Elynn Rae 10.29.13

I had an appointment last Tuesday at 10:30 with Dr. Ballard. For good measure I got up, finished packing our bags, and loaded them in the car. Just in case. I dropped Reese off at daycare, ran a few errands which included perusing the aisles of Target while drinking a Starbucks. Adam met me at Dr. Ballard's office where she informed us that I was 5 or 6 cm and 100% thinned out. She gave us the option to go over to the hospital or go home and wait for my water to break. She didn't really think the water breaking option was a good idea considering we don't live close to the hospital. My first and only concern was who was doing epidurals that day because if it was the same one who did it with Reese there was no way I was being admitted that day. Dr. Ballard called and found out that a guy named Danny was on call. Danny is the same guy who we met when we went to the birthing class when I was pregnant with Reese and I told Adam then that he was the guy I wanted. He seemed so nice which is exactly what I need when being faced with a needle in the spine. When she told us he was there I knew it was meant to be;).

When we got there and got hooked up I was having contractions 2 minutes apart. Things did not start off well when the nurse tried to start my IV, but the first one she did wouldn't work for some reason. We hadn't been there 30 minutes and I was already giving Adam the look. It's the same look I give him anytime I'm in a medical setting and I'm the patient. And from his eye rolling response, I can tell that he really loves me a lot during those moments. I wanted to go ahead and get the epidural over with, so that I wasn't a grouch the rest of the afternoon. I knew once it was over I could relax. When Danny came in the room I was already crying the ugly cry. He assured me that my first experience was not how it would go this time around. When it was over, I might or might not have told him I wanted to kiss him on the mouth. It was so much better than the one I had with Reese. It did not hurt nearly as bad, and my face didn't look like I had had a stroke when it was over. And Adam was relieved that he wasn't going to have to spend the coming years listening to me complain about how horrible it was.

At a little after 5:00, I was dilated to a 10. After a few pushes the nurse called Dr. Ballard and within 10 minutes of her getting to our room, Elynn was born at 5:29 PM. 

D.D. stopped and got Reese on her way to the hospital, and she spent the afternoon playing with her new baby doll and car seat. 

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And then the moment we had all been waiting for... She came into this world screaming! When Reese was born she had the cord around her neck several times and had swallowed a lot of fluid which resulted in no sound coming from her for a long time. That was not the case with Elynn. She cried loudly for quite a while. 

After the hour of Kangaroo Care (skin to skin contact), Adam went after the big sister who was being entertained in the lobby by Clay and Jolie. 

She weighed 7.7 lbs and was 19 inches long. (Reese weighed 7.9 lbs and was 19 1/2 inches long.)

Tuesday night Reese happily went home with Clay and Jolie from the hospital. Heather said she cried for us a little and she was really restless, but overall she did okay. Wednesday morning Heather ask if she was going to spend the night again and she quickly told her "NO!" After spending the day at the hospital with us on Wednesday she cried (and so did her momma) when Heather tried to get her to go home with her. So she stayed with us and Adam planned to go home with her that night and stay. She ended up going with Jaycie and Brooklyn to "the red store to get an icee" when they came to visit. (The red store is Target.) They met up with D.D. and Reese stayed with her that night. Thankfully that all went better than I ever expected it to. 

We came home on Thursday, and so far she has been such an easy baby. She has been getting her last feeding between 9 and 10 then waking up again between 2 and 3 to eat, and then maybe getting up again around 5. 

Reese seems to be adjusting really well other than one moment on Thursday afternoon when she was watching cartoons and out of nowhere she said, "I tired of Elynn. Call PeePaw and tell him to come get her." Later when PeePaw came over she would not allow him to take her with him, so I guess she changed her mind. Saturday night we all ended up in Reese's bed when she woke up while I was feeding Elynn and wanted me in her bed. Adam, Elynn, and I all got in her bed. She finally went back to sleep. Thankfully, Reese doesn't seem too bothered by Elynn's presence. Every now and then she wants to hold her, but otherwise she goes on about her business and occasionally asks, "where's baby sisor?"  

Reese on the left and Elynn on the right. 

I've got tons of picture to upload...which will hopefully happen before she turns 1;)