newborn pictures

My friend Brandee does photography and she took some AMAZING newborn photos of Chloe for us! Here are just a few that she took :)

She's here!!!!

Our beautiful baby has finally made her appearance into this world! Chloe Grace Calkins was born on October 13, 2010 at 3:01pm. She weighed 7lbs 8oz and was 20 1/4 inches long. We definitely had a long week. We had our doctor's appointment on Monday morning. After no progression, my doctor decided to start my induction that afternoon. They started me on Cervidil to make me dilate, but after three rounds of that it was still unsuccessful. I was not dilating or progressing at all. Then they did Pitocen and found that the contractions I was getting from the Pitocen was actually making Chloe's heart rate drop. They then did an ultrasound and found that Chloe had no amniotic fluid surrounding her. So we had a couple of options: We could either do another round of Pitocen or we could do a C-Section and get her out. If I were to do another round of Pitocen, they said I would AT LEAST be another 20 hours of hard labor. (Considering by this time we had already been in the hospital for two days!!) Of course we opted for a C-Section. I was not about to continue to put my child through that. After they delivered her, the doctor's found a mass on my small intestine that they removed. They still don't know what it is, but it looked almost like another appendix. The surgeon said that it did not look cancerous at all, and that it was probably something I was born with that I've always had. God obviously had a reason for us to opt for a C-Section and with that, I am so thankful. After 5 long days in the hospital, we were finally able to bring our family home. Chloe is doing beautifully (and Mommy's doing great too)!

Reaching the end . . .

I can't believe my due date is 2 1/2 weeks away. . . Seems like just yesterday we were finding out we were pregnant. The past few days I have been having contractions on and off, but nothing major. I wasn't feeling the greatest this morning so we decided to stay home from church. I ended up listening to a sermon online by the pastor at our church. It really hit home for me as I'm getting so close to becoming a mom. Naturally, there are times when I have doubted myself of "not being able to do this" or "being scared about the delivery process" and his main message really struck a nerve, in a good way. The main scripture he focused on was Philippians 4:13 - "I can do all things through God who gives me strength". It is a great reminder to just put all my faith in God and know that he will get me through anything, especially the birth of our daughter.

Ultrasound

Today we went and had an ultrasound done because at my last dr. appt, our dr. said that I was measuring a little bigger and she wanted to check the size of the baby and measure her fluids. Everything turned out great! The fluid count was a 16, and the Tech said anything between a 5-20 is not too high or not too low. We were able to see so much because she was looking directly at us! Her face looked like a little alien, but she was still adorable :o) She kept sticking her tongue out and putting her fingers in her mouth. The ultrasound tech even said that he could see she's got some hair! (Which makes me feel good because I was bald and looked like a boy when I was born!) :o) She was practicing her breathing which he said was a great sign right now. She was measuring in at 5 lbs. 1 ounce. It makes me feel very anxious/excited because I am so ready to meet my little girl. I want nothing more than to just hold her in my arms and give her the biggest kiss! October couldn't come any faster!

My Baby Shower

Today my sisters in law put together a beautiful baby shower for me. Everything was great! The decorations, the food, the cupcake cake . . . It was beautiful! It's so weird to think that in just two months our little Chloe is going to be here. It's so exciting to think that we're going to be parents in just a short time.




My mother in law Connie and sisters in law (Amy, Jennifer, Stephanie and Bekah)


My aunt Melinda, me, my mom and my grandma :o)

It's official . . . IT'S A GIRL!

Yesterday, Jeremy and I went and had a gender test ultrasound done and found out that we are having a little girl! We couldn't be happier and it just makes it even more real that we're going to be parents soon!

Ready for our newest ultrasound. . .

Last week my mother in law, who is an OB nurse at the hospital, was able to take us up there and give us an ultrasound to see our little one. . .



I'm getting very ansy because next Thursday, the 13th we will be going down to find out what we're having! I'm so anxious to be able to buy something either blue or pink! Jeremy insists that we're having a boy (of course) but we'll see! Considering the fact that I have now had 3 dreams that it was a boy, I'm kind of leading that way too. :)