One week old, birth memories

As of Monday night, our baby girl is now 1 week old. It's amazing how time seems to fly by but at the same feel like it's passing so slowly. Just wanted to include some memories from the day she was born. Feel free to skip to the pictures a little ways down. I don't mind if no one reads any of it. Just wanted to include it for personal records of course....

I won't go into much detail about the days events but I figured many of you would be curious to how things went. Except for the fact that being in labor is super scary and quite frankly really sucks, things didn't go all that badly, haha.. I do think I underestimated just how difficult and painful the whole ordeal would be but obviously it all turned out ok. I lived. Baby girl is healthy and strong. And cute as a button.   :)


So we actually chose to do an induction a week earlier than my due date. The week before we had scheduled it with my doctor because she said the baby was plenty big enough, I had progressed enough, and because I had been having so much false labor in weeks prior, it would just make things easier if we had a date set. and sooner rather than later. I'm glad we did it. And as it turned out, when we got to the hospital at 6 am that morning, I had already started having regular contractions and had progressed even more that my nurse and doctor said I probably would've had her that day anyways, haha! So we got there at 6am, my doctor came in to check me at 8:30am and broke my water right then (weirdest feeling ever!).. and after that, it was pretty steady progression throughout the day. I got my epidural an hour or two after she broke my water, which I would consider being almost more traumatic than the actual delivery lol.. It was pretty scary but I'm glad I did that also because even with the epidural, I was still in quite a bit of pain. (they had to up my dosage a couple times) I don't know how you ladies do it naturally. I know I would've just died. haha! More power to yall! :)


Anyways, I'm pretty sure I made things as convenient as possible for my doctor whose practice was just in the next building. She came in before her office hours to check me and break my water, came in again to check me during her lunch break, then I was ready to start pushing by the time she was done with her shift at around 5 pm. Talk about perfect timing! From that point on, things escalated pretty quickly. I just know I was saying some pretty weird stuff during the whole process, haha.. So I started pushing around 5 pm, my doctor came in a few minutes after the hour, and then our big little Ivy joined in on the party at 5:47pm! She was close to 8 lbs. When they told me that, I was soo glad I hadn't waited that extra week. 


Sam was by my side throughout the whole day and I know I couldn't have done it without him helping me through it all. I just love him! I love that we now share something as special as a child together. That the Lord blessed us with such a perfect little girl. (can't believe he trusts us that much, haha) And I hate to sound cheesy, but I feel like she fills a void in our relationship that we never even knew existed until she was here. That's the best way I can explain having a baby. She has already melted Sam's heart. It's seriously so cute. I would expect nothing less though. Sam can be a real softy when it comes to things like this. ;) Love you babe! Thanks for being such an amazing husband and dad!!


Some things I hated that day:
-Ice chips!! ugh. they wouldn't let me eat or drink a thing all day and I felt like it was almost all I could think about! worst torture ever. especially when my sister walked in with fresh homemade chocolate chip cookies. 
-blood pressure machine that remained on my arm all day. It hurt soo bad. My nurse said by the end of the day I would wanna throw the thing out the window and she was so right. 
-getting the epidural. It was pretty freaking scary for me when they were doing it, and there were a couple complications that I won't get into but it was not fun. 
-strong contractions and sensations that I could actually feel. epidural is different for everyone and for me, I could still feel quite a bit.


Some things I LOVED that day: 
-Having Sam by my side the entire day. And the fact that he was so interested in everything going on.
-The couple moments when I on the verge of having a serious breakdown and my sister walks through the door and takes my mind off things. This happened twice. It was perfect timing both times. Kinda bizarre but awesome. Love my sister!
-My doctor being pretty aggressive with everything. She was amaaaaazing. Wish I would of gotten a picture with her. I loved that she never wasted time with anything. or made me go through more than I needed to.. She was just like, let's get this done! 
-Hearing those first baby cries, knowing that our little girl is alive and healthy.
-Watching Sam hover over her while they cleaned her up and were fixing me up.. Him telling me all about her from across the room. :)
-Watching Sam hold her for those first few minutes. She didn't even cry. Just stared back at him. 
-Holding her with Sam by my side for those first few minutes knowing she was fresh from the Lord's presence into our lives. That we now feel like a complete family. Best feeling ever. 


My little family. These are my favorite moments. When we can just chill all together:

We've had lots of family and friends drop by to meet miss Ivy. Here are just a couple photos with her new cousins:

Finally getting out of the house! First walk around the apt. complex at 6 days old:

Right hand always next to her face. Pretty sure she was like this in the womb too. Occasionally it seemed like I could feel her little fingers wiggling in there, lol:

This little girl is already as obnoxious as her parents. She thinks she has to make noises when she gets the hiccups. It's hilarious. They start out quiet, then get progressively louder, the longer she has them haha.. here is just 30 seconds of hiccups that she had for probably a whole 2 or 3 minutes....