Whew! What a week! Our first week home with Sydney has been wonderful, she is such a JOY!! I love having a little GIRL!!! I never knew how much I loved pink!
I can hardly believe she was a week old on Thursday. My mom has been here and was such a huge help and now I have had my first few days "flying solo", it hasn't been that bad! :)
For my own memory, I am writing down the story of her birthday. For those of you who love details like this, read on! If you can live your days without reading a birth story, now is a good place to stop!
I was induced on the morning of April 18th, two days past my due date. We had to be at the hospital at 7:00 am. I had prayed from the moment we found out we were pregnant for my labor and delivery nurse and the moment of truth had come. We sat in the waiting room and waited for our nurse to come get us and escort us to our room. God is good, he gave me the most awesome nurse to be with me all day and her name was Katie. I loved her. She was so attentive, so informative, had a great personality and just made the day fun!
I was hooked up to IV fluids and put on pitocin right around 8:00. Didn't feel much of anything and then Dr. Appel came in between 8:30 and 9 to break my water. That got the ball rolling with my contractions. Nothing too Earth shattering at first, just a lot of lower back pain. I sat in my bed with Good Morning America and Live with Kelley and Michael on tv for the better part of the morning. Around 11:00 I started getting uncomfortable and thought about getting my epidural sooner rather than later. I held out until 11:30 and asked for the epidural but had to wait on the anesthesiologist until about 12:15. This was hold onto the bed rail kind of pain...not where I was wanting to go with this since I am a sissy with pain. I was still dialated to a 3, not very far along. I didn't care, I wanted my pain to go away and it did!! Sweet relief!
The day continued and I read my stack of magazines, watched the Food Network and just hung out with James, his mom, and my parents and Parker on and off. Things were going well. Around 4:00 Katie checked me and I was dialated to around a 6, so she decided to put me in a position to see if that would help get me dialated a little bit more. She called it the "fire hydrant" position...I was lying flat on my left side with one leg hiked up in a stirrup, real cute! I was talking to my mom on the phone because they were at our house while P napped. I hung up with her at 4:15 and started hurting a little bit, just felt mostly weird pressure. A lot of pressure. At this point I was alone in the room so I buzzed Katie and told her how I felt. She checked me and said, "honey, you are ready to roll"! Oh my gosh, I went from a 6 to a 10 in like 20 minutes!! Dr Appel wasn't in the hospital so they paged her immediately because I was ready to start pushing! My whole body starting shaking, it was wild. They told me this was just a reaction to what my body was going through and about to do...I don't remember that with P. I couldn't control my shakes, it was like an out of body experience!
James came in along with a big team from the nursery and more labor and delivery nurses. Dr. Appel showed up, asked me to start pushing with my contractions and three pushes later...Miss Sydney Kate was born at 4:47 pm. THREE pushes! Did you read that?? I pushed for 2 hours with Parker, this was so exciting for me!
Now let me remind you that we did not know what we were having so when the moment of truth arrived, Dr. Appel held her up so we could both see her. Sydney's cord was hanging between her legs and I kept starring, waiting to see the little boy part. When Dr. A moved it, I was absolutely shocked to see my little girl!! I was elated!!!
We hadn't completely decided on a middle name so as Sydney was being cleaned and me stitched up, we were talking feverishly about her middle name!
Once everyone was clean and presentable, James brought Parker in to meet his baby sister. It was a moment I'll never forget, I cry just thinking about it. So sweet. Then the whole family came in and we got to announce her name!! It was the BEST day!
Side note...if you are preggo and toying with not finding out the gender...DO IT!!! It is the best moment of your whole life! The biggest surprise you'll ever get! :) Thank you to my friend, Shay Shull (Mix and Match Mama), for all the encouragement you gave me in this decision...you were right! The best surprise ever, it was worth the wait!!
Now...here are just a "few"
pics from the day!
The night before we went out to dinner as a family of 3 for the last time! It was a special night!
Here we go, let's have a baby!!
Waiting for our newest family member!
My little buddy with a gift for his new baby!
Hanging out with the family!
Seeing baby Sydney for the very first time. She was being cleaned up in the warmer.
There she is! 7 pounds, 6 oz and 19 1/2 inches long.
My wonderful doctor, Dr. Appel! I love this lady!
Proud new daddy!
First pic as a family of 4!
Mom and dad meeting their newest grand-daughter!
Proud Nana
I love this pic!
We had some very special visitors that night!
This is Parker with some of his best friends Blair and Jack!
Me with Brie and Heidi, love these girls!
Grandad holding his new granddaughter!
Sweet baby girl in Neesie's arms.
Parker came up the next morning to hang out!
Getting her dressed for the first time in something pink!!
So in love!
I loved my Friday afternoon visitors!
Julie and Amanda were so sweet to come by and meet Sydney!
Here we are with Julie.
Sydney loved meeting Amanda!
Time to go home! I LOVED this baby buggy cart! James was like..."I have to push that thing all the way to the parking lot??" Yes you do! ;)
Leaving the room.
Here we go, next stop, home!!
Parker was there waiting with some big kisses for his baby sister!
We love you Sydney Kate! Welcome to our family!!
Many more pics to come!!
