{the story of anna claire!}

so, like a lot of moms...i love to hear about how their labor/delivery went when they have their babies. and like a lot of moms-i love to share it! but to start off, here's a short recap of my other two deliveries:

ian:
grapevine, tx.
dr. coulter-smith.
8lb 8oz
21 inches
at 40 weeks pregnant, we scheduled to be induced the following week. i wanted to go into labor on my own and have that whole experience...however, justin's younger brother was getting married in missouri that next week....we couldn't let him miss the wedding! it's his brother! and he was the best man :)....so my due date was sept. 30. on oct 6 (a tuesday night, not that it matters, but just thought i'd throw that out there), we went in to start the inducing process. i was only about 1-2 cm dilated and maybe 50% effaced at the time. they inserted the cervadil (sp?), then at around 4:00am, they started the pitocin. contractions picked up and then my water broke at around 7:30am. within about a half hour, i had my epidural and was good to go! i continued to labor, but ian's heart rate kept dropping. they had me on oxygen and turning every direction to see if it would help him. by about 1:00pm, i was only about 5cm dilated, and they prepped me that they thought a c-section would be the safest way to get ian into this world (due to how much his heart rate was dropping). so at 2:21pm, we welcomed our first little angel into the world! i ended up getting an infection and had to stay a week in the hospital-no fun....but at least it was our first kid and i didn't have to worry about anyone other than our new sweet boy :)

cecilia:
columbus, tx.
dr. elhammady.
8 lbs 8 oz
20 3/4 inches
at 40 weeks and 1 day, i went in to have my weekly appointment and my doctor told me we could induce that day. i was attempting a vbac (vaginal birth after cesarean), and inducing was risky. but waiting was risky as well b/c we didn't know how big the baby would be and if my body would let a baby through at all! so i was about 2 cm ish/60%effaced and we started the inducing process. i went in on a wednesday afternoon (i took forever to get to the hopsital b/c i was cuddling up my other little baby!). they started the pitocin slowly at about 3:30pm, then took a small break that evening (so i could eat) and picked it up around midnight or so-a little stronger this time. {side note: during this time, justin was flying in from arizona and made it around 11:30pm :) } they broke my water around 7:00am and my contractions got super intense. the downside to a super small hospital is that there was only one anesthesiologist. i got my epidural at almost 10:00am. by 1:00pm i was at 9cm...cecilia was born (via successful vbac) at 6:51pm. we now had a beautiful and perfect daughter and an almost 14 month old sweet little boy!

anna:
tucson, arizona
dr. strickland
8 lbs 1 oz
20.5 inches
at 40 weeks i went to my weekly appointment with the medical group that i had been going to. they are based out of tucson, but came to sierra vista (over an hour away) twice a week. they are considered high-risk, and so was i-since i was going for another vbac. the upside to going to this "group" of doctors? not having to drive to tucson all the time with the kids (justin usually had off, but at the beginning, they came to every appointment). the downside of using a "group" of doctors? not always having the same doctor. at the end of my pregnancy, i saw several different doctors and each doctor had their own 'plan of action' as to how to approach the vbac. ultimately, they don't induce for a vbac...it's too risky. however, there is a little gray area-assuming that i have 'progressed' enough on my own to reduce a good amount of that risk. so at 40 weeks, the doctor stripped my membranes and we set up to have me go to the hopital the next morning. {now, ideally-most of the doctors wanted me to go into labor on my own. but they would NOT let me go past 41 weeks. i also wanted to go into labor on my own (i had yet to do that!), but a bigger part of me was too stressed/concerned with how it would work out with the kids. we have several friends that were 'on call' to help out. justin's mom was going to fly in. my parents were going to drive in. we had lots of options, but i'm such a stupid planner, that it drove me a little crazy not knowing how it would all work out!} i cramped all that day, then started to have contractions that night-nothing unbearable by any means, about 9-10 minutes apart for a long time. justin's mom had time to fly in and be at our house that night and was up with the kids when we were leaving for the hospital that next morning. we were supposed to be in tucson at 9:00am, but apparently tuesday, january 8, 2013 was a rockin' day to have a baby! we had to wait quite awhile, but ended up settled in our room by 11:00am(ish). all the while, i was contracting, getting to be about 7-8 minutes apart. while we were out waiting for our room, a lady comes out to introduce herself as the doctor who would {hopefully} deliver anna. i had never met her-due to the fact that she doesn't work in the office-she was strictly a labor and delivery doctor. so once we are in the room, she checks me and i was about 4.5-5cm and 60%effaced. anna was still pretty high though.....our plan of action was to break my water and then see what happens. they didn't want to throw in any pitocin if they didn't have to.

so, while she's breaking my water, she said that there was meconium (in other words-anna had pooped), and although they didn't seem super worried about it b/c all her vitals and everything seemed great, they were still planning on having the nicu nurses in the room when she was born. i think this went down around noon-noon thirty. i got my epidural soon after :) by 3:30 or so, they came to talk about starting the pitocin. i was about 6cm and 80% at this time. they started the pitocin around 4:15ish. my mother-in-law and parents brought the kids in b/c the nurse said we could have a popsicle party :). so they came in and we were super excited about this, when i told the nurse i felt like i could push. she checked me (kids and dad were behind the curtain :) ) and told me it was time to have a baby! at 5:00pm they took my popsicle, moved everyone out of the room, had me do a practice push, did another practice push, had the doctor come in, had the nicu nurses come in, did another practice push, then the doctor asked justin if he wanted to help-got him scrubbed up, had me do a few more pushes, then at 5:19pm, justin helped pull anna out! pretty cool experience! he actually got to hold her first-covered in all her goop and yumminess, they cut the chord (then the nicu nurses heard her cry and knew they could leave b/c she was fine!), and i got to hold my new baby girl for the first time.

so there's my story of how this new sweet girl made her quick entrance into our lives. we are all so in love-the kids adore her, and even though we have plenty of days that they challenge us more than others (to be expected when their lives have been forever changed!), it is the absolute sweetest thing in the whole world to see how much they love this sweet baby girl!

a huge thank you to my parents and my mother in law who were able to be here when anna was born. knowing that ian and cecilia were in such great hands made this entire experience that much more enjoyable (for me and them!) also, thank you to everyone who called, texted, and sent messages to justin and i....we really appreciate it and love you all!!!