Caroline is HERE!

We welcomed our sweet baby girl into this world on Tuesday, January 29, 2013 at 3:47p. She weighed 6 lbs, 2oz and was 20 1/2 in long. She has a head full of dark hair and looks just like her brother, I think. We are overjoyed!!

The nice thing about scheduling your induction is that Granna could be here to help out with Tyler, though I had several people on standby in case we didn't make it to our induction date. The bad thing is that I was terrified I was going to have to have a c-section since we were not letting her come on her own. Thankfully, that did not happen and she arrived naturally as everyone kept telling me would happen!!

Her birth seemed very long since we checked into the hospital at 8p the night before to start the induction with cervidil. By 10p, I had my IV in (which had to be done twice and was the absolute worst!!), baby was hooked up to the monitor and the cervidil was started. I was given an ambien to help me sleep, but it didn't help much as I maybe got 4-5 hours of broken sleep all night. At 6a, I had 30 minutes to get up and shower before I was bed-bound until her arrival. The pitocin to help induce contractions was started at 7a and the waiting game began.

Morning of 1/29 just as everything was about to get started!

I totally forgot to get a belly shot when we checked in,
so this side shot is the last view of my pregnant belly!

Thankfully, my sweet friend Carrie from church was with me all day as my nurse. I was fortunate to have a friend as my nurse with Tyler, too, and it really does help to have someone you know and trust taking care of you! I know I probably drove her crazy and I know how lucky we were to have her.

My doctor came by around 8:30a to check me and break my water. I was still not progressed much, but was having regular contractions thanks to the pitocin. Then came the epidural...it was NO FUN!!  I always said the IV was the worst part with Tyler and that the epidural was no big deal, but that was NOT the case this time. Geez, it hurt!! But not more than NOT having one, so I cried my way through it. This epidural was not nearly as strong as Tyler's and I could feel a lot more than I could with Tyler, especially on my left side. That made me extra paranoid that it didn't take, but all was fine in the end.

By noon, my contractions had picked up but I was still only around 4cm. My doctor said that once you get to 4cm, things start moving quicker, on average about 1cm an hour. I was super uncomfortable and tired from no sleep the night before, so I tried to rest. Around 2p, I was up to 6cm. My doctor was telling me how busy she had been that day...she had a scheduled surgery that morning and had already delivered 3 other babies that day! With the rate I was progressing, she thought I'd deliver after 7p and she'd be off call but that the same doctor that delivered Tyler would be there. Carrie came in a little after 3p and said she wanted to check my progress, because I'd just had several serious rounds of heavy contractions. To my shock, I was 9cm!!  She called my doctor and by the time she ran over from her office, I was complete at 10 and ready to push!! During this time I was frantically texting my mom to tell her and my brother to get to the hospital...less 30 minutes later, Caroline was here! I pushed for maybe 10 minutes and she was here, safe and sound! Praise God!

Taken just before she came and geez, I look swollen!

Caroline's very FIRST Picture!!

Seeing Caroline for the first time!

The nurses cleaned Caroline up and Russ held her while I was getting all fixed up. It seemed like forever until I finally I got to hold my little girl! That moment made everything that is completely miserable about being pregnant so so worth it!!

Already Daddy's Little Girl!!

First picture with Mommy and Daddy!

The most awesome nurse EVER!

Love how she's holding my finger in this one!

Meeting Granna!

Proud Uncle Brian!

We got settled into our postpartum room upstairs around 6pm-ish. Caroline went off to the nursery for her first bath to get her length and full health evaluation.  Granna and Brian went to pick up Tyler from daycare and then to Huey's to pick up dinner...I was starving and seriously CRAVING a burger and sweet potato fries! Ha! And I was so ready to see Tyler, too! As we expected, he didn't show much interest in Caroline. He was more interested in Daddy, running around the hospital room and exploring all the new gadgets that were in there. There was a moment when I was holding Caroline that he got a little upset, so I handed her off and helped Tyler open his gifts from Caroline. We had a cute big brother shirt for him to wear but we didn't bother putting it on him...another time when he warms up!

Opening his present from his baby sister!

Loving this much needed snuggle time with my big boy!

Reading his new Big Brother book!

Tyler was sooo not interested in Caroline!!

Playing with his trains was way more fun!

Official stats!!

When everyone left around 7p, we settled down, got in a few more snuggles with Caroline and tried to get some sleep. I sent Caroline to the nursery and they brought her back to me when it was time for her to eat. I was so wound up from the day that I barely slept. Oh well...there are lots of sleepless nights ahead of me!!

All cleaned up with Daddy after her bath.

We are so in love with this little girl!