My baby story (and more).

Its 5:15 am. And I'm not very tired anymore. I'm getting used to being up early already. I guess thats good that I'm adjusting quickly to the baby.

Okay, so I gave birth to a beautiful baby girl on November 25th (which makes her almost 2 1/2 weeks old now, by the way). Let me give you a run-down of my labor and delivery experience:

I arrived at the hospital on 11/25 at 6am. They checked me into my room and got my chart together and I had to sign a ton of papers and all that good stuff. About 7am, they started an IV in my hand (yay for the nurse who got it on the first try!), and hooked me up to the fetal monitor. At 7:45am, they started the Petocin. Everything was fine and dandy until about 10am. Mom and Dad arrived with Scrabble at 9am and we all sat around talking. About 10am, my contractions started to hurt. By 10:30am, they were horrible and I wanted the drugs. Actually, let me be more specific- I wanted the EPIDURAL- STAT. So I asked for it (I was 4cms dialated at this point). After about 45 minutes of waiting and some crying and anger, I was finally given the epidural (SWEET RELIEF). When the nurse checked my cervix at 11:15am, I was 6 cms dialated. So after the epidural took effect, my parents and michael and I played Scrabble until about 12:15pm. At that time, I was getting tired and so was Michael. We figured we had at LEAST 4 hours left to rest, so we did. Michael fell asleep and I just sat and talked to my parents as they continued to play Scrabble. Now this is when things got a little exciting.
About 12:45pm, the baby's heartrate went from the 150's all the way down to the 70's. It continued to do this for 15 minutes and Mom & I were getting worried. The nurse came in at 1pm to see what was going on. She checked my cervix and looked up at me and said "You're going to have a baby". Um...DUH. I KNOW I'm going to have a baby. I have a belly that sticks out a mile and I'm in the hospital being induced. I think I know that I'm going to have a baby. Little did I know that she meant RIGHT then. She told me that she could see the baby's head and all I would have to do is give one good push and she'd be out. I could hardly believe it. In less than 2 hours, I dialated 4 cms?? I was a little skeptical. Well she called my doctor and he arrived at about 1:10pm. As he was getting his gloves on and the nurses were coming in, he looks down (my legs had just been placed in the stir-ups) and his eyes got huge and he says "Uh uh uh uh uh uh....CONNIE! The head!" So I'm thinking "whats going on" and Michael looks down and his eyes got huge and I asked him what was wrong. He told me the baby was halfway out. Dr. Hinton looks at me and says "don't push". Well...I hadnt pushed...she just kinda continued to slip out. It was the EASIEST delivery ever. Piece of cake.
So Alaina Julianne Edens arrived at 1:17pm, weighing 7lbs 2 oz and was 20 inches long. So tiny compared to Sophie (8lbs 6 oz).
We went home on Black Friday, Nov 27th.

So, 2 1/2 weeks later....Alaina is doing great. Still itty bitty in my opinion. She weighed 7lbs 10 oz on Wednesday at her 2 week check-up. She's a great little baby though. Already sleeps through the night most nights (although sometimes she gets up once, around 3am). I'm exclusively breastfeeding (well...when I'm in school, Michael gives her a bottle, but its still breastmilk) and I love it. It didn't go well with Sophie, so I'm just SO glad and thankful that its going well and that Alaina and I are both enjoying it.

And Sophie? She's adjusting very well to her sister being here. She likes to give Alaina hugs and "love" on her. Its really cute. We just have to watch her really closely...she's used to playing with older kids and she can be a little too rough. She does well being "gentle" though. I'm so proud of her. The only thing that she's having a hard time with is sleep. I have no idea how many times she wakes up during the night total, but I hear her rustling around in her crib often. She went from having 1 nap a day, to now having 2 or 3 naps because she's so tired. Thank goodness, this week she seems to be doing better. Its just taking her a little while to adjust and get back on schedule.

Wish me luck and say a prayer or two for me this next week! I have finals on Monday, Tues, and Thursday next week. I'm excited to get this semester over with!

Well, I will post pictures soon, but I really don't feel like it now. I'm going to go lay back down with Alaina and enjoy the quiet before Sophie wakes up.