And #4 is a.....

GIRL!!

Introducing our newest addition: Audrey Grace

getting ready to go home

Born: May 26
Weight: 7 lb, 3 oz
Length: 19 1/4 in.



We are so happy to have this sweet baby as part of our family.  Labor and delivery went fairly well.  My due date was the Thurs. prior (5/22)--and I figured I would go over-due...but was trying anything I could to get the baby to come.  I hadn't been sleeping well because of back pain and not being able to get comfortable. The night before she was born, we went walking as a family and Jon said he thought the baby would come that night.  I had some cramping (which I'd been having off and on for a while).  We put the boys to bed and Jon was up rocking Elise to sleep (she was fighting going to sleep), while my sister came over to paint my toenails and play some games.  At around 11 pm, Elise was finally in bed and Jon and I were getting ready for bed when my contractions started about 10 min. apart--fairly mild. We waited for a while/cleaned up some stuff/finished packing, etc--by about 12:30 decided they were probably the real thing (still fairly mild though), so called my sister to come back up and stay overnight with the kids. We got to the hospital around 1 am, they checked and I was 5 cm. 2 hours later (at 3 am), I was 8 cm. They wanted to break my water, but the baby was still high and I didn't really want them to, since I knew that would make the pain worse, so they held off on breaking it. Contractions still weren't too bad and were pretty spaced apart. I was able to breathe fairly easily through them. They thought I would go pretty fast from there (that's how it's been in the past), but by 5 am...I was still an 8! Contractions were still bearable...mostly because they were so infrequent. I was frustrated that it was taking so long to progress and they decided they wanted to start some pitocin to get things going. As the nurse was hooking it up and trying to adjust some kink in the IV line, contractions started coming faster and were super intense...at which point I started to lose my focus and control. The nurse checked me again (at like 5:30 am) and I'm mostly complete but have a bit of cervix on one side. The dr came in, broke my water (with some meconium in it), 2 big pushes later and baby was born at 5:42 am. No pain meds or pitocin (although they did start it up right after baby was born to help my uterus clamp down and prevent the hemorrhaging I've had the last 2 times). Audrey wasn't breathing well after she came out though, so they had an oxygen mask on her and took her to nicu--but after some suctioning, she was fine and they brought her back to me.

This labor was one of my longest--particularly being in "transition" for as long as I was, but they think she might not have been positioned the best.  And that's the first time I've had my newborn whisked away to be checked.  Jon was able to go with her (in fact he even carried her there), but it's a lonely feeling being without your new baby (and husband) right after giving birth.  I'm just thankful that all was well with her and she was back in my arms shortly!  

Baby Audrey and momma are both healthy and doing well.  She nurses well and sleeps pretty well too!  All the older siblings love having her here.  Grant in particular grabs her all the time to hold her.  Elise loves to talk to and kiss her new sister. We are enjoying our new bundle of joy--the way she curls up into a little ball, the grunty noises she makes, the little "o" she makes with her lips, the tiny baby feet, snuggling with her on my chest as she sleeps, watching her root around on Jon's cheek when she's hungry and he's holding her, and even her little cry that sounds like a cat screeching!  I'm trying to soak up all these moments and memories with Audrey as a newborn, because I know they go fast.