family vacation 2011 - rosemary beach.

I have been on a family vacation this past week with my family. We were in Florida at a place called Rosemary Beach for our annual family vacation. This year my sister got to choose our vacation and that was where she picked for us to go. We had an amazing time!

I was really worried and anxious about this trip. I was travelling with a 4-year-old and a 3-week-old - which is not something I would ideally want to do. But it all worked out just fine and everyone had a great trip.

The proof is in the pictures. Enjoy.

Hayden's first time seeing and experiencing the ocean.

on our way to dinner.at dinner.harper with clark (my sister - Mary's - husband).harper and randy.me and harper - about to head to the beach.harper sleeping at the beach.mary and harper at the beach.me and hayden.hayden.dinner at the 'Back Porch' lunch at the 'florabama'hayden with his bunny - which he loves! harper in her carseat on the way home.

mommy and baby - a post-pregnancy picture.

Here are Harper and I - my post-pregnancy picture.
And here I am just a few weeks ago - my last pregnancy picture taken about 5 days before she was born.

And here I am with both of my "babies" - Gotta love the kiddos!

harper's birth announcement.

This is Harper's birth announcement. I just thought I would share. Enjoy.

mother's day - now with 2 kiddos.

Mother's Day was a wonderful day this year.

I have my little man and my little baby girl. It was a very special day.

I think the following pictures say it all.

the birth story of Harper Grace Werner.

On Thursday, May 5th (3 days past my due date) Hayden and I went on a little field trip. Our outing included a snack at Bliss Cupcake Café with my dad and Randy, followed by a visit to the Fayetteville Public Library.

On our walk back to our car from the library, I started having contractions. It was around 11:30am. They hurt pretty bad and were relatively consistent so I started timing them using an “app” on my phone. After driving home, I called Randy and let him know that he needed to come home because I thought I was in labor.

Once he arrived home, I decided that we needed to go to the hospital and that we needed to call my mom so that she could come over and get Hayden.

When she arrived, we immediately left for the hospital - it was 12:20pm.

We arrived at the hospital around 12:45pm. At that point I was in extreme pain. The contractions were severe and the breaks between the contractions were essentially non-existent.

It was very similar to my labor with Hayden - no breaks between the contractions, back labor, and excruciatingly painful.

When they first checked me upon arrival, I was dilated to a ‘4’ and 70% effaced (at my appointment the day before, I had been a ‘3’).

At 1:20pm, I was moved to Labor and Delivery.

Again, the pain was intense and constant - and I was not a fan.

I wanted my epidural and I wanted it as soon as possible.

I started feeling an urge to push around 1:50pm, so they checked me. At that time, I was dilated to almost a ‘7’.

They had a hard time getting an IV started and had to recruit an anesthesiologist to do it - they finally got the IV started around 2:00pm.

At that time, I again felt an urge to push. They checked me again and I was dilated to a ‘9’.

At that point it became abundantly clear that there was no way I was going to get an epidural.

Before you can get an epidural, you have to have received a good amount of “fluids” intravenously. They had just started the IV and I was already a ‘9’ - obviously it was almost time to deliver and an epidural was out of the question.

Not having the epidural made me very nervous. I was doing this naturally. The pain was unreal. Everything was happening so fast.

At that point, they gave me some ‘Stadol’ intravenously - it was 2:05pm. Stadol is a synthetic opioid (a narcotic) used to treat pain. It made me feel a little more relaxed, but it did nothing for the pain - in my opinion.

At 2:10pm, I again felt the urge to push and they began setting up for the delivery.

The doctor came in and said that I could go ahead and start pushing - it was 2:17pm and I was dilated to a ‘10‘.

I wanted to get her out as soon as possible so the contractions and pain would stop so I pushed with all my might. Five minutes later Harper Grace Werner was born - at 2:22pm.

I had a 2nd degree tear that required about 20 stitches. Not cool, but she is definitely worth it.

She weighed 7lb, 1oz and measured 20” in length. Her Apgar scores were 8 and 8. Her blood type is O positive - just like me.

My labor from the start of the first contraction to delivery was less than 3 hours. Apparently that is called a precipitous labor. It was a thrill. It was not what I expected, yet it was perfect. She came on her own time. And when she was ready to come, she came and she came fast!

She is calm and beautiful. She has a ton of dark, thick black/brown hair. She is amazing and I am so in love with her - we all are.

harper grace werner.

Harper Grace Werner has officially arrived. Her "birth story" is a good one - if I do say so myself - and I plan on sharing that with all of you soon (as soon as I get a chance to sit down and write it out).

For now, these pictures and basic stats will have to suffice.

D.O.B. = May 5th, 2011
Time Born = 2:22pm
Weight = 7 lb, 1 oz
Length = 20"

She has tons of dark, thick, brownish-black hair. She is beautiful. We are all in love with her. Hayden has been a wonderful, supportive, doting big brother thus far. Hopefully the trend will continue.

And again, I will post a detailed birth story soon - stay tuned.

40-week appointment.

Earlier today, I had my 40-week OB/GYN appointment. I didn't think I was going to have to have a 40-week appointment, but I did.

I waited in the exam room for over an hour. Apparently, my doctor was doing a procedure that ended up taking longer than expected. In the end, it became known that something went wrong during the procedure because I never ended up seeing my doctor and she ended up cancelling all of her appointments for today.

Eventually, I was able to see a doctor and be examined - but not after having waited for a very long time. It seemed like waiting is the current theme of my life. For whatever reason, the stress of it all got to me and I started crying. Fortunately, no one was around to see me crying and in the end it all worked out okay.

Here are the details of the appointment:

My blood pressure was 102/58.

Harper's heartbeat was 140 bpm.

The doctor checked to see how much I am dilated. I am now a '3'. So pretty darn good.

She said that if I wanted, I could go ahead and be induced right now (as in have the baby today, right this minute). I wasn't too keen on that. I would prefer to give Harper a chance to come when she is ready, so I declined.

I did let her know that I don't seem to be feeling her quite as much so we went ahead and did a non-stress test. Everything checked out fine.

In the end, we scheduled another appointment for this Friday, May 6th to do another non-stress test as well as an ultrasound just to make sure Harper is doing okay. If those tests check out well then we will continue on until Monday. If she doesn't come by Monday, May 9th then I will be induced on that day.

I am hoping she comes before then - on her time. I am still optimistic that I will "go on my own."

past due.

It is May 3rd - I am officially overdue. I have gone past my due date.

I was not expecting this.

Hayden came a day before his due date and I expected Harper to at least come on or before her due date.

Obviously I was wrong (and I would just like to note that I know the due date is accurate because I know the date she was conceived).

Apparently she is quite content in my uterus. I am hoping she decides to make her appearance very soon. I have an appointment scheduled for tomorrow morning. During that appointment we will talk about and schedule an induction.

Until then, I am just waiting - hoping that she comes on her own. And she might - or she might not.

I just don't know. And I hate not knowing. I am a planner and unfortunately going into labor isn't necessarily something that can be planned (at least when you are talking about letting it occur naturally).

So I will continue to wait - eager to meet my little girl and hold her in my arms.

I can't wait - yet that's all I can do at this point.