Welcome Addison Claire!

Addison was born December 24, 2007 and shares daddy's birthday! They are 33 yrs apart! She weighed in at 7 lbs 11oz and was 20 1/4" long. Amazingly she looks almost identical to Morgan's birth picture. Although her hair is a little lighter and eyes a little more on the blue side rather than steel. It is almost as if I go back in time when I hold and look at her to when I held Morgan as a baby. Even though their personalities are different.

We had quite an interesting and much different experience from Morgan's arrival. I had woken up at 2 am to go to the bathroom and when I laid back down I started noticing a cramping feeling about every 10 minutes. So around 3 am when it didn't subside, I woke Kyle up and told him about it. He got a shower and some clothes together and we went to the hospital. We got there about 4:40 am. After about an hour and a half of walking and some time later, the resident determined that I was not in labor and sent me home dialated at 4 1/2! From what I understand, typically you get a choice of whether or not you want pitocin at 4 cm but, my guess is that b/c of Christmas, they were short staffed and not equipped to take me on.

We then drove 45 mins home and spent an hour at home before I told Kyle to call the doctor back and ask her what in the world else could this be other than labor. And that I wanted to be induced if they still think it wasn't labor, b/c the pain was unbearable. So 45 mins later at 11 am we arrived back at the hospital. After getting set up they determine that I was in fact in labor! Of course I asked for an epidural right away. Again, b/c of Christmas and being short staff the only anesthesiologist working was with a c-section patient and would come as soon as he was finished. By the time he arrived and started to prep me, I had a contraction and my water broke and the next contraction she was coming! She was born in about 5 -10 mins without any pain relief! Holy cow, I thought that I was going to die! It was fast and slightly scary considering I hadn't planned on not having pain relief. And had I waited too much longer, I would have had the baby in the car on the way.

As aweful as the pain was, I was thankful to God for having had the experience. This is something I never thought I would survive or even planned could happen. I have always had a great deal of respect for those many women like my mom who had their children without any pain relief. I still have the same respect, but now I know it is possible to get through something so unbelievably painful.

B/c the delivery was so fast, Addison had some minor issues. One being a heart murmur that is still present. Although she had an EKG and her heart looks good and the pediatrician thinks it will heal over time. We see our dr. on Monday so I am hoping that the valve will be closed by then.

Morgan has done exceptionally well, with this new transition. The one thing I feared most was her adjustment. But we talked to her about it alot and she has been wonderful with Addison. Quite the little helper too! She is so excited to be a big sister and loves Addison.

We are all doing very well and Addison has had 4 nights in a row of good sleep, waking up only once in the night. I pray that it will continue that way. I have recovered phenomenally well. I think because I didn't have any pain relief the recovery has been so much better. I gained 25 lbs this pregnancy a far cry from my 50+ with Morgan, which I think has helped too. I am currently within 3 lbs of my starting weight. Then my goal is to work on that extra gained with Morgan again. We are enjoying our time off and especially our time and new routine with our two girls!