She's finally here!!! I can't believe I'm the mommy of a sweet, beautiful little girl! Here's how it all went down!
I was 39 weeks pregnant and everything had been perfect so far. I left each doctor visit a little more pessimistic each week thinking that this girl wasn't going to come out on her own. Cam had 1 week between his spring semester finals and the beginning of Maymester at FMU.
At my 38 week appointment on Tuesday, I was told that things were favorable for a successful induction and that if I had not gone into labor on my own by 39 weeks, that I would be a good candidate for an induction. When I went to schedule my appointment, they had nothing available
until the following Thursday! That meant, I would have to endure the
whole week, go to the doctor, schedule the induction, and hope that they could do it before Cam had to go back to school!
My cell phone google searches for the past 2 weeks looked a little like this:
"Signs of labor"
"Natural ways to induce labor"
"Foods to induce labor"
"Exercises to start labor"
"What do contractions feel like?"
and a few more that I'm too embarrassed to type here.
I decided to start calling every day so see if they had cancellations for the next week (reschedule dr appointment...FAIL!) in hopes I could see a doctor before Thursday to buy us a few more days. The waiting hours were spent WALKING! Mall walking, walking around the block, walking on the treadmill. Of course the idea of walking this baby out sounded better in theory, than in reality. I was fat and tired! We tried just about every other thing too (short of castor oil...YUCK! and horseback riding...which would have been a good option if we had a horse!)
Here is a yucky Easter pic just so you have an idea of the huge-ness I was experiencing.
I was sleeping horribly and trying to stay in tune with my body for any hopeful signs of labor. Around the weekend I started noticing tightening in my belly. It wasn't really an new feeling. In fact, I had noticed it all along, but just thought it was the baby adjusting herself. Now I was really paying attention, I figured it might be contractions. They weren't painful at all, but it at least gave me hope that things were moving along. This was the most uncomfortable period of the whole pregnancy, I was waking up every hour of the night and started sleeping on the couch so that I didn't disturb Cam or Jac.
Early Wednesday morning, things got painful. I was ecstatic! I tried to lay down, but each contraction woke me up and I walked around until they settled. Finally, around 4 or 5, I got up and started doing some laundry, sweeping, mopping, washing dishes, and anything else I could think of to stay busy.
Cam woke up around 6:30 and I broke the news to him then..."I think we might have a baby today." I was calm and collected, but I knew that things were getting crazy. I had been timing my contractions for a while, and although they weren't really consistent, they were between 7 and 10 minutes apart. We started getting our things together. After Cam showered and I got Jac's bag packed, Cam took him to his mom's house so we could go to the hospital and hope for some good news.
We got to the hospital around 9 am. The nurse told me that I was about 3.5 cm dilated so they would monitor me for a while and check again later. I guess it was around 45 minutes total before they came back. The monitor showed that they were still irregular, but when she checked me again, I was 6.5 cm dilated. I think we were all taken by surprise that things had moved so quickly, but we knew then, the baby would be here sooner than we thought!
By the time we made it up to labor and delivery, it was close to 11. The doctor came in shortly after and broke my water. At about 1:30, I decided it was time to push!
It's GO time! We're about to have ANOTHER baby!!!
At 2:14 PM, Carmon Avery Coker made her debut! She came out crying, Cam cut the cord, the doctor put her right on my chest, and I was in awe. It was officially a girl! I was finally convinced! After they wiped her down and wrapped her up, they gave her to Cam. She had stopped crying and just stared. She was so content!
8 lbs 1 oz and 20 in of BEAUTIFUL!!
We were in the hospital only 24 hours after delivery and we headed home. Carmon has only been in our lives for a month and I can hardly remember life without her.
Big Bro, Jac has adjusted really well. He's really been craving lots of attention, but you can tell he really loves his baby sister. He has a really hard time understanding why she can't swim with him and play with him, but he loves holding her (briefly), kissing her, and helping with her.
Carmon seems to already know she's the second child. She is such an easy baby and very straightforward. When she cries, she's hungry, dirty, or sometimes just wanting to be held. Everything about this kid seems the exact opposite of her brother. Jac really made us work hard when he was a baby and still does! We are so extremely thankful and blessed for both of our kids and their unique personalities!
Now we're one biggER, happy family!
"Other things may change us, but we start and end with family." -Anthony Brandt
