She's Here!!

Sunday morning January 3rd, 2010 at 1:32 A.M. we welcomed Lanaea Joy Clifton into our family!! She weighed in at 7 lbs. 4 oz. and was 18 3/4 inches long. She is as perfect as they come. The delivery was a little traumatic, but Lanaea and I made it out okay. My water broke Saturday night around 5 PM--just minutes after Kelsey and I got home from Target and Hobby Lobby!! Not knowing how fast my labor would progress--my water had never broken by itself before-- I quickly grabbed my bag and put the things in that I hadn't got to yet (needless to say I forgot some things) and Blake and I quickly took the girls to a friend's house down the road.

Ironically I wasn't in pain yet. I had been having some strong contractions for the past week, but nothing to get too excited about. My water continued to break as we drove to the hospital and as I was admitted. The nurses laughed when I came into the birthing center triage because my pants were all wet. The doctor came in shortly after and he didn't check me because I was at increased risk of infection because my membranes had ruptured. They admitted me into labor and delivery, set me up on the monitors and then we waited. We sat and watched Texas Tech win the Alamo Bowl and watched parts of some movies on T.V. Unfortunately during that time, my contractions weren't doing a whole lot. Some hurt, some were wimpy and they were inconsistent. So they ordered me some pit.--yuck. After ordering that I asked to get my epideral. The process wasn't bad at all, but it only worked on half of my body--just like Kelsey--UGGH!! The anethesiolgist had to come in and give me more meds and eventually it got numb enough on my right side. A few minutes after they did that the doctor was in my room again with the nurse to check me. Surprisingly I was at an 8 and I really hadn't been in that much pain. Shortly after that I started feeling really sick and then the baby's heart rate dropped to the low 40's (very low) and wasn't picking up. After that it was a whirl wind. The doctor said, "Okay, let's go, we're getting this baby out." Within minutes doctors and nurses were everywhere and they told me to start pushing. Then the doctor got the forcepts and pulled her out. Much to my horror, it took her what seemed like forever to cry. But she eventually did and she was fine. Her APGAR came back at a 7 to 9. I was a little shaken up and so was Blake, but we were thankful for the good medical team that took care of me and Lanaea. I thought I was going to be in labor for a couple of more hours.

This is about 20 minutes before Lanaea came, we thought we had a while to go.

Phew!! I did it and the baby is well!!

Proud new dad.

Lanaea's first bath

Both Lanaea and I are doing well. We got home this afternoon from the hospital. Blake is taking Monday and Tuesday off and some friends have offered to help with babysitting on Wednesday-Friday. Blake then has the weekend off. Love you all!!