Maternity Pictures

Around 34 weeks we were fortunate enough to meet with the very sweet Jennifer of Three Loves Photography to take a few pictures to remember this journey. We scheduled our session for the evening of July 2. Yep, July 2. Do you realize how hot it is in North Carolina in July?? Jennifer was a miracle worker and despite how crazy hot it was, she still managed to make us look good. A few pictures from our session . . .

As you can see she did an incredible job! If you are in the Charlotte area, contact her! You certainly won't regret it!

A Great Daddy

Amelia Grace has a great daddy. From the moment we found out we were pregnant David has been fantastic. Fantastic doesn't even cover it. Since her arrival it's been made even more apparent how blessed the both of us are to have him.

A good daddy offers to help. . . A great daddy helps without being asked.

A good daddy lets you take a nap. . . A great daddy gets a sign put on your hospital door so no one will disturb and asks the nurses to take care of their business before you rest.

A good daddy listens to the doctors when they talk. . . A great daddy asks questions no one else thinks of.

A good daddy will hold the baby. . . A great daddy snuggles with her and does skin-to-skin as much as possible.

A good daddy asks how you're doing. . . A great daddy really asks and really listens.

We definitely have a great daddy!

Birth Story Part 2

Missed the first part? Check it out here!

We arrived at the hospital around 2am and I can't tell you how exciting it was to be able to tell the nurses we were there because I was in labor! My contractions were coming about 4 minutes apart at that point and had picked up in intensity even more. They quickly got us settled in a room and checked to see if I was dilated any more from the afternoon. I was up to about 3.5cm-whoooooo! Things were moving! 

Please take note of the "daily goals", te he he

They left us alone to hang out and take advantage of the cable (a big thing for those of us with just Netflix and Hulu!) while I continued to labor. Around 4am I was in some serious pain so I paged the nurse and asked when I could have an epidural. Apparently they hadn't even officially checked me in yet! They were waiting to see if things continued to progress or stop. The doctor (the one from earlier that afternoon!) checked again and I was about 4cm, so things were moving. The nurse gave me some Demerol and put in an order for the epidural. What seemed like daysssss later there was a shift change and we got an INCREDIBLE new nurse. She took one look at me and got things rolling. She helped me breathe through the excruciating  moments and hurried the anesthesiologist right along. Around 7:30am the world was righted again as that kind man inserted the epidural and I finally felt some relief.

David getting some rest while he could.

We took advantage of the respite and rested, well rested as much as we could. David conked out on the couch bed and I dozed here and there. Not so easy with people coming in and out checking on me, but we did the best we could. Things kept progressing at a pretty good rate. At one point the nurse said we might even have a brunch baby! I could hardly contain my excitement! Sadly, "brunch" came and went and our little girl had yet to arrive.

 Feeling goooooood thanks to that epidural!

As the day went on we continued to wait. David enjoyed a lovely cafeteria lunch while I chowed down on a ginger ale, four jello cups, and three popsicles. A girl needs her strength after all;-) A little after 2pm our nurse (did I mention how incredible she was??) came back in and decided it was about time to start pushing. I was surprised because the doctor wasn't even in the room, but our nurse said that the doctors don't normally come until they are absolutely needed. She said they get a little too anxious and are much more likely to rush things along when it's not always necessary. She's been doing this for over 20 years so I decided she knew what she was doing! After about 20 minutes of pushing we were joined by the doctor, another nurse, and a baby nurse. A few minutes after that Amelia Grace joined the party! They quickly put her on my chest and we were immediately smitten. Our little nugget was absolutely perfect:-)

We hung out at the hospital for another couple of days while they monitored the two of us. We were anxious to get home, but also appreciated how attentive everyone was to us. I also enjoyed hearing how many other babies were born in the few days were there. Needless to say the local schools will definitely be crowded in a few years!

We are now home and adjusting to our new normal. David and I are both so immensely thankful for all the prayers that have been lifted up for this baby girl. We cannot put into words how thankful we are for all the love and support that has been offered. We are beyond blessed!

Birth Story Part 1

My sweet husband has managed to wrestle our precious baby girl from my arms for a bit giving me a chance to finally put into words the story of our little girl's arrival. . .

Starting the previous week I'd been having more and more Braxton Hicks contractions, but didn't think much of it. Some people have intense contractions for weeks, even months my few days were nothing. On Sunday they started picking up, but were still about 10 minutes apart and stopped after an hour or so. I figured it was all nothing and knew that we had an appointment with the OB the next day where we could check things out.

On Monday I woke up and headed to our school district's summer conference for teachers. It was a fairly uneventful day aside from the usual Braxton Hicks. A sweet friend of mine mentioned "it would be a good day for a baby" but I just laughed it off thinking I'd be waddling until our August 6th induction date. That afternoon I headed to the doctor for our weekly appointment and a non-stress test (NST). She cooperated during the NST and couldn't stop wriggling. When we met with the doctor she said my contractions were coming about six minutes apart. I guess what I thought were the Braxton Hicks were the real thing! She checked me but I was only about 2.5cm dilated and able to talk and walk, so she didn't feel the need to admit me. She made a joke about being on call that night and maybe she would see us that night. We left the office and headed home to hang out.

We caught up on an episode of Dexter (obsessed!) while chowing down on pizza from a local place (I soon came to regret the choice for extra garlic!) before we took Daisy for a walk. When we got back from the walk I noticed the contractions picking up, but the closest they ever got was the six minutes and only lasted 30 or so seconds. I headed to bed to prepare for day two of the conference. 

Around midnight I woke up to go to the bathroom and felt a pretty intense contraction. I decided I'd try to time them and see what happened. After about an hour of them getting more intense and closer together I leaned over and woke David up. Bless his precious little sleep-loving heart I think I about shocked him to death. Neither of us was expecting anything to happen so soon! He got out of bed and went into go mode-tossing last minute things in our hospital bag, taking care of our neurotic dog who couldn't understand why we were up and moving, and taking the quickest shower known to man! Then, we were off!

Stay tuned for part two!

She's Here!

I apologize for my extended time away, but we've been a bit busy. . .

Amelia Grace Mobley joined our little family on July 29 at 2:49pm. Our little nugget weighed in at 6lbs 9oz and 19.5 inches long. We are over the moon in love with this little girl and are soaking up every minute we can with her. That being said I'm slowly but surely working on her birth story and hope to have it up in a few days!