It's A GIRL!!!!!!

We welcomed Ann "Chappelle" Carpenter into our family on August 4 at 12:38am. We are so excited and completely beside ourselves that we have a sweet daughter!!! I knew this entire pregnancy, my world was going to revolve around rough and tough little boys, so you can imagine the surprise to hear it's a girl!! Not only did I think my life was going to be surrounded by little fella's, I also swore I knew from the beginning I would have this baby on 08/03, which is my sister's birthday as well as how far along I was when I had Braxton, 36weeks and 6 days.

Here's how it went down:

Monday August 3rd, I was talking to Bryan in the kitchen (at 5:45)when I felt a warm gush. I called our sitter Anna and said I think my water just broke and asked her to come over and sit with Braxton until Aunt Kelly could come over after the gym. I called Kelly and left her a message asking her to grab her bag and head to our house after the gym. I then called Jill and said, here's the deal, can you follow up to make sure Kell can come over. We have the best "family" ever here in town. Everything was taken care of. On the way to the hospital I called my SIL Marie (who is a labor and delivery nurse)to ask her if she did indeed think that was my water that broke. I was in minor disbelief and the fact that my contractions weren't too bad was throwing it all off. I then called my sister to give her a heads up. She really wanted to be here for this delivery, but had her own appts the next day to think about. So....we finally got to the hospital around 6:15, where they proceeded to tell us to wait in the lobby for what ended up being 45 minutes. Apparently they were a little busy and had to wait for a bed for me. So I was literally sitting in my own amniotic fluid in the waiting area of the hospital. By the time we got in our own room, it was after 7:00 and then it was still 1.5-2.0 hours before anyone came to see how far along I was. Once they checked me, I was 3cm's dilated and then 4, by the time I got to 5cm's it was close to 10pm and the contractions were getting pretty darn strong!! I said, I think it's time for that epidural! As the anesthesiologist is administering the epidural, he said, you will feel tingly feelings on your right said, sure enough I did. The problem is, that was the only side I ever felt it on. The first epidural didn't take all the way. As much as I loved getting the first one, I can tell you I wasn't really in the mood to get another one, but there was no way I was going to do it without. So after waiting over an hour to make sure it wasn't going to take on the left side as well, they administered another one. AAAhhhhh...relief! Contractions were still coming strong and faster....around 12:15am I said, I have to push and 20 minutes later - we have a baby. When the baby came out, the umbilical cord was covering the privates section. At that point Bryan thought he saw a penis and then he looked at me and was crying and said "it's a girl!" HOLY SMOKES!!!! Are you kidding me?!?!?! We have a girl? Woooo Hooo!

Ann Chappelle Carpenter was born at 12:30am on August 4th, 2009

She weighed 5 lbs and 15 ounces and was 17.5 inches long - our sweet little bundle of joy

I looked at Bryan and said "babe, we are in trouble! We are now forever poor and this little girl will have a monogrammed C on everything she owns!"

Fortunately Mimi was able to head down Tuesday to help us out with Braxton. Due to Chappelle being so little and having jaundice we stayed in the hospital until Thursday. Again, everything about this has been routine, so it came to no surprise to us when we went for our first check up to hear her jaundice levels had elevated and she would need the bilirubin blanket. Luckily after 24 hours with the blanket her levels decreased to a safe point and we were able to return the blanket.

August was a very exciting month for us. It was also very tiring, hence the reason it has taken me a month to update...sorry, I vow to get better. Mimi and Pops were able to spend a few days with us, then grandmomma came up for a few days. Uncle Kevin, Aunt Meighan and Sean came up Sunday afternoon, Aunt Leslie was able to sneak away for a few days for some baby love, Gigi came the following weekend, Pancake Papa came the next weekend and last but not least Aunt Marie, Uncle John, Anna and Brynn spent the night on their way to Bald Head. It was great to see everyone - thank you all for making the trip.

Braxton has been a wonderful big brother. He loves to hug Chappelle and kiss her. He is my little sanitizer Nazi - and I LOVE IT! Of course, it hasn't always been easy. He is 3, so that in itself is trying. Add in a new addition to the family and a ton of house guest and there have been some very trying times. Both Bryan and I are working on next expecting too much from Braxton. It's weird how all of a sudden a newborn is in the house and my expectations of my 3 year old have gone through the roof. So I am working on it! We are making a conscience effort to spend solo time with Braxton too. I keep emphasizing, he is my absolute favorite boy in the whole world!

I will end this post with some of my favorite pictures from the last month. And will be posting soon with all the fun we have had over the last couple of weeks...