She's Here!!!!

Claire Victoria Walker made her unexpected arrival on Wednesday, June 10th at 9:56pm!  She was 6 lbs 11 oz and 20 inches long.  She looks just like her big sister Malea as a baby, even down to the stork bite on her forehead.  We are so in love!

I'm going to type out the birth story to document it and put it at the end, if you are interested in reading it feel free :)

She was pretty gunky when she was born, they said since she was a little bit early (she was born at 38 weeks and 2 days) that the vernux (sp?) was thicker. 

First time holding her, skin to skin :)

We both couldn't get over how much she looks like Malea!

First bath!

Much happier under the warmer :)

Big sister and brother were DYING to come meet her!!  They couldn't wait!

SO excited to meet baby sister!!

I can't believe I have 3 kids!!!  I love these 4 so much! (I somehow spaced taking a family of 5 picture at the hospital, we'll have to take one sometime soon)

We gave each of the kids a gift from Claire with a special note (we did the same thing for Malea when we had Isaac).  Isaac got a little T-ball set and Malea got a fun new sprinkler.

First time meeting Grandpa Dave

Meeting Grandma Vicki and Grandpa Rick

Some candid shots of Claire during my hospital stay

Our first impressions of Claire:

-Looks SO much like Malea as a baby!

-Loves to be cuddled

-Has a stork bite on her forehead (just like Malea did), and a little on her nose

-Has lots of hair!  Especially in the back

-Very good-natured, as long as she has food in her belly

-Has really long feet! (gets that from her mama)

-Feels like she was meant to be in our family all along! 

Such an angel!!

Getting ready to go home!

 

Claire in her "Lil' Sis" onesie to go with the older kids :)  it was big on her, she's definitely my smallest baby!

The pretty flowers my mom brought me!

And the darling car seat canopy she made me!

Claire's Birth Story:

I was supposed to be induced on June 17th, but Claire had her own plans :)  She must have heard my pleas for help because I was so miserable at this point!  At about 4:30am on the 10th I was woken up by a painful contraction that made me have to go to the bathroom (sorry TMI).  I then had contractions every 10-15 minutes from then on for about 5-6 straight hours and felt icky/nauseous all day.  I have been induced with my other two kids and have never gone in to labor on my own so this was a new experience for me!  Then I hit a point where the contractions slowed way down and all but stopped.  I was only have one every half hour to 45 minutes.  I got really discouraged because I got everything ready thinking we'd be going to the hospital, and put my mom and Keith on alert.  Keith wasn't sure whether to go in to work or not (he was working 9-5pm that day as opposed to his normal 1-10pm schedule because Malea had a cheer performance that night).  I told him to go ahead and go so that he didn't waste a day of work just sitting around.  I figured it was a false alarm but I still felt icky so I mostly laid in bed all day.  

At about 4:30pm that afternoon the contractions started to pick back up again.  I didn't want to get my hopes up since it seemed like it was a false alarm before. {Its interesting because at that same time a low pressure storm blew in, and the nurses at the hospital said that they always see more deliveries when there's a storm like that}.  Like I mentioned, Malea had a cheer performance that night at 6pm and had to be at the high school by 5:30pm.  The contractions were coming every 8-10 minutes and they were starting to get painful.  I was trying to get Malea ready for her cheer thing and meanwhile I was feeling so nauseous and in a lot of pain.  It was kind of crazy because I wasn't sure if I should even try to make it to the cheer thing or not and I was having to get both kids in the car at the same time.

Here she is for the record :)  such a cutie!   

