Welcoming Audrey Ane!

Hello Audrey Ane Hornibrook! Welcome to the family! What a crazy journey it has been, and crazier still it will be come, I'm sure! Born July 18, 2013.

I'll start with how you came into this world: Two days ago, I went to the doctor and she offered to strip my membranes in hopes that you'd come! I was worried it wouldn't work because you are supposed to do lots of walking after the doctor does this to help the process, but my back hurt and all I wanted to do was sleep - so I did. I went home from the doctor and slept for the rest of the day till Daddy got home.

Yesterday morning, at 9:15am I woke up to contractions, and boy did they hurt! I thought to myself, "I should time these..." but each time one came all I could think of was, "ow...ow...ow" so no timing happened. After 30 minutes, I got up to use the bathroom and realized I was for sure in labor (I had what is called a "bloody show")! I called Daddy and told him he needed to come home from work. The conversation went something like this, "Hey Eric, I think you should ... AAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!! come home AAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!" I think he got the message because he called Gramma to meet us at the hospital and get Aaron and then headed home to pick me up!

I then called the nurse to let her know we were coming - she had no trouble believing I was in labor because the conversation went like this, "Hello nurse, I am in AAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!" Your sweet sweet brother managed to get himself out of his room by himself (for the first time) and found me sitting on the floor in the hallway. Perplexed as to what to do, he stroked my head and said, "It ok Mama," over and over. I'm so glad he came to comfort me.

It took about 30 minutes for Daddy to get home. We grabbed what we needed and got in the car. It then took about 25 minutes to get to the hospital. Gramma got there just before us and ran inside to get a wheelchair. By the time she came out with the wheelchair, we had pulled up. We left the car at the drop off and ran inside. By now it was about 11:00am!

The way my insurance works is whatever doctor is on call at the hospital delivers you when you come - not necessarily your own doctor. Lucky for me though, as we got off the elevator, my doctor was stepping on! It was her day off, but she had come to do a c-section and we happened to bump into her. When she saw it was me, she took charge! Normally they take you to Triage to make sure you are really in labor, then you get to a room to have the baby, but she told the nurses we didn't have time for that! She grabbed my wheelchair, told Daddy to get things settled, and she took me past everyone saying we needed a room immediately!

We got to a room and she "checked" me and realized I was a 7! Holy cow! I had another contraction and she "checked" me again - I was an 8! Yikes! She said I had 2 options - she could either break my water and we would have a baby in 20 minutes, or we could wait and get an epidural. I was in a LOT of pain so I opted to wait and get the epidural. The nurse went to get me set up with an IV and Daddy, my hero, told her that I don't like needles, therefore, she had one shot to get it in. If she failed, a different nurse got the second try, not her. Luckily, she got it first try. Whew! Then the anesthesiologist came in and got me hooked up - but it only worked on my left side. Oops. He gave me an extra dose and told me to roll on my side, which helped, but I definitely still had feeling in my right side and down my mid section.

Less than 30 minutes later, the nurse asked if I felt like I needed to push ... my answer was, "I don't know..." so she told my doctor to prep. I decided not long later that the answer was yes, I needed to push! I didn't experience this with your brother as I was completely numb with him. I started pushing at 12:12pm and you popped out at 12:15pm! They had NICU in the room because they realized that you had pooped inside of me and they wanted to make sure you were safe - and you were! Your heart rate dropped on my last push so they snipped me to make sure nothing went wrong.

After you came out, they cleaned you up and gave you back to me to eat! You ate for a full hour! I had lots and lots of food for you, luckily! You also pooped all over me ... thanks a lot ... While I fed you, Daddy went to move the car - it was still in the drop off area... haha. You were quite alert and wanted to look at everything - and touch everything! You reached out to play with my face!

After eating for so long and then pooping, they weighed you and gave you your first bath. Since you ate for so long, it added up to about what you pooped so your birth weight is quite accurate! You were 7lbs 6oz and 21" long! Not bad for being a week late!

When they took you from me to get you cleaned up, you were mad. You started to cry! But as long as Daddy held your hands, you were calm. You obviously loved Daddy right from the start!

It took us a while to decide on your name... Before the hospital, our list was Hayden, Nikki, Taylor, Ashley and Alyx. But randomly in the car on Tuesday, I mentioned to Daddy that I liked the name Audrey - and then dismissed it. But when you came out, none of our list names fit! So I mentioned Audrey again. After looking at you for an hour and thinking about your future, we decided that Audrey fit so that became your name.

We then got moved to a new room and had lunch. Everything else was pretty normal. (I had a milk shake with EVERY meal! It was awesome!) Here are some more pictures from the hospital!

Aaron refused to let anyone hold you without his help. And everytime you would make a sound, he would say, "She sad, I hold her!" and then he would try to take you from whoever had you... He obviously knew he could make you happy better than anyone else :)

(**I'll get the non-watermarked versions of these soon to replace these copies, but for now, these will have to do**)
We went home the day after you were born (today) - everything about you was perfect and they had no reason to keep us!

We are so happy to have you here at home with us. It is amazing how much more "right" life feels now that you are here! We know you are meant to be here, now, a part of our family! How lucky we are!