Introducing Eliza Mae Vaughn

Ok so she came two weeks ago and I'm a little slow at updating this but better late than never right? Eliza was born on October 5th at 1:21 in the afternoon. She weighed 7lbs 13oz and was 21" long. It was quite the ordeal to get her out I must say.
Birth Story: (it's a little long and rambling so if you want to skip it that's ok)
     It started on the 3rd where I had to go to the hospital where they gave me some medicine to help get me dilated. The plan was to go in at 6pm, 12pm, then 5am and get induced. However, when we went in at 6 they didn't have the medicine they needed and I had to wait until 7:30ish to get it and then stay there for an hour. Since that was pushed back we didn't need to come back until 2am and from there they said just bring all your stuff and stay the night since there was no point in going back and forth so much. So we got to the hospital at 2, did the same routine, then slept until about 7:30am where they got me all officially checked in and all hooked up. They started the pitocin around 10am and we waited. and waited. and waited.
     After many hours (about 4:00) they figured I wasn't progressing at all and so they put in a balloon catheter to help expand my cervix. That was the worst I would say. I think it was hitting a nerve or something but I was nauseous, and super uncomfortable-it felt like one big contraction the whole time, and just wanted that thing out of me. It finally came out 2-3 hours later and I was so relieved. The good news was that bumped me up to 4cm. They then upped the dosage on the pitocin and I was starting to feel the contractions more. At around 10pm I asked for the epidural since I knew if I didn't have one I wouldn't be able to sleep at all that night and it wasn't looking like we would have the baby anytime soon. I tried to get some sleep with the nurse coming in every half hour/hour to check on me. She also had to keep changing the pitocin levels since Eliza didn't really like it and her heartbeat would get low. Also, about 4 in the morning I started to develop a fever and some shakes. It was a long night.
     In the morning they checked me again and I had not dilated at all since the balloon was taken out. They decided that since my body had a lot of drugs in it at this point that they would stop the pitocin for a while then start it up hardcore and see if that kicks my body into labor again. Well, that didn't work and finally about 12:30 they said forget it we're just going to cut you open. From that point things moved pretty fast. They gave me more drugs to get me completely numb from my chest down (which made me a little nauseated especially since right after that they wheeled me down to the operating room-good thing all I had to throw up was ice chips) gave Nick a suit to wear and sent me down to get cut open. I have to say that is one of the weirdest feelings to feel people pushing on your body but no pain and absolutely no control. A couple minutes after that we had a baby!
     Labor was rough on Eliza and when she first came out I couldn't hear her cry. That was a little scary. I later found out her apgar score was a 2 which would've really freaked me out if I knew. Finally they showed me Eliza and then took her to the nursery to clean her up while they sewed me up. They then took me back to the room to eagerly await my baby girl.
     We then spent the next three days in the hospital and had many visitors coming and going. I really liked the hospital and the staff they were all so helpful and friendly. After 3 days we got to take her home and the real work began.

Home with Baby:
     Well it's now been two weeks since Eliza was born and we are loving it. For the first week my mom was in town and helped us to catch up on sleep and to help around the house. After she left Nick's mom came to stay with us to help us as well. We have been so blessed. Eliza fills up our time and is such a joy. She's a pretty mellow baby only really crying when she is hungry or overtired. Most of the time if she is awake she just stares at the world around her taking it in. She does have a little confusion between day and night. She sleeps all day and then just stares at night. She is getting better though so hopefully soon she'll really understand when it's good to be awake and when it's good to be asleep. At her two week appointment she was 7lbs 8oz and a healthy girl. I'm so excited to be a mom and see what else is in store. It's a lot of work but I wouldn't change it for anything-even the days where I feel completely overwhelmed.

Now since I know this is really why you look at this blog here are some pictures!

First family picture. Ignore my puffiness, I am glad to say my legs no longer look like I have elephantiasis and I have ankles again!

Coming Home from the Hospital

Daddy and Eliza watching baseball together.

Two weeks old. She loves to fold her hands when she sleeps.

The Final Countdown!

     So I thought it would probably be good to post before Lulu gets here and my life gets considerably busier. A lot has happened these last few weeks and it has been busy busy getting ready for the big day. First my sisters threw me a terrific baby shower. We had lots of good food, good friends, and fun. I got a lot of amazingly cute things. I realized that most of the pictures we took were of the food but it was a blast.

A baby fruit salad how cute is that!

     Also we're pretty ready for the baby at least we have the stuff we need. Our nursery is put together and looks so cute. Karen and Catherine found some great wall decals and made it adorable. We haven't put our gliding chair in there yet it still is in the living room but we'll move it when we need to or get around to it.

Our crib and some of the decals :)

 
    So I'm officially on maternity leave now which is great but it was also a stress to get everything all ready to leave. I still worry that I didn't do enough but my sub is great and I don't have to worry about her. I also found out that when I'm stressed my body holds onto the germs until I relax and then I get sick. Since I went on maternity leave my throat has been sore and my nose has been runny. Hopefully I can get over this before baby comes. Other than not feeling 100% healthy I'm feeling pretty ready. Well, as ready as I can be. It's a good thing I'm feeling pretty ready because I don't have much time left without baby. I had a doctor's appointment on Monday and so far I'm not effaced or dilated but since I was on insulin (I'm not anymore my sugars have stabilized at the end of my pregnancy so I don't have to give myself insulin in the morning. I still have to check my blood 5 times a day but no more insulin!) they still want to induce me at 39 weeks. Which is good because I'm officially on maternity leave and I don't want to waste my time off waiting for baby. So the plan is on Wednesday we'll go in at 6pm, be given some drugs to help start things, go home, come back 6 hours later, do the same routine, then come back 6 hours later on Thursday morning to be given more drugs and then stay until we have baby. So I'm thinking if all goes well we should have a baby by Friday! So yeah... just a little bit longer. Hopefully I'm ready for this. It still feels pretty surreal that soon we'll be parents but I guess it will happen when it happens and I better get used to it because there's no turning back now. Well I'll finish this with my last weekly pregnancy picture of this pregnancy and I will see you on the other side :)

She's still riding pretty high but this is 39 weeks :)