Claire's Birthday Pics, Part 1

I've got a bunch of pictures on my phone to add to this post, including more from Claire's first night of life.  Coming soon!

38 weeks, last family of 4 photo

9 cm :)

Bundled up for the ride to the recovery room

Elise and Jack first came to visit on Wednesday at noon.  Talk about the proudest big sister and big brother ever!  They love her.

Elise's first time holding Claire... you have to fight her for a turn :)

Jack's turn, which lasted for about 30 seconds until he announced, "I am done!"  Then he summarized his experience with, "I held baby Claire.  Baby Claire cried (just whimpered).  I told her it was okay."

Many, many attempts at a family photo.  These are representative of real life :)

Hmm, maybe if we confine everyone to the bed we can get a good picture...

Am I really a mother of 3?

Mimi and her granddaughters

Jack's favorite part of the visit was exploring the food trays and climbing all over the bed and "couch"

Jack brought Claire a toy and Elise brought her some new outfits.  Claire gave Jack the Thomas and Friends front loader (named Jack) and gave Elise some dollhouse nursery furniture, which will go with the dollhouse we are giving her for Christmas :)

Mommy and Daddy

On Thursday, Mike picked up Elise from Pre-K, took her to lunch at Panera, and brought her to the hospital to visit while we got ready to go home. 

Ready to go home!

Snug and cozy

Ariel and the Fire Chief had a brief (2 houses) evening of trick or treating.  

More pictures to come!

Claire is here!

Claire Lucille Powell

10/30/13 at 12:05 am

7 lbs, 4 oz

20.5 inches

Here's a quick rundown of her birth story before I forget the details :)

I had been having contractions around the clock for about 10 days. They were gradually becoming more uncomfortable though I could usually sleep through them at night. They would get closer together and then space back out again.  I was checked at my appointment on Monday the 28th around noon and hadn't made any more progress (still 1 cm and 75% effaced).  I felt pretty yucky all day Monday and then by Monday evening, the contractions started to get "painful". I went to sleep around 9 pm and was woken up by contractions and some wincing and "oww-ing" several times.  Unfortunately, Elise had her turn with the cold that we all passed around, and Mike and Mimi were up quite a bit with her that night.  I got up at 5:45 to take a shift with her on the couch and the contractions were still painful but not coming at regular intervals (20 mins, 8 mins, 15 mins, 6 mins, etc).

By later that morning, I was pretty sure that this was the beginning of the actual labor and it was just a matter of time to see how long it took them to get closer together and regular.  The pain was not going away.  I tried cleaning and running errands to get them closer together.  By 2:00, I decided to go on a walk and after an hour and a half, I was having a hard time walking through the contractions so I called Mike to come home.  By 4:00, they were getting much stronger and closer and by 6:00, they started coming 3-4 minutes apart.  We left for the hospital around 7:30 and they were 2.5-3 minutes apart and lasting about a minute each time.  This was the lovely phase I describe as, "I feel like someone is stabbing me with a knife and twisting it in my stomach with every contraction".  I had long labors with Elise and Jack, and I was only at a 1 the day before, so I wanted to make sure I was going to be dilated enough by the time we got there to be admitted.  Meanwhile, Mike put Jack to bed and we said goodnight to a very excited Elise and Mimi with promises of pictures in the middle of the night.

We got to the hospital (the 10 minute drive was much, much nicer than the 45 minute drive to the hospital when Jack was born) and I was admitted at 4 cm around 8:00 pm.  The receptionist was surprised that we had waited that long with close contractions, but it worked out perfectly.  I opted for the epidural and got it around 9:30 at 5 cm.  Shortly after, my water broke on its own during a contraction.  When my doctor arrived, I was at 6 cm and fully effaced.  By 10 pm, we turned on the TV and watched Person of Interest and then started an episode of Blacklist.  This was the most effective epidural ever!  Imagine our surprise when the nurse came in and checked me around 11:30 and said I was at 9 cm.  We just looked at each other and laughed.  By this point in the other labors, I was so tired and exhausted and in pain (epidurals didn't work very well with E and J) and "disheveled" (Mike's words).  This time, I asked Mike to get my hair brush and lip gloss so I could "get ready" to push.  The nurse then asked me to push a little to see if her head would come farther down.  She quickly asked me to stop and went to get the doctor.  He came in and I pushed twice and she was here!

I've got a ton of pictures on my phone and camera and I'll try to get them all posted before I get totally swamped with new ones.  We are all in love with this sweet little girl!

  

38 weeks

Mimi is here, contractions started a few days ago, and now we are just doing a lot of walking, playing, and waiting for Miss Claire!

Jack wanted to participate in the photo op...

36 weeks

As of today the countdown is 26 days... eeeeks!  I've actually been feeling great this month.  No leg cramps or dizziness like I had with E and J.  I'm so thankful.  I do get pretty tired by the end of the day (okay, maybe by the afternoon), but I think if that's my only complaint, I'm doing pretty good :)  I still get up and walk every morning before the kids wake up, and it really helps loosen up my back.  I've gained another pound or two this month and am up to about 15 lbs total.  I go to the doctor again on Tuesday to check my progress.  My belly measured 34 cm last week at 35.5 weeks, and I haven't started dilating yet (no contractions whatsoever, but I never had them with E or J until labor started) but my cervix is mostly thinned out.  There are a lot of things that I would like to do before Claire arrives, so I need to make a to-do list and start crossing things off.  Elise is SO excited for her baby sister to arrive.  She talks about it all the time.

35 weeks

35 weeks with Cass, who came to visit from Dallas!

36 weeks with Sarah, who came yesterday from Virginia and treated me to a pedicure!  Big thanks to Ross and Mike for holding down the fort with 4 kids at home :)

Obviously, I am running low on clothes at the moment.  It's funny, on the same day last weekend I got the "What, you only have 4 weeks left?  No way, you are tiny!" and the "Oh my goodness, you are about to pop!"  Gotta love the random stranger comments.  Cheers to October and the fall weather!