Welcome to the World Claire Elizabeth McPhillips!

Claire Elizabeth McPhillips

Born: January 9th, 2009

Weight: 7 lbs

Length: 19 1/2 inches

Time: 12:08 p.m.

Big Sister: Addison Marie McPhillips

Pregnant still... but not much longer!

Here is what is going on, pregnancy-wise. All day Monday I contracted, BAD!!! They were lasting about every 5-10 minutes and I was feeling the urge to make sure all my ducks were in a row. I ended up taking a nap and when I woke up, I was still contracting, except they hurt BAD! So, I decided it was time to go to the hospital, just to make sure everything was okay. I have been SO paranoid this time, that I am not going to make it to the hospital in time. Anyway, NeNac came and stayed with Addison while John came and got me. We stayed about an hour for observation, my contractions weren't being that impressive and I had only dilated to 2 cm and didn't change during the hour. When we got home, my contractions were AWFUL!! They hurt SO bad. They reminded me of the contractions I was having BEFORE my epidural with Addison, but they were irregular. I was able to fall asleep and actually had a pretty good nights sleep. I contracted off and on all day today, and they would bring tears to my eyes. I am just SO miserable and there was no end in sight. I had no idea if my doctor would schedule an induction or not, and how was I going to make it without knowing? I don't do well with that. Anyway, I broke down on the nurse at my doctor's appointment and she was so sweet and understanding. When the doctor came in, she checked me, and I was dilated to 3 cm! Whoo Hoo!!!! Dilated another centimeter! So, she scheduled my induction for Friday, January 9th, 2009. We are not sure if I will go into labor before then, but at least the end is in sight!! We will keep everyone posted! 

The Bags are Packed...

We are ready!! All of our bags are packed, the cameras are charged, and our plans are in place. If only our little addition would get the message!! I spend all of Sunday contracting about every 20-30 minutes. When we woke up this morning, John said I wouldn't make it to my doctor's appointment tomorrow afternoon. He thinks, and wants it documented, that she is coming tonight and her birthday will be tomorrow, January 6th. I guess we will see!! He told Addison and now she is all fired up about holding baby Claire and giving her hugs and kisses. It is so sweet!! I really hope she feels that way after Claire gets here! I still need to get the car seat installed in the car and set up the bassinet in our bedroom, but that will be done today! Our plan is if we go into labor in the middle of the night that NeNac and Poppy(John's parents) will come to our house and stay with Addison until she wakes up. If we induce labor( which hopefully, we will set a date tomorrow) then Addison will spend the night with NeNac and Poppy and they will keep her while we are in the hospital. It really is convenient that our family is so close! John works about 5 minutes from our house and his parents live about 5 minutes from us too. My Mom and Bill are about 15 minutes away and my sister lives right next to the hospital! My Dad and Karen live the farthest away, in Birmingham, which is about 45 minutes from here. I REALLY hope John is right about baby Claire!

Pregnancy Update

I went for my 36.5 week appointment on Tuesday and had some expectations on being dilated to at least 2 with some thinning on my cervix. WRONG! Let me back up and say, I am tired of being pregnant. These pregnancy hormones are not for me and I am ready to pass them on to someone else. My sweet hubby has FINALLY admitted that he is ready for me not to be pregnant anymore. He has been so awesome and supportive these past nine months and deserves a medal for what he has put up with. I guess he'll settle for another Daddy's Girl, though! The weekend leading up to my appointment was filled with awful contractions and I was just SURE my water was going to break any moment. Well, it never did. As I sat in the doctors office with John, I reflected on how miserable I was, and I was really praying for some activity to show that Claire is ready to come out too. Dr. Franklin was running late because of a delivery, and I was either on the verge of a panic attack or a mental breakdown, it was hard to tell which was going to happen first. When she came in and checked me, ONE centimeter was all I was dilated and my cervix is still thick. I started crying right there. I just thought, "I cannot do this ANY more", but here I am, still pregnant. John is leaving on the 2nd of January for the Sugar Bowl, so now, she needs to stay in until he gets back. Anyway, we will keep you posted!!

Addison's Playdate

Sunday night, since some of John's friends were in town, we got together so children could play. I think Addison really enjoyed herself with "Baby" Gavin, Carter, and Maggie. Carter is 2 1/2, Maggie is 1 1/2 and Gavin is almost 7 months. He is adorable! We hadn't been able to meet him before and he is a chunk! Addison was very interested in him eating baby food. Addison and Carter have played together before, so once over the initial shyness, they were two peas in a pod. Here are some of the pictures of them. 

Christmas Day

After Santa came, we went over to Granny's house for lunch and it was DELICIOUS!! I wish I had some of that creamed corn right now. We visited with the family and then ran by NeNac and Poppy's house to pick up our twice-baked potatoes from MeMe. Mmmm... those were awesome too! My Dad and step-mom, Karen came up later on Christmas day for us to do Christmas with them and Sarah and Andy. We had such a good time with them! They really go all out for everyone. They were so proud to have found an age-appropriate power wheel for Addison. Dad had put most of it together and charged the battery so it would be ready to ride. Unfortunately, he left a bag at home which contained the stickers and the steering wheel! Anyway, we figured it out BEFORE Addison opened it and he brought it up this weekend, and she LOVES it! She talks about it constantly and it is a FIGHT to get her to come inside. Here are some pictures of her pink beetle! Thanks BoomPa and GiGi!!

Christmas 2008

Christmas is SUCH a busy time for us, as it is for everyone else, so I am apologizing for this extremely late post. Christmas Eve was spent going from Christmas with my Granny and cousins to my Mom's for Christmas with my sister and nephews to church( which we made about half-way through until Addison started telling the choir "No!") to John's family Christmas then home to get ready for Santa! The kids had such a great time at Mom's. The Barlow's came this year and Addison followed Avery around like a little shadow. 

Once we got home from all the Christmas Eve festivities, we thought Addison would go right down... WRONG! John ended up falling asleep in her room, and I played Santa all by myself!  Luckily, nothing had a lot of parts to put together. John and I were in bed at a reasonable 11:30. We had to wake Addison up on Christmas morning, which is something we hardly ever have to do.  She was so excited about all of her Santa stuff, but I think she REALLY liked her bath-time themed stocking. She got all kinds of bubble bath and some tablets that change the bath water different colors. She loves telling you what color her bath was that day! I think her favorite so far is "Purkle".