A New Addition

We have a new addition to the Joel Robertson household!

Audrey Marilyn Robertson

was born June 29, 2012. I will tell a slightly shortened version of the birth story, since the long detailed version is in my personal journal.

On Thursday, the 28th, I started having contractions in the evening; around 5 or 6 pm. They were definitely more intense than the contractions I'd been having previous to this, and they were fairly regular. Coming about every ten minutes, give or take. I went about my evening, but by bedtime they hadn't gotten closer together. They were still coming, and still intense, but still a good ten minutes apart.

So I went to bed, figuring it would go away if it wasn't real labor. Well, the contractions didn't go away, but they didn't get closer together, either. After a few hours of laying there (they were too painful to sleep through), I got up and moved around. Read some, walked around the living room and kitchen, got on the computer, and generally wasted some time. Contractions were still coming; they were slightly closer together when I was up and moving around, but went back to 10-15 minutes apart when I sat down.

So I went back to bed to try and rest, if I couldn't sleep, and at that time Joel and I decided that I would rest until 3:00 am (which was for 45 minutes) and then we would call the hospital and see what they recommend we do. So that's what we did, and when we called and explained that the contractions were ten minutes apart, but not going away, and this is my fourth child, and I was dilated 4 cm at the doctor's office on Tuesday, they told us to come in and we would just see how things went. 

My wonderful sister, Rachel, came and stayed with the kids while we went to the hospital. Once there we found out that I was dilated 6 cm, so I would be staying. :) So they moved me from triage to labor and delivery. At about 5:30 Dr. Huish came and broke my water, at which time I was dilated 7 cm. The contractions hadn't gotten much closer together, however. They were between 5 and 10 minutes apart. So even though they were painful, there was so much recovery time in between that it wasn't all that bad.

I ordered the epidural when the doctor broke my water, and I got that around 6. Soon after that Dr. Huish was back and I was dilated 9 cm, so he came again shortly thereafter when I was 10 cm and I started pushing. I had to push longer with this baby than with the last two babies I've had, partly because the epidural was very effective, and partly because baby's head was turned slightly so she wasn't quite dropping down all the way. But the doctor was able to turn her head, she dropped, I was able to push more effectively, and she was born at 7:18 am on Friday morning!!

She was a chubby little thing: much bigger than our other kids at 7 lbs 14 oz. and 20 inches long. She let out a good cry right after she was born, but then she seemed a little reluctant to breathe. The nurse took her over to the little station and sucked out quite a lot of amniotic fluid from her stomach and gave her some oxygen. She said that sometimes when they swallow a lot of fluid right when they come out it kind of shocks them and they stop breathing. But she was just fine, and soon she was crying normally.

She is a beautiful baby, and I can't describe how wonderful it felt to finally have our little girl here with us. I'm still amazed by her every time I look at her pretty face, or her tiny toes, or her beautiful hands. She is such a sweet little angel!!!

We both did fine after the birth, though I was incredibly tired all day Friday since I wasn't able to sleep at all Thursday night. We were able to go home Saturday around noon. Another one of my amazing sisters, Amy, stayed with our kids Friday night and Saturday morning. It was great to not have to worry about them while we were in the hospital, knowing they were always being taken care of by good family. Thank you!!

The kids are just as in love with Audrey as Joel and I are, as you can see from the pictures below. They are always petting and kissing and loving on her. Someone is always willing to hold her if I need an extra set of arms. And they are all great at helping out by getting things I need or putting things where I need them to go. Sometimes we do have to tell them to give the baby some space because they tend to hover and crowd, but they definitely love their new baby sister!

I'll caption  most of the pictures so you know what you're looking at, and so I'll remember what I'm looking at in the future. :)

Joel and I soon after Audrey was born. You can tell I was tired! 

First picture of Audrey. She's getting some oxygen, and if you click to enlarge the photo you might be able to see the tube that is still down her throat that they used to suck out the amniotic fluid. 

Mom and baby. 

Dad and baby. 

First bath. They did it right in the L&D room, which they never did with my other babies. I liked that they didn't take her away. 

A clean baby. 

Sleeping after they moved us over to the postpartum room. 

Sisters! 

Dad with all the kiddos. 

Getting ready to go home. Wearing the dress that I made for her. 

At home! Adam wanted a closer look. 

 Admiring baby sister.

Adam looks pretty big next to Audrey! He's not the baby of the family anymore. 

She's so pretty!! 

Sleeping in the car seat after the newborn checkup at the pediatricians office. 

Adam was holding her and decided to lay down. It was really cute!

Audrey continues to get even cuter by the day, if that's even possible! She definitely looks like our other kids when they were babies, and she also looks like Joel. She is a good baby, and she eats and sleeps well. She doesn't fuss very much, which is helped by the fact that there is always someone willing to hold her. She isn't awake much yet, which is why we don't have many pictures of her with her eyes open. We love her so much! We feel incredibly blessed to have her in our family!!