The Whites: Introducing Our Alayna

What a beautiful whirlwind.

We welcomed this sweet strawberry blonde, 9lb. 1oz., 21 1/4 in. angel on Monday, August 29th, 10:33am.

At 7:00 that same morning I was giving my other daughter a bath.
When having contractions and in doubt as to what to do, we break out the bubbles.

It went something like this:
I was due on August 27th. My mind naturally referred to my first experience, where I went into labor five days early. Going past my due date? Who knew a few extra days would feel like a few extra eons.
Torture.

When the 27th came and went, we decided the next day to head to the Nashville Zoo for four hours of hot, hopefully labor-inducing walking. When later that afternoon the only thing I had gotten was a little sun and some really swollen ankles, I asked Ben to rub my feet. At which point he told me I should go treat myself to a spa pedicure (the really sweet and smart way of saying 'Babe, please just go pay someone to rub your feet'. :) The sweet lady painting my toes gave me a 30 minute leg massage that has made me a customer for life.
My pretty feet and I finally went to bed at some point, mentally giving up on any old wives tale about what to do to induce labor. This little girl was operating on no one's time but her own, and I am quite familiar with strong willed women, so really, what was I gonna do. She would come when she was darn well ready.
I woke up around 4am from a contraction, followed by 3 or 4 more consistently 15 minutes apart. But I'd been having sporadic contractions for weeks, so I wasn't letting myself get excited. Then all of the sudden they jumped to five minutes apart, like clockwork, and were getting a little intense. After an hour of five-minute apart contractions, I thought "Hmm, maybe we'll have some action at some point today." Last time my water had broken, which was a clear indicator to head to the hospital. I was a little new to the whole when-to-head-to-the-hospital with just contractions thing.

Ben got up to get ready for work, and like he had for the last week, asked me how I was feeling and if I thought today was going to be the day. Instead of the very short answer he had gotten up until that point, when I said I was having some consistent contractions and we may need to head to the hospital sooner or later, he went into warp speed. I laid in bed.
I went and put away the dishes, and waited for Kaelyn to wake up and gave her a bath.
Ben ran to work to turn in lesson plans, Mom helped me make sure we had everything we needed to head out, and Ben came back in the door and asked if I was ready to go.
I told him that I was going to watch the news for a bit and be comfortable at home before heading to the hospital where I would be confined to a bed. He looked at me kind of like I had three heads.

Around 7:15 we decided to go grab doughnuts for breakfast and then head to the hospital. While my sweet husband and daughter ate doughnuts and licked their fingers in front of me as I sipped water and breathed through contractions while I glared at them, I was thinking to myself, " I hope this isn't an 18 hour labor, because I am already star-ving."
HA. If only I knew.

At 7:50 I was up in my hospital room, answering a few questions from the nurse... Pain scale 1-10? I dunno, six? Length and duration of contractions? Not really that long, no my water hasn't broken... then she checked to see where we were at, and the words, "UHHHH, honey, you're at a SEVEN, I'llberightback." hit me like a freight train.

A seven?!
How in the world?!!?
Ben walked back in, I told him, and we looked at each other. Hello, warp speed ahead.

The nurse told me that if I had wanted to labor at home, I had done a good job, but could I not cut it quite so close next time? I smiled - yeah... sorry about that!! I could tell she was trying not to make me freak out and feel the urgency, but she started moving and asking questions so fast that I really don't even remember getting an IV, my hospital bracelets, nothing. Insane.

I had 30 seconds to decide if I wanted an epidural (yes, please, thank you), and a jokester of an anesthesiologist who told me he was new to this whole thing, and that I would be his first go, but he wanted to go grab some breakfast first so he would be back sooner or later.
Only after my nurse told him to knock it off did I start breathing again. After that we got along splendidly and he was one of my favorite characters of the day. :)

The nurse brought Kaelyn and I popsicles while she, Baba and Daddy walked her around the hospital or watched a little Toy Story on the couch for a while.

Around 9:30am they told me I was almost there and in a couple hours I would probably start pushing.
At 10:15am the nurse noticed that I was apparently still going fast, and asked me to do a practice push. At 10:16 she told me to stop because she needed to tell our Dr. to sprint herself on down here.

About ten minutes later the doctor comes in and has two nurses helping her throw on her scrubs, while she's telling me that I can't have the baby while she's in the room and not ready! Wait just one minute!

With Ben beside me and Mom holding Kaelyn, they all counted to ten and cheered at me to push.

One of the sweetest, most unplanned memories of the entire experience - Kaelyn actually being in the room, hearing her count, and telling me "Good JOB, Mommy!!! Good push!!! You did it!" I cry every single time I think about it... priceless.

Six pushes later we had our second daughter, our first little sister, and a whopper of a girl who took after me in looks and her Daddy in the newborn weight department.

Checking out Alayna in the nursery-

Her fingers are long and elegant.
Her feet are mine, and my shoes will probably be hers before I know it.
Her eyes are deep crystal blue.

She was showered with kisses from the start, "Hiiii baby sister. You're so wittle. You're so pwetty!"

We had sweet visitors.

My mom has saved my sanity, my breakdown moments and my laundry piles more times than can be measured in the last week. If I can be to my girls what she is to hers, I will have accomplished something special in life.

And how is it that having a baby automatically makes your first child seem heartbreakingly so much older, in an instant? Who is that girl and where is the other chubby-cheeked baby I had??

We headed home, with the lyrics "She's got whatever it is... it blows me away... " playing in the radio in the background.