Boys Meet Baby Audrey

Apparently flu season in Indiana was really late this year, so the hospital had restrictions on visitors - basically no one under the age of 18 was allowed. I was so bummed the boys weren't able to come meet baby Audrey right after she was born. It was also the longest I've ever been away from them, so I missed them and just wanted to be around them in general. But I knew they were well taken care of by Nonnie.

We ended up coming home a little early, and I had super low expectations of how the first meet would go. I figured the boys would just want our attention since we'd be gone so long, and that they would pretty much ignore Audrey. They are only 3 years and 20 months after all, and boys who could care less about baby dolls or most real babies in fact. But it actually ended up being one of THE  sweetest moments of my life. Both boys were waiting at the door for us, and as soon as we opened it, Graham began begging, "Want to hold him! Want to hold him! Want to hold him!" (He thinks everyone is a "he." Haha) We took some quick pic's on the porch, and then granted Graham's request, heading straight for the couch to let Graham hold his new little sister. The expressions on his face of wonder, excitement, scrutiny, joy will forever be tattooed in my brain. He stroked her face, examined her fingers and toes, gave her kisses, and oohed and ahhhed over her for a looooooooong time. I wanted to bottle the moments up and keep them forever. He has been predicting a little sister for 9 months, and he now says over and over, "Graham has a brother AND a sister! Graham has two babies!!"

Owen was the biggest surprise-I say he looks at her like a unicorn, this funny, mesmerizing little creature he can't quite figure out. Since the first moment, he points and squeals "Eeeeeeeeeee!!!!!!!!" in a really high-pitched tone over and over. It's pretty hilarious. They both love to give her kisses on kisses on kisses, and it's like a celebrity enters the room every time they see her. So completely precious. Sibling love is the best.

Audrey's Birth Story!!! 4.9.16

Audrey Katherine Buckle
4.9.16
We had the sweetest delivery nurse that made us the biggest bow hat. :)

I cannot BELIEVE I got a GIRL!!!! 

This was one anticipated baby. Three (almost four) days late with a surprise gender... Oh little girl, you are already keeping us on our toes!
My due date came and went on a Wednesday, with no action. I definitely had the due date blues. A friend described it as running a marathon for 9 long months, finally crossing the finish line completely exhausted and spent in every way, and then SURPRISE! you actually still have to keep running an unknown amount of time! Ugh. That night after we put the boys to bed, Andrew is trying to be helpful and was asking me things like, "Want to play a game?" and other things that sound just as unappealing in my beached whale, disappointed status. Finally I looked at him and said, "I don't know what I need right now, but I don't think you do either." He laughed, agreed, and then suggested "Fuller House." Done. He does know me!!!!

Proud Daddy.

The next day, Thursday, I had a doctor's appointment, where she did the normal checks. I was measuring super small (33 instead of 40),  but she thought it was because I"d dropped since the previous week, which throws the measurement off. Dilated to a 2. But she wanted to hook me up to the monitor to watch Baby's heart rate, movement, and my contractions. It felt like a vacation in that recliner! I had tons of contractions, Baby had a strong heartbeat and tons of movement, so everything looked "beautiful," as my doctor said. Then came an ultrasound to check my fluid levels, just to make sure Baby was still getting enough, because she said those can drop suddenly at the end, and since I was measuring so small, she wanted to make sure. Everything checked out great there too, so she said I could coast for a few days, and then she wanted to check me again on Monday just to make sure everything still looked okay. I laugh looking back at this ultrasound, where they estimated her weight to be 7lbs, 12 oz... Little did we all know the big girl that was about to come out of me!! My doctor will let me go 10 days after my due date before inducing, but I was planning on asking to be induced 7 days after if Baby still hadn't come. Thankful it never came to that. I asked her to strip my membranes (first time I've ever had that done) just for one more shot to start labor. Didn't happen.

I had a few girl things packed in our hospital bag just in case. ;)

