Thursday, November 27, 2008

Our Sweet Little Sarah

Here are some pictures of our sweet little Sarah. It is hard to believe that one week ago our lives changed forever. Our family is feeling more complete and our hearts couldn't be more filled with love and thanks for our sweet little family. She is such a beautiful little angel and her big brother couldn't be more sweeter to her. Alex loves to give hugs and kisses to his little sister, but I can't help but think that he is wondering why she isn't going "home" at the end of the day...
These pictures were taken about 3 days ago and she continues to change daily.
Be forewarned, Sarah's birthing story follows:
Here is the story behind the arrival of our sweet little one.
On Tuesday the 18th of November, I went to the doctor hoping that I would have progressed and would be well on my way. When he said that I was still a two, I was a little disappointed because I was really excited to finally meet the new baby that would join our family. I always thought that our baby would come early, I just didn't think that it would come this early. All week I had had the feeling that I should pack my bag to be ready to go to the hospital. Lesson learned, when prompted, act on that prompting.
Everything was normal on Wednesday, I cleaned the house, made bread, fixed dinner and enjoyed an evening with my husband. We went to bed about 11 p.m. and at about 12:45 I got up to go to the bathroom. As I got out of bed, I said "uh-oh" I don't think I made it to the bathroom. It took me a minute to realize what had happened. I came back to the bed and woke Eric up and said that my water broke and that we needed to go to the hospital. I quickly made arrangements for a friend, Trisha, to watch Alex and then started packing a bag for the hospital. We then dropped Alex off and ran a quick trip to Walmart to pick up some batteries for our camera. We arrived at the hospital and then I went to triage to get checked out. The nurse confirmed the rupture of my water, said that I was dilated to 3 cm and said that I had my ticket to stay the night. The contractions were getting stronger, but not anything that I couldn't handle. They got me set-up in a labor and delivery room and began the whole process of checking me in and getting me hooked up to the machines and IVs.
They checked me when they finished the process and then I was 4 cm. By now it was about 2:30 and things were going well. They continued to monitor me and about 15 minutes later I was 5 cm. I opted for pain medication through an IV, but they couldn't give it to me after I reached 7 cm. I said that I wanted it and she left the room and came back about 5 minutes later and was going to hook me up, but decided to check me again. I was now a 7. She said that she couldn't give it to me now. She asked if I wanted an epidural, and I remembered when I had Alex that it took about 45 minutes to get the epidural, so I opted not to get it. I was going for it. I always thought that if it got too bad then I could get one later.
They kept on checking me and I was progressing very quickly. I was 9 cm and fully effaced. About 5 minutes later I was 10 and was feeling the urge to push. They had already called the doctor on call and he was on his way. Because I was progressing so quickly, the labor and delivery nurses had already called the ER doctor to try and come up and deliver my baby. They were worried that I would be delivering without a doctor present. They kept telling me to breathe and not to push. I kept alternating between pleading to push and giving ultimatums that I would be pushing now. The contractions were coming so quickly all I wanted to do was push. It was probably about 10 minutes of telling me not to push and the doctor finally showed up. He got ready and I asked if I could push he said to go ahead an push and out she came on the very first push. The hardest part of the labor was waiting for the doctor to show up so I could push.
We didn't know if we were having a boy or a girl and we were excited to find out that we had a baby girl. Sarah Anne was ready to come to our family and we couldn't be more excited and privileged to be her parents. We loved you from first sight.



12 comments:

4Girls4Me said...

Thank you, thank you, thank you for the pictures!!!! We all sat around the computer to look at her! She's beautiful. So perfect. I wish I could be there to hold her! She's gorgeous. Alex is so cute and such a big boy. Congratulations to all of you. What a fun Thanksgiving!! Enjoy that tiny little one and love on her lots for us! :)

4Girls4Me said...

I love her cozy little blanket! I'm so sad that I can't be there! That's so mean of you guys to keep having babies so far away!! We have snow in Colorado today... :)

Weston and William's Blog said...

SO CUTE!!! Wow! Congratulations, she is so beautiful! You guys have a lot to be thankful for!!

the watkins said...

I love all the pictures! WOW... Great birth story. I still must be a little weird from having the baby, because hearing your story made me just want to do it all again. I seriously think giving birth is the most amazing, awesome experience! And so exciting to have her there for Thanksgiving!

jess said...

congratulations erica! what a wonderful early surprise! she is adorable and you are amazing! i dont know how anyone does it without medicine! looks like you got the big boy bed just in time!

Karyn said...

I can't believe how much hair Sarah has! I think that she was born with more hair than Clara has right now at almost 1 year old! I am jealous. She is so cute! I wish my labor was as fast and as early as yours was. I am glad that everything went well, but I am sorry that you had to wait for the doctor. What a pain! Ha! Ha! She will bring you such joy. What a happy holiday season for you! Get some sleep and cuddle her all you can. They grow up way too fast!

123 checkoutourfamily said...

She's absolutely beautiful and I'm so glad we got to go visit you and hold her. It's been so long since I've held a baby that little. Thank you for being so quick to let us hold her. I was surprised that you offered as soon as we walked in the door. I don't like to ask moms b/c they may not feel comfortable letting others hold their baby...especially right away.

Oh, by the way, we have Alex's little bear. I've been meaning to drop it by and haven't. Hope ya'll had a great Thanksgiving!

Ash said...

Loved the story! I laughed about giving ultimatums about pushing. I can totally relate! She's so cute and looks like you.

Julia said...

I just loved the pictures. She is SO cute! Crazy labor story..that was FAST! And WAY TO GO on doing it without an epidural! I could never do it. Your superwoman!

Unknown said...

congrats, I love the details and I hope you are recovering well. She is such a sweet baby, so cute.

Kimberly said...

Congratulations! Those are the cutest pictures. I can't believe you waited for the doctor.
On my last baby the doctor showed up 3 minutes too late.

Mel said...

How sweet!!!!! Congrats!!!