Adelaide Grace Aggen
Sunday June 30, 2013 at 1:10 pm
7 lbs 15 oz & 21 inches long
We are so happy to have had this sweet girl join our family! Overall the labor and birth went great. On Saturday, June 29 I had started to get a few pre-labor symptoms but they were the type where labor could start in a couple hours or a couple days so I tried not to get too excited. We had a family gathering with Alex's family that day and when we got home we went to bed shortly after but I could not fall asleep as Addie kept kicking me and waking me up! Then at 11:57pm (yes, I immediately checked the clock!) I got my first contraction and it was followed by another strong contraction about 5 minutes later. This pattern continued for about an hour and so I decided to wake up Alex. Since I did not want to get sent home from the hospital (which ended up happening anyways) I told Alex to go back to sleep and that I wanted to wait another hour to make sure the contractions got stronger and continued in the same frequency and duration before heading to the hospital. Of course Alex didn't fall back asleep, but at least I get thoughtful wife points right?!
We arrived at the hospital around 2 am, and I was 3.5 cm dilated and 90-100% effaced. My contractions were looking good on the monitor and my nurse was sure we were going to be admitted so she started in on the paperwork. An hour later I had not progressed any further but my nurse was hopeful and so she called the doctor and we were told to walk the hallways for a bit and see if that got labor moving forward. Alex was great throughout all the walking and when I got a contraction I would hold onto the railing on the wall and he would push against my back. It really helped me deal with the uncomfortableness!
Unfortunately walking did not help at all and we were still the same amount dilated when the nurse checked me so we got sent home at 6 am with a morphine/phenergan shot and instructions to come back when the morphine wore off in 4-6 hours or if my water broke. Luckily we did not have to wait too long! We headed home so I could sleep and I woke up about an hour and a half later and had my water break. So we headed back to the hospital and got admitted right away (we even got assigned to the same room as before!), and by this time it was around 8 am. Everything happened so fast- the nurse checked me and I was 6+ cm, the anesthesiologist came and I got my epidural, and antibiotics were started. Once everything settled down we got about an hour long rest and then at 11 am the nurse came to check me again and told me that I was completely dilated and that it was time to push! I could not believe how fast it all had happened!
Alex and my nurse were great at coaching me during pushing and I could not have asked for better support. After about 2 hours of pushing the doctor showed up and Adelaide was crowning. They got everything ready for delivery and she came about 10 minutes later. As soon as she was out I started crying. I could not believe that she was here and that I was a mother! Alex kept commenting on how perfect she was. It was such a great moment to share together as a couple.
Our stay in the hospital was great and what was especially neat is that I did my last clinical rotation in nursing school on the post-partum unit at the hospital we were at, and so I got to see all my nurses that I precepted with! Addie lost some weight by the time we were discharged and so we had to follow-up with the pediatrician a couple days after we were home, but luckily she gained weight when we got home and so we did not have to supplement. She was also low to moderate risk for jaundice and so we had two mornings we had to go into the lab to get blood drawn but her levels went down and she is nice and healthy!
Adelaide is really a content baby and call us bias, but is also really cute! She sleeps and eats well, and loves to snuggle. It has been especially fun to see Alex become a father to Addie. Alex is so thoughtful and great about helping me out, especially during late-night feedings and diaper changes. I could not have asked for a better husband to parent our daughter with! Overall we are making the transition to a family of 3 well. Sure, we may be a little tired from lack of sleep, but we would not have it any other way. We love our sweet Adelaide and are ecstatic to be her parents!
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| Minutes old! |
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| Wide awake after delivery |
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| Getting assessed by the nurses |
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| Snuggling with Mom |
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| Making silly faces! |
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| Coming home from the hospital |