Friday was a normal day. The boys and I had a playdate with sweet friends during the day, and then Andrew and I had a Fuller House marathon that night. As we watched, I began to have some more uncomfortable contractions. I didn't think much of it at first, because I'd been having crampy contractions since having my membranes stripped, and they hadn't turned into anything. But these felt different, so Andrew and I started to wonder if this was it. We threw some last-minute stuff in our bags and put them by the door, just in case. Around midnight, nothing had progressed, so Andrew went to bed. I stayed on the couch, switching to Fixer Upper to keep myself distracted. The contractions were super sporadic and just uncomfortable enough to keep me awake, but not painful enough to blow through or cry through. ;) This went on all night. I timed them, and some were 30 minutes apart, while some were 5 minutes apart. No consistency at all. Andrew came down at 3am ish, and asked if this was it? I told him I thought maybe it was the beginning, but it was just going really slowly. But by 7am, when the boys woke up, I was still wide awake and not in labor. I kept asking Andrew, "What was that?!" This was such a different experience already than with the boys. Andrew took care of the boys so I could go lay down in bed. I got some cat naps in, but kept waking up with the mediocre, sporadic contractions. I had no idea what was happening. That afternoon, the contractions started getting painful enough that I was breathing/ blowing/ whatever through them. Andrew was reading books to Graham, and I remember Graham looking really concerned as he asked Daddy what Mommy was doing. I was getting on all fours to get through some of them, but not crying or anything, so I wanted to stay with them as long as I could. We began texting our friend options lined up to take care of the boys just to see who was most available in case this was the real thing. One friend texted me, "So are you in labor?" And my response was still, "I don't know!" Haha. Such a weird feeling.

Getting ready to go home.
Her squeaky, raspy cries in the hospital are all-out screams these days. :)

I talked to my mom, and she decided to just start driving, because if this wasn't it, surely it was going to happen soon, so she would just be here. Later that afternoon, I decided to just call my doctor and ask her what she thought was happening, since I was so confused. I was so surprised and excited to find that my doctor was actually the one on call that day! Both boys were born in the middle of the night, and delivered by another sweet doctor in the practice who was on call then. She was GREAT, but I was so excited to have my own doctor this time!! After asking lots of questions, she told me to go ahead to the hospital, even though contractions weren't consistent, they had been going on a long time by this point. So Andrew packed up the boys, dropped them off at a sweet friend's house, and then we headed to the hospital. I will say contractions in the car are the WORST because you can't move, and I really like to be in a different postition than sitting to endure the pain. But I only had a few on the way, unlike previous times, where I screamed and cried like the whole way, with contractions like 2 minutes apart! Haha. We arrived at the hospital around 5pm, and I went to Triage for the first time. I guess my wailing in previous times always scored me an immediate room! But this time they had to make sure I was actually in labor becuase I was so calm. Ha. They kept me, said I was dilated to a 3-4, and asked if I wanted my epidural yet. Again, in past my answer was always, "STAT!!!!!" But I really wasn't in that much pain yet, so they asked if I wanted to walk to help possibly speed things up. Never done that before either, so I decided to give it a whirl. We made laps for about 30 minutes, and contractions then started getting more and more painful. I was having to stop, breathe through each one, and had begun kinda whimpering. Andrew has much improved his delivery game, and was super great at rubbing my lower back when I needed it, gripping my hand, or just letting me have space. I requested the epidural after walking a while, and it was put in without complication. I think this was at about 6.30pm ish. It was magical of course, so I laid back as they told me my contractions continued to be sporadic, but everything looked fine with baby. I was progressing in dilation pretty slowly, my contractions still weren't close together, so the nurse started wondering if Baby was possibly face up, which can affect those things. She said she would check that the next time she checked my dilation. I started getting nervous about C-sections and that stuff, but the next time she checked me, she said Baby was face down. Whew. I remember looking at Andrew several times through this experience just fearful of everything that could go wrong, and just asking him to pray again and again on behalf of me and Baby. We bowed our heads many times in the hospital rooms, and God was so gracious in protecting us through the whole process.

Coming home!!!
Late flu season restrictions prevented the boys from visiting us in the hospital,
so this was their first glimpse of their sister. 

Around this time, my doctor wanted to try some pitocin to get things moving. By this point, I was up for anything to get this baby out!!! I think this was around 10pm ish but I can't remember for sure? It took a while to kick in, but my body really responded to it. All of a sudden, my sweet nurse was telling me my contractions had really picked up and I was at a 9! Finally it was go time! I pushed for about 10 minutes before sweet thing was born. As they pulled her up out of me, Andrew announced, "It's a girl!!!!" When I had pictured that moment so many times before (for both genders), I always pictured myself bursting into tears. But in the moment, I was SO STINKIN EXCITED and SHOCKED that it was a GIRL, I SCREAMED and threw my hands in the air! Hahaha. The moment couldn't have been sweeter. They put her on me immediately, already making comments about what a big girl she was! I cried over her and sang "You are my sunshine," which somehow became tradition in all our births. Audrey Katherine Buckle was born at 11.39pm on April 9, weighing 8 lbs, 11 oz, and 20.5 inches long. She has the cutest chubby cheeks, tons of dark hair, and a dimple!!! Our hearst are bursting, we love her so much!!!!! Praise God from whom all blessings flow!!!!

Pure sweetness.