November 25, 2008

today my youngest daughter, ariana, is 6 years old!

it seems just yesterday i brought her home from the hospital. where has the time gone?!

it all started on sunday, november 24th, 2002 (1 day before my expected due date)...

i woke up just like normal, got ready and went to church with alexis and caprice in hand just like normal, and came home just like normal. that's when i noticed... something wasn't quite normal. i felt like i was leaking something and this close to my due date, i knew that was probably not a good sign. to be safe i headed down to the hospital to have it checked out. the doctors and nurses thought it best to admit me because it was my water that was leaking. i sat around for quite some time... i wasn't in labor yet! i was getting frustrated (pregnant and frustrated don't mix well) so they started the potassium to induce labor. it worked, but not as fast as i would have liked. after a couple more hours a contraction, then another, and another. ouch! i had not yet experienced back labor. man oh man that hurts! ariana was trying to come out face up. that wasn't gonna work for me! the doctor suggested some exercises to try to help her to flip over. ha! exercises! did he not see how large i was (i had gained 68lbs by this point)?! regardless, exercises it was. they brought over this giant exercise ball and put it on my bed. i was then instructed to kneel over the ball and thrust my hips into the ball. um.. excuse me.. you want me to do what?! as soon as i did, it was immediate relief from the back labor! ahhh that's nice. the next time they checked, ariana had flipped over. i was still very tense and that was keeping me from dilating anymore. caprice was born naturally and i was determined to do it again. after pleading from the doctor (i think it was way past his bed time) i decided to go ahead with the epidural. so much for that! all that got numb was my leg before ariana decided it was time. after a couple pushes ariana arey was born!

even the newspaper reported her birth.

ariana was born weighing 7 pounds and 14 ounces and was 21 3/4 inches long.

here we are a couple days after returning home. she was so small and beautiful.

now, 6 years later, she is growing so much and is as beautiful as ever.

ariana loves her family and friends and loves school too!

happy birthday my little turbo!



birthday lunch with friends

it's time to blow out the candles!