introducing claire

Our new baby girl has arrived! Claire Isabella was born at 9:45am on October 24th. She was 7lbs 13oz and 20" long.



It was a wonderful birth...the following is her birth story:

6am woke to what I thought were Braxton Hicks contractions. Tried going back to sleep for half an hour before deciding to just get up for the day. I figured a shower would stop them, but they continued. They weren't any big deal, I could easily walk and talk, but I decided to time them just for the fun of it. They were coming every minute and a half for 30-40 seconds. By 7:30, they were getting just a touch stronger, requiring a little more attention, so I decided to call the doctor to see what they thought. I had my 39 week appt scheduled for 9:50am where they were planning on checking my progress and deciding on an induction date for later in the week. I started wondering if I would make that appt.

The midwife on call said to go ahead and come down to L&D to get checked out. I was on the fence about whether Jeremy should go to work or just go to the hospital with me. I was afraid the contractions would peter out in the car on the way. My mom had gotten into town a couple days prior, so I just decided to have her drive me, and have Jeremy go to work, and I would call when I knew what was going on.

The contractions ended up getting more intense in the car, and by the time I got to the hospital around 8:30am, I was having to hold onto the wall or counters and concentrate through them. I could still talk and walk through them, but it was getting more difficult. I was checked in, escorted up to L&D, and given a room. I changed into my gown, then got hooked up to the monitors and got a IV put in for the antibiotics. The midwife came in to check me at 9am, and I was 4cm and 90%. I called Jeremy to tell him to come to the hospital. While waiting, the contractions were starting to hurt more. I had to breathe through them and concentrate on relaxing my body. Jeremy arrived at 9:15am.

Once he was there, I decided to try walking around. As soon as I stood up, I got hit with a super-contraction. OMG, I had to use Jeremy to remain standing up. With the next one, I felt pressure and knew I needed to have a BM (TMI!). I stayed in the bathroom for two contractions before I felt baby pressure and knew I had to get back to the bed.

I told Jeremy to get someone quick, and when they checked I was ready to go. The midwife said to just do what my body felt like doing. I had one or two more contractions, then my body decided it was time to push. Four pushes later, Claire was born.

My water never did break...she was born with the bag of water intact (known as being "born in the caul" if you want to google it). Very rare, and in some cultures, the baby is thought to be destined for greatness.

Since my labor was so fast, I didn't have time to get the recommended/required 2 rounds of antibiotics (GBS+), so we had to stay the full 48 hours to make sure Claire didn't get sick. She didn't, and in fact is the first of my kids to not have even a touch of jaundice.