SURPRISE!! Colbie Makes Her Appearance 10 Days Early

Imagine my surprise when on my way to work Thursday morning I had several contractions that seemed stronger than the standard Braxton Hicks I had felt previously. I tried to ignore them and pretend that they werel no big deal. After eating my lunch at work in my office I stood up and felt a gush of fluid, my immediate thought was either I had wet my pants or my water broke. As I headed to the restroom it became apparent that my water broke, this was 10 days earlier than I had planned which was a big surprise. I told my boss what had occurred and told him I would be leaving, he was nervous about me driving home, I assured him I would be fine knowing that it could take a while before anything would happen but he insisted on at least following me home which he did and I am grateful for that. The girls and I hurried and packed my bag for the hospital, I had not done that yet in hopes that it in some way would prevent her from coming early, I know crazy. We dropped Houston off at my friend and lifesaver Heather's and headed to my Doctors office where Chad met us.

The Doctor confirmed it was indeed my water that broke and sent us next door to the hospital to check in. We arrived at the hospital around 3:00pm, they hooked me up to the monitors and within 30 minutes I began having consistent transactions. I had high hopes that my labor would be similar to Hannah's and Houston's around 4-6 hours, no such luck it ended up being 8 1/2 hours of labor. At one point my contractions started to spread further apart and lessen in strength so the doctor gave me a very small amount of Pitocin. This really kicked things into gear and pushed me to the point that I almost gave up on my plan of labor without an epidural, fortunately I had Chad, Jessica and Hannah and a wonderful nurse coaching me along and encouraging me. Within 40 minutes she made her arrival, fortunately I only had to push 4-5 times. She was born at 11:39pm, she weighs 7 pounds 10 ounces and is 21 inches long. She is beautiful (I am biased of course), she had a coupled of bruises on her cheeks from the birthing process but other than that she is doing great. While it was a huge surprise and something I was not quite ready for I am very glad that she is finally here and that she is healthy. I hope you enjoy some of her first photos below.