Matney is a big sister!

You would think this post would be all about pictures of Halle Kate...and it would be if I had taken the time to get new pics off the camera onto the computer. But, we've had company all day and I just haven't taken the time to transfer them.

I remember from last year that when I delivered Matney and Jared was in charge of the blog he had NO DETAILS...not good for all of my girlfriends reading. As I looked at his posts from last night I realize we have the same no frills posts...ie, labor from a male perspective so I'll try to give you some details ladies!

Some of you know that Matney got, out of no where, a crazy high fever on Wednesday afternoon. I stayed up with her most of Wednesday night, checking her every hour and finally calling Children's Healthcare of Atlanta (CHOA) when it was almost 104. Thursday we went to the dr where they said she had an ear infection. Of course! Since I had JUST BEEN THERE the week before because I thought she had an ear infection and they said she did not. They gave us an antiboitic and we came home. By Thursday at 4:30 he fever was almost 105...which is the "magic number" that means we would have to go to CHOA's emergency room. It finally came back down before we put her to bed - popsicles, medication, cool rags, ice water, etc did the trick. She was PITIFUL. I was seriously considering NOT being induced the following morning because I didn't want to leave M while she is so sick.

Fast forward, Matney went to bed, J and I ran to Target (the "last date" for soon to be parents of 2, how romantic) and came home to pack the car. The plan was to leave around 6am on Friday and head to the hospital. I had JUST SAID how glad I was that Halle had waited, that we didn't have to go in the night before induction like we had with M, how I needed a good nights sleep in my bed and was so glad I'd be taking a shower in the morning...when I leaned over to unload the dishwasher and my water broke (about 9:45pm). I wasn't sure what had happened so I slipped off to the bathroom...and came back out to Jared and my mom (who was in town to keep M) and said, "I am not so sure about this but I think my water broke and we are not going to be getting our good nights sleep". And sure enough I was right!

Long story short we called the dr and were told to go on to the hospital. Jared finished packing our bags while I took a shower. Yep, my water broke, I was having random contractions and I stopped to take a shower. I can't stand not taking a shower in the AM and I knew Friday morning I wasn't going to get one. We woke M up for another dose of medication, turned her over to mom and headed down to Northside. We got to the hospital a little after 11pm. They said that my contractions were not regular and to try and get some sleep. They planned to start pitocin (labor inducing drug) at 6am and we'd go from there. Halle once again had other plans. Because my water broke they were not checking me for dilation and I thought I was being a wimp because those contractions were CLOSE and HARD. PAINFUL HARD. At 3:45am the nurse came in and said the epidural was on its way! Thank goodness. They got that in just about 4am and she checked me...5cm. I thought "are you kidding me? Only 5cm? I am wimp!".

Because labor with Matney had gone quickly from 5 to 10cm she said she'd check back every 10 min. Jared finally went to lie down and had just fallen asleep when she came back 10 min later, checked me and said "oh! You are 10cm and she is really ready to come out!". We quickly got a confused Jared up, the dr came in the room, I pushed 4 times (40 seconds total!!!) and at 4:20am we had BEAUTIFL BABY HALLE KATHERINE HEALD. She was 6lb 15oz and 20" long. Can you believe that? No wonder I was hurting so badly...we were less than 30 minutes away from her being born. Who knew it could happen like that? Next time I may make my shower quick and be ready to hit the road. No babies on GA 400 please! These are pictures from last weekend of Mylee and Matney. Watch the progression to see why I am concerned about Matney's reaction to sharing witha sister. First Mylee sits innocently in the Elmo chair while Matney reads a book with Allison.



Next, Matney realizes Mylee is in her chair and goes to join her...and starts to push her out.

Poor Mylee gets shoved out of the chair by my sweet, selfless daughter. Um, Matney, no!!! This is NOT how we share with our sister...and not how we keep friends!