Wednesday, July 30, 2014

Baby Mia

Baby Mia finally joined our family on July 2, 2014 at 10:42 pm.  My due date was actually July 4th but we decided we wanted to avoid having her on the holiday since Brandon often has to work that day.  My doctor would induce me anytime after I was 39 weeks.  We decided that I would be induced on the 2nd because it worked with Brandon's work schedule and our doctor's schedule.  Leading up to my induction I experienced some contractions but mostly a lot of pressure.  The day before I was induced I had dilated to a three and was 60% effaced.  The night before the hospital called and told us they would call between 6 and 10 am and to be ready to get to the hospital within an hour.  This is what they told us with Alex and they ended up calling at 6:30 am with him so I expected an early call.  On the morning of the 2nd I got up about 6 am, showered and began to wait.  By 10 am they still hadn't called so we called them.  They told us that they were very busy that day and there were still two people ahead of me.   We ended up sitting around and waiting until 4 pm.  We all went a little stir crazy in anticipation.  We finally made it to the hospital by about 5:00 and then things got started.  It was crazy how different this delivery was compared to Alex's.  Things moved so quickly.  Because we didn't get to the hospital until 5:00 I didn't expect Mia to be born until the 3rd but luckily she was in a hurry.  About 6:00 they started Pitocin and by about 7:00 I was ready for the epidural.   The epidural was so different than with Alex.  With Alex I was really nervous to get the epidural but it ended up not being a big deal.  This time I wasn't nervous at all for it and it was so painful.  I think because I was having pretty painful contractions during it.  Luckily it didn't take too long and I was quickly able to relax.  I expected to settle in for a long wait like we had with Alex but after watching Beetlejuice on tv I began to feel a lot of pressure.  At first I didn't say anything because I thought that couldn't be it already.  With Alex I never really felt anything.  But when the nurse came in to check me I was already at a nine.  The nurse left to find my doctor and by the time they came back I was ready to push.  After about 10 minutes of pushing Mia entered the world.  Unlike Alex who was very quiet she came out screaming and continued to scream for about two hours.  I am shocked looking back at these pictures at how gross she looks.  Because Alex had some heart rate issues the NICU team grabbed him and cleaned him all up before I ever got to hold him.  But I got to hold Mia right away.  She was 7 lbs 14 oz and 21.5 inches.  She was born with a head full of thick dark hair.  Everyone at the hospital commented on her beautiful hair.  Because we faced some trials while waiting for Mia to join our family I feel all the more blessed that she is finally here.  We are so grateful for her. 
 









Her first bath. 



The next day Alex got to come and meet his little sister.  He was a little shy at first and then very excited. Mia is the 4th baby born in our family in the last 6 months.  Because of this Alex had a hard time remembering her name at first.  Every time anybody asked him what it was he had to look at us for a reminder. 








Our Family of Three

Compared to May, June was a very low key month for us.  We spent the month checking things off our to-do list and enjoying our family of three for a few more weeks.  One night we spent breaking in our new firepit by roasting hot dogs and making smores.  It was a lot of fun and we hope to repeat it often.