Rachael and Matt's baby is here!
Rowan McKinley Clark
6 pounds 11 ounces
19 inches long
Born at 12:10pm on Sunday, July 2
She is so beautiful and perfect! We're so excited to finally see her after all these months of waiting and wondering what she would look like.
I will be posting many more photos, but I had to get up the initial post of the story of her birth, along with a few photos.
Saturday morning, Rachael started texting me that she was having mild contractions that were around 9 minutes apart. We stayed in touch throughout the day, and she continued to have them, getting a bit more painful, but varying in frequency. I decided to pack my bags just in case this was really it. By the end of Saturday, her contractions were slowing so everyone went to bed, not expecting much.
Little did we know.
At 4:07am, Rachael texted me and then called saying that this was it. She was in labor and they were heading to the hospital. I told her I was on my way. I jumped out of bed and gathered a few last minute things before loading up and heading out. I grabbed gas and coffee on my way, and was on the road by 4:40am.
That drive was horrible! I had no idea if I'd make it in time, I wasn't getting any updates because Rachael and Matt were obviously busy, so I was just randomly driving to KC in the middle of the night.
Their birth plan was to have no one at the hospital during labor and delivery, and then they'd call everyone immediately after she was born and we'd all drive over there to meet the new baby. But I spoke with Rachael's mom once I was getting close to KC, and they couldn't handle the excitement, so they were already at the hospital. I decided to go there too, and arrived around 7:30am. They said Rachael was only dilated to 2cm but 90% effaced and they were keeping her for delivery.
Rachael's parents Sandy and Mike and her sister Shelby and I were anxiously giddy, waiting to hear any news. Rachael did an active labor where she was up and walking around, which meant that Matt was busy coaching and helping her throughout the entire thing. He was amazing with her. But that resulted in him not having any time to text us updates. I finally told him I was there around 8:30 and he said things were moving slowly, she was at a 3 or 4.
We passed the time by talking about how excited we were. Then Shelby and I decided to head out for Chipotle around 11. We were on the Plaza in KC, trying to use the GPS on my phone to find our way back, but getting completely lost. In the middle of all that, we get a text from Matt that things are going faster and she's at a 7. We screamed and freaked out and tried to get back to the hospital ASAP.
We got back, told Rachael's parents the news, and they were so excited. Then we waited. And waited. Finally at 12:48pm, we got the text that she was here and all was good. Sandy and Shelby and I screamed and hugged and jumped. Such a fun moment. We still had no idea what time she was born, her name, her weight, or when we would get to see her.
Yay! She's here! We can't wait to meet her!
Around 2pm, we were finally told we could go back to the room to meet her. They said only 2 people could go. The plan had been for me to go in first, meet her, and then take photos of all the family meeting her. Well, Grandma Sandy couldn't wait, so she and I went in together. We saw the sweet new family of three and we both lost it. Sandy took the sweet baby girl and held her for the first time. About 10 seconds later, all the rest of the family (including Matt's family that had arrived shortly after she was born) flooded the room. About 11 people were in there with Rach and Matt. Tears and hugs and squealing all around. They told us her name was Rowan McKinley. Perfect.
This is how she looked when we all saw her for the first time.
90 seconds after we got in there, the lactation specialist came in and told us we had to leave because they needed to work on nursing. So we all went back out to the waiting room and waited. I don't know how much time passed before Matt came out and told us that we could come back in, but it was forever.
We went back in and I got to hold her, and everyone else passed her around too. Then we were moved out of the labor and delivery room into the recovery room, and Rowan got her first bath. I stayed at the hospital til around 7:30pm that night, taking photos of all the visitors.
The next day, I hung out with them all day at the hospital and took more photos of everyone who came to meet little Ro. When it started getting late, Shelby brought pizza and a movie up to their room, so the four of us and Rowan devoured pizza and watched Bridesmaids late into the night.
Yesterday, they were released from the hospital just after noon, so Rachael's brother Alex and I went to decorate their house with a sign and balloons to welcome them home. Once they got home, we did a newborn session with Rowan, and she did amazingly. Slept through the whole thing and was super cute modeling all her little headbands.
I left KC around 4:40pm yesterday and got home to my sweet little Sutton who I'd missed so much. And Adam too. :) I'd never been away from Sutton for that long and it was so hard! But I was so glad to be a part of Rowan's birthday. Sutton got bigger and smarter while I was gone. Not kidding. I had a real conversation with him last night, and he told me "Bless you!" when I sneezed. Good thing he's pretty much a teenager now. :)
Here are the only photos I got of Rowan and I while I was there, so I just had to post them here.
In the delivery room...the very first time I got to hold her.
In the recovery room after things had calmed down a bit.
Sweet baby girl is so good at sleeping!
