She's Here!!!

Our little bundle of joy decided to make her debut during tropical storm Hanna. My Mom stayed the night with us that night in case I went into labor and she wasn't able to make it to the hospital because of bridge closings. It is a good things she did. I have the best mother in the world. She was such a support for me through the whole labor and delivery process. Baby Grace arrived on my birthday, Sept. 6th at 6:04 a.m. She was a big baby, weighing in at 9 lbs. 3 oz. and was 21.5" long! Here's the story of her birth:

It all started with lots of contractions on Friday, Sept. 5th. At this point, I was almost a week past my due date and I had tried EVERY old wives tale in the book (except Castor oil) . My only hope was the tropical storm that was heading our way. They say the drop in barometric pressure induces labor; it worked! My mom, Ben & I were up until 10:45 that night playing Skip-Bo. I was having stronger contractions around 5-8 min. apart and was exhausted, so we decided to head to bed. At 11:30 I jumped out of bed with hard labor pains. Ben called the Dr. and she sent us to the hospital. My mom drove me to the hospital during the worst part of the storm. Ben was behind us with the luggage. (I opted to drive with my mom because Ben is a slow driver). I was constantly reminding my mother on the way that she was NOT driving fast enough. She flew into the emergency entrance with her flashers on and realized she drove in the wrong way and started to back up. I immediately told her to GO (this was no time to follow traffic laws). Mom flew her car door open and told the security guard that I was in labor. Of course we had to sign a ton of paperwork before they could even get me into my room. Meanwhile, I am hunched over in the emergency room with contractions and the janitor lady starts trying to have a conversation with me and asking me what I was having. I couldn't believe it!! I tried to tell her it was a girl, but nothing would come out. I was in so much pain. The security guard was supposed to wheelchair me to my room, but I couldn't sit, so he followed behind me with the wheelchair while I waddled to my room, stopping to hunch over every time a contraction came.

When I arrived to my room, the nicest nurses were there to help me. They asked if I wanted an epidural and I said YES!! They had to hook me up to an IV that had to drip for about an hour before I could get one. Thankfully they added a little cocktail to the IV that helped alleviate some of the pain. Then, finally my epidural Dr. arrived. What a relief!!!! Once that kicked in, labor was a breeze. When it was time to push, 30 minutes later sweet Grace came into our lives.

Beautiful Baby Grace

Daddy's Little Girls

On the way home from the hospital.

Big feet like her daddy

Proud Nana & Pappy

Proud Daddy

Chubby Baby - love the fat rolls!