Introducing....

Miss Hannah Grace Crafton! Born: November 26, 2007 at 7:33pm Weight: 5 pounds 10 oz...oops! Make that 6 pounds 14 ounces!!!! Length: 19.5 inches

Our Little Angel

Henry taking his first good look at Hannah.

Still pregnant and in early labor. Daddy and babies - day 2. Proud Grandma

Another proud Grandma

Seth meeting Hannah for the first time.

Almost ready to be bundled to meet Mommy.

All I can say is WOW! What a day Monday was! I'll spare the gory details and give you a slight glimpse into what the day was like. We got to the hospital around 7:15 am and checked in. We went up to the Labor and Delivery floor, got settled into our room and waited for Dr. Brody to come in and start the induction. Dr. Brody arrived and the induction process began around 9:30 am. My contractions started at 10:00 am and got progressively stronger over the next four hours. Dr. Brody came back and gave me another dose of the induction medication at 2:00 pm which helped things along. By the time Dr. Brody came back in to check on me at 5:30 pm I was dilated to 3 cm and having very strong and regular contractions. He broke my water while we waited on the epidural. He told me it would be several more hours, but he felt sure she would be born before midnight. I was quite uncomfortable and could not wait to see the anesthesiologist walk through the door. Unfortunately for me, it took the doctor 15 minutes to place the epidural and it never really took full effect. By the time he was done with the epidural I was 4cm and still extremely uncomfortable. We tried everything to get the epidural to take full effect and to my disappointment were not able to achieve anything except making my right side completely numb ... I had FULL feeling on my left side. After all of the rolling back and forth from side to side I was hit with the feeling that the baby was ready to come out. By now, it was 7:10 pm-ish and I was crying I hurt so bad! Anyhow, the nurses checked me and realized very quickly that I was complete and ready to push (DUH, I tried to tell them this myself)!!! So...the nurses put a call into Dr. Brody and told him to hurry (safely, of course) and then told me that I needed to breathe through the contractions, not push and wait for Dr. Brody. Those were the toughest 20 minutes of my entire life! Not pushing was awful and some very funny things came out of my mouth while I waited in pain! Between crying and contractions and breathing I kept telling the nurses to just let me push, find another doctor - any doctor, and when they told me "No, you're doing great, keep breathing", I told them all that they were mean! Yes, I seriously said it! I literally told them all that they were "Mean, Mean, Mean!" Anyway, Dr. Brody got to the hospital by the time he had his scrubs on and the gown and one glove Hannah was already beginning to make her own grand entrance into the world. The look on his face when he turned around to see her coming out on her own with no pushing on my part was priceless. I might have laughed if the contraction wasn't hurting so bad! Dr. Brody finished the delivery and I only pushed once. The relief I felt was immediate and so wonderful! Hannah was placed on my belly and the introductions to me and her Daddy began. She was quiet at first and then she let loose! Those first cries are always and will always be the most beautiful sounds in the world. The first thing we noticed about her was that she looks exactly like Seth did when he was born. It was really quite shocking how closely they resembled each other at birth. After the nurses got Hannah cleaned up a bit they placed her in the scale and told us that her weight was 5lbs 10 oz. The change in her weight came several hours later when they had her in the nursery. The took her weight and the scale said 6 lbs 14 oz. Of course it is impossible for her to have a 22% weight gain in such a short amount of time so they weighed her twice more and realized that the scale she was weighed on at birth was wrong! We are at home now and we are all doing wonderfully. Seth seems to like his new little sister and shows a little interest in her. He is acting out just a little, but that is to be expected and it is nothing worth complaining about. Hannah is a champ at nursing, just like her brother was. She is very calm and quiet unless she is wet or hungry and as is typical of newborns, she does have her days and nights mixed up. Overall, everything is awesome and being the parents of two children is going smoothly. I feel great and seem to be recovering much quicker this time around and Henry is a huge help and doting father all over again. We make a great team, if I do say so myself!

November 15, 2007 - 37 weeks 3 days

Well, there has been a change in plans! I know everyone was expecting to hear that Hannah will be born tomorrow and unless she changes her mind herself that will not be the case. Last Monday I found out that my doctor cannot induce me tomorrow. Needless to say I was seriously upset for more reasons than one. I am ready to have this little girl in my arms instead of my abdomen but more than that I am ready to move into the next phase of my life and have everything with my kidney over with. Little did I know that there were other things planned in that respect as well! Not only will I not be induce tomorrow but, I will not be having my kidney surgery until the New Year! I was given the impression all along that I will be fine to have the surgery before the end of the year and I found out Tuesday that is not the case as well. So, as you might imagine I have experienced the gamut of emotions this week. (Oh and just to add fuel to the fire, my OB will be out of town Wed. thru Fri. of this week and has another doctor I have never met filling in for him! His is a single doctor practice as well!) I cried to my Mom for an hour about everything until I decided that this is all God's plan and there is nothing I can do about it. I also talked with my Dad about it and he helped to point out that nothing but good things can come from these delays. Hannah will be bigger and healthier and her lungs will be more mature, it means there isn't an urgency to have my kidney removed and I will get to enjoy the holidays with my children without having the burden of recovering from a recent surgery. Talking to my Mom always comforts me and talking to my Dad always helps to put things in perspective and calm me. I have the best parents! Soooooo, all of that said...my induction is now scheduled for November 26th, assuming Hannah does not decide to come before then on her own. I am ok with everything now and I cannot wait for this week to be over and to meet my newest angel. (Henry can't wait either!) I did see the doctor for a regular check up. Everything continues to look good. My weight went up by 5 pounds. I was a little shocked but, Oh well! My blood pressure was great, 110/68 and the baby's heart rate was great. According to my OB I am still 1cm and 60% effaced. This shocked and almost upset me but he and Henry both pointed out that this was the first time HE (the doctor) has examined me so the measurements will be a little different than that of the nurse practitioner. (Thank goodness because I was seriously worried for a minute there!) So, that's about it for mow. I'll have one more appointment this week on Wednesday and then it is off to the hospital on Monday, the 26th...if not before then! We'll be sure to keep you all up to date with the latest!

