Mabel Turner

 

 8 lbs, 19.5 inches

I have a feeling I'll be blogging a lot less these days, but while I have a minute I wanted to record Mabel's birth story- or at least a few things to remember about it. 

Although she was 12 days late, she came just as fast as Winston. At 8:20am on July 16 the doctor give me a single drip of Pitocin and told me to sit back and relax because it would be a while before it started to work and things got going. But, ten minutes later the first contraction hit! Contractions were consistent every 2 1/2 to 5 minutes for the next hour. After that the doctor came in and broke my water (9:30am) because they wanted to see if the fluid was clear since she was so overdue. The fluid was clear and the contractions started to be much more painful after that, so we called in the anesthesiologist and got the epidural going at 9:50am. The epidural was taking a little bit to set in so they gave me a booster, which meant that I lost all feeling in my legs and literally could not move them. For the rest of the time I was in labor all I could think about was how frustrating it was to not be able to move my legs! I kept asking Tyler to re-position them so I could be more comfortable before I realized that I was only uncomfortable because I wanted to move them myself. With W delivery I had an epidural, but I was able to move my legs and feel pressure, so I didn't like being completely numb. 

Anyway, at some point I thought I felt some pressure, but it was literally no more than Tyler touching my arm, so I wasn't sure about it. I went back and forth with Tyler for a few minutes debating on whether or not to get a nurse/if I was even feeling anything at all. Eventually, he just got a nurse which was good because I was at a ten and Mabel was crowning.

The doctor came in pretty quick and asked me to do a small practice push on the next contraction (which they had to tell me about, because I literally couldn't feel anything!), but when I started to push they quickly told me to stop and then told me I was having a baby on the next contraction. Next one started and I pushed once for the head and once for the shoulders and she was out! She gave two good screams and then they immediately put her on my chest. While we snuggled I was overwhelmed by the realization that I had another baby- in a good way. I think I had been so focused on labor (because she was so late) and on making things easy for W, that I kind of forgot we would be coming home with a sweet baby girl at the end of it! The nurses cut the umbilical cord while she laid on my chest and, just like with W, I never pushed for the placenta and never saw it so hopefully it's not still in there :)

Bonding with my baby girl

Shnuggling with Daddy

She was born at 12:32pm, so like it said, it went quick. The doctor told me she was eight pounds even at birth, and six of those pounds were in her cheeks :) She and W have the best baby cheeks ever! I also think she has W's big, blue eyes, but she's more sleepy than W was so we don't see them as often. Her hair is also just like W's was, but her chin is what we think makes her look different from W. She has my chin, which is apparently very pointy... and no one ever told me this until Mabel was born. Or I guess just more pointy than Tyler and Winston's :)

Postpartum nap...

She has chunked up pretty quickly and is already about nine and a half pounds at three weeks. She's a pretty good sleeper and on most nights I only get up once to nurse. Oh, and she grunts like a beast for like 45 minutes as she wakes up :) She is a great eater and figured it out much quicker than W did. I was surprised, actually, with how much easier breastfeeding and recovery were this time around. I knew I had it easy with W, but this time I really felt like 100% by the time I left the hospital. 

W absolutely adores her! He likes to see her first thing in the morning, says hi to her constantly, wants her to watch all his tricks, wants to wear matching diapers all the time, loves holding her, and likes to do bath time and tummy time with her. He is struggling a little bit with not having my immediate attention every time he wants it, but he's slowly getting better. He now understands that she can only have mama's milk and will tell me she's hungry whenever she starts her grunting :)

 First time seeing her...

...and first time holding her :)

 

 I think he likes her!

I still feel like some days are really hard and I can't get anything done or that W is going to drive me crazy, but other days are great and then I feel like I'm a super mom! But I also keep forgetting that it's barely been three weeks and everything will fall into place soon enough.

The "family of four hospital bed" picture

A few other things that I wanted to remember: 

1. In the hospital I kept referring to her as him! It was weird to think I had a girl, and since most of her newborn clothes are W's hand me downs I still sometimes forget! On Sundays when we put a dress on her I kind of get giddy because she really is a little girl :) 

2. Again, the most painful part was having the epidural tape ripped from my back- it seriously kills. 

3. I craved only cranberry juice after she was born, which is what I craved after W too. I think next time I'll have Tyler bring a giant jug of it to the hospital.

We are absolutely in love with Mabel and she definitely belongs in our family!!

Hospital outfit