She is here!

So last Thursday (1 week ago today ) I woke up a little after 3 in the morning.  I was having pains and was fairly annoyed with them.  By 3:57 I thought I should start timing them just in case.  They were coming every 10 minutes.  I have had pains a lot during this pregnancy so I figured it was no big deal and since they were 10 minutes apart I tried my best to not get excited about them.  After a little while they actually became less regular and I figured I had been right to not get excited.  They started back again and I started timing again, still about 10 minutes apart.  By this time it was about 6 in the morning.  I went to the restroom and noticed that I had a little bit of pink on the toilet paper.  This made me get excited!  I then went and woke Chris up (he had slept through everything up to this point) and then called the doctor on call.  He said I should go to labor and delivery and get checked out.  This was easier said then done.  I did not know if they were going to keep me or not, but I wasn't going to take the chance of going in not ready to stay.  I took a shower, as did Chris, made arrangements for Gray, and finished the last minute packing of our bags.  We then headed to the hospital only to realize my gas light was on.  After putting just enough gas in the tank to make sure we didn't have to worry about walking to the hospital we head out again.  By this time morning traffic was at its peak.  I was beginning to think I would never get to the hospital!  I went into the emergency room (that is our hospital's policy) and got checked in.  This didn't take all that long and while we were waiting on them to bring down a wheel chair the contractions got stronger.  Once we got upstairs they got me all hooked up and whatnot and checked me.  I was 2 cm and not effaced at all.  What a let down!  The nurse did verify that I had a little bit of blood leaking or something though.  After what felt like forever the nurse came back in and said that Dr. Hannah said, "We were having this baby today!"  I then called my mom who was in transit to NW Arkansas to be here for my scheduled c-section the next day.  She was surprised and a little let down, but I think she handled it pretty well.  The doctor then came in and made sure I was okay with having Clara Thursday instead of Friday, pointing out that it was safer since I was already contracting and bleeding and had had a c-section in the past.  I had gotten past the hardest part of telling my mom that she was going to miss it and so easily agreed to move the c-section up a day. 
The next hour or so went by very slowly.  Dr. Hannah had to do a hysterectomy before he could do my c-section.  When it was finally time, they rolled me to the operating room and had Chris go put on his special clothes.  They put in my spinal which went in easily.  Unfortunately, they now think I need more medicine then the average person because the spinal didn't work as well as it should.  I remember being in pain at the time, but I honestly do not remember the pain now.  In fact later that day I already didn't remember it.  I think even if I could remember it then I would still be able to say it was all worth it!  At 11:39 am my most amazing little girl was born!  As I type this I realize that it is only a few minutes away from that time now.  What a week this has been! 
Once she was cleaned up and wrapped up they brought her to me.  I was still being worked on, but I wasn't even noticing that.  She was beautiful, and perfect, and all ours!  I had often worried during the pregnancy that I wouldn't love her as much as I loved Gray.  I love him so much, there seemed to be no way I could possibly love her that much as well.  I no longer had that fear.  She won her place in my heart from the first moment I saw her, and nothing will ever change that.  After a what felt like not nearly any time they took her to the nursery to weigh her and finish getting her cleaned up and whatnot.  They then finished getting me sewn up and moved me to recovery.  The best part was that they have changed the way they do things and recovery is now on the same floor as surgery and they let Clara and Chris come back to recovery with me!  I was able to nurse her, stare at her, love on her.  After a little while our friend Amy got to the hospital with Gray and so Chris went out there to help keep up with him.  So then it was just me and my precious new baby.  I was so ready to get out of recovery and have all 4 of us together.  Our perfect family.  I have no idea if we will have more children or not, but I can honestly say that either way our family will be perfect. 

Fall/Thanksgiving/November Sensory Tub

I have been meaning to make Gray a sensory tub, but hadn't gotten it done.  Then last weekend my friend helped me find something to put into one for this month.  I finally finished it up yesterday and so far Gray has loved it.  In fact, last night he threw a complete fit because we had to clean it up to go to bed.  Today we had a friend over for the day and the two of them played nicely in it.  I have some ways I want to improve it, but for the first one I have made I think it is pretty good.

Here are some random pictures from today.  The little girl is named Katelynn, but Gray calls her Kate.  He seems to have a little crush on her. :)  It is sweet how he asks to see pictures of her and also likes to hug on her when she is around. 

Halloween

This year we took Gray Trick or Treating for the first time.  Our friends Christina and Alaina joined us.  The kids had a great time.  Gray was a lion and Alaina was a strawberry!  Gray started out pretty strong, wanting to run off and leave the rest of us, but before too long I was carrying his pumpkin and Chris was carrying him.  Also his costume was really hot and so we kept taking his mane off so he could cool off a little.  Overall though it was a fun night and I am very pleased at how well it went.

These pictures are a jumbled mess, sorry about that.  I tried for a long time to move them into an order that made sense, and every time I would try to move one down it would pop back up to the top.  In order to not go insane I decided to just move away from the computer!

37 weeks!

I made it to 37 weeks on Friday.  Here are some pictures of me on Saturday (37weeks 1day).