36 weeks 3 days and we have progress!!!

Well thank the Lord we do have progress! I went to the doctor today for my regular check up and was thrilled to find out that we are making progress. First, I didn't gain any weight and my blood pressure was good (120/70). Then it was time for the internal. Not pleasant, but I loved the outcome! I am currently one centimeter dilated and 60% effaced, my cervix is soft and favorable for induction and Sherry could even feel the top of Hannah's head which means she has dropped! (Last week I measured 38 weeks, this week I was only 37.) I could only be happier if she had told me I was in labor and didn't know it...which I am not. So, as far as delivery goes, unless I go into labor on my own, we will more than likely be inducing on November 19, unless Dr. B. decides against it. We feel sure he will be ok with it, so we are making our plans. Things are almost ready. Henry has one last coat of polyurethane to put on Hannah's furniture before we can put it up in her room. That will be done this weekend, so we should be able to use it on Sunday. There are a few little, little things I need to finish as decoration for her room and then all we have to do is put everything away! Aside from that we need to install her car seat in the car and pack suitcases for Seth's stay at my parents house and our hospital stay. Most everything can be done last minute...even though it should already be done, and I am ok with that. We are going to do our best to have everything done by Sunday in the event Hannah decides to come earlier than we have planned. It is coming down to the wire and I couldn't be happier! I am so ready to have this little munchkin it isn't even funny. I am ready to see her little face and get to know her. I will miss being pregnant, but since this has been a completely different pregnancy altogether, I am ready for it to be over with. I am ready to move on to the next phase of everything and have the surgery to have my kidney removed. I am ready to move on to just being the Mom of two beautiful children and the wife of one amazing husband. I am ready to be done with doctors and hospitals and I haven't even started that phase yet! I am ready to know what my "new normal" with two kids is like. We will be sure to keep you all updated as to Miss Hannah's arrival. When we know more or if she decides to come early, you will know!

35 weeks 3 days

Well, I was supposed to go to the doctor last week but, I didn't go. Seth was sick for two weeks and unfortunately I managed to catch a bit of the stomach bug from him. I was under the weather for about 48 hours and could not make it to my 34 week appointment. Thankfully, I did get over it quickly and I am feeling like myself again...a very pregnant self, but myself none the less. So, today we went in for my 35 week appointment. My Doctor was not there so we saw his Nurse Practitioner. She is awesome! She cannot deliver me but we have developed the same kind of relationship with her that we have with my doctor, so seeing her is never a problem with us. We had to have the Group B test today and she went ahead and did an internal since I have been having sporadic contractions. As it turns out I am almost 1 centimeter dilated. I was hoping for more, but I really can't complain. Almost a centimeter is better than nothing at all!!! My weight was only up 2 pounds and my blood pressure remains fantastic at 110/62. I think my pressure has been lower during this pregnancy than it ever has been since I have been an adult! I know part of that is due to the pregnancy but, I am hoping some of it has to do with me being slightly more active than ever before. I walk up and down our stairs many times a day, play with Seth and chase him all the time and we try to walk as much as we can. The walking had to slow down the past couple of weeks while we were sick, but I am hoping to pick it back up a little to help get things moving along! Don't get me wrong, I am not complaining about being pregnant, I am just at the end and ready to meet our daughter! I am experiencing things I did not experience with Seth and it is quite a new and different experience for me! According to many people, Hannah has "dropped." I can feel the difference myself and boy is it a strange feeling. Sometimes I feel as though she is just going to fall out! Now, I know that will not happen, but that is the feeling I get. I am also experiencing a different kind of tired. It is end of pregnancy tired and chasing around a toddler tired all at the same time. Boy is that strange! Insomnia is starting to set in a little as well. I am not sure how much of it is insomnia and how much of it is anxiety over being "ready" for the baby. I know that no one is ever 100% ready for a new baby, but I feel like we were very close to it with Seth. Poor Hannah still doesn't have a completed room! Henry will be staining her dresser this weekend and we hope it will be finished and dry by Sunday so we can move it up to her room and finish putting things together. Right now all of her freshly washed clothes, blankets, towels and such are all piled neatly in her crib, ready to be put away! I know these things are all trivial and can be done at any time, so we'll just call this the last few weeks jitters, more commonly known as my "nesting instinct" kicking in! So, all in all, we are trying to get everything finished in the next two weekends because, truthfully, that is all we have left!