Aubrey's Birth Story!

Aubrey in her Mimi's arms.

Aubrey entered the world on January 8th at 11:22am, 6 days after her due date. I thought labor started around midnight that morning, but turns out it was a little more complicated than that. My actual labor and pushing went quickly and smoothly and if you are not up for any of the squirmish details, stop reading here.  :)

Turns out what I thought was labor was actually the stomach flu. I thought my body was getting ready for labor and contractions were becoming painful at about 6 minutes apart. I was very concerned about missing my window for an epidural so after the tummy trouble and the contractions, we decided to head into the hospital. Louie grabbed the hospital bag and my mom stayed home with Kinsley. Once arriving at the hospital I got checked into OB triage and they hooked me up to the monitors. Aubrey was doing great and my contractions were continuing to be about 5 to 6 minutes apart. I was 4 centimeters when the resident first checked me. She wanted to make sure I was progressing before admitting me to labor and delivery and said she would check back in a couple of hours. Over the next two hours, the contractions paled in comparison to the nausea. I eventually did get sick and felt a lot of relief, after which my contractions basically stopped. The resident checked me again and said I was 5 centimeters and should be admitted to L&D. Louie and I weren't convinced that I was actually in labor and were starting to suspect the stomach flu. About 15 minutes later, the resident changed her mind and decided this was most likely "a bug" and that I was not in labor. She then gave us two options. One, go home, get better, and come back for my induction on Thursday or two, being that I was nearly 5 centimeters and 40 weeks and 6 days, go ahead and induce now. The thought of going home still pregnant was difficult to imagine and having a baby while having the stomach flu wasn't very enticing either. We ultimately decided to go forward with the induction. They drugged me up with phenergan, started the pitocin drip, and got me an epidural. The nausea continued to come and go in waves, but I was able to get some sleep due to the medication. They broke my water around 10 on Sunday morning and I was still at 5 centimeters. About an hour later, I was 9 centimeters and feeling considerable back pain. They called anesthesia to possibly turn up my epidural when I stopped her mid-sentence and told her she better get the doctor. Baby was coming now! I was right, it was time, and things did happen quickly. After 6 minutes and 4 pushes, Aubrey was here at 11:22am! They placed her right on my chest. There is nothing in the world that compares to that moment.

Louie cut Aubrey's cord and quickly sent out a picture text announcing Aubrey's arrival. I felt so much better after birth. The nausea was gone and the adrenaline rush covered up any fatigue I felt. Aubrey had no trouble latching on and nursing about 20minutes after she arrived. Everything was going well until the nurse pushed on my tummy about an hour after delivery. They quickly realized that I was losing a lot of blood and the events that followed are a little bit of a blur to me. I know Louie took Aubrey and I remember thinking he was being unusually quiet. I started to feel very dizzy and nauseous and there was suddenly quite a few extra people in my room.  I know they gave me some medication through my IV and a shot in my left thigh. I felt like I was in a dream and was sort-of drifting in and out of sleep. Thankfully, they got the bleeding under control and I then slept for a couple of hours while they monitored me before finally moving me to my postpartum room around 2:30.

From that point on, things were and have continued to go smoothly. My recovery has gone very, very well (so much better than with Kinsley!) and Aubrey is pretty angelic. I'll post more on Kinsley's and Aubrey's introduction soon. Thank you to all who were praying for us and our adjustment to a family of four. We have a long way to go (especially once my mom leaves!!) but the amazing amount of love and support felt both from our local friends and our family and friends all over the country, continue to humble us.  Thank you.

Much love,
Catherine, Louie, Kinsley, and Aubrey.

Here are a couple videos of Aubrey. She's not doing anything too exciting but for those that can't see her in person, this is our second best. :) You can really see her blonde hair, eyebrows, and tiny little blonde eyelashes in these videos! The second video is a little better and shorter than the first.