samantha grace king

she's here!  our sweet little girl arrived early on friday morning after a short labor that started late thursday evening.  since she wasn't quite as anxious to arrive as her brother was (she waited until nearly 39 weeks gestation to make her debut), we were able to have her at the birthing center like we had planned with the assistance of a supportive group of friends and my wonderful husband.
the official announcement info:
samantha grace king arrived on august 10, 2012 at 2:28 am.  

she weighed 7 lbs 1 oz and measured 20 inches long. 

the rest of the story, for those interested:
we had our scheduled appointment at 9:30 am on thursday morning and everything looked great.  i had been having a few contractions that morning, but nothing else and didn't even get checked for dilation while we were there.  the rest of the day proceeded like any other thursday: our family of three made a trip to costco, we came home and had lunch, played a bit and then matt went to work while we did naptime, some cleaning, and the usual afternoon routine here at home.  by late evening i was having contractions again, intermittently, while feeding noah his dinner.  by bathtime and bedtime they seemed like they were becoming more regular, but i knew that i needed to get noah to bed before i could focus on any sort of "real" labor.  i also figured that since we had cleaned the house that day and i had been so busy, that once i relaxed, ate a good meal and rehydrated myself the contractions would probably go away like they had in the past.  no chance!  by 8:30 pm i was having strong, regular contractions and called my mom to give her the heads up that she might need to come over to stay with noah.  i took a shower (and even shaved my legs!) and the contractions didn't change.  i notified our friend stacy, our friend and bradley instructor, and amy, my amazing friend and midwife, that baby was probably on the way, then sat down to eat and watch some olympics coverage while waiting for matt to get home from work.
by 9:15 pm the contractions were getting *very* strong and i had actually had a chance to time them: every 3 - 4 minutes, lasting for about a minute.  i called matt to see if he was leaving work, and fortunately he was, he said he had a hunch that i was calling for "that reason."  as always, he asked if he needed to pick anything up on the way home and i told him there was one thing i needed: apple juice (i ended up drinking the entire 1.75 L bottle in the time during and after my delivery.  it was SO good!).  after matt got home he took over timing the contractions while we watched more olympic coverage including Bolt's run into the history books with his back-to-back medals for men's 100 and 200M.  by 11 pm the contractions were getting to the point that i could no longer talk through them and we called my mom over, loaded up our bags, and notified amy that we would be ready to meet her at the birthing center.
we arrived at ABC sometime just before midnight (i think the time in my chart was 2350).  amy checked me and told me i was dilated to about 5.5 cm, and that the baby was low in my pelvis.  the next few hours are honestly mostly a blur for me, i know i labored in the tub, on a ball, and in bed while we were there.  my water broke when i started pushing, and about 30 minutes before our baby girl arrived.  surprisingly, i didn't deliver her in the water like i had thought i might, instead we delivered on the bed at 2:28 am.  she came out pink and healthy, crying just like she should.  matt got to cut the cord and we spent the next few hours snuggling our little girl and resting.
we left the birthing center later that morning, sometime before 10 am and got chick-fil-a on the way home.  chicken minis? yes, please!  we met my mother and noah inside the house and got to introduce noah to his new baby sister.  the reception went better than i planned, with noah being very excited about the "baby, baby" that we had brought home with us.  he was even so sweet as to tell us that she was sleeping ("night-night") and that we needed to "shhhh" :)

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it is crazy to think that in another 18 months our newborn baby will be walking and talking just like her big brother is now.  time to enjoy these first few sleepy weeks and snuggles, and prepare for all the milestones to come.

more pictures in the link below:

samantha grace king