Dear Caroline,

Welcome to the world, sweet baby girl! Today at 3:32 pm I heard your first cry and held you in my arms for the first time. It was an absolutely amazing moment for me. As soon as they laid you on my chest you immediately stopped crying and just stared up at me. Ok, I know you couldn't really see me, but still, my eyes were locked on yours. You stayed so calm and just looked and looked at me. I just enjoyed feeling your tiny little warm body on mine. It was so surreal and I feel so unbelievably blessed that a season of my life that I thought had passed was reopened for me. I am pretty sure that in all my lifetime, your surprise arrival will be one of the most amazing things to have happened to me. You are such a miracle. All babies are, but somehow, not expecting you, makes you even more of a miracle. You were a precious gift from God that we weren't expecting and I am so very thankful for you. That's all I can think over and over when I look at your precious face. I am so fortunate to get to experience this miracle one more time.

I thought someday you might want to hear about the day you were born, so I thought I'd take this first letter to you to write it all down. You were quite cozy in mommy's tummy. Since I had gestational diabetes, the doctors would not let you hang out past your due date, so on the day before your due date your daddy and I headed to the hospital at 7:30 that morning to have labor induced. They got us all checked in and started the pitocin around 10:30. I started having regular contractions right away, but they weren't too painful. They kept increasing the dose of pitocin and I still really wasn't having a lot of pain.  I decided I needed to go to the restroom, so daddy helped me get all the machines unhooked and when I stood up, my water broke. After that, things started to pick up quite a bit. The contractions became much more painful. I asked for my epidural and the doctor came into check while we were waiting for that epidural, around 1:30 or so. I was 4 cm dilated. I had been 3 cm first thing in the morning. I couldn't believe I wasn't further along. I had thought it would go quickly, but it looked like we might be in for a long labor. I really hoped that epidural would get there quickly because I was really starting to get uncomfortable. Shortly after the dr. checked me, the anesthesiologist arrived and I had relief. The dr. decided to try to break my water more fully right after that, this was about an hour after he had checked before. I had only had some leaking before so he thought that might get things going more quickly. When he went to try to break my water, I was at 9 cm!! Almost immediately after, I began to feel more pressure with the contractions. He came back in to check again about 30 minutes later and I was ready to push. The nurse had me push one time and then told me to STOP! Apparently you were right there and she was in the room alone. She was afraid to even move from the foot of the bed because you were so close to being born. She frantically called for assistance and everyone kept telling me not to push. The doctor came running in and in one more push you were here!

And that takes us back to the beginning of this post. Caroline, I want you to know how loved you are right now at this very moment. In all of your little newborn squishiness and cuddliness. There cannot be a greater feeling than your tiny little 7 pounds 13 oz snuggled up against me. I love nursing you. I love snuggling with you. I love kissing you and stroking your head. I love putting my finger in your tiny little hand. I love smelling your sweet baby smell. You are so perfect and precious. You are fearfully and wonderfully made and as perfect and wonderful and absolutely delicious as you are right now, I know God has big plans for you little girl. I can't wait to see what those plans will be. I love you so very much. I am so thankful for you. I am so glad that I am your mommy. And your daddy, brother, and sister are pretty much in love with you, too. Happy birthday, sweet baby!

Love,
Mommy

Last Night as a Family of Four

We welcome Caroline tomorrow!! We wanted to take one last picture as a family of four when we dropped Evan and Chloe off at Grandmother and Granddaddy's house. They are excited and a little nervous. Can't wait to see their faces when they meet their new sister!

Caroline in 3-D!

A perk of having weekly monitoring for Gestational Diabetes is that sometimes I get some 3-D pictures. We can't wait to meet this little beauty and see her in person!

Getting Ready for Miss Caroline!

We are so blessed and fortunate to work with such wonderful people in each of our school families. We had a wonderful baby shower at both Lenoir City Elementary and North Middle to help us get ready for Miss Caroline!

LCES Shower:

And NMS shower:

Happy Easter!