Audrey

Our little girl is finally here! Audrey was born 12 days ago, and has already changed so much! Here is the story:

Wednesday morning I started having some contractions, which was normal, except these contractions didn't feel the same as contractions I had been feeling previously. Kris was at work, and had a pretty busy day scheduled as it was his last day employed with this company. So all morning and afternoon I was hoping I would have to call him to meet me at the hospital. He got home from work that evening, and there was no baby. So we decided to get out and have some dinner somewhere, and maybe do some walking. We had gone walking several days earlier hoping to get Audrey to come, but instead all I got were feet that swelled up like balloons the next day. So I had been avoiding walking for a few days. Anyway, we got home and my contractions were still very inconsistent, and far apart. We went to sleep a little after midnight, and I woke up between 1:00 and 1:30 with extremely painful contractions. So I started timing them, but they were all over the place. Some were 7 minutes apart, some were 4 minutes, then 6 minutes... So I started wondering when I should wake Kris up. He woke up around 3 and asked how I was doing in the middle of a contraction. At this point I was pretty sure I needed to get to the hospital at some point, but knew that most people like to wait it out at home for a while first. But I had no idea how long I should wait. So I told Kris that we should get up and ready to go and see how I felt in another hour or so, and that I'd keep timing the contractions. They were still coming on really strong, but they were not consistent. Some were still around 6 or 7 minutes apart, but then I'd get a few that were 2 minutes apart. We left for the hospital at about 4:30, and that was an extremely uncomfortable ride. When we got there they asked if I wanted an epidural right then or if I wanted to wait 30 mins and see how I felt then. I told them I'd wait. They monitored my contractions for 30 mins, and when they came back, I was ready for that epidural! So they took me to a labor/delivery room and hooked me up to an IV. They had a student there and wanted her to get some experience and asked if I'd let her insert the needle. Ooooh, big mistake. That was extremely uncomfortable, and took way too long to get hooked up. Ouch. Then the epidural. It was not nearly as bad as I expected, and as soon as he was done, the pain from the contractions was gone. Kris and I then settled in with a movie (Big Fish), and dozed off and on for awhile. At one point I started feeling contractions again, so the Anesthesiologist came back and gave me another dose of pain killer. Then the Nurse came in and told me that we were pretty much ready to go, and we'd start pushing in about an hour to give the baby time to finish getting into position. Then my mom showed up and visited for a little bit. I was amazed at how fast time was flying by. At 1:15ish I started pushing, and Audrey made her entrance into the world at 1:58.  It was a huge whirlwind, and it felt like I was in a dream. I still can't believe that this little girl is mine! 7 lbs 3 oz, and she came ON her due date, Thursday March 21. She didn't have a name until the middle of the night, while Kris and I could not sleep, and we decided we needed to pick. We had narrowed it down to Audrey or Hailey... and she just didn't feel like a Hailey. And with a head full of dark brown hair, she reminded us of Audrey Hepburn. And she sure is a cutie pie! I know these are the same pics we have saved on facebook, but the more recent pics are on Kris' computer, which is with him at work. So I will steal some and post them soon! Because she is even cuter now than she was in these pics! :)