Caroline Emma

I do believe it's been QUITE some time since I blogged...Oops. Being a new momma has occupied a little bit of time.

Sweet Caroline was born September 25, 2013 at 9:44 pm after a little less than 4 hours (praise JESUS-He knew that's all I could handle!) of labor.

Caroline was 6 pounds even, 19 3/4 inches long and completely beautiful. I'm still in awe looking back at that day. I worked that day until around 1:00, then headed to my doctor to see if I was anywhere near giving birth yet (considering I was already 5 days past my due date). According to my dr, I had't progressed any in FOUR WEEKS....I cried the entire drive home thinking I'd never ever have this baby. When I got home I felt so defeated. I decided I just was NOT going to cook dinner so I ordered a pizza and prayed my husband would be home in time to answer the door when it got to my house so I didn't have to get up. Pitiful. We started eating and about 2 bites in, my stomach started to hurt. I got up, went to the bathroom. Back to eating dinner I went. Pain again...something felt weird. My husband wondered if this was it and I told him no way, the dr. just said it'd be a while and we scheduled an induction for that weekend. As the pain got worse, I was doubled over and unable to stand but the pains were coming way faster than we learned in our childbirth class. I finally decided we needed to go. (All of this happened in about 10 minutes mind you). We got packed up, I got dressed (in my "Seniors" sweatpants from high school....yes, I was very concerned with how I looked) and we headed to my parent's house to drop off our dog. When my mom came out to the car to see me, she said "yes, I think you'd better get to the hospital now...". We rushed the 15 minutes to the hospital. When we finally made it up to the maternity floor, the nurses acted like we were completely insane for showing up without having called my doctor first. I explained I was in FAR too much pain to try to dial a number and my husband was worried about getting me there. Needless to say, they thought I was exaggerating. My husband asked the nurse what her estimate was on when the baby would be born. She said for SURE not before midnight and that was a long shot. To spare you ALL the details, I went from 1 cm at the doctor that afternoon to 3 cm once I was at the hospital at 8:00, then around 10-15 minutes later, I was at 10 cm and ready to push. Yes, that's right, no time for an epidural. I had started the required IV drip so I could get my drugs. Then the nurse informed me there was no time, the baby was ready to come out right then. I watched them wheel my cart full of delicious medication right of the room. Scared beyond belief. But, thankfully, the prayers I'd been saying in my head from the moment I got to the hospital were working in God's perfect plan. I pushed through 4 contractions and we had our baby girl. It was a total out of body experience and something I didn't really even imagine I could do. He got me through it. 100%. 

Through the first several weeks, we were in awe of her and scared of her all at the same time. Caroline has been somewhat fussy and colicky from the beginning so that has been trying. Almost three months later, we're getting in to a groove with our girl. We're still learning each other, but, we're getting the hang of things and freak out only sometimes now. She is a blessing and I wouldn't trade her for anything. The sleepless nights, frustration, sheer and utter exhaustion, crying spells (mine, not hers) are all worth it. I'm so lucky God chose us to be her parents.