Arden's Two Weeks

Arden is already two weeks old! She had her check up yesterday. The doctor said the goal at two weeks is for them to be back to their birth weight. Hers was 7lbs 12oz and now she is all the way up to 8lbs 6oz! She has also gotten taller - she's up to 20.5 inches (was 18.75 inches at birth). Her head circumference is 14 inches (I have no idea if that's big or little?).

Her first two weeks have been night and day compared to Avery's. We just had such a hard time with her (if you want details on that, see my posts from 2011), but Arden is just a dream. I really think a lot of it has to do with her staying in until her due date and coming out at a healthy weight.

But I think it's also just an unmerited blessing from the Lord. I am sort of thankful that I had my easy one second. I just know myself and if Avery had been this easy I probably would have become prideful and thought that it was my awesome parenting or whatever book I was reading's strategy that was making her that way. Now I know it's nothing I've done.

While Arden has been easy, a certain toddler went a little wild for about a week. I think she was just so excited about the new baby being here, along with Nana here and different people stopping by for visits. She just couldn't calm down and was constantly bouncing off the walls, which if you know her that's not like her at all. She's usually very chill and calm. So that was a little hard, but she has settled down now. Rustin has been a huge help by taking care of her so I could focus on Arden (or in other words so I could feed Arden...all the time. It's no accident she's gained so much weight!). When dad's in charge shenanigans like this happen - do it yourself face paint.

Avery has been just so sweet. She decided that Arden needed all of her princess undies and socks in her bassinet.

Then yesterday she went upstairs by herself and got her stool and a book and said she was "reading" to Arden. It was so cute! 

We had Arden's newborn photos done also. I met Ryan and Laura O'Dowd when I went on my mission trip to Guatemala back in 2007 and have stayed friends with them since. Ryan started a photography business so we were excited to have him take her photos. I will post more soon when I get all of them, but for now you can see some on his blog. 

Another thing that has been just a HUGE blessing these past few weeks are friends and people from our church bringing us meals. It's so awesome and is almost reason enough to keep having more kids! haha

Arden's Arrival

Well I must say Arden already has a flair for the dramatic, but we'll get to that...
So my due date was Sept. 26. I know due dates are "best guesses" and most babies don't come on that exact day BUT it was the day I calculated (based on my cycle) from the second I found out I was pregnant. It was the day I looked forward to for 9 months. I thought surely by that day she would be here. So when it was about 6pm that day and no baby, no contractions, I started getting sad. I was sitting outside with Rustin while Avery played on the swing set and just talked about how frustrated I was that my due date was obviously going by (I mean I figured if I hadn't gone into labor yet and it was already 6pm that she wouldn't be born that day).

Our plan was right when I went into labor to call Rustin's mom, who lives in town, to come over with Avery until my mom could get here from Wichita Falls. Well Rustin's mom had gall bladder problems and ended up going to the ER the night before my due date. Since I didn't know who we would call if I went into labor in the middle of the night, I went ahead and had my mom come down. She got here at about 7:30 that evening. I figured by this point I was going to be late, so I was thinking in my head of all the different things we could do while she was here to pass the time.

Well later that night we (Rustin, my mom, me) were all watching tv and I started having contractions. This was nothing new though as I had been having Braxton Hicks for about 2 months. I timed them and they were 6 minutes apart (doctor told me to go to hospital at 5 minutes apart but since I wanted to labor at home as long as I could he said I could wait until they were 3 minutes apart if I wanted). I have always heard that if they are real contractions they won't stop if you get up and move around. So I went to pack a few more things in my bag for the hospital and sure enough they stopped. I didn't have another one for 20 minutes. So I just figured it was not the real deal.

Then as Rustin and I are going to bed - maybe around 10:30 - I started having contractions again but they were still no closer than 6 minutes but this time they HURT! Like really bad. I told him I wanted to go to the hospital, even though I thought it was a false alarm, just in case it was real so I could get an epidural in time (ironically) because those babies were painful! I went into my mom's room to give her Avery's monitor and told her it was probably a false alarm. I also texted a few friends at 11:15 to let them know I was heading to the hospital, but also put the false alarm disclaimer in there.

On the way to the hospital the contractions were getting very close - like every 2 minutes and again they hurt BAD! We go into the hospital and the girl stops us because we have to check in. I'm not sure if she could have gone any slower. Then they called a wheelchair down from labor and delivery, which also took FOREVER. In fact, she had to call them again to remind them to come down because it had been so long. By this time I am having horrible contractions seemingly all the time.

I got to L&D and they put me in triage first and wanted me to change into a gown, pee in a cup, then they were going to hook me up to a machine. I was thinking the whole time - "I don't have time for this! Get me an epidural!" So I change and come out and just Rustin is there and we are still waiting for the nurses. I told him to go tell them I need an epidural. So he tells this one nurse who didn't even know I was in there! Anyway she comes in and tells the other nurses they probably should have skipped triage. She checks me and tells me I have no cervix - it was completely effaced. So we walk just a few feet to my room and I am still under the impression that they have ordered the epidural and it's on its' way. As we're walking I tell her "I don't see how people do this natural." And I'll never forget this, she said "Well I think you're about to find out." Panic like I've never known swept over me and I wanted to cry.

(Side note - be careful what you wish for. I said in my "birth plan" post that I hoped it went so fast so that I wouldn't be able to get an epidural.)

I don't remember a whole lot once I got to the room because I was in such horrific pain. I remember Rustin telling them "she's squeezing me really hard." And I also remember the nurses scrambling to call my doctor and reassuring me he lives close and would get there in time (although I don't know if they believed it). Then I couldn't help but push. The nurse told me that it wouldn't be long and we would get the baby out and I would feel much better. I thought she was lying because I didn't think there was any way the baby was close to being out. I didn't think it could happen that fast. The pain was so bad I kept saying "I can't" which looking back is kind of funny because whether I thought I could or couldn't, it was still going to happen. But Rustin and the nurses were very encouraging the whole time.

In the mean time some nurse tried to get an IV in and it didn't work. So I didn't have anything hooked up to me - no medicine, no vitals, nothing. I remember my doctor coming in, who I LOVE by the way, and Arden coming out super fast. They said her head looked like a c-section baby because she was in the birth canal for such a short period of time. So even though she made me wait until the last minute - she was born at 11:59pm - she came on her due date. She weighed 7 pounds 12 ounces and was 18 3/4 inches. I was worried that I couldn't love another child as much as I love Avery, but when I held her I found out it was possible. I couldn't sleep at all that night and just kept staring at her and thinking how thankful I am.

I don't know that I could go natural again, but I must say I felt GREAT after delivery and feel like I recovered much much faster than when I had Avery.

My mom brought Avery up the next day and she was so cute. I was worried she would be jealous since she's very attached to me, but she absolutely loves Arden. The girls gave each other presents and Arden's present to Avery was an Elsa doll. She hasn't let it out of her sight - as you can tell since it's in every picture. As she was leaving, she asked if she could hold Arden and sing a song to her. Of course we said yes and sat her on her lap. Then Avery sang every word of "Jesus Loves Me" to her. Mom and Dad might have gotten a bit teary-eyed.

Here are some pictures from the hospital. We are so in love with our girls!