One Year Ago Today...

(it was a Saturday) I started feeling contractions that started to become fairly consistent by late afternoon.

I was calm though, because Jeff had just gotten home from his internship in Chicago on Friday (leaving early) night after a first scare of very consistent contractions Thursday night till Friday afternoon. As soon as he was on the plane, my contractions slowed :).

My mom was still in town, so she watched Chase while we went out that morning to spend a little more time together before the baby came. That afternoon I continued working on a nursing cover for a friend's baby shower that was happening on Sunday that I had put off until the last minute... I had been thinking, if I am not TOTALLY prepared, the baby will just not be able to come!... flawed thinking, I must say, oh well, I was pregnant, and I really wanted to go to that baby shower.

Throughout that afternoon and evening my contractions went from inconsistent to VERY consistent and I started timing them.... in the first hour they were already 3 minutes apart and about 45sec in duration... SERIOUSLY!?! But they were not very strong so I kept track of them for another few hours, they stayed pretty consistent. At about 9pm I told Jeff what was going on, and we decided to call the Midwife Center just to make sure things were going alright since we had a very different experience with Chase's labor (my water spontaneously broke before any contractions were felt). So I really didn't know what to expect from a 'normal' labor.

We called our midwife Anne and she had us come in to get checked out. Anne told us that she thought I would have the baby by Sunday, and that I shouldn't call back until I couldn't talk through the contractions. The first contraction I had while in the car was much more significant than all the previous... figures. We got home at 10:30pm and I tried to go to bed.

After a fitful time sleeping, I finally started to time the contractions again at about 2:30am when the became stronger. We called the midwife asap because Chase's labor was so quick, and were asked to meet at the Birthing Center in 45 min... I wondered to myself, 'so long?' But after packing up the car, and getting ready to go between contractions, it took us that long to get the the Center that was only 9 blocks away. The nurse met us at the door, and the midwife was only minutes behind us.

We got there at 3:15...

Ami was born at 4:25am.

Happy Birthday Baby Girl!

We celebrate you today, the wonderful girl you are. Smiles, deep giggle, 4 teeth, playful nature and dancing queen! We have had a special year getting to know the little person you are and are looking forward to the next seeing the little girl you are becoming.

We love you Ami Michele.

You fill our hearts with joy.

Love,

Your Mama