 

Keith and my mom were meeting me at the high school coming straight from work.  I texted Keith and said I wasn't sure if I could stay for her performance or not.  Once they got there I felt ok and decided to stay long enough to watch her perform and then we would head to the hospital (I had my suitcase in the car and everything).  We were able to pull the car up right to the football field thankfully and I just watched it from the car (I couldn't even imagine walking up bleachers!). Once she performed I said goodbye to the kids and my mom took them while Keith and I went to the hospital. {It was funny because later that night after I had her I posted pictures on facebook and people were like, "I just saw you at the cheer performance!"}

Once we got to the hospital they took me into a temporary room to be observed for an hour (because I wasn't 39 weeks they had to prove I was in labor to justify keeping me).  We got there at about 7:00pm.  At my checkup on Monday (two days before) he said I was about 1-2 cm dilated and 70-80% effaced.  By Wednesday night (delivery day) when they first checked me I was 4.5cm and after an hour of being observed I progressed to 5.5cm.  Just laying there for that one hour my contractions started getting really painful.  Once they decided they were keeping me the nurse said they just had to turn over a room and then we could move to the new room and I could get my epidural.  It felt like it was taking and eternity and I was starting to get worried that I wasn't going to get my epidural in time!  I was in enough pain that they had to move me to the new room in a wheelchair because I couldn't walk.  

Once we got to the new room, which was probably about 8:30pm, the anesthesiologist came to start my epidural.  The epidural was not a fun experience!  The contractions were really painful and it was really hard to sit still for him to do it.  He had to poke me three times.  Keith left the room because he gets squeamish around needles. The first and second times he put it in it zinged me down the nerve on my left side and it really hurt.  Then he moved it up and it was ok after that.  My sweet nurse had to help me calm down because it was so hard to hold still in the position he needed me to be in (Indian style on the bed, hunched over with my back rounded out and my shoulders hunched over....yeah, not easy with a big belly and feeling horrible contractions).  However....I only numbed on my left side!  They kept saying that the epidural would spread to my right side and they even tipped me a little bit to see if it would help my right side.  I got a little tingly in my right leg but it was definitely not numb!  They also said that maybe I was too far progressed and that the epidural wasn't keeping up with the pain.  Well even after I had her the epidural never numbed my right side and the left side didn't stay numb that long.  It was very frustrating and a little scary!  Having the epidural for the left side did take the edge off but I felt A LOT of the labor.  I wouldn't say I did it naturally but it was pretty close!

Once I got the epidural they checked me and I was a 7.5cm.  So just in the half hour or so it took to get hooked up and to get the epidural I progressed quite a bit.  Unfortunately my doctor was out of town so the on call doctor, Dr. McCarter, came to deliver the baby.  I felt like I really needed to pee, so the nurse was going to give me a catheter right when the doctor walked in saying he was going to break my water.  I warned them that once my water breaks things progress fast.  He broke my water and I instantly felt TONS of pressure.  I basically progressed to a 10 within a couple of minutes. Keith was texting my mom and dad, and my mom said that each minute he texted her I had dilated another centimeter. This is when things got crazy because my epidural wasn't doing much so I was in so much pain!  I was pretty much one of those crazy people on the movies who was screaming out during labor. Keith had come back in after the epidural was done but he had to walk out again because he said he couldn't see me in so much pain like that.  After the doctor broke my water he left the room and then the nurse said she would hurry and do my catheter (because at this point I could still feel the urge to pee....yeah, wasn't that numb).  After the catheter was done she was ready to come out like right.now.  I screamed and the doctor came running back in from the nurses station.  They were scrambling to get everything ready, pulling out the stirrups and getting the doctor suited up.  Meanwhile I was crying out in pain and probably making a big scene haha.  Once they were ready I pushed two times on one contraction, took a break, and then on the next contraction I pushed once, then on the next one she was here!  It was crazy quick!  It all happened so fast it was like I couldn't even process it.  Keith had been standing at the nurses station watching my contractions on the monitors.  As soon as he heard the baby cry he ran back in.  I was just in shock of what had happened and was shaking/shuddering really hard.  I don't think I stopped shaking for like 2 hours!  From the time we got to the hospital from the time she was born it was about 3 hours.  So crazy!  Dr. McCarter made the comment (and I have heard this before from my regular doctor) that if my water ever breaks before I get to the hospital that I'm going to end up having my baby at home! (or heaven forbid in the car!).  

We're so grateful that she got here safe and sound and that mom and baby are doing well!  We are so blessed!