Meet Claudia

Our little girl arrived almost three weeks early on December 12. She wasn't ready to come per say but we had to evict her. I had developed preeclampsia and my condition was not improving. Doctor took awhile to weigh the benefits and risks to both of us before he decided we should induce before I got any sicker.

It all started with a routine doctor's visit on Monday afternoon. During my appointment, he checked my blood pressure three times before sending me to labor and delivery at the hospital to be monitored. He told me to expect to be there a couple hours. Then he said, "Well don't get too surprised if we keep you overnight for more testing." The couple hours turned into overnight and the next day, that turned into a discussion about induction. I also learned that even if I wasn't induced, I wasn't going home. This made me antsy to meet our baby girl but I also wanted what was best for her. Finally on Wednesday morning we decided to induce.

My labor was started around 11 am and silly me decided to go 9-10 hours without an epidural. I have no idea what I was thinking. I was completely exhausted. I like to tell people that with my pregnancy-induced insomnia I hadn't slept since April but I really wasn't sleeping in the hospital either. The entire labor was 15 hours with two of those hours pushing. During my final pushing, soon after the doctor arrived, our baby girl's heart rate plummeted. Doctor did an unexpected and very quick episiotomy to just get her out as fast as possible and then when she was out she wasn't breathing. Everyone rushed over to her. What went from a room of three medical professionals (including my doctor) soon turned into a room of ten medical professionals including two NICU doctors working on our baby. Nobody said anything but they just did their job. Soon we heard a cry. After checking her out for awhile longer, they announced she was fine - she was perfect. Instead of sending us to Mother/Baby within two hours after labor (standard at our hospital) they kept us for seven hours to keep an extra eye on me and baby. I honestly can not say enough great things about my doctor, the nurses and the care we received at our hospital. Everyone was so calculated and careful with us. I felt so confident with every decision.

After five days in the hospital, I'm home and so is our baby, Claudia Grace at two days old. We are exhausted but we are learning her cues and have mastered the art of swaddling, burping and being anxiety-ridden new parents. It's lovely.

Brand new

Just a couple hours old 

A day old

Day two and leaving the hospital