4 Weeks Early

From the very beginning, Camdyn has had a mind of her own!

Friday, July 23rd, my parents left to go out of town for a wedding. My mom's parting words to me were "Don't go into labor while we're gone." "Don't worry," I replied, "I have 4 more weeks until she is due!"

Sunday, July 25th started out like any other day. We had gone to church in the morning and then went to O'Charleys with our good friends, Rusty and Angie. My best friend Kelly called a little later that afternoon and together we got pedicures. We were joking that she would kill me if Camdyn came before her son, Jack. (We were pregnant together and Jack was due on Tuesday, while Camdyn wasn't due until August 21st.) At home, Bryan and I completed a few more items on our baby "to do" list. Then I settled in for the night upstairs. I was lying on the bed watching tv when I felt the urge to go to the bathroom. I stood up, and immediately, water gushed out. I thought I had just peed on myself! I went ahead to the bathroom and then picked up the phone to call my mom.

"Mom, how do you know when your water breaks?" "WHAT?! I thought I told you not to do this while we were gone!"

She encouraged me to go ahead and call the midwife and see what she thought. The midwife on duty told me to come on to the hospital. They could run a test on me to see whether it was pee or amniotic fluid that was now on my bedroom floor. The test showed amniotic fluid and Bryan and I were admitted into Northside Atlanta. My parents left Gatlinburg and came in the next morning. Labor was easy... My epidural was a-mazing. I was technically in labor for 25 hours, but I only pushed for 10 minutes.

My biggest fear was that Camdyn wasn't ready. What if she wasn't done cooking? I couldn't bear the thought of her being unhealthy. Well, Camdyn may have been 4 weeks early, but she weighed in at 7 pounds, 11 ounces and was 19.5 inches long. She was perfect! No breathing issues, no health problems.

The first moment I held her in my arms, I fell in love. Camdyn McKinley Barnes was beautiful, and our perfect gift from God.

And by the way, Camdyn was born 10:50 pm on July 26th, and baby Jack was born at 1:10 pm on July 27th. Sorry Kelly!