Labor & Delivery

Ellie Mae Herndon was born on September 8, 2009. She weighed 9 pounds 5 ounces and was 20.5 inches long.
Nick and I went to my last doctor appointment at 8:45 a.m. that morning. I was 2 cm dilated and I had been having random contractions for the last 4 days. Shortly after we left the doctor's office my contractions began to come a little less randomly. At 11:25 I realized that I should probably start to keep track of them. At that time they were about 10 minutes apart for about an hour and then they dropped to 8 then 5 then 4 then 2 and finally fluctuated between 1 and 2 minutes apart. I called Nick at 2 p.m. and told him to come home. We left for the hospital around 3:45 p.m. As we were driving away from our home I realized that I hadn't eaten lunch. There was no way that I was going to give birth on an empty stomach! I remembered how labor intensive it was when I had given birth to Madeleine and I also knew that the hospital wasn't going to let me have any food. So, we stopped at Sequoia and Nick ran in to grab me a half turkey sandwich. We also went through the Taco Bell drive-thru so that Nick would be fueled up to help support me through the labor and delivery. We arrived at the hospital at 4:17 p.m. and I was 8.5-9.0 cm dilated... that meant I wouldn't be able to have an epidural. I wasn't happy about that piece of news. But an hour and 7 minutes later we had little Ellie Mae at 5:24 p.m.

Ellie Mae with Mommy & Daddy.Ellie Mae and Mommy.
Auntie Jill, Ellie Mae, and Mommy.
Reilly & Maddy excitedly waiting just outside the labor and delivery room.
Reilly posing proudly by her new little sister.

Reilly, Maddy, and Daddy.
Ellie Mae receiving her first sponge bath from one of the nurses.

Maybe one more day...

until we welcome our new little blessing from God into our family. This morning we had our last appointment before our due date (9/9/09). The doctor said that she thinks there's a high probability that I'll have the baby today or tomorrow. My contractions have been about 10 minutes apart for the last 40 minutes. As soon as I have contractions 5-7 minutes apart for an hour we will be heading to the hospital.

Hospital Gear

Packing for the hospital was one of the last things that I've done to prepare for our new addition. To be completely honest packing isn't my favorite thing to do, it usually takes me forever, and I always end up forgetting something (even when I'm using a list). Anyway, prior to packing I decided that I wanted Reilly and Maddy to have something special to wear at the hospital. So, I made "Big Sister" t-shirts for them and designed a little gender neutral onesie for the new baby. However, just in case we have another little girl I made a bow that matched the onesie and the nursery theme. :)

39 Weeks

I'm 39 weeks and ready to go! I can hardly wait till our new little one enters this world. I've been keeping busy with Maddy, Reilly & Nick, not to mention the responsibilities of our home and my crazy "nesting urges". I am so excited to meet our newest addition to our little family. And today I am hoping and praying that he or she comes soon (today if possible)!