The long awaited post with lots of pictures!

I realize that I am probably just a tad biased, but I truly believe that I have one of the most perfect babies ever! 

Aurora Louise was born Friday, July 28 at 1:59 pm (PST).  She weighs 7 lb 6 oz and is 19 inches long.  She has red hair and blue eyes, though I believe her hair is a little darker than Acadia's was... maybe she will be more auburn?  We'll see. 

We went in to the hospital Friday morning to be induced.  It turns out that by that time, I had developed a mild case of pre-eclampsia.  However, it was not enough to need to be medicated and my doctor was not worried.  We just made sure to monitor my blood pressure and Aurora's heart beat.  I was started on Pit by 8:30 am... I was already dialated to a 4 but she was still pretty high up. There was some concern that  she might not drop with the contractions the pit induced.  But after a couple of hours thinking nothing was happening, we found out that sure enough, things were moving along. :)  By 11:15 am I was in active labor and starting to wonder how long I wanted to wait for my beloved drugs, lol.  Things were progressing fast and it wasn't long before I was sure I was ready for some relief.  I had my epidural a little after noon and from then on... it was lovely! (Funny how that works *wink*) 

My doctor broke my water but since Aurora was still a little high up, she didn't expect a whole lot of action right away.  She headed back to the clinic to take care of some other work until I was closer.  (Thankfully the clinic is just across the street from the birth center.)  I am so glad for the epidural because everthing really happened quite fast from then on... I was having contractions right on top of each other and Aurora came down pretty fast.  The nurse had to call back my doctor and I had to "hold in" Aurora for about 15 minutes until the doctor was back and they were all set to deliver.  Btw, it is NOT fun to try to "hold in" a baby that is ready to come out!  Again... THANK GOODNESS for the epirdual!!!  But once we were all set, I was able to push and Aurora didn't waste anytime coming.  I think I pushed for about 10 minutes and there she was! 

With Acadia there were more concerns and when she was born, they weren't able to put her right on me.  That was okay - I wanted her to be healthy, so I waited from across the room to hear her take her first breath and cry.  But with Aurora, they immediately placed her on my stomach and I was able to look into her eyes and watch her take her first breath.  Wow.  She barely let out a couple of "wah"s, but it was enough to know that she was okay.  That is the most I've heard her cry at one time since!  From then on, she just quietly looked around, mostly at me (*proud mommy smiles*) and she even ate a little right away. 

My mom, who had been with us the whole time, left to go get Acadia so she could come meet her little sister.  We asked the nurse to wait to give Aurora a bath until Cadi was there to watch (per Cadi's request) so, they just took that time to get her footprints done, weigh and measure her, etc. 

When Acadia arrived, she made a beeline straight to Aurora and held her little hand and said, "She's so adorable!"  Acadia looked so happy!  Soon after, the nurse asked Acadia if she could not only watch, but HELP give Aurora's first bath!  That was really cool for Cadi!  Acadia loves to watch the home video of when she was born and she thinks it is so funny that she cried during the whole bath... so she was really looking forward to seeing Aurora cry... But Aurora didn't cry at all!  She made a little fuss when she was taken out, but that was it!  Cadi still enjoyed the experience. ;)

So far, Aurora has been a very quiet, easy baby!  She simply has not cried.  And she is an excellent sleeper!  She has slept most of the two nights she's been here for, waking only long enough to barely eat, then fall back to sleep (while eating).  She eats well when I can manage to wake her long enough to feed her.  I wonder how long this will last?  But so far, nothing has changed.  When she wakes up, instead of crying, she just makes little noises, then waits patiently for me to get her up, change her, and feed her. 

I was given the option of staying another night in the hospital, but I felt that I would be fine going home, as long as my doctor prescribed some meds I was taking for pain - which she did.  So last night, we all came home.  Today everyone is at church while Aurora and I stay home.  With how much she sleeps, I was able to upload our pics... so I'm going to share a few with you. :)

Meet Aurora...

This is a "before" shot:


Immediately after delivery:


With my doctor:


Daddy/Daughter moment:


Acadia meets her little sister for the first time:




Group Photo:


Sisters:


Ryan and his "Squeaker" (Because Aurora doesn't cry, but will occasionally let out a squeak, he has been calling her Squeaker.)...


Cadi kisses for Aurora:


Grandma and her newest grandchild:


Cadi gets to help with the bath!


Aurora's first visitor, my good friend, Amber:


Aurora doing what she does best:
On Day 2... Yep, she's still adorable!


Getting ready to come home:


A thoughtful homecoming from our friends:


To view all of the pictures, visit our Photobucket account, just click on the sub-albums for each day.