August has arrived and so has baby girl! Birth story!

The summer has flown by! I am somewhat relieved and sad at the same time, because lots of fun things have come to an end and new things have begun. In May of this year, Daniel and I celebrated 7 years of being together! We decided that we needed a short trip away, so we took a weekend to visit Asheville. It was much needed. Then June came! My family had our family reunion at Oak Island. It was such a blast! Of course, our family got sick, but despite that we had a good time. We then celebrated Hannah's 4th birthday this year! July was spent getting ready for baby sister and doing things out of the house with Hannah, so that we didn't get bored. We went to the library once a week, had playdates with my sister Jill, and friends from our ward at church. As for baby stuff, I had everything ready to go; clothes were washed, and my hospital bag was packed. My friends from church also had a diaper party for me. It was so nice of them! As July came to a close, I realized I needed one last thing made for baby, so I went to my mom's house on Friday July 31 after my 39 week checkup. For the appointment, my mom insisted that she come with me, to inform the doctors that I had a family history of fast labors, and that if I was dilated at all, that they needed to be aware. So the doctor there that day, checked me. She said that I was actually dilated to a 2. Not enough to be concerned, but the doctor was confident that I would not make it to my 40 week appointment. I came home that night and being tired, we went to bed early. I woke up about two to go the bathroom.  For some reason after my bathroom trip, I was wide awake and feeling like I had to have a bowel movement. Within 30 mintues, I felt strong abdominal pains that became painful. So I woke up Daniel, and we drove the 30 minutes to Duke Hospital. We arrived on the Birthing unit, where they had me get in a gown, and reassured me that someone would check me, before I would be admitted to a room. My husband and I both told them, that my contractions were very close together and I go fast once they get that close. They didn't seem too concerned, but once they Triage nurse checked me, and found out that I was in fact 7 cm dilated instead of 4 that the resident doctor said I was, she went into action. Not 5 min, later I was fully dilated, so Daniel called the nurse back in. All of sudden 5 or so nurses were in there helping along with the doctor and with 5 pushes, no epidural and an episiotomy, baby girl was here. After debating on names, we finally decided on Abigail Eleanor. She is now three weeks old, and we can already see that she has a personality. She is a mommy's girl, a great nurser, and loves to be held. All of us are doing our best to adjust. Hannah is doing much better than we ever thought and loves interacting with her baby sister. Well, here are the pics. Enjoy!