Carly Michael Bowen

Carly Michael Bowen joined our family on Sunday, October 22 at 10:22am.

She weighed 7 pounds, 13.3 ounces and was 19 1/2 inches long.

Here is her birth story...

On Saturday (10/21) mom kept Braden for Brad and I to have our final date night as I was scheduled to be induced on Tuesday (10/24.) We went out to eat and on the way home my stomach started hurting.  I wasn't sure at first if it was contractions or just the food not settling well with my stomach. Well after about an hour, I knew it was contractions.  Just like with Braden, when they started they were as far apart as 12 minutes, but as close as 4-5 minutes.  

I started contracting at 8:45pm and at 12:30am (10/22) I called our midwife to tell her I thought I needed to come to the hospital.  With Braden they sent me home because I was only 2 cm, so I was so nervous they would send me home again.  We got to the hospital around 1:30am and I was 4 cm.  I was still nervous they were going to send me home because they wanted me to get up and walk like last time.  I had about an hour to walk around before they would check me again.  I walked for about 10 minutes and then I had to lay down because I was feeling very nauseas and ended up getting sick.  They checked me again at 3:30am and I was 6 cm...praise the Lord, they were admitting me and we were going to have a baby soon!!

The contractions this go round were REAL!!  They were a lot stronger than what I remember with Braden.  Maybe it was because I was making progress a lot quicker than I did with him.  By this time, I was all ready for my epidural, but I had to get to a labor/delivery room before I could get it.  While I was waiting for the epidural they gave me something for pain.  Let me just tell you, it worked, but it made me sooo dizzy and HOT.  I could not keep my eyes open and it was almost like I was in another world.  At one point, Katie told me I was talking about zombies (I so do not remember this.)  

Around 5:00am the anesthesiologist came and gave me the magic medicine.  I was able to rest for a while before they came and checked me at 8:00am, where I was 8 cm.  Not much longer and baby girl would make her appearance.  Around 9-9:15 I was feeling a lot of pressure...it was go time!

After a little over an hour of pushing, Carly Michael was here.

Things were different with Carly Michael because I was able to hold her right away.  Talk about a flood of emotions.  I looked at our nurse and told her I felt like I could just burst into tears.

I was so excited to see how Braden was going to do meeting Carly Michael.

As soon as he walked in we asked him who the baby was and he said Carly Michael...my heart melted!!

We had a great stay at the hospital.  We only had to stay one night, so that was nice.  Family and friends came to visit us while we were there, so we enjoyed that.  

Braden came and went throughout our stay, and seemed to enjoy himself.

Silly boy!!

We are enjoying our time as a family of 4 and settling in to our new normal.

Welcome to our crazy world Carly Michael!!