Carly's Birth Story

8 lbs 2 oz and 21.5 inches long
born on 12-11-09 at 3:45 AM










Lets see, where do I begin...I'll start the day before she was born. I went to my mom and dad's house because I was sick of staying home all day and waiting. I felt good and energetic all day. I told Josie we would build a snowman and play with her cousin at nanny and boppa's house. She seemed very excited. At my doctor's appointment on wed. I was dilated to 3 and 1/2 and effaced to 70 percent. The doctor was very impressed by my progress. She really didn't think she'd see me next week and she was right. That night I was having some sharp pain in my back and my belly. I wasn't sure what was going on. I was tired from the daily activities and thought I just needed sleep. Elliot was waiting for the Jazz game to start before he came home from my parents. We had drove separate cars because he had come to my parents for dinner after work. I was thinking I could just go home with Josie and get some sleep but Carly had other plans. My pain was off and on and not very intense...I didn't want to go to the hospital and be sent home. Elliot and I thought it was best to go to the hospital before we went home just to see what was going on. I really didn't think we were going to stay but Elliot kept saying its going to happen. Elliot, my dad and brother in law Ben gave me a blessing before we left for the hospital. It was very special and it calmed a lot of my fears. Thanks again honey for remembering to do that, it meant a lot. We left Josie with my parents and headed off to the hospital. I still wasn't in that much pain and still didn't believe that they would actually admit us but I was very wrong. The nurse checked me and I was dilated to a 5 cm and effaced to 80 percent with contractions. The nurse gave me my IV and got me all set up in my room. My pain was still tolerable at this time but I decided to get the epidural before the pain was unbearable. This epidural was so much more painful compared to Josie's, I think because my water hadn't broken and my contractions were still tolerable. The epidural hurt very bad this time. It was actually the numbing shots before the epidural that was the problem. Maybe next time I'll wait a little longer when I'm in more pain. We were both able to fall asleep for a little bit and get some rest before the hard work came. They gave me some patoson to make the contractions come a little faster and at this point my water had broken by itself. The next thing I new I was dialted to a 10 and it was time to push this baby out. My doctor was out of town so I had to use the on-call doctor but she was just as good, thank goodness. By the time the room was all set up and the doctor was in place the babies head was right there ready and waiting. I pushed for about 20 min and she was born. They put her right on me after she came out and she was just beautiful. She hardly cried at all. Elliot cut the cord, then they weighed her and measured her. She was 8lbs 2 oz and 21.5 inches long. She was a big baby. Surprisingly I didn't have to have an episiotomy and I didn't tear. I'll let Elliot take over now and explain the rest because I am on drugs and having troubles putting my thoughts together.
Elliot: I'll just pick up where she left off. Carly had a full head of brown hair, and because of the smooth delivery she really looked beautiful. Her skin was a healthy pink color, and from head to toe her body parts looked perfect. She is an angel. She is eating really well, and when she isn't sleeping she is very active, looking all over. She's also very cute when she sleeps. She makes cute little noises. The sound of her voice is a beautiful sound.
Melanie is doing very well. Her main challenge is pain management, as expected, but she really is feeling pretty good, and is very happy. We both have been pretty sleep deprived, but that's also expected. We will leave the hospital sometime early afternoon on Sunday as long as everything continues to go well. Josie has been staying at Ray's and Becky's. They've been so helpful, as has Michelle and Ben. Josie is happy and in good hands.
We appreciate all of the visitors we've had, and also are grateful for all of the kind words of love and support from friends and family who haven't been able to visit yet.
We feel extremely blessed, and our hearts are full of love and gratitude. Sorry it took so long to post pictures. I left our camera cord home on accident. I hope you like the pics.