I can’t believe my baby girl is almost a month old. Can time slow down already? And where did Christmas go? Wasn’t it just yesterday that I refused to start decorating for Christmas because Thanksgiving had yet to get here? Now here we are, into February, & I’m sitting here staring at my newborn baby sleeping away in her swing. The same baby who I felt would never get here.

Sarah was due to be born on Jan 2nd. How we had hoped for a New Years baby because, how cool would that have been? Our first daughter, April, was two weeks early so we just knew this baby girl would also be early. We just did not have a feeling as to how early she may come. Between that little fact & based off of the information my doctors were telling me at my weekly appointments, we felt as if we were in standby mode every second of every day. My only concern? Please Lord don’t let this baby come on Christmas Day, lol.

This past Christmas was the first Christmas where April really got excited about the season. She was all into the festivities, the Christmas movies, the baking, the idea of Santa Clause (except she did NOT want to sit on his lap or get near him at the Mall, lol), & of course the idea of presents. Because of this, more than anything I just wanted to be home on Christmas. This was the only time I prayed for baby Sarah to stay put, lol. Little did I know that God had a sense of humor. As miserable & uncomfortable as I was, not only did she stay put until after Christmas…but Sarah decided to come a week late. I never would have imagined her being a week late based off of my symptoms, but the timing of everything couldn’t have worked out anymore perfect.

The Friday before Sarah was born (Jan 4th) my mom came up to stay with us in order to help out with April incase the baby decided to come. She actually did this a few different times only because she was worried about getting up to our house with the impending bad weather. Seeing I was 2 days past my due date, & had an induction date set for the 10th we knew it was only a matter of time. I kept praying this baby girl would come before my induction date, & hoped to receive more answers at my follow up appointment on the 8th of January. Ironically enough, she decided to make her grand entrance on January 8th.

It was Monday morning & we decided to run to the grocery store to pick up a handful of items that we needed. I’ll never forget how tired & uncomfortable I was just pushing April around in the cart while shopping for the items on my shopping list. Of course I felt like I had to get a list of things done, so shortly after I got home I decided to clean 2 bathrooms, lol. Nesting at it’s finest!

Sure enough around 5pm, I started to notice some minor contractions. I shrugged them off for the most part, because for the past 3 weeks I had felt very similar pains. They didn’t seem significant enough to cause concern. It wasn’t until later that night after April had gone to bed, my mom & I decided to relax and watch a movie. During the entire movie I became very uncomfortable. Before you knew it we were timing my contractions, because now I was convinced that I was going into active labor. Sitting became too uncomfortable, so I stood up and walking laps around my house, lol. It was then around 1am that we finally decided to head into the hospital to get checked. I knew that if I stayed home that night that I wouldn’t get any sleep. All I wanted was some peace of mind, even if that meant sending me back home.

Once at the hospital they were able to see that I was in the beginning stages of active labor, with my contractions being 3 minutes apart. The only problem was that I wasn’t making any progress. The doctor wanted to keep me there for a couple hours to monitor my progress, in order to see if there would be any changes. At this point I am completely exhausted, but too anxious to sleep. The thought of staying at the hospital until 4am, just to most likely end up going back home did not excite me. In the meantime my mom & I played “Word” (scrabble) on our iphones to kill the time. I felt silly staying at the hospital seeing that I was in little to no pain. Then two hours finally rolled around, & sure enough my body hadn’t made any more progression. Very disappointed I changed back into my clothes & we left the hospital around 4:30am, drove back home, & we crawled into our comfy bed. I. was. exhausted.

As tired as I was you can imagine it was hard for me to fall asleep. After lying in bed for 45 minutes, MY WATER BROKE. Why couldn’t I have just stayed at the hospital an hour longer?! I frantically got out of bed, changed my clothes, & back out the door we went. We had just left the hospital at 4:30am, & we were back at the hospital by 6:30am. Upon arrival we were greeted by the same nurses, as it became comical that I was back so soon. I’ll never forget waddling down the hallway, laughing through my contractions, & feeling so excited to finally meet our baby girl. The time had finally come.

Being officially checked in at 6:30am, my doctor came into the room with a smile & asked, “Weren’t we supposed to have an appointment today?” I smiled back and nodded as my follow up appointment was that morning to ensure everything was ok for my induction date just a couple days later. I was so happy & relieved that Sarah decided to come before hand. She may have been a week late, but she also decided to come just in time.

I have to say with the exception of a couple of issues, my labor couldn’t have gone any easier. The first hiccup being with my epidural. For whatever reason I could not arch my back correctly for the anesthesiologist, in which they had to remove and reinsert my epidural. Not fun. Once the epidural was placed it began to work pretty quickly…but it led to another complication that I was not prepared for. As a side effect from the epidural my blood pressure began to drop drastically. They gave me some medication to help regulate it, but for whatever reason my body was not responding to it properly. As soon as my blood pressure would rise, it kept dropping again. Then they placed the oxygen mask on my face & closely began to monitor me. It was here that I became very nervous. The doctor then informed me that they could only give me a max of 5 doses of the medication. At this point I already had 3 doses. My doctor then proceeded to explain that if my blood pressure didn’t stay regulated that they would have to perform an emergency c-section. That was my worst nightmare. I was praying so hard that my body started responding to the medication. And soon.

After the 3rd dose of medication my blood pressure began to rise, & in that moment it was stable. The nurses checked my progress & by the grace of God baby Sarah was ready to make her debut. My doctor told me that if I pushed really hard in a timely manner, that we may be able to avoid the emergency c-section. It was basically racing against the clock before my blood pressure decided to drop again. Luckily within 12 minutes, Sarah Beverly was born at 9:16am. 7 pounds, 14 ounces, and 21 inches long with plenty of baby chub and pretty auburn hair. She was perfect. And she was ours.

April was so excited to meet her little sister, but she was also a little apprehensive being in the hospital setting. It wasn’t until we got home the following evening that April held Sarah for the first time. Unfortunately because of how quickly things escalated I did not get any photos at the hospital, but I was still able to capture April holding Sarah for the first time. My heart was so full as I saw April’s face light up. There just wasn’t anything sweeter, & it felt so good to finally be home with both my girls.

So how are things going now? Honestly the transition hasn’t been too hard. The hardest part has been getting a toddler and a newborn out the door on time, lol. However April is a great big sister & an amazing helper. The best part? Sarah is an AMAZING eater and sleeper. Luckily I don’t feel too sleep deprived & I’m hoping it stays this way for awhile 😉

Here are some of my favorite photos from Sarah’s newborn session, taken by the talented “Photography by Lindsay.” If you’re pregnant & looking for a newborn photographer be sure to check her out. Lindsay is absolutely amazing, & I will cherish these photos forever.

Thank you for stopping by to meet our new little bundle of joy! We look forward to what 2019 has in store!