She's finally here!

Abigail was born at 9:23 a.m. on March 31. She weighed 8 lbs 11 oz and was 20.75" long.

I woke up with contractions at about 1:15 a.m. and began timing them before I woke Jeremy up just after 2:00 a.m. My contractions were 4-5 minutes apart at that time. We called the doctor and then began preparing for the big day.

Everything went pretty smoothly and I wasn't in labor very long compared to Rachel's birth. We are so grateful to have had so many people praying for us throughout my pregnancy and today.

Abigail's Baby Shower and Nursery

I was so thankful to be given a baby shower on March 1st. A lot of friends from church helped out with the shower. It was really nice. Many friends came and my Mom and sister were able to make the trip from Arkansas. I really enjoyed the food and fellowship. And, we were given many nice gifts for Abigail and her nursery.

I thought that Abigail's nursery would never get done before her arrival. Between my limited physical activity and Jeremy's back pain from a ruptured disk, we just weren't able to work on things as often or as quickly as we wanted.

First, we had to move the guestroom furniture upstairs because that room would become the nursery. Then, we had to paint my Mom's old bedroom suite for Rachel to have some new furniture since hers needed to be reused in Abigail's room. And finally, we had to paint, hang the chairrail and put up the wallpaper border in the nursery before moving in the furniture and decorating.

We finally got everything completed and I actually had time to paint an accent piece (the green side table)...

Our Pregnancy Experience

After a long and sometimes difficult nine months, the end of this pregnancy is near...

We had trouble getting pregnant this time around. We had been trying for over a year and finally decided to try Clomid. It worked the first month. We were ecstatic to be having another little blessing. I had been charting my temperature and knew exactly when I ovulated. My temperature was increasing after ovulation so I felt like I was finally pregnant. Jeremy was gone to a Promise Keepers weekend trip when I decided to test (5 days before I should have). I got a positive result the first time and of course, I had to take a few more tests to be sure...LOL. I couldn't wait to tell him when he came home. I made Rachel a shirt that read "Big sister to be" in license plate form to share the news with him. After I went to the doctor to confirm my positive result, I took pictures of Rachel wearing her shirt to share with family and friends. This is the email that I sent out.

We were on top of the world until I experienced some bleeding at 11 weeks. It turns out that I had placenta previa which means that my placenta was covering my cervix (under the baby)when it should have been to the side or above the baby. I was put on physical restriction, was watched carefully and had several ultrasounds.

When it came time to find out the sex, we had a shy baby. That was in November. We had both a boy name and a girl name picked out already. When we went back in December, we were overjoyed to find out that we were having another baby girl. We decided to share this news with family and friends by putting the announcement on our Christmas card.

Finally at my seven month checkup, we learned that my placenta had finally moved and that I no longer had placenta previa. This was great because it meant that I would no longer have to have a scheduled c-section. At the same time, we found out that I have two placental lobes which just means that there are two pieces of placenta that will have to be delivered after the baby.

In February, Jeremy and I both ended up with the flu. After getting over that, my flu symptoms turned into a bad sinus infection. I was in the middle of a round of antibiotics when all three of us had a stomach virus. It was very bad and I became very weak. I had to go back to the doctor for my sinus infection that had gotten worse after I got over the stomach virus. I was given another round of antibiotics and am still having sinus problems to this day. I have basically been sick for about two months now.

We attended a refresher infant CPR course at the end of February. We took Rachel to a sibling class at the beginning of March. She is so excited to become a big sister. Here, she is learning to change a wet diaper.

At my 36 week appointment, we learned that Abigail was breech. We were told that I would get an ultrasound at 37 weeks and that if she was still breech, I would be scheduled for a c-section the next week. Luckily, she turned on the Wednesday evening before I had my Thursday morning ultrasound.

Before my 38 week appointment, I woke up just after 3 a.m. with contractions that kept getting closer and closer together. I had a 9:20 a.m. doctor's appointment so I waited until I went there to get checked out. They ended up about 5 minutes apart. Aside from these contractions, nothing was really happening so it was determined that I was having false labor (even though it felt pretty real to me). I was sent home that day with some pain medication and was told to rest. I went to the day spa that afternoon and had a massage, facial, manicure and pedicure. It was nice to get a little pampering.

I went in for my 39 week appointment this Thursday. I woke up just before 4 a.m. with a more painful episode of false labor. When at the doctor's office, the contractions were about 7 minutes apart. When he checked me, once again nothing was happening. He scheduled me for an induction on Tuesday morning at 5:30 a.m.