Audrey's Birth Story Part 3

Read Part 1 here and Part 2 here if you missed either of them!

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Once the Epidural was in, I fell into a restless sleep. I would wake up every five to ten minutes because of all of the activity in the room and time seemed to go so slow. It was 8:15 AM. By 10:00 or so, my nurse checked me and said that I was at 8 cm and almost fully effaced. That was awesome news. It didn't seem to have been that long and progress was obviously being made. She said to let me know when I felt like pushing, but I figured it would be a while before that. I slept a little more and woke up a couple of times when I could feel the contractions high up on my stomach. I figured the drugs were not as strong at this point and planned to have the nurse give a little more. When she came back to check in again, she just noted what I told her and said to let her know when I wanted to push again. I was surprised that she wasn't going to change anything, but too drowsy to really care since they weren't hurting.

After a couple more contractions, I noticed that I felt them more in the middle of my stomach and told hubby that it felt like things were moving down, although I didn't really feel like pushing. My nurse was adamant that I would feel like it soon, so I just kept waiting (much more awake now!) to feel it. Not even five minutes later, I could feel that familiar urge to push and she got me ready to go. The midwife and her trainee came in, watched me push through a contraction, and all jumped into place frantically. They said that I was doing great and that she'd be here in a few minutes. WHAT? I thought this would take at least 20 minutes and was willing to do it for hours like I had to do for Josie. I didn't believe them. It didn't seem possible.

After a couple more pushes, they told me she had a ton of hair and that it was super dark. I could feel the contractions but there was no ring of fire like before. I didn't feel the urge to scream out and was laughing through part of it because it seemed so surreal. They had me push one last time and out she slipped. Seriously, she slipped out. It was like nothing. She made a bit of noise and they put her on my chest right away. I wasn't sick or nauseous and was fully able to enjoy the moment. They were cleaning out her nose and mouth since she had some Meconium in the amniotic fluid. I held her for quite a while before letting them take her to get cleaned up.

We all took turns guessing her weight (because yes, the midwives and nurses were awesome and acted like family at this point) and were all guessing around 9 lbs. We were all wrong when she weighed in at just 8 lb 6 oz. That may not seem small to you, but in our families, she is the smallest baby by more than half a pound! Hubby was a big baby, my sister and I were, Josie and her cousin was, etc. She is also longer measuring at 21 1/4 inches long. (Josie was 9 lb 7 oz and 20 1/2 inches long). 

I look out of it but I think I was just blinking. I was actually smiling and crying and laughing more than anything at how wonderful she is.

A lot of hair and sweet pink skin. She looks like Josie a little but they have their differences. You can definitely tell they are sisters though!

The midwife and her trainee did their thing while we took pictures of her, texted our friends and family, and laughed with each other at how truly blessed we were. We were just giddy! It was so different than with Josie, where I was completely out of it for the first couple hours of her life.

Our immediate family came in the afternoon and met her. Josie got to meet her first, actually, and I'll post those details as a separate post. It was also a sweet moment.

My recovery has been awesome. My nurse said I had hardly any swelling. I did tear along the same spot as before but it was minimal and my pain was more discomfort than anything. I was up and moving around easily and already feel almost back to normal just four days later.

Audrey is such a joy (it's her middle name too - so perfect). She's sweet, hardly fusses, eats pretty well, and loves to cuddle. My mama heart is full.

I had a really hard time finding a picture of her face, so this zoomed in shot is the best we have from her first day. Oh well!

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