Topanga's To Do List: {jameson clare}

On my due date, Tuesday, June 12th, I headed to the doctor. Because there was no progress, they scheduled my induction for the next Tuesday. I came home, discouraged because I did not want to be induced again....it wasn't a great experience with Kolbe and I ended up having to have a c-section....something I REALLY didn't want to do again! Mark had a softball game that night, so when he came home from work, we played catch in the back yard and joked that it would be funny if I went into labor while we were doing that. We went to the game and I chased Kolbe during the entire game. He just wanted to run and wasn't interested in sitting still. I went to bed that night and woke up around midnight to go to the bathroom and then went back to bed. I continued to wake up with the urge to pee about every 30 minutes for the next few hours until I realized I was having contractions. I never had any with Kolbe until they induced me, and these didn't feel that strong, so it took me awhile to figure out what was going on. :) I woke Mark up around 2:30 am and he thought maybe I should try to go back to sleep, but I was too excited and nervous, so I did some laundry, packed a few more things for the hospital, and picked up the house. At 3:00 am I called Kelsie to let her know I was having contractions. She was going to be in the delivery room with us, but lives 6 hours away, so at 3:30 am she loaded up her kids and started her drive to Bellevue. I called the nurse at the hospital to see if she thought I should come in. I thought my contractions were only about 30 seconds long but they were consistantly 4-5 minutes apart. She said to wait until the contractions were longer, so I continued to clean, pack, and pace. Mark, Kolbe and I went to Village Inn for breakfast and to pass the time. Kelsie and the kids got here mid morning and Mark went into work because things weren't progressing. We hung out and tried to nap and the contractions continued all day. My mother-in-law said she drank a Dr. Pepper right before she went into labor with her oldest, so we headed to Sonic happy hour and got the kids hopped up on sugar and Kels and I enjoyed some vanilla Dr. Pepper and cheesesticks. (We're such health nuts!) By this time, the contractions were pretty strong, but I wanted to wait until Mark got home from work to go to the hospital. Kels and I drove around until Mark was home from work and as soon as I stepped in the door, Mark was ready to head to the hospital. I thought maybe my water had broke in the night and I just wanted them to check to make sure....I fully expected them to send me home, so I didn't take any bags with me. We got checked in and went into a Triage room. To make this already long story a little shorter, the believed my water had broke and I was dilated to 4 centimeters. We called our parents so they could start heading this way. Mark's parents were coming to stay with Kolbe, but our friend Lisa stayed with him until they could get there. Thanks Lisa! :) My dad was at a farm sale but my mom said they'd hop in the car as soon as he got home. I got my own room around 9:30 and was more than ready for my epidural. Once I got that, things started progressing faster and I was feeling much better. They came to the conclusion that I actually had 2 bags of water. They believed that the first one was small which is why I couldn't really tell if it had broke or not. After doing that, I had dilated to an 8, it was the middle of the night, and my parents got to the hospital. My dad went to the hotel (they almost couldn't find a room because of the College World Series) and my mom joined the party in my room. :) By 6:30 am on Thursday morning, I was fully dilated. They said I could either push, or let the baby work her way down. The nurse advised me to choose the second option and said I would be able to rest up to be ready to push. The upped my epidural a little and I rested. At 8:22, they checked me again and said it was time to push. I pushed through 3 contractions and at 8:40 am on Thursday, June 14th, we welcomed Jameson Clare Jarding. We named her after Mark's dad, James, and her middle name is after Saint Clare. She was born with tons of dark brown hair and captured our hearts in an instant. She weighed 7 pounds, 12 ounces and was 20 3/4 inches long. The most memorable thing for me was seeing Mark and Kelsie's emotions. Their faces were priceless. Afterwards, Mark said that it was the most spiritual experience he's ever had. The birthing experience was awesome. I was so happy that I could do a VBAC. The recovery has been much easier and it's helpful that I can lift Kolbe....and we've started going on walks this week, too. Kolbe is adjusting well. He's only scratched her once and pulled her hair twice. Not too bad! :) Thanks for all of your thoughts and prayers. We feel beyond blessed.
Just a few pics.....I'll post more pictures soon and get back on track updating this blog. :)