The Wednesday night before I was to be induced on Thursday, Addy packed up her little suitcase to go and spend a couple nights at Mia & Pop's house. She was SO excited about baby sister coming the next day and so excited to be having a sleepover (and I was so thankful since she didn't have much of a choice!)
Courtney and I dropped Addy off and went by the hospital to see our friends Heath & LeAnn who had just welcomed Julia Rose the day before! We then enjoyed "the last supper" as we jokingly called it (because we figured it would be our last date night for awhile!) at Chuck's. We splurged on uptown shrimp (yum!), sushi and white chocolate bread pudding - one of our favorite desserts - and then we came home to get ready for Thursday! Most of our things were already packed and we tried to get a few hours of sleep!
We started the day off early Thursday - we were at the hospital by 6:30 and all our family made predictions on when Miss Audrey would make her arrival... boy were we wrong! She was not in as big of a hurry as I had hoped. My doctor came in that morning after I had not "progressed" the way she had hoped even with the labor inducing drugs and asked if I wanted to go home and try again the next week! Since our families were both going out of town for Memorial Day (and who would Addy stay with?) we opted to stay put.
We had a few visitors to help pass the time!
Heath & LeAnn were literally just down the hall so they came over for a visit while Julia was in the nursery getting checked out...
Audrey was born at 5:39 p.m. that afternoon - May 16. She weighed 7 pounds, 11 ounces and was 19.75 inches long. She had meconium (pooped before she was born) so the NICU team was in the room and did a great job checking her out and getting her all cleaned up before we got to hold her. Her birth was much more emotional for me than Addy's was - maybe because I knew more what to expect or maybe because I was more nervous this time that everything would be okay with her. I couldn't stop crying after she was born. Childbirth truly is a miracle and nothing can describe that "high" that you feel when a new life enters the world!
I was so relieved that Dr. Emig got to deliver - if Audrey had waited much longer she was about to have to leave!
Courtney's first time to hold Audrey (a sweet nurse took this picture - wish I had zoomed the camera back out!)
My first time to hold her.
Our newest blessing!
After she was here, the fun started. We had already said we wanted Addy to get to meet her first and wanted some time with just the four of us in the room. That morning, Mia took Addy to school and then Kayla picked her up and they enjoyed a chick-fil-a picnic at the park before they went home for a nap. I think they went to the park again (trying to kill time since Audrey was taking her time!) and then headed to the hospital to wait since we were getting close.
Courtney went to the waiting room and he and Addy walked Audrey's door decoration down and put it on the door to our room and then he brought her in.
She had been so excited outside but when she came in the room she was so quiet and timid at first and just wanted to look at her new baby sister.
She didn't want to hold her - just wanted to look at her while Daddy held her. You could tell she almost couldn't handle the emotions!
She had picked out a special bunny lovey for Audrey similar to her favorite bunny and Audrey had a "special sister" charm for her bracelet.
Addy wanted to introduce Audrey to her grandparents who were all dying to come in. Courtney's aunt Margaret & Johnny were also there.
Once they all got in the room, THEN Addy wanted to hold Audrey - I'm glad our parents got to be in the room for that big "first" even though it lasted 30 seconds before she wanted Daddy to take her back!
Everybody stayed long enough to take pictures with the newest family member and then headed to Taco Casa for a celebration dinner!
Addy did
not want to leave us when it was time to go... hence the sad face in our first family photo (just keeping it real!)...but she was happy again by the time they got to the car.
Kayla stayed with Audrey & me while Courtney ran to Walton's and picked up some dinner. We enjoyed getting to visit with just KK - that was special!
Brand new!
Sweet baby feet. Courtney kept making fun of her big toes... about a week after she was born we realized that her big toes look just like his!
We are so thankful that God blessed our family with a healthy baby girl. Audrey Catherine, we love you!
