A Birth Story

What a week it's been.

Tuesday, April 9th, 2013 we welcomed our sweet Hadley Mae Milligan into this world.

Instant love at first sight. 

Nothing like a mother's love for her babies. 

Now I have three babies to share my love with.

We arrived at the hospital at 7:30 only to be met with the words, "Your room is not ready yet.  Here are some coupons for breakfast.  We'll come get you when your room is clean."

I guess another hour or two wait is nothing compared to the nine months we've already been waiting. 

Finally at 9:00 we were escorted to our birthing room. 

Our sweet nurse, Ashley, asked me 101 questions and the DR started me in pitocin at 10:45.

Three hours later he broke my water. 

Based on my experience with Riley I knew things would progress quickly once my water was broken.

And boy it did.

I asked for an epidural right after my water was broken.

But- it didn't work on my left side. 

UGH.......

My pain tolerance is so incredibly low. 

The anesthesiologist was gone so my nurse paged her back. 

Needless to say she had to redo the entire thing - while I was having intense contractions a minute or two apart. 

Shortly after being relieved of pain my nurse asked if I was feeling any pressure. 

At first I wasn't but very soon I was feeling pressure. 

The nurse checked me and low and behold I was ready to have a baby. 

Two and a half contractions later Hadley Mae was born. 

She was about 20 inches and weighed 7 lb 7 oz and scored a 9/9 on her Apgar tests. 

Jack and Riley came up after dinner on Tuesday and were instantly smitten with her. 

It's a beautiful sight to see them so enamored with her. 

The big kids came back on Wednesday afternoon for a cpl of hours and we hung out in my hospital bed. 

We came home Thursday around lunch time and it's been non stop since. 

She nurses constantly - at times I think it's just for comfort. 

No worries - she's worth it. 

Riley gets upset when she can't hold her every time she asks. 

I think it will take some time for her to adjust but in time it will be all good. 

Here are tons of pics. 

Some from my camera and others from my friend who took tons of beautiful shots. 

There are totally out of order but hey- who has time to put them in order?  )-

Enjoy.