our birthing experience

Many of you have asked me to share Claire's birth story here on this blog. I've debated about this a lot, and decided not to share her birth story in the traditional sense. The whole birthing experience was incredible, personal, and for the most part, wonderful for me. I'm happy to share my experience with family and friends, but some things are too special for public blogs, and to me, this is one of them. I really hope you'll understand and love me anyway.

That being said, here are a few snapshots and memories from our special day:

right before we left for the hospital - the last pictures with my bump. I had been having painful contractions for 25 hours straight - blech! They were consistently 7 minutes apart. I was trying to forego the hospital until they got down to 5 minutes apart, but after a whole day I was so fed up I decided we should just go! Luckily they told me I was definitely in labor and more than halfway there to having my baby, so they kept me :)

playing the waiting game - post epidural, so I had stopped squeezing Sam's hand and shouting ridiculous things like "she will be an only child! I am not going through this again!" :)

The first pictures with our baby girl. All I want to say on this blog is that if you believe death is the end, come to a live birth sometime. My angel mom was there. She was there to hand off the care of my daughter to me, and make sure my baby got here safely. I have rarely felt so peaceful, or so close to my angel mother. (It was my mom's birthday, by the way. I love that my daughter and my mom share a birthday.)

Oh, and the post-birth recovery process involved the most delicious chocolate shake from JCW's that I have ever had. Ever. :)  It also involved a lot of staring at our baby in total awe. 

And then - visitors!

The next morning, I woke up with a terrible headache. It was beyond horrible - I couldn't sit up or nurse or do anything except lay there. I also did a lot of crying and complaining - lucky Sam. Turns out it was a random complication that affects one in every 500 women - and I was the lucky 1, woot woot. After three terrible days and a misdiagnosis from a doctor, I finally went the to the emergency room so they could stop my spinal fluid from leaking out of my skull. It's a quick and almost instant fix (basically they give you another epidural), and things have been SO MUCH better since then! It was an almost instantaneous day and night difference. We are loving every second with our darling girl.