Best. Week. Ever.

This time last week my anxiety was high and I was on edge... We had an appointment to start the induction process at 5pm on Sunday, July 3rd. Let me rewind a little bit. Last time I wrote, we were playing the waiting game. I was making plans with friends and going to the mall to walk during the day. Each night Jacob and I would take a nice long walk to try to encourage Chrisily to make her appearance. I had another doctor's appointment at 39 weeks 6 days. Nothing had changed as far as my progress and since my due date was the next day, we scheduled an induction for Sunday night. We were sad that there hadn't been any progress but glad to know that Chrisily and I were both doing well. We held out hope that she would decide to come on her own between Tuesday and Sunday but we knew we would be meeting her by Monday either way. Needless to say, the next few days seemed to drag by... Jacob's family came in town on Saturday so that they could be here for the entire process. We enjoyed some time with our families before expanding from a family of 2 to a family of 3.
So, Sunday arrived and we went to have breakfast at The Parkway House with Jacob's family and my mom. I wasn't very hungry.. my mind was on the upcoming excitement. We came home and  us girls were relaxing and taking it easy while the guys put up ceiling fans in the upstairs rooms. After sitting around for a little while, the girls decided we needed to get out and stay busy until time for dinner so that I wouldn't sit around all day watching the clock until time to go to the hospital. Kathy, Mamaw, and I went to pick up some stuff and run some errands. Before I knew it, it was time for dinner and then to go to the hospital. Both mine and Jacob's family went to have dinner at the K & W cafeteria since this was going to be my last meal until we met Chrisily.
5 o'clock on Sunday came (finally!) and we headed to the hospital. We got checked in and settled into a room. I needed to be checked again by the doctor before we knew how to proceed. I had made a little progress but not enough to skip the cervadil (I was 75% effaced and 1 cm). The cervadil is a medicine to help my cervix prepare for labor and delivery.  We started the cervadil around 6pm and it had to stay in until 5am the next morning. The goal was to begin the labor process... and it worked! I had been having contractions but they weren't strong enough to feel. Within an hour or two, they were getting stronger and I could definitely tell when one began and when it ended. The night was otherwise pretty uneventful. The hospital bed was uncomfortable and Jacob and I were both anxious to move the process along and meet our little girl. Monday morning finally arrived and at 5am we took out the cervadil, I got a shower, then we started pitocin to strengthen the contractions. By 6am they were coming pretty steadily and I was definitely uncomfortable. They gave me an epidural around 6:45 and Dr. Barefoot came in at 7 to break my water. I was still only 1 cm when he came in but I was 100% effaced. Once I had the epidural, I was resting much more comfortably and just visiting with family. They came in around 10 and I was 2 cm. They came back a couple hours later and I was 2-3cm. Dr. Barefoot decided to use an IUPC to monitor the contractions internally to make sure they were strong enough to dilate my cervix. After monitoring them for a while, we saw that they were. The next time they checked me I was 4-5 cm, and then the next time I was 7cm. A short hour and a half later I was at 10cm. This was around 5:30. Things started moving along after that. I began to push around 6pm and Chrisily Rose was born at 7:48pm on Monday, July 4th. The cord was around her neck when she came out so they had to take her over to the warmer to check her and suction her out. She was very quiet for a long time... Jacob went with her to make sure she was okay. The nurses continued to reassure us that she was okay. After they got her cleaned up and bundled up, Jacob brought her over to me. She was the most beautiful thing I had ever seen. She was  6lbs 15 oz and 21 inches long. We had a few minutes of bonding time and I was able to feed her for the first time before Jacob went to get the family. He went out and got everyone to come meet Chrisily. For the next 45 mins. the hospital room was a flurry of excitement, ooohhhs and ahhss, and a lot of flashes/picture taking. We were moved to the Mother/Baby unit upstairs and left to enjoy our new addition. Neither Jacob or myself slept much that first night.. we were too busy just watching/staring at our little girl. We had family and friends come to visit on Tuesday to meet Chrisily. We didn't get much sleep on Tuesday night either. I am starting to see a trend here... :-) The majority of Weds. morning / early afternoon was spent getting everything together and being discharged from the hospital. We were so excited (and ready!) to be coming home. We devised a plan on the way home of how to introduce Chrisily to Chester and Sophie. Although I wasn't worried about how they would react, it was important that Jacob and I were on the same page and knew exactly what we were going to do. We spent a good hour introducing the pups to Chrisily... I must say that we have been extremely pleased with how they have reacted. That night we had both families over for dinner. Kathy made a beef brisket.. it was delicious. That evening we didn't get much sleep either. Since we were in a new place, we had to figure a new routine and how everything was going to work. That has pretty much been our lives since we got home... figuring out and settling into routines. It has gone smoothly for the most part. It was a huge help to have Jacob's family here. They were a big help with chores around the house and helping with Chrisily so we could get a couple of hour of sleep. Friday was Chrisily's first doctor's appointment. Everything went really well, except that she looked a little jaundiced. Dr. Morgann wanted us to go have labs done to check her levels to see what we would do about it. The levels came back a little elevated so he ordered a Bili-blanket for us to use on Chrisily for the night and then we had to take her to get more blood work on Sat. morning. Those levels came back the same as Fridays, so we had to continue using the Bili-Blanket for another 24 hours and then take her this morning for more bloodwork. The blanket is great for reducing the bilirubin levels but it limits her mobility and makes everything a little more difficult. It has been a little harder when she has had to be on it, but I would much rather her be on it here at home where we can hold her, etc then her be in the hospital. We are currently waiting on the results from today's blood work.
Yesterday after getting the labs done, Melissa came to take newborn pictures of Chrisily. She spent several hours here and was wonderful with Chrisily. She put up a few sneak peak pictures and they are gorgeous. I will post some pictures in another blog post.
Jacob's family left this morning to go home so it is just us three at home today. We hated to see them go but we are excited to get into our own routine and have some family time. Jacob and I are beyond in love with this precious girl. She has stolen our hearts. We are so blessed and we thank all of you for your love, support, and prayers.

Until next time...

(Chrisily's mom)