drugs in me, it was still a while before I could hold her, which of course killed me, but she was quite content snuggled up with her Daddy.

I am continuing to feel better every day, and have not been in nearly as much pain as I was expecting, which is always a good thing. Tuesday morning, I had the most AWFUL headache I have had in probably years (which says a lot considering the amount of headaches I get), but once that was under control I was feeling good. Bud has been amazing taking care of both of us. It is very clear that he loves his girls very much...we are both so lucky to have him. Since we both were doing so well, we were able to be released from the hospital Wednesday afternoon, and we are very happy to be home together and beginning this part of our life. We are amazed at what our love has made, she is truly an amazing blessing and we couldn't be happier.

Enough blabbing....here's some pictures and a video...

Our big girl!


Our first family photo---yes, I was quite drugged at this point :)

Pretty in Pink!

Ready to go home!

Our attempt to get a quick picture of our whole family. :)

For one of my shower gifts, I was given this dog and a picture book with a spot to put a picture of her every month until she is one to watch how big she gets compared to the dog. Very cute idea, and we got the first picture taken today.

We went back to the hospital today to have Claire weighed and have her jaundice level checked again. She didn't have any issues while we were there and still checked out perfect.

We are planning on giving her a bath tonight, so check back tomorrow for pictures of that. :)