Two weeks old

Claire's hair right after a bath gets a little fluffy. :) 

 I love when she snuggles on my shoulder. 

Claire is officially two weeks old. We are having a great time getting to know her and her little personality! She is a very calm baby! She loves to be snuggled! She is a great eater and sleeper, which makes my life a lot less hectic. As long as I can get a nap (or two) in during the day I feel great!
Shaun is an awesome daddy! I love to watch him hold her and talk to her. He is a natural! I am so glad that we are on this journey together. Although he is really busy with the lab and with school he still makes time for his girls. :)

The full story of Claire

warning: this post will contain many details from Claire's birthday so read at your own risk. :) 


 So my due date (Sept 4th) came and went and still no Claire. On August 29th, the doctor told me that we would have to wait until Monday, September 12th before they would induce me. Then, at my doctor's appointment on Sept 6th they moved the induction date to Sept 8th. YAY! 


So Thursday morning (the 8th) we had to be at the hospital by 5 am. Shaun and I didn't get much sleep the night before...but that morning as I got ready I had two pretty hard contractions. I was excited thinking that "today is the day." 


So at my appointment on Tuesday I was dilated to 2 cm and about 30% effaced. When they checked me Thursday first thing I was already at a 3-4 and 70%. YAY! They immediately started me on the Pitocin. My body took it really well, and the nurse actually kept turning it down because I was progressing so nicely. 


At 10 am my contractions started getting really hard so I opted for the epidural. Getting the epidural was actually worse than the contractions. The first time the doctor inserted the needle, my left leg immediately cramped up with the worst Charley horse I have ever had. As I moved my foot it continued to worsen. The doctor proceeded to insert the needle a second time. I got the same Charley horse but it calmed down and we were able to continue. Man, that was not fun! 


By noon I was dilated to 5, almost 6 cm and still progressing nicely. My contractions were lasting about 3 mins long with only 40-50 seconds in between. (I think the epidural slowed things down a bit but it's hard to say.) 


About 4 pm they checked me again and I was at a 10 and 100%. The nurse wanted me to "labor down" a little while so gravity could help as I was still at a 
-2. 


At 5:30 pm I started pushing. The crazy part was when I was laboring down my contractions were nice and strong, but when I started pushing they slowed down to every 5 mins or so. And I was having a really hard time pushing. I was completely doing it wrong and so I was exerting tons of energy for nothing. 
The nurse decided to put me back on the Pitocin to keep my labor going and once again we waited another 30 mins to let that kick in as I labored down some more. 


At this point I felt beat. While the nurses were gone Shaun and I said a prayer that I would have the strength to keep going. When they came back I was ready and truly felt like I had strength beyond my own. I was also at a +2 so that was helpful. 


So I kept pushing and pushing (finally doing it the right way) and slowly we made progress. The nurse staff switched at 7 pm and two new nurses were there. 


Pretty soon her head crowned and Shaun could see that she was going to have hair. You may laugh but all of his nieces and nephews came out completely bald and stayed that way for years...so hair was a nice bonus. :) 


At this point they called in the doctor and the pediatrician. They knew that Claire had had swallowed some meconium in the womb so they were prepared to suction out her mouth when she arrived. 


So her head came out and then without warning her shoulders got completely stuck. No amount of pushing on my part was going to get her out. Without even a seconds hesitation the two nurses jumped on the bed and as I pushed they also pushed on my uterus with all of their weight. Meanwhile, the doctor was maneuvering her and within minutes she was out. 


The pediatrician immediately took Claire and was working with her. For what felt like the longest time we didn't hear Claire cry. Shaun and I were completely stunned at the events that had just taken place. Claire was also in shock and was not breathing regularly. They immediately took Claire into the nursery to try and regulate her breathing. 


The pediatrician came in about 45 minutes later and gave us the update. Claire took a while to cry and her breathing was still irregular but she never turned blue. They were also trying to put an IV in her foot to give her some sugar to help regulate her. The pediatrician said the worst case scenario was that Claire would have to go to another hospital to their NICU but they would determine that in the morning. They also said they might be able to wheel me down to see her but that she needed to be monitored.   


My heart sank. I was so worried about her! Shaun went to peek at her and get some pictures for me. I just wanted to hold her! 


Well, a miracle happened. About an hour later the pediatrician came back and said that Claire was completely stable and doing amazing! She was doing so good in fact that they brought her to my room to eat. They weren't able to get the IV in, which was great because then we didn't have to wean her off of it. She latched on like a pro and with the help of the nurse we got a great start on feeding. 


Shaun and I were so relieved and both just cried tears of gratitude that everything had turned out so well! Those nurses just carried on as if nothing special happened but truly they saved her life! And I didn't have to get an emergency C-section either. What a blessing! 


My mom had flown in just hours before she was born and joined us in the hospital room when Claire did. It was so good to have the support of so many people. Even my grandma was sending me texts of encouragement. :) I also truly feel like there were angels among us helping us through this. 


We named her Claire Joan Broderick. Joan is actually pronounced JoAnn. It is my grandma's name. I have always had a very special relationship with my Grandma Murray and felt inspired to give her that middle name. We didn't tell anyone about the middle name until she was born so it was a great surprise. 


Claire has changed our lives so much! She has the sweetest disposition and is really a calm baby. She doesn't cry much but has this really high pitched scream that only lasts a few seconds... it's a bit piercing. I think it even surprises herself when it comes out. :) 


Shaun is an awesome daddy and so good to us! We loved having my mom here, too. She was able to stay about 10 days. It was so helpful to have some reassurance that I was doing things "right," as we started the transition into parenthood. 


