Grace's Arrival

On July 29th just after 12:00am Mike and I headed to the hospital. I had started having contractions and the were getting more intense and I felt it was probably not false labor. I got to the hospital and back into triage to find out I was only 3.5cm dilated and that I would most likely be told to walk for an hour after they monitored me. 

A little while later they had me signing all the warning papers for an epidural and everything else I had to sign. Mike ran back out to the car to get our stuff because we were staying. By the time he got back to me they had me in a wheelchair and were ready to roll me back. At this point we had been in triage for about an hour. I was so uncomfortable and wanted my epidural. I asked how far along I was and the nurse said 5cms. 

I got back to the labor and delivery room and the contractions were coming so quick that I couldn't walk across the room without having one. One of the nurses asked my triage nurse how far along I was and she told her 7cms. I said you told me 5! Her reply was "I know I didn't want you to panic." I actually felt better knowing I was further because I was almost done and didn't feel like a baby for how uncomfortable I was. They sat me on the bed to prep for the epidural and of course I had a contraction so they checked me again and this time the anesthesiology Dr poked his head in and the nurses told him, "No time" and out he went and with him my epidural. One of my biggest fears was about to come true- a natural birth. Thankfully it was fast.  Even the on-call doctor didn't make it in time.

July 29th at 2:00am Grace Marie Anderson was born! 

She weighed 8lb 1oz and was 20.5 inches long

The next morning my mom brought the girls up to meet their new little sister. They were very excited and think she's the cutest baby ever.

We agree that she is pretty dang cute.

We were released and able to go home on July 30th

The beginning

On December 1st 2014, I called Mike who had just started his first day of work in Houston, with some surprising news. We were expecting again. I guess expecting is the wrong word here since we had been expecting this sort of surprise. But whether we had planned for it or not we were having a baby due July 29, 2015!

I managed to keep it a secret for a few more weeks (even from Wendy whom we were living with at the time!) so we could tell our parents with a Christmas present. They were very excited for us. We had Santa tell the girls that they were about to be big sisters. They shrieked like only little girls can and gave me a really big hug.

On March 11, 2015 Mike and I went to the doctor to find out if we would be having another girl or if we'd find out what having a boy was like. As the ultrasound tech told us we were having a girl we couldn't help but laugh. 3 girls! Mike is becoming more outnumbered with each child. 

Rachel thought this was hilarious and anytime someone would ask if she was having a brother or sister she'd tell them it was a girl. "So we will have all girls and my dad will be the only boy. Even our dog is a girl!"

Girls 4                     Boys 1

We decided to have a weekend getaway before the baby came. We drove out to New Orleans March 19th. We kayaked, biked through the town, took a cooking class, and tried all kinds of food including alligator and frog legs! This is the time where I started wearing maternity clothes and had a stranger realize I was pregnant and offer up her seat on the busy street car. She however was a grandma and the street car was packed. It was safer for her to stay seated and for Mike to help me stay balanced. Put it was nice none the less. 

On this trip we decided that our baby girl would be named Grace. But we still had to decide on a middle name. I liked Grace Ann but putting the last name Anderson to that didn't sound right. Mike liked Marie but that's my middle name and I didn't know if it would be weird to have the same name but I was named after my grandma so technically she'd be named after her great grandma too. So about a week later it was settled that our daughter would be Grace Marie.

July got here super fast. Our bags were packed, the room was ready and the hospital was waiting for us. Now all we needed was our daughter to be ready to come and if she wasn't coming on her own then we were scheduled to have her induced on July 30th.