First of all, thank you for all the sweet comments, phone calls, facebook messages, and emails! We are so in love with our newest baby girl and thrilled that Libbi has a sister! :)
Secondly, I feel like I am about to go on a posting binge (especially since blogger was down for a few days - hello?! didn't they know we had major life events going on?!?!) so if you have no interest in our birth story/first few days at home, feel free to skip these next posts that are sure to come in rapid succession. :)
Now, on to Laney's BIRTHday......
On Tuesday evening, I started having contractions (again!) pretty regularly. It started to get intense around 12:30 Wednesday morning, so I woke up Jeffrey, called my doctor, and Jeffrey and I headed to the hospital as soon as my mom made it to our house to sit with Libbi.
We checked into the hospital, still having a sense of deja vu from the previous week and not wanting to get our hopes up that this might be "it." At that time, I was still having contractions every 2-3 minutes, but still only dilated 4.5cm and about 75% effaced, so no change from my previous check-up. We started to think we just may be sent home (again!)
We slept for a little while and my doctor finally gave us the good news around 10:00 that morning that we were going to go ahead and get this show on the road! Since we were monitoring my heart condition and since Baby seemed to be on the larger side, they decided to go ahead and assist my labor so we could deliver a little early. We called our families and friends and let them know that this was really it....no false alarm!
I started on a small drip of pitocin and immediately asked for my epidural. I wasn't in much pain, but luckily this time I knew that I would have to let the entire IV drain before I could get an epidural and I did NOT want to feel anything. I am totally impressed by those that can go the natural route, but I am way too much of a wimp! :)
We rested for a while and just hung out. I slept on and off until my epidural wore off around 3:00. That was definitely not fun! They brought the anesthesiologist back in to help with the pain and once all that was taken care of it was smooth sailing once again. My doctor came in around 4:30 and broke my water. We started to get excited and a little worried, because we had a definite boy name, but not a girl name.
I made Jeffrey go out into the waiting room and poll all of our family to see what their final guess was - boy or girl. Everyone said boy, except my mom :)
When Jeffrey came back into the room, we knew things were going to start happening fast. First of all, the nurse did not want me to push at all until the dr. got there. I asked her if the baby was going to fall out - ha! and she said, not quite, but pretty close!
Once my doctor arrived, I pushed about 10 times (max) as she turned Baby's head since she was not facing the right direction. Then, she told me to stop pushing, I felt the baby push off of my ribs and out she came! I didn't even do anything! It felt strange to have it be so easy! Right before she came out, I said, "just for the record....I think it's a girl!" and then when she was out, it took a minute for us to register what we were seeing, but then we were overjoyed at another beautiful little girl.
Laney James Tippins was born at 6:20 pm weighing 8 pounds 10 ounces and 20.5 inches long. She had a head full of dark hair just screaming for a bow! :)
We had a little scare as they called in the NICU team, because Laney had swallowed some fluid and was having a bit of trouble breathing. But, they were able to get her stabilized shortly after - mostly just by getting her to cry (a lot!) and having the fluid come out that way on it's own. As soon as she was cleared by the NICU team, they brought her over to me and I was able to hold her and love on her! It was such a great experience and any doubts I had about it not being as special as Libbi's birth were quickly forgotten.
Jeffrey and I took some time to love on our new baby girl while our family was dying out in the waiting room. They knew the baby had been born, but at this point still did not know if it was a boy or girl! We did our best to make them sweat it out as long as possible (kidding!!) ;-)
We discussed names for a little bit since we couldn't introduce her without one! We decided to go with one of the original names that we thought of way back when we first found out we were pregnant - Laney - and we used the middle name James after my Grandad.
As soon as we decided on a name, the fan club began to pour in and got acquainted with our sweet Laney James! :)
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| the first and most important visitor.... |
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| me and my first baby! |
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| love at first sight with my second baby! |
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| uncle jj |
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| Auntie Mannie |
~GRANDPARENTS~
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| our family of FOUR!! |
We couldn't be happier that Laney is here and healthy! She is such a blessing already. I asked Jeffrey this morning if he could believe that she's only been at home with us for three days, because it seems like she's always been here! She is such a sweet baby and we are enjoying getting to know her and spending time together as a famiy! Life with two is definitely an adjustment, but we are learning our new normal (which I'm sure will change as soon as we get used to it!) and loving every minute that we get to spend with our GIRLS!!!
Thank you, Lord for sweet, precious babies!!! :)
