Ellie turns 3!!! & Adelaide Photo Montage

Ellie turned 3 this past Tuesday and I'm over here feeling guilty. Ellie loves Adelaide and is extremely helpful (when she wants to be) and thoughtful, gentle, and kind. But... it's also true that she's become really whiny and she is back in diapers at night because after 3 consecutive days of accidents I couldn't handle the laundry anymore. Needless to say, I pray for patience and parenting guidance with my girls every day.

All that being said, it was my sweet Ellie's birthday and I wanted it to be special and not overshadowed by her new baby sister and not with a mom that always seems frustrated. She asked for a pink cake and balloons and presents. The night before Ellie's birthday I got mastitis... fever, soreness, the whole shebang (it sucks). I think I gave her something like applesauce and a granola bar for dinner... At least she is probably too young to remember and be disappointed right?

Adelaide's Blessing

I'm a little late in recording this, but Adelaide Kristine Shaw was blessed by her father on March 12, 2017. We were grateful to have Brett's parents in town for it, and that our friend Jeff could be a part of it as well. Our pictures were a little rushed and chilly but we tried to document it ;)

Adelaide is one cherished little girl and we know that she will do great things and be a light in this world.

Adelaide Newborn Photos & Well Checkup

Adelaide had her 2 week checkup yesterday at 10 days instead of 14 and she had already made it back up to her birth weight. There is a lot of sickness going around right now so we are still keeping her pretty isolated from the world, but she is growing all the time and getting lots of love from Mom, Dad, Big Sister Ellie, and Grandma & Grandpa Shaw.

After her doctor's appointment, Claire Falco Creative took these beautiful newborn photos for us so we can remember forever. 

Adelaide Kristine

Brett and I made our way to the hospital just after 12:00 AM on Feb. 28th. We needed to be sure to come after midnight because they couldn't induce me until I was officially 39 weeks. I got checked in, with monitors on, and IV in and was ready to go by 1:30 AM.

This is when they inserted both a Foley bulb and a dose of Cytotec to get my cervix ready. I was pleasantly surprised that I had progressed to 2 cm before any induction methods. After 2 hours the Foley bulb came out (3:30) because I had progressed to 4 cm. The next step was to break my water but my doctor recommended that they wait until 6 AM. I decided to get my epidural while we waited and was able to finally rest a little. So fun that in a place like Temple we would go to church with the anesthesia resident on call this particular night. They broke my water on schedule at 6 AM and I was measuring at a 5 cm. They started pitocin an hour later at 7 AM on the lowest level.

At 7:30 AM my doctor came in to check me because noticeable drops on the monitors made it look like baby's head was already engaging; I had progressed to 7 cm. My Dr. ran off to the clinic while I finished dilating.

The problem was that for unknown reasons, my epidural was wearing off. When it was first put in, it was great; I couldn't even tell when my contractions were happening. After about 45 minutes I could feel the tensing of the muscles but it still didn't hurt at all. By 7 AM I knew it wasn't working like it should because my contractions were getting to be more painful than before the epidural. At 7:30 AM I was really miserable during the contractions. It was really bad... The nurses sent for anesthesia to come adjust the epidural but now along with contraction pain I felt all the pressure of baby coming and the need to push. When your body says to push, there is no way to not push. Nurses started running around racing for both the anesthesiologist & my doctor.

A new anesthesiologist came to give me a boost which I don't remember making a difference. I do remember being really annoyed that he was asking me all these questions in such a casual tone when I was clearly in far too much pain to be having a calm conversation. (*doctors have to put up with a lot, that's for sure) Doctor made it across the hospital just in time; I pushed through 3 contractions and little Adelaide was part of the world at 8:19 AM. That makes less than 7 hours of labor.

She has lots of hair and it's a little bit lighter than Ellie's was. She weighed 8 lbs 3.8 oz and was 19 in long. We weren't sure on a name for most of the day, but when she finally opened her eyes and looked at me for the first time, I knew this was our little Adelaide :)