The Day We Became Five

September 28th we woke up bright and early to head to the hospital for my induction. Claire was up and ready when we left, she was SO excited) and Jacob was still sleeping soundly (he had no idea how his world would be changing). We had to get one final shot of my 39 weeks and 5 days big belly.
The morning was spent waiting. Most of my family and a few friends popped in and out of the room. We were all sure that by mid afternoon we would be passing Aubrey around, but we were wrong. For the most part it was a very laid back day. They started my pitocin around 8am and the doctor broke my water around 11am. At some point in there I opted for my epidural which was fantastic for the first few hours (more on that later). Allan and I had some special time just chatting and napping a bit in between visits with our guests. Other than the labor being a little slow it was a great day.
My kids were troopers all day. I was beyond thankful for the family that helped keep them entertained with crafts and movies and even a trip to McDonald's. It was a huge blessing to not have to worry about them all day. Claire remained super excited about meeting her sister all day and Jacob was a typical two year old that had no idea why we were all at the hospital but enjoyed having an audience and trying to push all the buttons in my room.

Around 6:00pm my epidural had almost completely worn off and we opted not to redose since it was obvious that my labor was coming to an end soon. Allan and I lasted about 20 minutes on our own and then I started to panic a little bit because there was nothing in me that knew how to have a "natural" birth since that was absolutely not my plan. I was SO thankful that my sweet friend Hannah had been hanging out all day and she is a doula and has had two home births. We asked her to come in and help us figure out how to survive having this baby without an epidural. She was able to help me get to a pretty calm place and I can honestly say that there is nobody (other than Allan of course) that I would have wanted by my side through this delivery.

One of the greatest parts of her delivery was how fast the pushing phase went. Officially I pushed for 35 minutes, but really it was 25 minutes. I had to wait for ten minutes in the middle of it all so the doctor could get there to catch the baby. For the record waiting is not fun. I had pushed for two hours with Claire and an hour and a half with Jacob so this was a HUGE improvement.

We also decided to bring in both of my sisters and my mom this go around for the delivery. I had gone back and forth about that decision throughout most of my pregnancy, but I am really glad we made the decision to let them come in. I think it is safe to say they were pretty happy they got to be there too.

Aubrey Joy Kavalich was born at 7:05pm
8 pounds 11.9oz
21 inches

My sister, Amy, captured some great first photos of us meeting our sweet baby girl. She had to snap really fast though because we didn't get to spend much time with her. She wasn't breathing when she was born and then had some respiratory issues and had to head over to the NICU for a few hours. We knew she was going to be ok and were thankful that she was in good hands, but I was sad that I didn't get to have more time with her and there were a few of us that thought she could have really benefited from some skin to skin time with me instead of being whisked away so quickly. It was also sad that the family who had been waiting ALL day to meet her were going to have to wait a little longer than planned.

Aubrey had quite the entourage follow her to the nursery and she was not lacking in love through the window. Allan was able to stay with her the entire time which was a huge blessing. I was REALLY wanting to get my hands on her so before they wheeled me over to postpartum I kind of demanded we make a stop at the NICU. My mommy instincts kicked in and about 10:00pm I finally had her in my arms and I asked the doctor if I could try and feed her. She had been having a hard time keeping her oxygen levels up and although the nurses were not so sure about me feeding her at that moment I went for it and half way into the feeding the doctor took out her cannula and her oxygen levels stayed up...victory. They kept her another hour just to make sure she was going to be ok and I got settled into my room and by midnight she had moved in with Allan and I for the remainder of our hospital stay. It was such a great feeling to have my baby right where she was meant to be.

All of these pictures were taken after Aubrey was born and everyone was still holding onto the hope of meeting her on her actual birthday. Sadly nobody got to hold her until the next day and my sweet brother still has not had the chance to hold his newest niece since he had to head back to his house that same night. My parents also had to wait until the weekend to hold their 11th grandchild because they had to work the next day.

It was a miraculous day that I will never forget. I am so thankful that God chose to give us three healthy beautiful children. I will write about the rest of our hospital stay which was eventful and the first three weeks of life as a family of five soon.