Happy Birthday Jake and Gracie!

9 years ago I gave birth to Jacob Christopher Hamilton. I had been on bed rest at home for 19 days and I woke up that morning about 5 am with contractions and heart palpitations. I suffer from SVT and had an ablation a couple years before Jake was born and had not had any problems until I became pregnant. I had to wear a heart monitor and had to go back on beta blockers to keep my heart from racing over 200 bpm. The contractions started and every time I would have one I felt my heart race and I felt like I was going to black out so I called my doctor who of course told me to come straight in. We got to the hospital at 7 am and they ran some blood work by than of course things had slowed down and the nurses felt I was probably headed home and it was a false alarm. I had not had anything to eat and was STARVING so Chris and I were planning for a big breakfast at Cracker Barrel, I had it all planned out. HA! I quickly learned a lesson in parenthood - don't plan!!! The nurse came back with my blood work and said I was going to be having a baby today because my bloodwork came back showing that I had toxemia so settle in Mama - it's gonna be a long day. I called my parents and when my brother answered I said I needed to talk to one of our parents, my Mom was hanging wallpaper border (in preparation for Thanksgiving) and told him to tell me that she would call me back. I told him to ask her if she was ready to be a Grandma because it was gonna happen. You can imagine the rest.....I labored all day and finally around 11:00 pm things got a little scary. Jake's heartbeat was dropping quickly and mine was rising even quicker. The doctor decided that they were not going to take anymore chances, they were cleaning the only available OR room because I was headed for a C-Section. The nurses loaded my epidural for the C-Section and I was feeling good or should I say not feeling anything. The doctor came back dressed in full scrubs and was ready to wheel me out when all the monitors started going crazy. She checked me and realized that I had crowned and Jake's heartbeat was in the 30s she told me I had about 30 seconds to get him out or she was going to be forced to go in with a forcepts. I couldn't feel a thing because of the epidural for the C-Section so the Nurse brought over a mirror so I could see "down there" Well, ladies, that was all it took - 3 pushes later - out came Jake. Blue and grunting with an apgar of 6. Off to NICU he went....He was 2 weeks early but did amazing. The next day when I went in to hold him he immediately started rooting on me and the Nurse said I could try and nurse him. He took immediately and was home 2 days later.

He had an IV as a with antibiotics as a precaution

Jake is a very bright, energetic and athletic boy. He also has a very sensitive side but don't tell anybody he would just die if ya'll knew! He likes to come across as mister tough guy. He loves Harry Potter Novels, Go-carts and football. I can't wait to see what an amazing young man he grows up to be.

7 years ago I was in a hospital bed being induced to have Elizabeth Grace Hamilton aka Gracie. My blood pressure was up and the doctor didn't want to take any chance with my heart so she told me I was having another baby on November 19. What are the chances - 2 kids 2 years apart on the same day! I was induced at 8 am and that little girl came flying out at 12:30 pm just in time for me to watch Young and The Restless, thank you very much! I had an epidural but it didn't take and things happened so fast, in fact my doctor was at lunch and a Nurse almost had to deliver her! I can tell you though that it was worth all 42 stitches...yes, ladies you read that one right!!!

Gracie is a very bright, energetic and friendly little girl. She is the life of the party and has makes friends with everybody. I love spending girl time with her, going to Starbucks and shopping are two of our favorite things! She loves Junie B Jones Books, Scrapbooking and playing dress up and babies with her sister. I can't wait to see what an amazing young woman she is going to become!

Thank you God for blessing me with these two wonderful children born on the same day 2 years apart...What a wonderful day November 19th has turned out to be in our life!