Part Four

Enter sweet little Ella Claire Hodges. She was born on Monday, June 2, 2008 at 11:16 am after just 5 hours of labor. I had her at the hospital (but with a different group of midwives) and she was not induced. It was tough, as I thought I was due mid May, but I waited it out, and labor started around 6 am, waking me with horrible contractions. I arrived at the hospital around 9am and was admitted. Around 10:30 I started begging for an epidural and they brought it in but took their time. But as soon as the ridiculously long scary needle was in my back, I knew it was time for her to be born. So Ella Claire was born, at 11:16am right after I got my epidural that didn't work until after she was already born! She was the tiniest, weighing in at 6 lbs 7 oz and was 20.5 inches long, born perfectly healthy. She now weighs (and I'm guessing... she hasn't been in to the doctor's office since her two week check-up! :-)) about 17-19 lbs and will be one in less than a month. She still breast feeds pretty regularly and it's wonderful. She's just recently started eating a bit, and loves real food, but never would eat anything I mashed for her.

Ella Claire, only minutes after she was born.




And since she hasn't had her first birthday yet, here are some favorites from this past year!