Live. Laugh. Love.: Dakota Grace is here!

Dakota was born on November 28, 2009 at 1:45pm. She weighed 6 lbs 7 oz and was 19 in long. She was due Dec 17th so when my water broke it was a huge surprise!! Here's my birthing story..

It was the day after Thanksgiving and I had a full day planned, since I was off work for the holidays. I woke up that morning and went to an AMAZING prenatal massage that my wonderful husband had given me as a surprise. After my massage Chadd and I went car shopping for my Mommy SUV! Luckily we came home w/ one that day!! Thankfully we also took my new car by the firestation that day to have the car seat installed. We joke and say Dakota was just waiting for her new car and car seat to be installed before she arrived! ha! We had a birthday party for one of our friends that night, but I wasnt feeling all that great and decided not to go. Chadd went for a little bit and came home around midnight. I was already asleep in bed.

About 2am I felt a gush of warm water. I got up and went to the bathroom. It wasnt a whole lot of water so I honestly wasnt sure if it was my water breaking or maybe I potty'd myself?! :) I wasnt contracting but I just knew it was my water breaking so I woke up Chadd. He couldnt believe it was time! I took a shower and we finished getting things together for the hospital. We finally got to the hospital around 330am, where they tested me and confirmed that it was my water breaking! YAH!!!! We were soooo excited and thrilled our little girl was arriving that day!

They got me into a room and hooked me up to all the monitors. They turned down the lights and I got a little sleep since I hadn't had much. I still wasnt contracting so they wanted to see if I would start laboring on my own, or if they needed to start me on some pitocin. At 730am I still hadnt had many contractions so they started me on pitocin. About 10 min later, my water fully broke. Pretty much immediately after the pitocin and my water breaking, I started having pretty hard contractions. So, I'm pretty much a wuss, haaaaa!!! The nurse had come in prior to my contractions and told me I could get the epidural whenever I was ready. I told her I would hold off until I started actually having contractions. So I started having my very FIRST contraction,,, yes my first one... The nurse happened to be in there when I was contracting. After it was over, I told the nurse if thats how they were going to feel I wanted the epidural right away! haaaa!! Keep in mind I was still at a 1! ha!

So around 830am, I had my epidural. Thankfully I chose to go ahead and have it that early, cause my labor went extremely fast. Around 10am, I called the nurse in my room cause I could feel the contractions.. not too painful, but I could still feel them. I was worried the epidural was starting to wear off. The nurse checked me and I was at a 9!!!! No wonder why I was feeling the contractions. She came back 30 min later and I was ready to push! We started pushing around 11am. So, basically I labored from 730am-11am... I pretty much had an AMAZING labor!!

I only wish the pushing part was as wonderful as the labor, sigh. I pushed for over 2 hours with absolutely NO progress what so ever. Dakota didnt even move an inch. At that time, the Dr said we would need to have a c-section. They wheeled me into the surgery room and while they prepped me, Chadd changed into his surgery gear. They brought Chadd in to sit by my side. He was absolutely WONDERFUL through every part of my labor, pushing, and during my c-section. It wasnt long before I heard the huge cry from my little baby girl! At 145pm she made her appearance into the world and we both cried and cried with tears of joy. Her cry was the most amazing sound I have ever heard!

She got a 9.5 on her apgar, which is a rating they give babies on how well they are after birth. The highest is a 10 so she was doing SO great! Chadd was able to watch them clean her off and swaddle her and brought her over so I could see her beautiful face and kiss her chubby little cheeks. She is the most beautiful thing I have ever seen in my life!!! I'm sooooo in love!!!!

Overall, I had a pretty great experience. The recovery has been quite hard, but its all going away day to day. We want to thank everyone who came to the hospital to support the most amazing day of our life.. we had soooo many of our family and friends who were there for the arrival of Dakota and sooo many visitors at the hopital and when we got home. We are so thankful for each and everyone of our family and friends and couldnt be happier to spend and share our lives and new family with you guys!!! We love ya'll very much!

Here's pictures from our day!

We're having a baby today!!! YEAH!!!