Our New Baby

We are very happy to announce the birth of our baby girl, Clara Brielle. It has only been five days since she was born, and already it is hard to imagine what it was like without her in our family.
So here is a little bit about the day she came into our lives.
My labor went very fast. From the very first contraction until the time she arrived was a total of three hours.
I woke up at 1:45 feeling a little crampy. I tried not to think much of it, because I didn't want to get my hopes up. About 15 minutes later I rolled over and it felt like I peed my pants a little. About 15 minutes later, at 2:15am, contractions started and were on average 3-4 minutes apart. Kirk wanted to rush out the door right away, but I felt like we still had time. We kept debating back and forth about what we should do with Luci. My friend who offered to watch Luci was also 9 months pregnant and I felt so bad waking her up to watch Luci. At one point decided that we would take Luci with us and hope that she would go back to sleep. At 3:15am my contractions increased in pain and length, so I agreed we could go in. At that moment I also decided that taking Luci was a bad idea so I gave our friends a call (I am so glad we did too). After getting out the door and dropping Luci off, we arrived at the hospital at 4:30am. They put me in my room and, probably assuming they had plenty of time, didn't come back in for another 20 minutes. When they finally came in, I informed them right away that I wanted an epidural and they started getting the paper work ready. At that point I was dilated to a 5 and 100% effaced. The contractions started getting worse and I asked how much longer it would be until the anesthesiologist would arrive. The nurse said "oh, we have called them yet." At that point I started worrying that I wasn't going to get an epidural. About five minutes later my contractions became increasingly painful and I was having a hard time breathing through them. At that same time I felt an uncontrollable urge to push. I remember thinking, "Oh no I am going to poo everywhere". Then I thought "I don't care if I pooh everywhere I just need to push". The nurse decided that she better check to see where things were at, and sure enough, it wasn't poop coming out, but a baby. She said, "looks like you won't be getting an epidural." I think I wanted to slap her at that point, luckily I was in too much pain to move. They called the doctor in and about 15 minutes later she was born. The whole time I was pushing I was too scared to look. I was afraid that if I looked she wouldn't be as far out as she felt, and I would give up. I also couldn't help but think about the pioneers who had 10 kids naturally and with half of them dying(I could have never been a pioneer). I also thought about those crazy people who choose to go without an epidural. At the point when my pain had reached it's all time peak and I thought I couldn't go on anymore, she came out. Wahoo, for fast deliveries! I tore in two places, and could feel them stitching me up. Though, after giving birth pain like that felt like a paper cut.
It felt so good to have my little girl in my arms and meet her for the first time. One of the first things I noticed was the dimple in her cheek. She has them on both sides, but the one on her right cheek is deeper. She has bigger lips then Luci did too, and an excellent pout. When they took her from me for a few minutes to check her out, she stuck out her bottom lip and cried. I started talking to her and she turned her head in my direction and calmed down. It made me feel so good! My first motherly moment with her.
So that's how it all went. In the future we will always have to live close to the hospital. I'm not sure if I will try it without an epidural again (although I might not have a choice). I guess with fast deliveries I am equipped to have them naturally. I hear about people who go without them and push for 3 hours, and I know I wouldn't have survived if that happened to me.
I feel so grateful for my two daughters and the miracle of birth. I love being a Mom!

4:30 am Arriving at the hospital


5:21am She's here!



6lbs 11.5oz 21" long

Sisters. Luci is a wonderful big sister and loves helping me out with Clara.

Going home. After being switched around to four different rooms and spending one sleepless night we decided to head home a day early. This is the outfit I wore home from the hospital when I was born, and also the outfit we brought Luci home in.