Announcing Claire Elise Carver

Life changes in a moment! You have to be ready. As we approached our due date, we had to prepare each day to be ready to go to the hospital and drop everything. Only God knew it would happen at 3am on the morning of Aug. 4, 2010. My water broke at 3am and we called the doctor and off we go. We arrived at UAB by 5am and labor was induced at 7:30 am. I had contractions until noon that were incredibly strong and close together but only achieving 2.5cm dilation. Bring on the epidural; I knew it would be a long day! Long story short, I labored until 8:30pm only getting to 4cm and 90% effaced and baby not dropping. By this time, Jeff's parents and brother had made it from Baton Rouge; my dad got here from Starkville and Mom and Jim were already here. After one more hour of no progression off to the OR for a C-section. Exhausted but no complications! Claire was first held by her daddy and her nurse was Joyce Robinson, my friend Alisa's mom. She was wonderful and a comfort to have in those moments of our lives! We met our families finally in the room around 1:30am to introduce our daughter, Claire Elise, to them and let them pass her around.

Spec's on Claire: Born 8/4/10 at 10:21pm at 7 pounds 12 ounces, 19 3/4" long, head full of dark brown hair, brown eyes and great lungs! We'll see as she develops who she looks like. She's adorable and a miracle and we praise the Lord for her and getting to hold her now.

We are thankful for so much! Our friends and family who have been here, called and emailed and prayed us through a VERY long day and supported us with meals, visits, flowers and encouragement that we'll make it! We are thankful for the wonderful doctors and nurses and staff who are incredible at the UAB Women's and Infants Center. We will take her home soon and start our lives together.
Here's a few pix to share: