Our Newest Arrival

Aurora Jane arrived Friday April 1 at 5:18pm. She was 6 lbs 13 oz and 19 inches long.

And I'd have to say it was the best delivery yet... :-)

At my 39 week check up the day before, I was 3cm dilated and 80% effaced. And because my doctor was going out of town a few days after my due date (April 5), I scheduled to be induced Monday April 4 if she didn't arrive before then (because Cooper was also born on the 4th). I had been having random minor contractions all week and Thursday night they started to get a little more intense so I figured she'd come sometime that weekend. I went to work all day Friday while having contractions throughout the day. At the start of the work day my contractions were about an hour apart. Then after my lunch break they were about every half hour. By 2:00 they were every 20 minutes so I texted Steve to let him know. At 3:30, when my students went home, they were every 10-15 minutes. At that point I knew we were going to the hospital that night.

Steve had dropped me off at work that day so I had to wait for him to come get me. He grabbed the hospital bag (which I had finished packing that morning-just in case), the camera bag, and the car seat then took Cooper to Grandma Scholle's before he came and got me. While I waited, I stayed in my classroom and worked on more sub plans. I ended up getting 3 weeks worth completely finished. Yeah! I'll have to go back sometime during spring break though to finish the rest. Steve finally arrived at my school around 4:45 and by that time my contractions were getting intense. We arrived at the hospital around 5:00 and my contractions were 5 minutes apart. Steve and I both figured she'd be born a few hours later considering that my contractions were also 5 minutes apart when we checked in at the hospital for Cooper's delivery. But we were wrong....

By 5:10 we were waiting in a delivery room for a nurse to come check me to see if I would be admitted. Within 5 long minutes of waiting, my contractions came every 20 seconds or so and got worse and worse. Steve tried distracting me by asking me a bunch of random things and I was getting impatient wondering why the nurse was taking so long and when I could get my epidural. Then the most painful contraction yet came and it made me scream and I think it made my water break. My scream alerted the nurse to come in as another painful contraction was starting. She tried to get me to breath through it but all I could do was squeeze her and Steve's hands as tight as I could and scream. Then all of a sudden the nurse saw her head and I felt the urge to push. The nurse called a code white and the room was swarmed with I think every nurse on the floor. One nurse started getting out the monitors to put on me and the baby and the first nurse told her there was no point. Another nurse came to my other side and I had to ask them if I should push or not (they weren't telling me what to do). So I pushed. Push 1 was her head, push 2 was her body. Then that was it! The contractions stopped, the pain was gone, Aurora was here. None of us in the room could believe it. I did it with no epidural, monitors, IV, catheter, nothing-all natural. And the worst pain didn't even last that long so I wouldn't mind doing it natural again if I knew it would be that fast. Steve even made the comment that he can now believe pioneer women gave birth without hospitals. :-)

Aurora didn't cry at first and I remember thinking she looked really purple but they told me that was normal. I remember a few different people asking me how many weeks I was. Two doctors then came to the aide. One painfully (but not as painful as the contractions) 'kneaded' the rest out of me and the other took care of Aurora. The doctors announced that I didn't tear. Yeah! (I didn't with Cooper either. But I had a 14 hour labor and 2 hours of pushing with him. So I thought I would for sure tear having her come that fast.) At that point Steve announced that he didn't even have time to get the camera out yet. So he did. We even had to wait for the scale to be brought in the room to figure out how much she weighed. The nurse then asked me all the questions that are normally asked before the delivery. One of the doctors even asked if anyone called my doctor yet. :-) Then Aurora was wrapped up and given to us and after all the congratulations from the staff, we were left with our adorable princess. (Cooper was taken to the
NICU for two hours shortly after his delivery so this was different for us.)

Steve then made phone calls to announce that she was here. Of course, no one believed him at first because it was April Fools Day. (And I was hoping the whole pregnancy that she wouldn't be born on April Fools Day-Oh well, she came when she was ready and I guess we have two holiday babies now.) We had to do a lot of convincing for some people. My sister even accused us of borrowing a baby when she heard her cry. His mom was surprised when we called to tell her Aurora was already here because Steve had dropped Cooper off only an hour before. We hadn't even told my mom we were at the hospital yet. We were going to wait and tell her when I started pushing. So when she got the phone call, she was surprised Aurora was already here. Honestly, we all were!

My doctor arrived shortly after. She's Aurora's doctor too, so she was sad she missed the delivery. I also felt bad she missed it since she had been there through the whole pregnancy. But I hope she's not too sad and at least she gets to watch her grow. My mom arrived shortly after my doctor left and I was up and walking around within a half hour of delivery. We moved to our overnight room and Steve took Aurora to the nursery to have a bath. He said she loved getting her hair washed.

Cooper arrived at the hospital with all the Scholle's when Aurora was in the nursery. He loved watching her and all the other babies through the window. When she was brought back to the room Cooper loved holding her and he got mad when anyone else would. He would give her hugs and kisses. It was so cute! And he even got a big brother badge to wear.

That night we discovered she's a very mellow baby. She never cried, just whined a little. I only had to change one 'tar' diaper and she did a pretty good job nursing. Even though she did so well, I still couldn't sleep much because those hospital beds are so uncomfortable and I just couldn't seem to shut my mind off. Steve slept on the floor on two camping pads instead of the short and uncomfortable pull out chairs. The hospital really needs to put cots or couches in the overnight rooms. They did get DVD players installed within the last 21 months though. :-)

We came home Saturday night and Cooper got upset that Aurora couldn't play with all of his toys or ride in his car with him. Cooper was obsessed with her for a few days but then he gradually lost interest. He'll still ask to hold her every once in a while and he'll give her lots of hugs and kisses. He likes to point to and label all of her body parts. He'll even talk about her "boat" (bow). He also likes to stand on his stool and watch me change her diaper.  But sometimes he can be a little too rough. He's tried picking her up on his own, he likes to squeeze her and smother her face, and he even bit her toe once. But we know he loves her. He can even climb into her crib so we have to make sure we shut her door if she's in there sleeping. I think he's handled a new family addition pretty well. But he has gotten a little more mischievous, emotional, and attached. So I've made an effort to give him just mommy and Cooper time. He's even discovered that when I'm feeding Aurora he can get into mischief. Today he spilled my water jug on the floor and yesterday he colored on our front window. Oh, but we sure love our little and very big boy! It's hard to believe that he was once as small as Aurora.

Aurora is now a week and a few days old and she's a great baby. She doesn't cry very much and all she does is eat, sleep and poop. :-) She nurses really well and she'll sleep for up to 4 or so hours at night. It seems like she goes through 10 diapers a day! But I guess that's a good sign. She's very petite and mellow. She looks like a Scholle baby with a full head of dark hair and the little mouth. I think she might have the Scholle ears too. When she first arrived we weren't sure who she looked like so she might just be a good mix of us both. I think she kind of looks like Cooper. It'll be fun to see what she looks and acts like as she gets older. She's starting to fill out more and she just gets more adorable everyday. We sure love our little sleeping beauty!

As for me, I'm doing great! But I am getting very anxious to get out of the house. I wish the weather would decide to stay warm. Having such a fast and naturally delivery has created a fast recovery. I haven't been in very much pain and I've only had to take a few ibuprofen's the first few days. The crampiness was annoying the first few days as well but now it's subsided. I just have minor pains every once in a while. I love having my body back! It's nice being able to do the laundry and bend over without feeling uncomfortable or getting out of breath. I also love being able to sleep on my back and cuddling up close to Steve without a big belly in my way. :-) I'm not too sleep deprived either. And I'm almost back to my pre-pregnancy weight!!! (But not the same figure. :-) ) I only gained 25 lbs with this pregnancy. I lost 15 just after she was born then the week I've been home I've lost another 8. So just a few more pounds to go. Yeah! Then the hard challenge will be loosing the rest of the 30 lbs I kept from Cooper. I've learned to handle two kids pretty well. The size and weight difference still trips me out sometimes. And I have to let a lot of things just 'pass by'. But we'll see how the next 5 weeks go before I have my check up and go back to work. So overall, we doing well and we're so happy to have Aurora a part of our little family.