A NEW ADDITION!

Well, I haven't updated this blog in awhile, but we've been busy! Samantha Reese Hotton was born on April 23, 2009!! She surprised us all by coming eight weeks early!! On Thursday, April 16, I woke up thinking "maybe" my water broke, I was only 31 weeks, 5 days and very scared....after a call to Aunt Peggy who said I needed to come into the hospital ASAP.....well, since we kinda went through this with Shelby, I packed some stuff (just in case) and we headed to Crittenton. I was checked in and after they confirmed that it was my water, since I was not yet 32 weeks along, I had to be transferred by ambulance to St. Joe's Pontiac as they were better equipped for babies so early. I was sooo disappointed as I was looking forward to delivering at Crittenton since Aunt Peggy is there and I had such a great experience with Shelby. But since the safety is the baby was the most important, I had to accept it! I was given 2 steriod shots in order to speed up the development of the lungs and basically had to "wait" it out until the baby was born. They would let me "bake" as long as I didn't get an infection (which was impossible since I was pumped with IV's 24/7) and didn't have regular contractions.
I spent 2 days in Labor & Delivery with no progress so the moved me to the antenatal unit where I would stay until something changed. My goal was to make it to 34 weeks, but Samantha had other intentions. On April 23, one week from the time my water broke, she decided to make her appearance. I had a repeat C-section and at 5:07 pm, my 2nd beautiful daughter came into this world. For being 32weeks 5 days, she was a very good size at 5 lbs. 7 oz. and 18 1/4 inches. She is absolutely beautiful and had Blonde hair!!! She looks JUST like her daddy!
The NICU doctor estimated that she would be in for 3 weeks. So, every day, we were at the hospital for as much time as we could be....it was tiring, heart wrenching, and hard on the entire family, especially Shelby. I can't thank both of our parents enough for taking care of her during our hospital stay.
I tried my hardest to divide my time between Sam during the day and Shelby at night all while trying to recover from my C-section. It was probably the hardest 2 weeks of my life. That's right...2 weeks! Samantha was able to come home on May 7, 2009! I can't thank the doctors and nurses at St. Joe's enough as they took great care of her, even though they knew we would rather be at Crittenton.
Life at home has been an adjustment for all of us...especially for Shelby. I will do my best to update this blog over the next couple of weeks with everything that has gone on in the past month. Samantha is thriving and after a little over one month, she is up to 7 lbs!!!

Here are a few pictures!!