I wanted to go ahead and write down Adelyn's birth story while everything is still fresh on my mind :) For many family reasons, we were really hoping that Adelyn would come early. At my 36 week ultrasound she was already measuring big so my doctor thought she may come early on her own. I got a new doctor at 37 weeks because my old one had a baby herself! I wasn't able to see the new doctor until my 38 week appointment, but at that time I was dilated 3 cm and 60% effaced. Their policy is that if it's not your first child they can induce you at 39 weeks as long as you've started to progress already. We scheduled an elective induction for Tuesday, the 23rd, but I was 3rd on the list so I didn't really feel good about my chances. With Emily I was scheduled for an elective induction at 6 days past my due date and didn't make it in so I had a medical induction 2 days later. With that, and the fact that a lot of people were trying to get in before Christmas (not my reason for wanting an induction) I just didn't see it happening, but we still hoped for it!
On Saturday, the 20th, I woke up at 1 am with contractions. I had been having braxton hicks contractions for several weeks already so I knew that these were definitely different. They were much more intense, regular, and I felt them in my lower back as well, whereas with braxton hicks it was only in my abdomen. We started timing them and they were about 3-5 minutes apart, sometimes even as close as 2 minutes apart. I called my mom to come over for Emily and we ended up getting to the hospital around 2 am. They took me to triage and started monitoring me. At the hospital, my contractions were still regular, but not quite as often. They slowed down to more like 6-8 minutes apart and they weren't making me progress at all. They kept me for several hours and continued to call the doctor on call for advice. It was a little frustrating because the nurses couldn't agree on how far along I was. One nurse was convinced I wasn't further than a 3 1/2 while another said I was a 4, maybe even 5. Either way, I wasn't dilating anymore so they ended up sending me home :( One of the nurses said I was a confusing case and that she can usually tell what will happen, but with me she was totally on the fence. About an hour after I got home the contractions stopped altogether and didn't come back. I was so frustrated!!
So then my next doctor appointment was on Monday. My doctor said I was at 4 cm and 90% effaced. We were still on for an elective induction the next day, so she decided to strip my membranes to see if that helped move things along. She said sometimes it helps get things going really soon and sometimes it does nothing. Well, in my case, it did the trick! I woke up at midnight and thought maybe my water broke. It just felt like a little trickle so I wasn't positive. And I definitely didn't want to go to the hospital just to get sent home again! I started googling what it's like to have your water break ;) I couldn't go back to sleep, so at 1 am I finally got up to go do something. As soon as I got up, I felt a huge gush so I definitely knew this time that my water had broken. Again, we called my mom and headed to the hospital. We got there around 2 am again. And, again, they took me to triage, but this time I wasn't there for long. It was so nice to hear the nurse make the call saying "I have an admission!" Before leaving triage, they hooked me up to my IV, which was horrible! The first nurse tried twice in one hand and couldn't get it. It hurt so bad! She finally had another nurse come and try the other hand and it went much better that time.
Then they took us to our room. It ended up being the same room we delivered Emily in! That was awesome! There are 34 delivery rooms in that hospital so it was really neat that we got the same one :) Especially because it's one of their few suites!
After my water broke, I did start having contractions again, but they were pretty mild and far apart. We tried to get some sleep while things were still going slowly, but neither of us could sleep much. At 6:30 am, my doctor had them start me on pitocin to get things going. That made things move along more. My mom had Emily FaceTime us when she woke up and I got super emotional! I missed her and was reminded of the fact that it would never be just me and my little sidekick anymore. But it also made me so excited knowing what was in store with this new little one :) I ended up getting an epidural around 8. I probably could've waited a little longer, but the anesthesiologist was going to be busy so it would've been a couple hours if I waited so I went ahead and got it then. The epidural itself wasn't nearly as bad as with Emily, but it was still pretty awful. It did make me a little nauseous (which didn't happen with emily), but it definitely helped with the pain!
Around 8:40, the doctor checked me and I was between 6 and 7 cm dilated. They said it wouldn't be long! By 10:45 I was fully dilated. I didn't really have an urge to push yet, so the nurse wasn't worried about getting the doctor immediately. I didn't hear back from them for another hour with a game plan. The doctor was on her way around 11:45. The doctor came and I pushed through 3 contractions and then Adelyn was there! She arrived at 12:13 pm! I was a little more emotional this time around, knowing how fast she was going to grow up and that I really needed to soak up every single minute with her! Overall, the labor was very similar to my first. I went into labor on my own this time, but the pitocin was started around the same time as with Emily and Adelyn ended up coming just an hour before Emily did. It was nice this time because they immediately gave her to me to do skin-to-skin for an hour before they bathed her or anything. It was so sweet seeing her calm down immediately when in my arms :)
Our initial thoughts were that she looked quite a bit like Emily. She obviously has brown hair, while Emily's is red, and her skin and eyes are a little darker as well, but many of their features are the same. When she's sleeping she looks almost identical to Emily at that age. It's crazy!
Things have been going really well so far! I don't know if it's just because we know what we're doing this time or that Adelyn's personality is actually different, but it seems a lot easier this time around. She doesn't seem to cry as much as Emily did. She's eating really well and starting to get on a better sleep schedule. The first few days she would sleep all day and be up every hour at night, but now she's up pretty much every 2-3 hours around the clock and has a few wakeful periods during the day. The exhaustion just hit me yesterday so I think I'll have to start taking naps when Emily does, but we're really grateful things are going so well. We are so in love with both of our beautiful little girls!!
They had already wiped her down a little bit in this picture, but she was much cheesier than Emily since she came early
Even though she came almost 2 weeks earlier than Emily, she was still bigger than her at 8 lbs 1 oz and 20 1/2 in!
volunteers made Christmas hats for all the newborns :)
Emily brought us flowers! She immediately asked to see "baby Addie" when she came in!
Nana meeting Adelyn
because we had the hour of skin-to-skin, Emily made it in time to see Adelyn's bath and measurements
first family photo!
Emily did great in the morning at her Nana's house! After she came and visited us and then went back over there she had a hard time. We've never been apart for a whole day before and she didn't understand why we weren't coming home with her. She facetimed us bawling and it broke my heart :( But, at the same time, it was sweet that she missed us so much! She got to sleep in Nana and Papa's bed that night to make her feel better and then they brought us breakfast first thing in the morning. It was good that they discharged us after one night so she didn't have to do it again.
meeting Papa
Aunt Fleming and Great Grandma Fuller
getting her hearing checked... she passed!
headed home as a family of 4!
just in time for Christmas!
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