Introducing Clementine Rebecca Hohl

Our new baby girl came flying into this world at 8:57 Monday morning weighing in at 8lbs 15oz and 21 1/2 inches long.  I woke up at 7:30am  Monday morning feeling a very light contraction and calmly timed how far apart my contractions were and to my surprise they were less than 5 minutes apart already! Ahhhh! So I frantically called my good friend/neighbor and paged "911" to my husband who was just about to scrub into surgery and got ready to head into the hospital.

Luckily I had everything packed and my kids were being easy that morning so we were ready to head out in no time.  My neighbor got here and helped get things into the car and then Justin arrived around 8am.  He ran in, got my stuff, and we headed into the hospital.  At that point my contractions were 3 minutes apart and we thought we were in trouble because we were just in time to drive into the city during rush hour.  We were blessed, however, and didn't hit anything major. 

 We arrived at the hospital at 8:35 at which time my contractions were getting a little more intense.  We rushed up to labor and delivery where we told them my contractions were less than three minutes apart and I knew I was close to delivering.  The nurses, of course, don't really believe you and were calmly telling me to give them a urine sample and get dressed and while I was changing I yelled to Justin to get them back in because my baby was coming! They sauntered back in and checked me and guess what? I was already at 9 1/2 centimeters dialated.

They were finally convinced and started moving to get me ready for delivery.  Right at that moment my upper body started tingling and after a few seconds my arms, face and upper stomach felt totally paralyzed--never happened to me before -- and I couldn't even move my fingers or face to speak! I looked at Justin with what I can only describe as Botox face and said, "Justin, I can't move my hands and face.  What's happening to me?"  Has anyone heard about that condition or had that ever happened to you? I got into the labor and delivery room at around 8:50 and this awesome nurse helped me breathe slowly and gain control of my sanity and in just five minutes I felt the pushing contraction, pushed twice and my daughter flew out into the arms of the nurse.  20 seconds after that, my OB ran in.  He missed the whole thing.

Since she came out so quickly her little face was bruised pretty badly and her eye has some broken blood vessels in it which will take a little while to clear up.  I also didn't fare very well and, sparing you most of the gruesome details, I think I have about 20 stitches.  Once again, labor and delivery hurt less than everything that went on afterward.

Clementine looks more like Henry but has Bea's coloring.  She has Bea's brownish hair with red highlights and her eyes are a clear light blue like Bea's were as a newborn so I'm expecting she'll have blue eyes.  She has really long fingers and toes and a slender body.  Even though she was 9 lbs, she still has a small head and a long body so she doesn't really look like a huge, chubby baby.  So far she has a really laid back, sweet personality and hasn't really cried much, even when Bea attacks her.  She slept for 6 hours straight the second night in the hospital and  probably would have slept that long last night, but I had to wake her up to nurse.  She has amazing suction and will take a pacifier, a bottle, and nurses with no problems!

The most amazing part about this whole experience is that it has been such a peaceful and wonderful transition compared to when Bea was born.  Both Henry and Bea are acting totally normal and even Henry is excited about his new role in making sure Bea's physical needs are being met when I can't help.  He is in LOVE with Clementine, especially since he knows that she looks like him and has been so helpful and had such a great attitude about it.

Bea has also been very excited about our new addition and is nothing but smiles and is doing great learning how soft and gentle she needs to be around her.  We were alone together for a few hours this morning and the kids played outside together while I sat outside with the babe and Bea showed no jealousy at all and acted like she normally does.  I had been praying for all these things to go well and I am so grateful to the Lord for answering my prayers and for allowing me to enjoy my new sweet daughter.