We really feel so blessed and loved! We know that Claire is such a special gift and we sure love her so much! 

Introducing Baby Claire

Claire, Shaun, and I are doing awesome! Here are some pictures of right after she was born and then also from the last couple of days. I will get around to writing all the details of her birth. She is a miracle baby and we really couldn't be happier!!

Stats: Born 9/8/11

Weight: 8 pounds 6 oz

Height: 19 inches 

Dad's a quick learner! 

Getting all dressed to come home. 

All snuggled and waiting for kisses! How can I not resist those sweet cheeks!! 

Happy Birthday

My Birthday was kind of an after thought this year with Baby coming but we still got to celebrate a little bit. Next year when I turn 30 we will definitely celebrate! 

Shaun and I went to dinner at a Mexican restaurant. It was nice to go on a date with my hubby! And it was delicious! (spicy food didn't put me in labor, though.) 

 Shaun made me chocolate ganache filled cupcakes with homemade chocolate butter cream frosting. YUMMY! They were delicious! 

Sunday night we had dinner with the Hansen family. The mom, Christina, and I have the same birthday so we did a joint dinner. On Monday, since baby still hadn't come, we went with the Hansens to check out Amish Country. It's about 30 minutes from our house. There are a ton of shops and restaurants where they sell crafts, handmade wood pieces, etc. It was a fun outing. Here is a picture of the Hansen kids enjoying their ice cream cones. Shaun couldn't resist taking this picture :) 

We will keep you posted on Baby! 

Happy 29th Birthday to me. :) 

Beware of the Speed Traps

Nicolette and I arrived in our moving van last year during the 4th of July weekend. I couldn't believe that we passed 7 police cars on our way through Ohio to our home. Since that time I noticed a very distinctive pattern...Ohio traffic is only monitored by the police during holiday weekends.
You may not know this, but I usually drive 10-20 mph over the speed limit everywhere except in school zones and on holiday weekends. Yet, I've never even been pulled over but I always new the day would come. This Labor Day weekend I had my mind on Nicolette and the new addition who will be joining our family any day now and wasn't paying too much attention to the empty, rural road ahead. Suddenly, I saw the nose of the police car far ahead and slow down from 70 to 55 (the posted speed limit). The policeman pulled us over. Unfortunately, my driver's license was in my other pants pockets. While it was kind of him not to handcuff me, I did have to sit in the backseat of his car while he looked up my information.
He made small talk with me while we waited for his computer to pull my information up. He asked when my wife was due (to which I replied, "today.") and recommended that I don't get the steak at the Wooster hospital (for our special celebratory meal). Despite the pleasantries, he handed me the ticket. As I got into the car it was obvious that Nicolette was troubled. She comes from the only state where the word "Limit" is actually enforced. The funny thing is they don't actually have fewer accidents in Idaho, but they sure have lots of slow drivers.
So, I've been reflecting on my actions over the last 2 days. Will I change? Absolutely not, I'm going to make sure I don't speed on a holiday weekend ever again. And of course I will continue to be a defensive and safe driver.
Getting an English driver's license drastically changed my views on driving. In England, officers don't waste time monitoring speed. They have a different mentality about driving. They believe that driving slowly is not the same as driving safely. They focus on paying attention to your surroundings while you drive, rather than making sure you don't drive above a particular speed. Your speed should be a reflection of the driving conditions and your surroundings
It is very difficult to pass the driving test in England. I failed 2 times before I was able to pass it and that was after having 4 years of driving experience in America and several hours with a professional English driving instructor. (You can fail by crossing the double yellow line while making a left hand turn, or rolling back on a hill with a stick-shift when starting to go.)
I never saw an accident in England though, and people always stopped immediately for pedestrians. Why? Because drivers must pay complete attention to the road.
As far as my views of speeding in America...
Really, there are 2 groups of laws in the United States: black and white laws, and grey laws. Speeding limits are grey laws. Breaking the speed limit depends on the police officer to determine which speed above the limit is no longer acceptable. This creates a fantastic revenue generation system for state governments. If the limit was actually viewed as a black and white limit and not a grey suggestion than state governments would go (more) broke because people would know exactly which speed is and is not acceptable. Speeding tickets are really a speeding tax on the American people. Over 100,000 citations are given each day in America, suggesting that people don't take speeding seriously. In Chicago, there is a law that no road can have a limit above 55 mph. I would have been a serious hazard if I followed the speed limit because the slowest of people were going 70 mph. Most were driving 75.
Not convinced? Well, think about a time when there has been a car that weaves its way in and out of traffic. A police officer cannot safely pull those drivers over because of all the other cars in the way. Yet these drivers are probably much more likely to cause an accident than people that are by themselves speeding on an empty road. Yet, who gets pulled over, the loan car. Also, if it was a matter of safety and not revenue, then why are Ohio roads ONLY patrolled on holiday weekends?
That being said, I am happy to pay my speeding tax. I was going 70 in a 55 therefore I own Ohio $103. I am fine with that. I have saved hundreds of hours of my life by speeding everywhere I go to which I will gladly pay $103. Also, I'm proud that I get to help solve Ohio's debt crisis by donating to their relief funds. Happy Labor Day and beware of the new police lasers tracking your speed!