Audrey Rae Alexander: a Baby Story

Finally.


I tried to post these the other day, but BlogSpot was having issues uploading pics, then I was too tired. Let's o the pics first, then I'll recap the birth:




Here is Audrey Rae about an hour or so after birth.

First day home, she was napping.

All three of us a few hours after getting home. Do we look tired or what??

I titled this picture "Look At This Studio Full Of Fabulous Prizes!"

Her first bath. She was PISSED and looking at me like "Daddy! Save me!"

Here's the three of us just after she was born. Gina looks great, doesn't she??

So there are some pictures. She is stinkin' cute! I know every parent thinks their baby is the most beautiful in the world, but this little sweetheart is just perfect looking.


So here's the story:


At about 1:00am on Wednesday the 17th (her due date) Gina started having contractions. We had a Dr's appointment at 9:45am anyway, so we loaded our bag in the car and headed to the Dr's office. By the time we got there, Gina was dilated to 4cm and the Doc sent us over to the hospital. Once we got all checked in, Gina's contractions slowed waaaaaay down, so we walked around a bunch. After a few hours of not much changing, Gina got checked again and was at 6cm - even though her contractions slowed down, she was still progressing just fine.


We had decided to try to give birth without pain meds, and Gina did it: she's an amazing woman, and I knew she had some amazing inner strength, but she was really awesome! We kicked everyone out of the room when the contractions got strong, and the staff got the room all setup. She went from 8cm to 10cm in a very short time (I think it was like 30-45 minutes or so). The Doc broker her water right when it was time to push. She thinks the Doc said she was pushing for an hour, but I really have no idea of the time frame. All I know is that Gina was again super awesome! She would push really hard, and then between contractions she was having conversations and even laughing with us. When Audrey finally came out, I got to announce the sex to the room: that was pretty amazing. They put her on Gina's chest and we got a few minutes to look at her before they did all her checks. She was deemed perfect, wiped down, and passed back over to us.


We had 11 people there with us, and that was only parents and siblings (and didn't count my step siblings!). Audrey was alert and calm with the fam when they came in to meet her. She was awake for about two hours after birth and then slept for about two hours. After she woke up - around 11:30pm - she stayed away and calm until 6:00am the next morning! She was just looking at us and making eye contact with G and I. The only bummer was that we couldn't sleep since she was awake the whole time.


We stayed at the hospital until Friday morning when we checked out. Both Audrey and Gina got a clean bill of health, and they both have been doing great since. Audrey has such a laid back personality and is so calm, we feel like we are cheating at being parents. She rarely cries and is very lucid when she's awake. She did loose quite a bit of weight after birth, but on Monday we had the Mommy/Baby checkup and get her on a feeding plan that's working really well: she's put back on 8oz in 48 hours now, and is almost back up to birth weight.


She's INSANELY strong, and really likes me a lot. She loves my voice and her favorite position to be held is kind of away from your body facing you so she can look right at you. I do fine in the rare cases that she cries really hard, but I totally loose it when she smiles. I'm going to have to work really hard to NOT totally spoil her completely.


I have to add that our support has been awesome. G's folks have both come over and watched her for a couple hours so we can both sleep. Ryan and Jessica coordinated a "Bring The Alexander's A Meal" schedule and folks have brought us food: Ryan and Jess, Tre and Allison, my Dad and Teresa, and there are quite a few more coming in the next two weeks. We have a lot of snacks and veggies and whatnot, but having some hot, prepared food brought to our home is amazing! The prayers and well-wishes from everyone have been awesome as well. Thank you all for everything.


The pregnancy was easy (all things considered), the birth was easy (all things considered), and Audrey is a perfect little baby. We are so blessed, and are spending time loving on our new daughter right now.


In the next couple of weeks, we want to start having friends over to visit: right now, Audrey does okay with family in small visits but she's easily over stimulated and it's a little early for visitors. However, as soon as we feel comfortable with it we want people to call to set up a visit time. We do want her to get used to being around our friends as soon as she's able.


Cheers!