December 31st, 2019 was kind of a big deal: New Year's Eve, the last day of the year, the last day of the decade...and the first day we got to hold our baby girl! Audrey Juliette Allen was born at 3:08 in the afternoon, which left just the perfect amount of time for snuggling her skin-to-skin, nursing her for the first time, and cooing over all her cute features (and her full head of hair!), before we got moved to a new room and ordered a huge dinner, in time to watch the fireworks show over downtown Spokane (which was at 9pm for some reason). We had a great view from our hospital room, and it felt like such a special, amazing way to end the decade and celebrate the beginning of Audrey's life. Bringing her home the next day and introducing her to her big brothers was also the very best way to start a new decade. Over the past couple weeks, we've been soaking up life as a family of five and enjoying all the newborn snuggles with Audrey!

I wanted to write down her birth story while it's still fresh in my memory. Fair warning, this post is long and full of details...after all, it's primarily for my future self to look back on. One of my favorite things about this blog is that it's given me a place (and a reason) to record my thoughts and feelings around major life events over the years. It's fun for me to reread those posts and remember so many significant moments like Ian's birth and Emmett's birth...and now, Audrey's!

So, all the details! I had a c-section with Ian and a VBAC with Emmett. For me, the recovery from Emmett's birth was waaaaay easier than my c-section, so I decided to try for another VBAC. I went in thinking that Audrey's birth would be similar to Emmett's, and I felt pretty confident that it would be successful. I knew what to expect this time around, and it had worked for me before. In fact, to be honest I was hoping that Audrey's birth would be even quicker and easier. I have a lot of friends whose second time giving birth went super fast, so when we scheduled the induction for 7am on December 30th, I figured that would be her birthday for sure. Emmett came within 13 hours of being induced, so I expected Audrey to be the same or less. The night before our induction, we kept saying, "by this time tomorrow we'll be holding our daughter!!!" Welllll it didn't exactly go like that.

At the hospital, our morning started off slowly. They got an IV in me and went through all the administrative questions. They did an ultrasound to make sure the baby was still head down (she was), and around 10am they started me on Pitocin. They said once I dilated to a one, they would insert a Cook catheter with a balloon that would continue to dilate my cervix manually. This is basically the same process as I went through with Emmett. But this time, it took me forever to get to a one! Seven hours and multiple cervix checks later, I stillll wasn't even a little bit dilated. I was feeling contractions, but it seemed they weren't doing anything!! Finally, around 6:30pm they were able to put in the Cook catheter. I thought, ok here we go...now things are going to start progressing and it will go fast!

But nope...hours passed, and that balloon still wasn't falling out. The clock hit 11pm and I knew Audrey would not be born on the 30th after all. I kept asking if there was anything I could do to speed things along, and was told that I just had to wait for the contractions to do their thing. Ugh, waiting is the worst! Especially when the thing you're waiting for is out of your control. Ben and I decided that we might as well get some sleep so we'd be rested and have strength for the birth. My contractions were getting more painful, so to make sure I'd be able to sleep through them I decided to get an epidural. I knew I wanted one anyways, and I figured I might as well get that squared away in case things progressed quickly in the night (I was still hopeful they would).

Once you get an epidural you can't get out of bed or eat anything. I thought, perfect, I'm not going to walk around or eat at night anyways...and by morning, I AM SURE this balloon will have fallen out. Well as it turns out, we totally slept through the night (in hindsight, this was a blessing) and in the morning, I was soo discouraged to find that the dang balloon was still firmly in place. I was less confident that this induction was going to work after all...everything was taking so long, and now, I was stuck in bed. The only "good thing" was that I suddenly got really nauseous and threw up, which normally isn't good at all--but the nurses encouraged me that vomiting is a common sign that labor is progressing (I also threw up with Emmett, when things got serious).

And maybe it did mean something, because around noon the balloon finally, FINALLY fell out! They broke my water, and from there things started progressing wayyy more quickly. By 2pm my contractions were strong and painful (even through the epidural), by 2:30 I was at an 8, and soon after that my teeth started chattering and I started feeling like it was time to push. The doctor came in and got all suited up, and within four contractions I pushed her out! The pushing part was sooo much faster and less painful than it was with Emmett. So in the end, that made up for the long build up. And of course, all that really matters is that she was born healthy and without complications!

We were amazed by her thick, black hair and entranced by her sweet, lovely face. She won our hearts over right from the start! Here is one of the first photos I took of Audrey at the hospital. She was 7 lb 5 oz (my biggest baby, believe it or not) and 19.5" long.

Because of influenza season, the hospital was not allowing anyone under 18 in the birth ward, so we decided not to have any visitors in the hospital so we could race through the newborn tests and get home as soon as possible. We missed our boys and were excited to introduce them to their baby sister!

Both Ian and Emmett were soooooo excited to meet her. Emmett kept dancing around saying "BABY!" and Ian announced over and over again, "I love my baby sister!!" Ian proudly presented Audrey with a picture that he had drawn for her, and they both gave her LOTS of gentle kisses. It was super precious and heartwarming. For the most part, they have continued to be sweet and loving since then. Every morning the first thing they want to do is see baby sister, and they both ask to "hold" her as much as I'll let them. Audrey also gets hundreds of kisses from her brothers every day. I am loving it! It's so fun to see our kids' relationships with each other develop.

As for Ben and I, well we are totally smitten with our little girl too. I am pinching myself that we really have a DAUGHTER now!

The first two weeks with Audrey have been pretty great! She's nursing like a champ, and is generally happy and peaceful. Ben's home from work for the month of January, which makes a huge difference. He's been letting me sleep in since I'm up at night feeding her, so I don't feel sleep deprived. And the boys aren't attention deprived because he's here. They are having the best time hanging out with dad and loving on their baby sister! I'm so grateful Ben was able to take this time off!!

So far, we haven't been doing a lot since Audrey was born...just resting at home, going on some small family outings, and having friends come to visit. My friend Corlana took most of these photos when she came over the other day. I'm so thankful she brought her camera with her! The newborn stage is so precious and fleeting. That not-even-a-week-old face and those darling newborn toes!!!! I know they won't keep, so I'm glad they're captured forever in photos.

Welcome to the world, dear Audrey! We love you so much!

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