Hi Everyone!
As most of you know, we've been blessed with a beautiful baby girl named Callie Christine. I thought I'd share her story, but it's long and probably has too much info. So if you're not into the whole getting all the details, you may want to skip some parts :)
May 27th was Jereme and my 6 year wedding anniversary. On a whim, I'd asked Grammy (Jereme's step-mom) to babysit Lilly so we could go out to dinner. As we were making plans, I'd joked with her that this would probably be our Last Supper. Little did I know...
The day started out completely normal. Since it was the weekend, my plan was to run errands and enjoy the weather. It was about 90 degrees out. In the morning, I scrubbed the floors, which I NEVER do anymore because we hired a housekeeper. For some reason, I felt that they needed to be done (This is the same thing that put me into labor with Lilly). I also ran and got flowers for out in front of the house and picked up a few groceries. While Lilly napped, I planted flowers and got her pool out for a little play time. That afternoon, Lilly played outside and I started to feel tiny little contractions. Nothing that had me thinking it was 'time', but more like the, 'I over did it this morning' kind. I really didn't think much of it and started to get ready to go.
Just before we left, I had Jereme snap this picture, since I remembered that I owed a belly shot on the blog. Good thing he did, cause this was the last night that I would be pregnant! Holy crap, I am HUGE!
Off we went to dinner at the St. Paul Grill. If you haven't been there before, GO! It's pricey, but the food is amazing. At dinner, the waitress had asked us when we were going to have our baby and Jereme completely jokingly said, "tonight." Only after she'd walked away did I tell him about the contractions, which freaked him out ever so slightly. They weren't too strong, so we did get to enjoy our meal.
By the time we were on our way home, they were picking up intensity. I didn't say anything to Grammy about them and sent her on her way home. I just didn't think that this was really 'it'. Plus, with Lilly I had labored for two days, so I figured if it was time, then I was in for a LONG night. Around 8:30, I tucked Lilly in and told Jereme I was headed to bed so that I could catch some sleep while the pain was still bearable. By 9:30, the contractions were coming pretty regularly. By 11:00, I told him that him that it was time to call his Dad to come watch Lilly. We were at the hospital shortly after midnight.
I thought for sure that they were going to send us home from the hospital. I was two weeks away from my due date. It just felt too fast for me, but when I was checked, I had already dilated to 7. And so, we were admitted. The nurse kindly asked if I would like anything for the pain, to which I replied, YES PLEASE. Giving birth to Lilly without an epidural was not pleasant. I had wanted this one to be a bit easier. Unfortunately, the nurses were worried that I was already too far along. I pleaded and they lied and told the anesthesiologist that I wasn't as far along as I was. I'll take getting poked in the spine any day. For those women that think that they need to prove something to themselves by having a drug-free birth... you're fricken nuts. Epidurals are the best damn thing ever invented in the world of child birth. By 2 am I was feeling no pain.
The downside of getting an epidural is that it stopped my progress. Well, maybe this was a blessing? Had I not has it, I probably would have delivered in the middle of the night. Since it had slowed everything, we were able to catch a few hours of sleep. Now, having a kid arrive quicker is great, but when you aren't in pain, why the heck not sleep for a while, right? I could wait a few more hours. And that we did.
Around 10 am it was time to start pushing. Once again, the nursing staff at Regions was amazing. They told me exactly what to do and when to do it. It was very, very clear to me that this delivery was going to be much better than Lilly's. At one point the nurse thought I was I actually going to laugh the kid out of me because we were picking on Jereme, who was sitting in the corner trying to ignore everything happening. He was by far more uncomfortable than I was. I reminded him that I was the one who was supposed to be miserable. At 11:17 am, Callie arrived.
Callie wasn't our only girl name. We had several others picked out. The name just felt right to us. I was later told that in the Hebrew alphabet, the double L (LL) is the tallest letter in the alphabet and means both teacher and learner. It's also the dead center Both of our girls have the double L. Sort of interesting. Anyways, her middle name, Christine is after my paternal Grandma. She's one of the strongest and most influenial women in my life. I couldn't be prouder to have Callie share her name.
So, that's Callie's story so far. Jereme and I are completely in love with her and Lilly is a VERY proud big sister. More to come in the near future.
~Sara
