My Sister

Even since my sister was little she has amazed us with her artistic ability. She has always been able make beautiful creations with just a pencil and paper. She has never been to an art class, and has always refused "how-to" books. What she can do, she has simply been blessed with.

She really has a knack for capturing mythical creatures like fairies, dragons, griffins...etc. The detail in this picture is hard to see, so click on it to enlarge it.

She could work for Disney too! They are starting to go back to good old fashion hand drawn animation. The Princess and the Frog comes out this Christmas! I'm excited.

A picture she gave me for my baby shower.

And she sent me this one today. It melts my heart. I love it!

She's only 16. Did I mention that?

You're amazing Jen! Keep up this wonderful work! I love you!

My new neice!

Today Kate's cousin was born! Her name is Jaylee Raine Watson. She weighed 7 lbs 7 oz and was 19 inches long. Okay, I might not be exact on the facts, but I do know that she is so stinking cute! The girls are only 2 weeks apart. We just know that they planned this in the pre-existence and will be best friends for life!

The girls. Aren't they both so beautiful? Look at all that dark hair on Jaylee!

Grandma Watson holding her two brand new granddaughters!

My mom has been bugging me to post some more current pictures of Kate. So here you go :)

More pics...

Bethany came over Friday night - here are some pics of little 4 day old Kate.

"What did I do to deserve this?"

A Baby Story

Kate's entrance into this world was one long journey!

We arrived at the hospital Monday evening at 8:00 ready to be induced. After determining that I still hadn't progressed at all (I was still in between closed and one centimeter) they decided to get things started with cervicol(?) and contractions started about an hour later. My contractions came quickly and were pretty strong, so we tried comfort measures like sitting on the birthing ball, massage etc. Then around 5:00 am they checked me again and I was at a 3. Progress, but not a lot, so I decided to take a shower. I had heard that this really helps you dilate. So I took a shower for about an hour, and by the time I was done I was in PAIN. Then I caved and asked for the epidural. The nurse did not check me again before we did this, because she was pretty positive that everything was fine and that I had progressed more while in the shower. I received my epidural (YAY), but it slowed my labor down. Or, I was just having a slow labor anyway.

I stayed at a 3 for about 10 hours! My contractions were adequate, I was just not progressing. They even broke my water and nothing really happened. Then just when my doctor was contemplating a c-section, I progressed to 5 centimeters, so they wanted to let me keep going. So I did.

Well, by 10:00pm I still had not progressed past 5 centimeters, so my doctor decided to go ahead and do a c-section. I was never more grateful to hear anything in my entire life! I was so frustrated and exhausted, and my epidural hadn't been working correctly for about 2 hours. I was not a happy camper. I had the anesthesiologist come in twice to give me extra pain medication. The little extra shots would work for about 30 minutes, and then I'd be back in full pain. I don't know why he didn't check my epidural to see how it was functioning, but he didn't. And later he got yelled at by the anesthesiologist who did my spinal.

By this time I had been in labor for a full 24 hours. I was READY for the surgery. After I got my spinal, I was the happiest I'd been ALL day. I was just so relived to be done, and so excited for my baby to finally be here! My doctor got the baby out very quickly, and Kate was born at 10:44pm.

Even though it was long and stressful, it was a wonderful experience! We love our daughter so much!

Introducing...

Kate Jordyn Watson. Born April 28, 2009 at 10:44 PM via C-section. She weighed in at 7 lbs 13 oz and measured 21". Everyone here is healthy and happy - here are some pics with full story and whatnot coming later. Enjoy.

I bet you're all thinking...

"Erin hasn't posted in a while, she must have had her baby!"

Sorry.

I'm now 6 days overdue!

This baby just isn't going to come on her own. Tomorrow evening we will be going to the hospital to start the induction process. I guess it depends on how progressed I am by then, but the plan is to use the prostaglandins gel first, and then if that hasn't done anything by the morning my doctor will start me on the pitocin. I am scared, but very excited at the same time!

Tuesday. She'll be here Tuesday.

The hospital has free wireless internet too, so we'll post pictures as soon as we can.

Keep us in your prayers!