Introducing...

The last month of pregnancy got the best of everything in me. Between bed rest, kidney pain and exhaustion the list goes on...I lived in survival mode! The days before I went into labor were very trying physically. I was scheduled to be induced on March 18th bright and early in the morning. I was feeling anxiety because the doctor that I had been seeing wasn't going to be delivering me, but Dave reassured me that everything would work out. I started to have contractions on the 16th and woke Dave up to go to the hospital. As soon as we got there the contractions almost completely stopped! I felt like a limp noodle from breathing through contractions on and off all night and then be sent home. Dave had to stay and work which I felt really bad about and I had to have my dad come and pick me up. I was able to rest on and off that day since my parents were staying with us. I was very grateful for that! The next day, on St. Patricks Day, I woke up with the same round of contractions again. They were about 15-20 minutes apart and they didn't progress. I wanted to go in since we had a 30 minute drive to get to the base hospital. I started to have some bleeding so we decided to go up and have everything checked out to be safe. My contractions were still far apart and not consistent, but I was feeling terrible. They took a few samples to make sure that it wasn't my placenta that was breaking apart. While doing that my doctor found out that I was already dilated to an 8 so I wasn't going anywhere. Dave and I were both really surprised that I was already that far progressed. I am really relieved that all the contractions that I had labored through were for something! The bad news of all of this was that because the base hospital was so small all of the rooms were full. I started to panic because I was already so far dilated that I was worried I was going to be in a lot of pain in a short amount of time. Someone delivered quickly and I was able to be put into a room a lot faster than they had told me. I asked for an epidural right away and they came in and got me set up. Because of my high blood pressure the epidural was hard for the doctor to stabilize. My pressures dropped really low and I all of a sudden couldn't hear or see anything for about 20 minutes. I was shaking all over, felt like I was going to throw up and that the room was spinning. It took forever for the doctors to figure out what to do because of my blood pressure being all over the place. I ended up having to be put on a magnesium drip because of my blood pressure being up and down. It was the worst part about the whole delivery! The side effects were awful and I hope that I never have to be on it again. My water still hadn't broken , but I had to be on an antibiotic for four hours because I tested positive for Group B Strep (which I have for all my pregnancies). I was able to rest while I waited for the course of antibiotics to be done. It was a long four hours...I was feeling restless towards the end and wanted everything to be over. I remember feeling like I was never going to feel better and that I wasn't going to have any energy to push. As soon as the meds were finished the doctor came in and broke my water. I was ready to push less than 30 minutes later. I was relieved to know that the doctor that had seen me actually was on call and her resident delivered me when her there. There were a couple med students, a nurse and a tech in the room. It felt like a million people and it was over whelming to me. I didn't have to push very long it was about 15 minutes and she was born. The very last push one of the techs said to get angry and push hard. It made me laugh and I still think it was the weirdest thing to say! I was lucky this time to not tear and everything was fine from the delivery. They put her on my chest right away which I hadn't experienced before. After about 45 minutes Dave took her and they weighed and bathed her. Audrey Rose Michael was born at 6:28pm weighing 7lbs 2oz and 19 inches long. She is the smallest baby, but had the most hair. I always look back  and reflect on each of my delivery experiences and can find the hand of the Lord in each of them in different ways. Dave was supposed to be on call that night so he was home in the morning. That was a huge blessing that he was there to help me labor at home and drive me to the hospital. My experience delivery at a military hospital wasn't my favorite, but I am grateful for a knowledgable husband who helped me get through everything. Since I had the high blood pressure and had to go on the magnesium I had to stay an extra day in the hospital.  My parents were able to bring the girls up twice to meet and see Audrey. Addison wanted to hold her the entire time and Avery was a little more nervous around her. I love seeing how much everyone loves each other and that we are now a forever family of five:)

Good Deeds

Addison has been such a big help while I've been on bed rest. We set up a rewards chart and she worked her little heart out. She would ask to do a lot of helpful things like making lunch and cleaning up anything that I asked. One morning when she came into bed to wake me up she saw all the dust on the fan. She asked if she could clean the blades and did a really good job! After her chart was all filled in we headed to the toy store. She also brought a couple dollars she had gotten for Christmas. After seriously looking down every single aisle and changing her mind about 10 times she picked a doggie pet vet. This girl's heart is full of gold. She helped Avery pick out a little pony and paid for it with her extra money. Everyone was very happy and Dave and I were really proud of Addison for working hard and sharing with her earnings. Addison loves to serve and I am grateful that she came to our family! As a side note the whole way to the toy store Avery kept tellings us that her name was Elsa. Every time we asked what her name was or we called her Avery she would correct us and tell us to call her ELSA!