a baby story....

ready for a story....warning: this is the long version for my minds sake. if you want a shorter one, call me.

the beginning:
lets start on Tuesday,the 31st, my due date. I had a dr. appointment that day, so i got up, hoping for a good report with some progress. I had been dilated to a 1.5-2 for the past two weeks, and was very hopeful for some good progress, since i thought i had been feeling some more contractions than usual. So i got up, jogged 1.5 miles on the treadmill...hoping i could bounce her out of me, then got ready and headed to the doctor. Doc came in, wondering when this baby was going to come...checked me, only to say..."yeah, you've made some progress, your at a good 2 +, but not quite a 3, and still not all the way thinned" Then i had her strip my membranes a little bit to see if that would help at all....oh AWESOME, what notable progress i had made. needless to say, i was quite disappointed. scheduled my appointment for the following week and left, feeling like i was going to be pregnant forever. Now, i wasn't necessarily upset because she hadn't come yet, all along i thought i would probably go over my due-date, i was more bummed because i was making no progress. I left the office, made my phone calls to all my anxious friends and family waiting to hear how it went and how much progress i had made....again, all i could say was "i think i will pregnant forever." Thankfully, i was still feeling really good and still quite comfortable so i didn't have too much to complain about.

Then....that night came. Chase and I went to bed really really late, and for some reason both had a hard time falling asleep. i honestly think i feel asleep around 1-1:30 that morning, getting up to go to the bathroom twice from that time until 3 am. Right after i went to the bathroom at 3, i laid back down in bed and felt like i had to go again, so i stood up, and thats when i noticed that my water had just broken, or at least i thought it did. It was not a substantial amount of water by any means, so i laid back down for a bit to see if the same thing would happen next time i stood up, and sure enough it did. I was in complete shock. I laid there for a bit trying to sort it all out, and notice my contractions, which i could tell were about 8-9 minutes apart. I hadn't had any contractions worth timing, so i was excited when these were consistent. I waited just a bit to wake chase up to tell him, and when he did, he was shocked as well, and kept asking if i was sure my water had broken, and if these were real contractions. I knew i wanted to labor at home for as long as possible, but really didn't now how my body would react, or how fast or slow things would progress. Chase called his mom around 4:30 to tell her, and she too joined the "shock" club. (honestly, everyone, including myself thought i still had 7-10 days left of being pregnant). We told her to hold off on coming down for a bit and that we would let her know when to come. I got up and tried to shower and get the rest of our things together, and as soon as i was up and moving and not laying in bed, my contractions sped up to about 4-5 minutes apart. Kathy got her around 6:30, and we just talked about babies and labor and whatnot for little bit, before chase and i decided to take off to the hospital.

The Hospital...
We got checked into the hospital and ready to go around 8:15-ish, and we were both anxious to know what kind of progress i was making, but didn't want to rush anything and chance being disappointed that i was only dilated to a 3 or something. They put us in one room, but said they would be moving us to a bigger labor and delivery room as soon as it got all cleaned and ready...so we waited, for what seemed like a very long time. We walked the halls a bit and just took it easy for a while. Once they moved us to the bigger room, I thought they would check me to see where i was, but they didn't for a while. Finally, after what seemed like forever, i asked her to check me (at about 10:30 am), and she said i was at a 5. I was doing good, pain was increasing, but still not unbearable...and i wanted to try and go as long as possible without any meds, with the hope of going all the way. so for the next little while, i just bounced on the big exercise ball, walked around and tried to avoid laying in the bed as much as possible, because the contractions were much worse when i was just laying there with nothing to distract me....at about 11:45 i had a switch of nurses, so they had to hook me up to the monitors to make sure everything was alright, at that point i asked her to check me, she did, i was at a 7, and in quite a bit of pain, but said, if this baby is not out by 1 pm i am getting an epidural for sure because i knew i couldn't make it another whole hour. just minutes after that, i felt the urge to push and made the nurse check me...sure enough i was a 9 and pretty much ready to roll. My dr. came in quickly and then it was time. I had absolutely NO IDEA what i was in for. I wasn't totally prepared for a natural labor, i knew i wanted to do it, and had made it through my contractions thus far, but this, this was a whole new ballgame, one i had done no training for. I had a fabulous nurse who helped me through each contraction and i think i had about 4 contractions that i had to push through and then she was here. It hurt like hell while i was pushing, but the amazing thing was, as soon as they laid that purple little body on me, i forgot about it all, i couldn't remember how terribly bad that hurt, or really even what just happened, all i knew was that miracle was laying on my belly, in all her perfection. I was so grateful for a good nurse, a great dr., and a supportive husband who helped me through that. It all went by so fast (thankfully) and even though it was hands-down the hardest thing i've ever done, it was worth every second, knowing that i had all that control of my body and i was bringing this angel to this earth. Quite an amazing experience!!

About the little lady...
she weighed in at 8 lbs. and was 21 inches long, born at 12:07 pm. She was born on her Grandma Kathy's birthday, and we had kinda said all along that if she happen to be born on that day we would name her middle name after her grandpa. so, Claire Kathleen Jones it is. We are so in love with her. It is strange what the heart can do, i thought all the love i had was given to Preston, and then she entered into our world, and i love her just as much.

and now, were home and doing well. Preston didn't have the slightest amount of interest in her at the hospital, the room was much too cool to give baby sister any attention. He still isn't so sure what is going on and has spent a good amount of time at Kathy's and my moms house so i am sure he will get used to it once he gets back and settled at home. He will go on where he just wants to kiss and love her, but then he turns back into the wild 18 month old that he is. He however, is not so little anymore, and looks like a total giant next to baby Claire. Its still quite unreal to us that she's here. all along this whole pregnancy its been kinda surreal...probably because i didn't really feel pregnant hardly at all, and we were consumed with Preston. So we keep looking at each other asking if this is really happening and if she is really ours. and she is, and we couldn't be happier.
We've been busy and happy with visitors for the last few days, so i will post more pics of her first few days of life when i get around to it. for now, i'm enjoying this little family of 4 that i've got.