Jane Mauna Clayton

**This post is a little long - so if you want to jump straight to the pictures, scroll on down!**

It all started on Thursday, June 27th. Early in the afternoon, I kept getting the feeling that I was leaking fluid...I wasn't sure if it was amniotic fluid or if baby was just playing on my bladder, but that evening, we decided to go the hospital to get it checked out for sure. We had been taking childbirth classes through the hospital here and we were told multiple times to come to the hospital and get tested if you think your water may have broken. So, we did.

We got there at about 6pm, got settled in and tested. The first test they ran was inconclusive but the second test they ran came back positive, meaning that my 'water had broken'. This meant that we were going to have this baby within the next 24 hours!

At this point, I'm just going to paraphrase the events of the labor and delivery, since it was very long!
* The labor lasted from 1pm to 2:10pm the next day, making it a 25 hour labor.
* I pushed for about 4 hours before the doctor decided to do a c-section. The reason for the c-section was because of my bony pelvis. Apparently my pelvic bone structure physically won't allow babies through.
  - As a side note, I am so grateful for modern medical science!! Without the c-section, I probably would have died in labor (you know, like 100 years ago) or my children would have died, or we both would have died. While a c-section isn't ideal, I'm glad that both I and Jane were healthy.
* While I wanted to have a natural labor, I ended up choosing to get an epidural. However, about an hour after getting the epidural, it wore off! So I had to get a 2nd epidural...that was an adventure!
* Jane was born with some extra blood in her head, between her skin and her skull. After doing some tests to make sure she didn't have a blood or brain issue, she was under observation for her jaundice levels. While in the hospital and for a couple of days after being discharged, she had to have a BiliBlanket to help breakdown the red blood cells. Unfortunately, after a couple of days out of the hospital, the doctors determined that she needed to be admitted to the NICU to be under high-powered lights to breakdown the blood faster. She was in the NICU for 2 days, which was super hard, but it was necessary and she is healthy now!

Now, that all may sound kind of like a negative labor & delivery story, but I have to tell you how happy we are that Jane is in our life and we just love her so much! She just fits right in! We are so blessed to have this beautiful soul in our lives. While there were some hard days during her first week, I wouldn't change a thing. She is just the perfect piece to our family puzzle. Parenthood suits us well, I think :)

Jane Mauna Clayton was born Friday June 28th, 2013 at 2:10pm. She weighed 7 pounds, 4 ounces and was 20.5 inches long and she is the most beautiful girl in the world!

Dad & Jane waiting for Mom

Our first family picture :)