The Long Awaited Arrival of Samantha Marie Holder

On the morning of Friday, April 1st, I received a call from Anne Marie that she was having contractions. (She was due on March 27th) She said she started having them early that morning. She explained that she was not planning to go to the hospital until later that afternoon as she did not see the urgency to rush. Well, I saw the urgency. As soon as I heard that I changed my work schedule and headed up to Charlotte. My sister explicitly told me not to head up there yet so I couldn't exactly let her know that I was coming. But I was too excited to be an hour and a half away in case the process went faster than my car would allow. When I got to Charlotte, I had plenty of time to kill. In true "Auntie excitement" I did a "dry run" to the hospital so I would know exactly where to go and park, I went to the mall, and I went to get a manicure. You see I was in Charlotte for about 4 hours without my sister knowing. She finally called and I told her where I was. She instructed me to come back to her house to hang out...hang out? I think I was the only one who was ready to get her to the hospital.

We watched some tv at her house and I fixed her hair while we waited for my parents to come up after work. We then all headed to a great Italian restaurant for dinner. Keep in mind that she is still having contractions every 8 or so minutes. As soon as we were seated we told the waiter that we would need to immediately order and pay the check in case we needed to head quickly to the hospital to deliver her baby. Our waiter's eyes were as big as saucers and he took really good care of us that night. Her contractions increased to about every 5 minutes during dinner so once everyone was done eating she called her doctor and he instructed her to check herself into the hospital.

Anne Marie and Joey at the restaurant...(smiling in between contractions)...

We checked in and began to get settled in. I think we checked in about 8:30pm or so. By about 11pm she was still only 75% effaced and only 1-2 cm dialated.

They had this really neat ball/chair for her.

A little while later, mom and dad headed to Anne Marie's house to get some shut eye. Joey slept on the couch and I slept on...well...2- three and half foot cushions pushed together.

Joey was ready at every moment for sweet baby Samantha's arrival...

I think the nurses thought we were moving in...

Around lunchtime on Saturday the doctor came in and said that she really hadn't progressed and was not in active labor yet so he sent us home. Once we got home we crashed for a few hours and then woke up to dinner my mom had prepared. We watched a movie and then headed back to bed.

At about 3am Sunday morning I was woken up by Joey who said "I think it's time!" We frantically threw things in the car and headed back to the hospital. Once we settled in, the doctor said she was still 75% effaced but she was 3 to 4 cm dialated. At four centimeters you are considered to be in active labor. At 10:30am they went ahead and broke her water. By 12:30pm she was 6 to 7 cm dialated. She hit 8 cm at 3:30pm and stayed at that point for a few more hours. Anne Marie wanted to have a natural birth without any medication. She was such a trooper throughout the entire process.

Check out Joey's shirt. He "coached" her through the entire process. By about 9pm she was still 8 cm so they decided to give her an epidural. Once they did they were able to check her more thoroughly and the doctor's recommended doing a c-section. She was amazing. It made me so proud to watch her handle the situation with such grace.

After 18 hours of labor without medication she was ready to meet her baby...

We headed to the waiting room and held our breath until a nurse came and got us. We were able to walk to a hallway with a window where Joey picked up his baby girl.

Our first glimpse at this precious miracle from God...

They had to take Samantha back to the nursery but we were able to hug Joey and congratulate him on being a father!

We headed back to the waiting room. Even though it had been a long weekend and we were all exhausted we could not leave without seeing Anne Marie. We waited what seemed like an eternity for Joey to finally come and get us.

A VERY PROUD Poppa and Nana...

My parents are very sentimental in nature- this is a nice way of saying that they keep everything BUT there is always a nice story or significance to each item. I do love hearing that this once belonged to someone who was special in our lives. On the day that Samantha was delivered my dad, who used to be a florist, made this bouquet for Anne Marie. The white vase is the same vase that he used to bring my mom flowers in the hospital when she delivered both my sister and me. He saved it all of these years and brought it up to Charlotte just to use at this perfect moment! How sweet is that?

At about midnight we were able to see Samantha up close for the first time. She was on her way to the nursery. We weren't allowed to hold her or love on her yet but that was such a special moment to finally see her up close.

Mom and Dad meeting Anne Marie on her way out of surgery...

Samantha getting weighed in at the nursery. She was a perfect 7 pounds, 7 ounces, and 21 inches long.

The next morning we hurried to the hospital to see Anne Marie, Joey, and Samantha. We could not wait to hold that baby for the first time.

Nana's first time holding Samantha...

Finally it was Aunt Tephie's turn...

Samantha giving Nana kisses and telling her how excited she is to finally meet her Nana...

She was just so small and beautiful and perfect and I could just go on forever.

Everyone loves baby feet. They are just the best. I am not really a feet lover in general but I can not resist tiny baby feet.

Samantha had this one rebellious left pinky toe that loves to curl under. It is absolutely adorable and I am pretty much obsessed with it.

Look at all of this JET BLACK hair! Where in the world did this come from? Anne Marie and I were both bald until we were 2 years old so it is definately not from the Kerr side of the family.

After a very special time with a very special girl, Mom and I headed home. But don't worry we were back up just a few days later!