Purpose: to document the addition of our lovely Audree. It's got to happen, guys.
Our lovely Audree Ino was born this past May and she has completely captured our hearts. Here's the story:
Little miss Audree thought it would be cool to throw her parents for a loop by flipping at 38 weeks. I knew something had happened because I was in a lot of pain and did not feel any regular contractions. My next appointment revealed that she had turned into a sideways (transverse) position, which stinks because it meant that a vaginal birth was totally out of the question. Wanting to avoid a C-section, I got desperate.
We tried an external version, which failed. Then we got antsy. I searched the internet like crazy for different poses to visit again and again, exercises to do, etc... and we tried them all. We put cold peas and a heating pad on stomach, tried the flashlight technique, visited a chiropractor regularly, and eventually visited a very interesting place to receive and acupuncture treatment (moxibustion). Not only did these give us some awesome experience and exposure to new alternative medicine techniques, but they also successfully flipped our baby. Yay!
Just 4 days before her due date, we were scheduled to help paint a garage, and attend a luncheon and a BBQ. In preparation, I spent the morning making a ginormous salad while Aleah destroyed the house (she's a toddler, to expect anything less would be crazy talk). Contractions started while said garage was being painted but I tried very hard to ignore them since they had been fairly constant for the past few weeks.
It became evident after our luncheon that these contractions were different but there was just no way I was going to waste me large, delicious salad. So I did the only thing I could. I made Tyler drive us all to the luncheon so I could drop off my salad and our beautiful Aleah before heading to the hospital. Did I get some crazy looks? Yes. But all is well that ends well, right? We visited briefly between contractions and then headed off to the hospital.
Tyler was kind enough to let me walk around the hospital grounds and labor on my own before entering the hospital. This time I was careful not to get too carried away since I knew we still needed to receive the strep antibiotic. After hearing me say a naughty word, Tyler kindly lead me inside at which point we were admitted and told that we might need an emergency C-section. Seriously? I had heard that phrase a bazillion times and had just about had enough of it.
In this case, it was because Audree (who we were calling Teagen at the time, but I'll get to that later) was not down far enough. Without her fully engaged, the various medical professionals were nervous that my water would break and the chord would come out before the baby, which would obviously complicate matters... to say the least.
We slowed labor down and gave her some time to decide which way she wanted to come out. Thankfully, she slid down further and once they broke my water, she came quickly. Two pushes later we got to meet our sweet little girl.
We had been calling her Teagen for the past 6 months but I always told Tyler that if I had a red headed girl, her name would be Audree. Surprise! A red head! I never thought I would have a redheaded child since it seems to skip generations. Add that to the fact that she was born on Audrey Hepburn's birthday and it's no wonder we switched names so willingly.
She was (and still is) perfect in every way. Sweet, beautiful, and slept through the night the day we brought her home from the hospital!
A couple of random memories from the day:
1. RSL was of course playing a very important game while we were in the hospital. Ty initially tried very hard to push it out of his mind but I caved and let him watch it on the TV while I labored. The nurses were horrified. You are welcome Tyler.
2. After the external version failed, I told my doctor that I would laugh out loud if she came out with red hair since we have such a reputation for being stubborn. Haha!
3. I LOVE my doctor! He came in for me at 1:30 in the morning voluntarily because he had been telling me for weeks that he wanted to be the one to deliver the baby whether he was on call or not. He also suggested moxibustion to me and made sure I knew not to believe other acupuncturists who told me they could do it. He said to make sure they were from China and he was so excited when I tried it. We had an incredible experience with him.
4. Note to self-- do not have babies at this hour in the morning if I can help it. Laboring and not sleeping for several hours makes for VERY unflattering baby pictures.
5. I cried for Aleah in the hospital so my doctor signed my release early. I love my babies!
We feel blessed beyond words to have this beautiful little angel baby in our lives. Our family is even more fun with her addition and Aleah loves being a big sister!
