INTRODUCING OUR NEW BABY

introducing our new baby, Chloe Sage .. our sweet GIRL!

for those that might not have known, we never found out the gender of this baby until birth. I loved the surprise and while at times I felt unprepared (not knowing what to buy) – I definitely would do it over and over again. I LOVED finding out at birth, it made the wait that much more sweet (and the labor really intense and exciting) lol

we are all just smitten by her, the girls are LOVING being big sisters again and having a new baby brings so many new experiences. Navi and Indie being a little older now understand better their duties and want to help and hold her – we’re working on boundaries and what is safe, etc but they’re just REALLY excited and I love that they want to be so involved.

all 3 of the girls wanted another sister and so I’m happy they will have so many memories together. it definitely makes things easier too – clothes and toy hand me downs, sharing bedrooms, we are set in the girl department lol

I had planned on coming to the Albion mountains to take maternity pictures but Chloe decided to come early at 37 and a half weeks soooooo the maternity pictures didn’t happen lol. she was born the day before my scheduled photoshoot so we decided to wait a few more days and then drove up to take some family photos instead. I know I’ll cherish having these pictures with my -not so little- anymore family! I still can’t believe I have FOUR kids!

Chloe’s birth story –

it was Wednesday July 21st (the day after my birthday, which I even said late on my birthday that I was so happy I didn’t have a baby that day lol) and I woke up with a weird pain in my lower abdomen – it was like a little pinch feeling and I noticed I was CONSTANTLY having to go to the bathroom. I wasn’t drinking a huge amount of water so this was odd to me – after hours and hours of this pinch feeling I decided to call in to my doctor’s office. the receptionist said that if I was worried about anything to call in to the hospital because my doctor wasn’t in office that day. I called the hospital and spoke with a nurse and he said that I could come in and get things checked out if I wanted to.

I decided to wait a little while longer and while I was trying to relax on the couch I started to feel a few major contractions – the pain got so bad that I couldn’t even stand. this only lasted a few minutes but I had already called my mom to watch my girls while Nash and I went to the hospital. this was about 3 pm on Wednesday. we arrive at the hospital and I notice that my walk isn’t as smooth and I’m not as fast as I was the day before. I’m waddling like crazy now.

we get checked in and I get into a little room and they check that I’m dilated to a 2. they also note that baby’s head is VERY low. my doctor over the phone says he wants me to stay for a few hours and see if I progress in labor. so Nash and I hung out in that little room for hours. I can’t remember exactly what time it was but around 8 pm I’m dilated to more of a 3 and with discussion my doctor thinks it’s best if I stay at the hospital.

now during all of this I thought I would be treated for a possible UTI and go home and not have a baby until August lol I was due August 9th. so when all the nurses are saying “it’s baby day” and getting giddy and I just sat there in disbelief it was pretty funny how ‘not into it’ I was.

so Nash went home to be with the girls and I stayed the night at the hospital. they decide to check me again in the morning and it’s around 6:30 am and I’m now dilated to about a 4. I get transferred to another room (actually the same room that I had my first baby in, so that was special). and I get settled in. I get my IV in and they decide to start me on Pitocin. Nash got to the hospital around 10 I think and with discussion we saw that my dilation was moving a lot slower – we wanted to speed things along so my doctor came to break my water.

my doctor asked me if I wanted an epidural and I said no because I had my third baby with no epidural (not by choice though, she just was born too quickly) but I knew that I loved the recovery so much better with her birth so I chose not to have a medicated birth this time. my water breaking hurt a bit but shortly after he broke it my contractions picked up and honestly were so painful.

it was probably only a half hour after my water broke that I started to get MAJOR contractions and thankfully I had Nash and the BEST nurse helping me. Nash held my hands as I would close my eyes and take long, slow breaths through my gritted teeth – my nurse would push on my knees giving me counter pressure and those contractions felt like they were minutes long although I’m sure they were only 30 seconds.

I had been a 6 dilated when my doctor broke my water and within 10 -15 minutes I was dilated to an 8. nurses were rushing in as my nurse called for backup, my doctor had just walked in the door (didn’t even have time to put gloves on lol) as my baby was getting closer to coming. my eyes were actually closed the majority of the time so I didn’t see who was in the room or what really was happening.

I remember saying ‘it is coming’ and my doctor telling me not to push yet – well that’s super hard when your body is trying to push haha – and I heard another nurse say breath short breaths, so I started doing that and it helped to distract me from pushing. at least until I could continue to dilate.

when the head was out I remembered feeling that, and then the shoulders and then her body. honestly the inside of my eyes saw bursts of red and orange – it was like I was looking at the sun. I was SO relieved she was only a few pushes and that the pain was mostly over.

I finally opened my eyes to see the doctor holding our baby and he had told Nash a few seconds prior that it was a girl – I didn’t believe until I saw that she was a girl lol as they quickly examined her, washed her briefly and then laid her on my chest I started to tear up. I did it! we did it! and we had a GIRL! Chloe Sage born at 1:50 pm on July 22.

I was so sure we were having a boy and I was actually getting excited for a boy, our boy name was so cute and I’m sad that I won’t probably ever get to use it (Nash says we’re done having kids) but in the same breath I’m SO happy we have a happy, healthy baby girl. she’s beautiful and I’ve always seen myself as a ‘girl mom’ – I’m so blessed and grateful for my pregnancies and for this family that I get to call mine.

the name Chloe has been on our girl name list for years but none of our other babies felt right with the name. I actually wanted to name Chloe, Demi – and in a dream I had at the hospital the night before she was born – I dreamt that I had a baby girl with dark hair and we named her Demi so I was pretty set on that. Nash and my girls really loved the name Chloe and so I compromised and we named her that. she still fits right in with Navi, Indie, and Laci.

introducing Chloe Sage to the girls was awesome – they oohed and awed over her and couldn’t wait to be ‘first’ to hold her. they met for the first time in our living room and Laci keeps telling people ‘daddy brought a baby home’ lol

we’re so excited to have her here with us and I’m eager for all the things we have coming up in our family – a new house in the next couple months, preschool, kindergarten and adventures with a new baby!

having Chloe was the biggest milestone to hit this summer and I just can’t get over how she’s here already! has this summer flown by for you too??? I’m trying to soak in all the newborn goodness because I know it doesn’t last long

thanks for reading introducing our new baby – we love you Chloe Sage!