Friday, March 30, 2012

New Additions: Welcome baby Thea (AKA Bee-uh)

On February 11th around 11:52 p.m.
 Thea Grace Hillman came into this world with a 
head full of hair!
Thea Grace Hillman, 2 weeks old, photo by Natalie Gray Photography
 

It was quite an eventful delivery.  It's funny because Knox is my child who is the most active and hard to keep up with, but his delivery was the most uneventful:)  Love you Knoxer.

I was at a Mary Higgins Clark women's conference in Little Rock with 4 beautiful ladies.  We had joked that if I went into labor we would be right there by the hospital.  So, Saturday morning around 5:30 a.m., following a night of an exciting game of Chicken Feet, I started feeling really strong gas pains.  At least that's what I thought I was having.  

We had to be at the church around 8:30 that morning and I was able to get ready fine but the closer we got to the church the stronger the gas pains were.  I really wanted to be at this conference.  Clark is one of my "fave" authors now and she is so captivating as a speaker.  I didn't want to miss the rest of her interpreting the story of Ruth.  She hooked me the night before.

So, I sat there, sang through worship, and then it hit me.  I'm having contractions!  It had been 5 years since I had them and forgot what they felt like in the beginning.  So, I text Christy and told her how I was feeling and she said, "yep you're in labor start timing them".  Every 30 minutes from 9:30-12 they were coming.  Happily, I made it through the conference and actually was able to concentrate on what she was saying.  I even won a door prize!

At the end of the session Rachel took me to the hospital and of course I wasn't dialated because I NEVER do!  My contractions were still coming every 30 minutes but the doctor on call wanted them every 5-8 minutes before they kept me.  Of course, once again, my Dr. wasn't there!  We left the hospital, grabbed Chik-Fil-A, and headed back to Almyra.  

In an 1 1/2 of being home I had plenty of time to pack the boys clothes, change clothes myself, Ryan finished what he was doing in our remodeled porch, he took a shower, and I said we gotta go!  Contractions were coming every 8 minutes.  We even had time to stop and get Ryan Chik-Fil-A and eat it in the parking deck of the hospital:)

Here's the frustrating part...I got to sit through contractions from 5:00 p.m. -11:15 p.m. when they finally took me back for my C-section!  So, once again my whole family had time to get there and be ready for Thea's entrance into the world!  A lovely reminder of Sawyer's birth:)


Dr. Huback did an excellent job.  We were surprised when this sweet baby girl was introduced with SOO much hair!  Thea Grace Hillman, named for my Mammaw Retha Hughes and Aunt Gracie Duffel was born 7 pounds, 15 ounces, 20 inches long and so precious!  Our family has a little girl!

Seven weeks later she's still precious with a head full of hair!  Sleeping is getting better and the boys have adjusted great!  As long as we can keep Knox from poking her eyes and playing with her like a toy, his "Bee-uh". 

Whoever told me that having 3 was not much different than 2, LIED!  It is definitely a bigger challenge and exhausting, but I'm taking in all of this because they won't be little long.  Sawyer starts Kindergarten this fall and my heart is already breaking!

Now Ryan and I really do have our Hillman Trio and are adding to our tractors and trucks - hair bows, lace, ruffles, and pink!