It's time...

Alright, I have been in denial long enough, and I'm FINALLY ready to write about Ainsley's EXCITING birth. For those of you who don't like to hear about these stories, just scroll down to the cute pictures of the girls below.

Let me be the first to admit that I am a total wimp! I am not ashamed. I am all for modern medicine and getting an epidural when you have a baby. I think women who can do it without an epidural (by choice) are AMAZING, because LABOR HURTS!!!!!!!

Many of you know I was really nervous about delivering this new baby because I had some small complications with Cecily's birth, and I also had not heard many good things about having a baby here in Farmington. Looking back, I will NEVER have another baby here.

Thursday March 6th 1:14am: I had been having some mild contractions tonight, but nothing too painful or consistent, but I finally woke up realizing that I had been feeling them more strongly. I started timing them and they were 1-3 minutes apart. I nudged Derrick 20 minutes later and told him I was going to pack my bag just in case (yes, I am all about procrastinating)! 10 minutes later I told Derrick that we should probably go to the hospital, and to call someone to come stay with Cecily. By the way, we have the greatest friends here. So many people wanted to take Cecily when we went to the hospital. It sure is a comfort having good friends when you aren't surrounded by a ton of family. Luckily, Derrick's brother lives here, and his wife Ivy came right over when we called.

We got to the hospital just before 2:00am. By now, I wasn't doubting that I was in labor. I was ready for an epidural! This is when the "fun" starts!! The nurse brings us to our room and checks me out and says that before she can order the epidural, I would have to walk around for 45 minutes and she would check me again to make sure I was progressing. ARE YOU KIDDING? Does she realize that 45 minutes when you are having contractions every 2 minutes seems like a VERY LONG TIME? Well, I'm still in a good mood at this point, so Derrick and I start walking around. We called my mom, just because we like waking her up in the middle of the night and making her worry all night. :) But the contractions are getting really strong, so after 15 minutes of walking around, I decide I want to lay down. And the pain gets even better! Since I had planned on having an epidural by this point, I am freaking out. I have no idea how to breathe through the contractions, so I'm pretty much just holding my breath and thinking I'm going to die! And then I completely lose it and start absolutely bawling with the contractions. The nurse FINALLY comes in and asks me if I'm having more pain...(did she REALLY need to ask?) By this point it has been 40 minutes, and she says, "I can't check you again until it has been an hour since you came, so you've got 20 more minutes left." Um, since when is this the case?

So 20 minutes later the nurse finally comes back to check me. "Yes, you are progressing, so let's get you checked in and order your labs." HU? I'm not even checked in yet? So I ask her when I get to have an epidural. Apparently, we have to wait for the lab results...???!!!??!?!! (Okay, maybe I'm NOT ready to write about this because it is making me angry just thinking about it!) I tell her that I NEED an epidural, and she says that when she finishes what she's doing, she will start my IV and give me something to help me rest while I wait for the epidural. I have the impression that this will help ease the pain. Nope! It just knocks me out cold in between the contractions. So I am completely out of it, feel like I've been asleep for days, when in actuality I have been asleep for 2 minutes and get to wake up to excruciating pain! This is FUN. Oh, and I'm in a totally bad mood by this point. When Derrick came to comfort me, I was really rude and made him go sit in the corner. I think he was scared of me after that. But thank you, Derrick, for giving me a blessing even though I was being such a brat! That was a funny thing. I knew I was being such a brat, and I kept apologizing to everyone!

Anyway, a while later, I wake up to one of the fabulous contractions, and I'm thinking in my head, "Oh, crap! I'm going to poop all over the bed! I am so embarrassed, but I can't help it!" And I'm asleep again. I wake up 2 more times thinking this same thing, and the nurse finally says, "Oh! You're pushing, aren't you?"

CLICK! Wow, nurse, you are awesome.

And I am STILL asking for an epidural at this point. Why couldn't she just say, "Buck up, honey, you aren't getting one!" At least then I could have faced the inevitable without complaining so much!

So I am now pushing, and in my delirium (I hate whatever drug they put into my IV. It made me feel so stupid!) I realize, "Hey, I haven't seen a doctor yet." Yes, my doctor was out of town. It doesn't matter that he was one of the "on-call" doctors this night, he still felt okay to leave town. (Welcome to Farmington). And the other on-call doctor is in a c-section. It's probably a good thing that I was so heavily drugged, because I would have flipped out at this point.

So I'm pushing. I have to admit it is pretty cool to feel your body take over and push a baby out. I much preferred this to the plain old contractions! My water still hasn't broke by this point, but as soon as it does, Ainsley's head is out. She was blue because the cord was wrapped around her neck. The nurse told me to stop pushing, but honestly, I couldn't help it, and on that next contraction, I pushed the rest of that baby out at 6:23am, and it actually helped get the cord off of her neck. HOORAY!! I have never felt better than when that baby was out of me!

Now, I hope that all of my negativity above doesn't make you think I am such a brat! I would TOTALLY do it again for this precious little Ainsley (yes, it has taken me 2 weeks to get to the point where I can actually say that)! It was actually a great labor, a lot faster than Cecily's 12 hours, and no complications. And I did it without an epidural or a doctor!!! I would never do it that way by choice, but looking back it is pretty cool. I think that if I had gone in knowing that I wouldn't be getting an epidural, I would have been a lot more prepared for it.

This sweet little baby has been so much fun. My mom hit it on the head the other day when she said, "She has such a pleasant face!" She really does. I don't know how I got so lucky to have 2 very good babies. Cecily was such a good baby, I was really worried that Ainsley would be horrible. But she has been every bit as good as Cecily was! She just seems to be very content. The only time I hear her cry is if she is hungry, and she'll quiet right down as soon as you pick her up. (And I don't have a broken tail bone this time, so that has made recovery awesome!!) Yes, I am in love! So is Derrick. It has been so much fun to see him with Ainsley. He is a much more confident father now that he has done the infant thing once before. He has also been so cute with Cecily.

For the most part, Cecily is really good with Ainsley. She can be really sweet to her, although most of the time she just ignores her. She did say one day that she doesn't like Ainsley. But she has been saying she doesn't like a lot of things lately! She makes fun of Ainsley when she cries. She loves to tickle Ainsley.

Well, this post is forever long, so I'm going to stop writing. We are doing well, and adjusting to and loving having another member of our family. I'm so grateful that she is healthy and that Derrick was able to be at the delivery. We were worried about that since things have been so crazy at the restaurant. I think Heavenly Father really had a hand in making it all go smoothly. Now we just need to be good parents so we can teach these awesome little girls what they need to learn in this life!! On to the next task!